HONEST MAN, MY DAD’S OK WITH THIS
Shaw family are fine with divide cross
OLI SHAW reckons he’s found the perfect home to establish himself as a top striker – even if it’s across the Ayrshire divide from where his dad made his name over 30 years ago.
The 22-year-old completed a switch to Kilmarnock from Ross County this week and goes straight into the squad to face Falkirk in the SPFL Trust Trophy this afternoon.
Shaw finished as Staggies’ top scorer last season with eight goals but fell down the pecking order under Malky Mackay this summer.
Now he’s raring to kickstart his career at Rugby Park where he has been handed the No.9 jersey.
And the move has even got the blessing of his old man Greg, who broke through as a goalscorer at Ayr in the late 80s before enjoying spells at Falkirk and Dunfermline.
Shaw said: “It’s a fresh start for me, I’ll be playing football and I’ll hopefully help Kilmarnock get back to where they belong, the Premiership.
“My dad had a wee joke about it but he’s supportive of me.
“He follows me around the country, so me being back down the road will make it easier for him to come to games rather than travelling up north every week.
“I had a good season last year, I maybe didn’t play as much as I wanted to but finishing as top scorer was a good moment.”
With four triumphs, Falkirk have won this competition the most times of any club, a streak Jaime Wilson wants to play his part in honouring after returning to full-time football.
And the ex-Inverness youth striker, in the door after a stint Down Under then a season at Dumbarton, is relieved he’ll be able to savour any potential cup high rather than spend the aftermath on night shift. Wilson, 23, said: “When I
was at
Dumbarton, their sponsors are C&G systems so I was working on the railways.
“It would be working mostly night shift so it was pretty hard going. I ended up working every Saturday night after games so I would be going straight off to work and at a computer screen all night.
“They never got me working the night before a game, which was pretty good.
“When I left Inverness, going part-time for those years, it was put into perspective and a bit of a wake-up call to think, ‘Don’t give up, keep going and as long as you keep working hard something – hopefully – will come of it’.
“I was still enjoying the football but as soon as the game was done on a Saturday it was like, ‘Och I’m off to work now’. I started at 11 and finished at 9am.
“I did enjoy the job a lot. But I’m not going to enjoy any job more than I do this now, playing football every day.”