Jewels say Auf Wiedersehen to EnglandforSPFL

WORKING on the site from morning till night – that’s livin’ all right.

The theme tune from Auf Wiedersehen, Pet sprang to mind as another Premiership season got under way.

The economic migrants are no longer heading from Newcastle, Birmingham and London to the building sites of Dusseldorf, however.

They’re coming from Maidenhead, Eastleigh and Forest Green Rovers to try their luck. Scottish football has its detractors, although it doesn’t help when our game’s leaders prove to be Champions League quality in the art of shooting themselves in the foot.

Nicola Sturgeon was forced to park the government’s bus on the 18-yard line of public opinion earlier this week as she struggled to cope with relentless attacks from all sides over the SQA exams crisis.

Now the SPFL – and the stupidity of players within it – have provided her with an out ball and she’s racing up the pitch on the counter, ready to knock it into an empty net.

Anyway, back to the subject in hand and it has come as no surprise that Premiership outfits have filled their boots with castoffs from English clubs.

Around 800 players in the English Football League were faced with their deals running out this summer at the height of cost-cutting measures amid the pandemic.

Sadly, many of them will disappear from the game. But, as Scottish clubs have found, there are jewels to be mined on salaries that previously would probably have been sniffed at.

Outwith the Old Firm, almost 60 players have joined Premiership clubs either on permanent deals or on loan. Half have come from English sides.

Surprisingly, perhaps, given the previous employ of their manager at Sunderland, Hibs under Jack Ross are the only club so far to shop entirely in Scotland.

The window will remain open until October 5 and it remains to be seen if a second wave of border reivers will lead to another influx of players.

The pressure on managers to keep their clubs in the top flight is more intense than ever before but if Scottish football is to prosper we must give youth its fling.

Hats off to Micky Mellon

There are jewels to be mined on salaries that would have been sniffed at

and Stuart Kettlewell who have blooded youngsters such as Lewis Neilson and Josh Reid. The focus in the coming weeks is likely to be fixed on big names going out rather than potential rough diamonds coming in.

The Major League Soccer window opens today, the French window for international signings on Saturday then Serie A follows on September 1.

That could have an impact on players such as Odsonne Edouard and Alfredo Morelos. Never mind Neville and Wayne, it will be Celtic and Rangers lifting the shovels on foreign shores – to scoop millions into their club bank accounts.

OUR TOP WRITERS GIVE THEIR FEARLESS VERDICTS EVERY DAY IN RECORD SPORT