The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Loan system causing great harm to Scottish football, says Wishart
Players’ Union chief Fraser Wishart wants the SFA and SPFL to limit the number of loan signings Scottish clubs are allowed to make from other countries.
Wishart is worried the number of players being imported from England and abroad is suppressing tartan talent and, as a result, harming both the national team and the clubs who abuse the system.
Every Premiership side has dipped into the loan market this season.
Predictably, Kilmarnock have signed more than most.
Of their 16 loans, 14 were from English clubs and only one of them, veteran defender Scott Boyd (whose move from Ross County was made permanent) is eligible to play for Scotland.
Wishart also fears the reliance on loan arrangers will hurt our clubs’ chances when it comes to getting through Europa League qualifiers.
“There’s no doubt the loan system into this country needs to be addressed,” he said.
“I understand that managers keep bringing in players on these temporary deals because it’s a cheap – sometimes free – and easy way to improve their squad.
“I’m also aware they are working in a results business and that, because of the pressure they are under, it can make more sense for them to bring in a talented player from down south and shove him straight into their team than to try and improve the young players already on the books.
“But this short-termism has to stop because it isn’t really helping anyone.
“Clubs are in danger of losing their identities if they keep bringing in players who are here today and gone tomorrow.
“There’s nothing wrong with being a development club but not if you’re developing someone else’s players.
“Plus, if you have loan signings playing every week until the end of the season, then what do you do if you’ve qualified for Europe?
“Those players will have returned to their parent clubs and you have 10 days between the transfer window opening and Uefa’s registration deadline to find replacements.
“Needless to say, hiring so many non-Scots doesn’t help Gordon Strachan or the Scotland team because our youngsters’ pathway to their first teams are being blocked by loanees.
“The current influx of loan players makes a nonsense of the SFA’s Project Brave initiative.”
That’s why Wishart wants the number of non-Scots allowed to play in this country on temporary contracts to be slashed.
“Of the 44 players who were signed by Premiership clubs in January, only eight of them were Scottish and just three of them signed long-term deals,” he said.
“Just one of the nine players Ian Cathro has signed for Hearts is on loan but none of them are Scottish and four of them will be free agents in the summer.
“Clubs need to look beyond the end of their noses and, if they can’t then the SFA and the SPFL should.”
He continued: “There would obviously be problems with employment law and players and clubs complaining about restraint of trade but where there’s a will there’s a way. After all, we already restrict the number of players one club can lend to another.
“We’re currently in a situation where players are released by clubs and they leave the game for good, never having had a sniff of first-team football – and it’s only by being given the chance to make mistakes and learn from them that you find out whether these kids are good enough.
“As it stands, we’re no further forward when it comes to producing young Scottish players than we were 10 years ago so I would also like to see funding withdrawn from clubs who don’t select players from their academies.”