OUR GAME IS ON THE RISE
Big-name signings are driving profile of Scottish football to ten-year high, says Naismith
OUT here in the Spanish midwinter sunshine, Steven Naismith is contemplating the Scottish Premiership being lit up in early 2019 by a raft of exciting big-name arrivals.
Already in January, Rangers have recruited impressively from the English Premier League, snapping up Jermain Defoe on loan from Bournemouth and Naismith’s old Ibrox team-mate Steven Davis from Southampton.
Champions Celtic have secured a loan deal for Paris Saint-Germain teenage forward Timothy Weah — son of former FIFA World Player of the Year George Weah — and shelled out £2million on striker Vakoun Issouf Bayo.
Hibs have sealed a loan deal to land former Dundee United wonderkid Ryan Gauld, whose £3million move to Sporting Lisbon five years ago saw the Portuguese club slap a £48m release clause on his head.
And down in the lower reaches of the table, Motherwell have pulled off a stunning coup by securing the return of forward Ross McCormack.
Hearts attacker Naismith insists these marquee signings — on the back of managers like Brendan Rodgers, Steven Gerrard and Steve Clarke — underscore the fact that Scottish football is on the rise once more.
‘I wouldn’t say it’s a perception. It’s fact — 100-per-cent fact that Scottish football is on the rise,’ said the former Everton and Norwich City player.
‘It’s never been a better product in the last ten years.
‘These type of players are now wanting to come to Scotland.
‘Steven Davis is maybe different because he’s been up here before with Rangers and he understands the game up here and McCormack and Gauld, too. But now there are guys like Jermain Defoe coming here.
‘I don’t know Defoe personally, but I played against him down south. He’s a goalscorer and it’s a shrewd bit of business. It keeps everything entertaining.
‘Look, I’m not saying every game in Scottish football is amazing. That’s not the case. But it is entertaining. In the bigger leagues, people see one game and think it’s all amazing.
‘For example, Man City versus Liverpool recently was a great spectacle but, for every one of those matches, there is also a dud game. But Scottish football has a genuine title race this season. And no one team is stranded down the bottom of the league.’
Hearts were the early-season pace-setters, storming to the top of the Premiership before crashing back down to earth amid a raft of injuries, including one to talisman Naismith.
But the striker says he did not buy into the growing hype back then that Hearts were in a title race.
He also rejects the notion that Celtic and Rangers have recruited heavily in direct response to strong starts to the season by Aberdeen, Kilmarnock and the Tynecastle club.
‘Rangers and Celtic signing players is just what Rangers and Celtic do,’ said Naismith, who was at Ibrox from 2007 to 2012.
‘It’s what they have done over the years. Rangers have maybe struggled to do that in recent years but, generally, it’s just what they do.
‘Personally, I never really thought of it as a title race. When you get to March and April, Celtic and Rangers’ resources kick in and you should see them picking up points when it’s tight and maybe having that little bit more to get over the line.
‘But we wanted to be in and around the pack — and winning our last game before the break against Hibs was important.
‘The second half of the season is going to be very interesting.
‘You’ve got a title race going on but, inevitably, that’ll break up into a title race and a European fight.’
Naismith has emerged as a firm Hearts fans’ favourite during his two loan spells at Tynecastle. But he remains coy over his future, hinting that he may be tempted by offers from abroad when his Norwich contract expires in May.
‘Not much has changed on my side,’ he said.
‘I’m not holding out for this or that. I just don’t want to make a mistake. It’s a decision me and my wife will come to.
‘I’ve loved every minute at Hearts, but I don’t want to look back with regret in ten years.
‘My kids are five and two just now and I want them to be settled when they go to school. But a couple of years in a five-year-old and a two-year-old’s lives is nothing compared to our life and the experience they could get if I was to do something different.
‘But it’s not that I’m holding out for that. I just want to make sure I make the right decision.’
Naismith has not ruled out remaining at Hearts, where he appreciates the way he is being micro-managed by Levein.
‘The manager wants me to stay. And don’t get me wrong, I’ve got it good at Hearts,’ he nodded.
‘There are a few things the manager gives me that some of the younger boys don’t get.
‘For example, it can be a lot of travelling, so, sometimes, he’ll tell me to just do my recovery at home.
‘I’ve got a gym in my house, so it’s wee perks like that the manager has given me — as long as I am producing on the park.
‘He also says he will help me going forward if coaching is something I want to do in future.
‘Hearts are going beyond to offer me the best package they can and the time will come when I’ll need to make a decision.’