Craig starred in Finland via Gibraltar and Lincoln
It could be a life-changing summer for many footballers, though probably not in a good way.
Like people in so many professions, they are bound to find job losses happening in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
A few, however, might look beyond these shores to ply their trade, and find a change suits them perfectly.
Craig Ramsay is living proof that first impressions shouldn’t count when trying out football in a new country.
He first came to the attention of supporters in Scotland back in June, 1980.
Andy Roxburgh, then the SFA’S director of coaching, was touting the 17-year-old Lincoln City striker as a possible future star for the national team.
He’d only been with the Imps for a year after arriving from Gibraltar.
However, this wasn’t an early attempt to uncover a player with a distant Scottish relative. Craig said: “I was born and brought up in Dunfermline, but my family moved to Gibraltar when I was 12.
“Playing football there really suited me because you could play seven days a week.
“The only negative thing was that there was no grass and we only played on gravel.”
“I came to the attention of Lincoln City because their vice-chairman, Reg Brealey, had business links in Gibraltar.
Craig became Lincoln’s youngest-ever league goalscorer when he netted on his debut at the age of 17 years and 150 days.
He said: “I only found out about that record about 10 years ago. Three days later, the record was broken by another 17-year-old.
“I basked in the glory for a full 48 hours! “My manager at Lincoln, Colin Murphy, recommended me to Andy Roxburgh, and that led to me being invited to attend a Scotland training camp at Largs.
“Andy and Walter Smith were the coaches. There were players there like Davie Moyes and Maurice Malpas.
“I’d played against Maurice as a kid.
“I went to school in Cowdenbeath, and there was a strong rivalry between us and the school he went to in Dunfermline.
“The problem for me was that I wasn’t getting a regular game for Lincoln City, and I became impatient.
“We had players like Mick Harford, who played for England, Tony Cunningham, who later played for Newcastle United, and Gordon Hobson, who went to Southampton.
“I can understand now why the manager went with experience.
“I spoke to the assistant manager, Lennie Lawrence, and he agreed I need to go and play.
“He said I could go to FF Jaro in Finland for the summer, get some experience and then come back to sign a new contract.
“My initial reaction was to let my contract run out and then go home to Scotland. “But I ended up going and I’ve been in Finland ever since.”
Craig admits he almost quit immediately. He said: “I arrived on a public holiday at the end of April, and everything was closed. “The weather was awful, and I thought the pitch we were playing on was the car park. “I stuck it out, however, and ended up top scorer in the Finnish First Division. “They offered me a new two-year contract and the money was better than I could get in Scotland or the lower leagues in England.
“I did nearly return to Scotland when I played a trial for Jim Leishman at Dunfermline.
“He offered John Watson and me a deal, but it was part-time and I chose to come back to Finland.
Craig played for three teams before moving into coaching, and he’s now in his 20th year working for the Finland FA.
His son, Alex, is a 20-year-old centre forward, and signed for Jaro at the start of the year. Maybe one for Scotland to keep an eye on?