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Maybe you should forward this blog to the gaffer! When was the last time we took a risk on some first division players? Since we've came up we haven't really went for any. Rather we've just went for experienced players who are playing at the level around us.

Had we went for players like Leigh Griffiths, Gary Harkins and Marc Twaddle we might be doing a much better job. Players like Robert Snodgrass, Graeme Dorrans and James McCarthy all have made the jump to top English teams with great success before any SPL sides took a gamble on them.

I understand some of this has to do with finances, but surely we can stretch our budget to accomodate a few risks - if we were to snap up the players I'd listed we'd have made a much greater return and would, financially at the least, be much greater off!

As an Aberdeen fan, I remember we took in some lower league players under Patterson and Ebbe (Hinds, McQuilken, Lilley etc), but few of these players were a success at Pittodrie (tosher excluded). However the disparity between the divisions has shrunk in recent seasons, and I think it's time for the dons to start looking there again.

The over-valuation of lower division English players is wide-spread, but continually our managers look there (McGhee was down South last week for instance). Recent signings like Jerel Ifil, Tommy Wright are/were incredibly expensive and aren't as good as the players we have already.

For me, it's partly about attracting fans. There was a bit of a stigma about the "first division" team that Steve Patterson created during his time at Pittodrie, and I got the impression that many fans thought the level of player acquired wasn't acceptable for a team like Aberdeen. Perhaps there's a level of SPL arrogance too.

I believe that times are changing though, and the majority of dons fans would appreciate a few talented players from the lower divisions playing for pride and not 3K a week. I'd certainly take a Raith player or two - if only to stop them beating us again...

Couldn't agree more with this blog and comment 1! Also Graham Carey's goal on saturday was brilliant!! It's great to finally have a threatening set piece taker!

graham carey's goal was a touch of class , he is a celtic player out on loan , i wonder if celtic will give the boy a run in the team at some point , i wonder what his views are if he doesn't get his chance for his team .
is it just enough to play for one of the spl teams , is that the only goal of football players in this country , i hope not .
i watched kilmarnock vs aberdeen yesterday , i wondered how many players in those teams stayed behind after training to work on technique . lets blame the park .
where do you want to go in football , is st mirren the pinnacle , the dizzy heights of your career , second bottom of a disfunctional league , with games just painful to watch .

i'm not sure lower leagues have more talented players but i do see more heart and commitment there .
i'll take that any day to players who think they've made it just because they step onto a park to play spl football .
attitude is everything in sport , why can't every player strive to be a sir chris hoy , his attitude towards his sport is fantastic , his training is all drive , not what he drives ,he's at the top , wants to stay at the top, trains to stay there , why can't football players realise that they don't do enough to look after themselves , don't train enough , don't except that what supporters look at week in week out just isn't good enough . maybe it's just me .

well done to falkirk for giving youth a chance last saturday . all energy and desire . thats what makes football players.

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Jack,

I would suggest that the reason that lower league players don't make the SPL is because they are absolutely honkin', the same conclusion you would surely arrive at were you to regularly watch the games. Just because a side can win a match against an over-confident SPL side in the cup doesn't mean you can do it every week.

I used to go and watch Stirling Albion semi-regularly when I was a wee boy (I'm from Cumbernauld, and at the time they were the easiest side to get to), and even then, John Brogan aside, I knew I was watching a level of football that I could easily aspire to, and from the Clyde matches that I've caught since, nothing much has changed.

Almost as a relief, it's not just this country that's affected though. Since I moved south, I've been (un)lucky enough to catch a couple of Gillingham and Margate games, and the standard in these is equally appalling. The only difference is that the Gills players have somehow managed to contrive a decent full time wage for their amateur efforts.

The bigger clubs in the Scottish first are a bit on an exception, because they are paying out SPL wages in the hope that they make it there. However, outwith these, there may be the odd gem that was missed by the bigger clubs' youth systems, but players who are 21 or older, and are still playing in the lower leagues will always be in the lower leagues.

Jack-

You make an interesting comment on staying behind after training to work on aspects of the game.

I always wondered why so many footballers don't do this at a pro level- understandable I guess in part time football where folk are out the next morning earning a wage. You hear Beckham doing it and it made him a bit special, and you now state that Carey does it too- again letting him shine and bang in a free kick.

I've always though footballers should be more like golfers- constantly out on the practice ground. They should be whipping in corners, crosses, free kicks, defending headers etc- just like a golfer practices putting or chipping etc. Perhaps that is more of a view outside football- maybe it doesn't work in the pro game?

I also agree with Disaster for Scotland- the quality is not high enough in general in D2/3 and Juniors. There are always going to be the odd gem or late developer that is missed and is there- Danny Swanson etc, but with pro-youth I don't think you'll get the same type of youngster below D1 any more- unlikely to find a Steve Clarkes at Beith Juniors etc again waiting on a big club.

D1 has quality but given the market in England, L1 and above clubs will outpay SPL clubs and with training compensation due, it is unlikely SPL clubs can get them.

SPL teams should be looking at the team currently third - the mighty Terrors - and noting how many players were brought in from the lower divsions.

I think I speak for all us arabs when I say Gomis has been one of our best players for the last two seasons and both conway and swanson are capable of turning games. Don't forget Dixon who came from Dundee and, although he's been unfit this season the mighty Scott Robertson - I could go on. There is talent out there.

I hope United keep looking in the lower divisions as its working well for us so far.

Good point about the quality at the top of division one being comparable to much of the SPL.

However for too long movement between the SPL and division 1 has been severely restricted. Is it not time to have two relegation spots and resurrect the old play-off system? Now that the 'closed shop' 10k seater stadium rule has been relaxed this would really liven up the SPL don't you think?

Yes Jack your team i honestly belive is better than Aberdeen. We were lucky to beat you , your team does what the dons do not do shoot.

Carey can't half hit the ball. Our problem is it seems our team is scared to shoot and when we do it ends up in row z

Jack, I am a Falkirk supporter (wish you and Thompson were still here)and I note with interest comments on the young lad Carey who practices free kicks after training. It always surprises me that many teams do not have a specialist "free kick taker" as it is a great weapon in the armoury.
Earlier this season, the young Falkirk full back, Mitchell, scored direct against Celtic. I checked the last time we scored in this manner and (apart from Lataby's fluke against Motherwell) it was Davie Nichols, who was probably before your time!
In thinking about this I recall the story of the Jazz musician, Oscar Peterson, when stopped in the street by a man asking directions. Asked how to get to Maddiston Square Gardens the answer was practice, practice, practice!

Practice is obviously everything. But I always thought it was weird some players made it and others did not. Scottish players often come into the fore - usually after they've wasted their careers at Celtic or Rangers in the reserves then work their way back up with a smaller team. But in England it's the same too - Nick Hornby nailed it succinctly with this take on the much maligned Gus Caesar (google him - his career's hilarious).

"To get where he did, Gus Caesar clearly had more talent than nearly everyone of his generation... and it still wasn't quite enough. [...] Gus must have known he was good, just as any pop band who has ever played the Marquee know they are destined for Madison Square Garden and an NME front cover, and just as any writer who has sent off a completed manuscript to Faber and Faber knows that he is two years away from the Booker. You trust that feeling with your life, you feel the strength and determination it gives you coursing through your veins like heroin... and it doesn't mean anything at all."

I guess ability to handle pressure is a key component in any footballers makeup. And again, obviously practice can alleviate this. I'd also suggest making footballers do boxing or martial arts training - it would give them balance, flexibility and discipline as well as the confidence that so many seem to lack - think of our woefully inept centre halfs of recent years. It would make the fights a little tastier too!

What I don't understand, is why we (St Mirren) sent two perfectly good youth players out to lower league sides, and took in fringe players from the Old Firm on loan.
We should be giving our own youth players a chance, and taking chances on players from the 1st division. Not giving the Old Firm a shop window to get the best price they can down south, for fringe players.
Yes, Carey has his merits, but we've no chance of bagging him.

johndennybairn - Mitchell has scored a free kick for Ayr since being here on loan also. Perhaps you have your specialist? On-loan Celtic player Daniel Lafferty has also scored direct from a free kick for us this season. It is definitely nice to have a threat there.

i think the whole spl set up needs to be changed or many young talents will never advance much beyond park football.when i was growing up in the sixties the there was a magic about the scottish div.1 and div.2.two up and 2 down and it was never over 'till the last week,i suppose its a bit like that now (relegation wise,but not championship wise,that's still exactly the same.)but the whole excitment about the league is the possibility of promotion or relegation and that is whats missing now,and that detracts from young players tasting a higher level,even if its just for one season.