On Thursday night at Anfield, the 23 year old Hearts forward David Templeton wrote himself into club folklore - with a helping hand from Pepe Reina, who helpfully spilled a speculative shot from 30 yards into his own net. It was a goal that took the Tynecastle side to within a couple of minutes of taking the mighty Liverpool to extra time on their own ground and, though Luis Suarez spoilt the party with a decisive strike at the death, thousands of Jambos who made the trip to Merseyside went away on cloud nine, and with young Templeton holding a special place in their Hearts.
Usually employed as a winger, Templeton had played both legs of the tie in a more central role, as the closest support to John Sutton. His livewire performances made him stand out even without taking into account his goal. He didn't always make the right decisions, but his workrate, his pace and his skill could not have failed to attract the attention of scouts from south of the border. A former Stenhousemuir youth player signed by Hearts in 2007, he had made a name for himself a year ago with some excellent performances in the maroon, culminating in a stunning solo goal that helped win an Edinburgh derby against Hibs. Standards had dropped in the second half of last season, but, with his contract up for renewal next summer Templeton was surely going to attract attention from bigger clubs than Hearts. Not in the English Premier League, but certainly in The Championship. Perhaps an offer might even come in before this transfer window closed, from a desperate club in need of an exciting wide player.
Less than 24 hours later, Templeton could be found in Glasgow, discussing personal terms on a move to join Rangers. He won't be eligible for this weekend's home game against Elgin City, so his debut will have to wait till the Ibrox side travel to Annan Athletic after the international break. From playing in the Europa League, in front of the famous Kop, to playing in the Scottish Third Division, against cops...and butchers and bakers and candlestick men and so forth. On Thursday night, it didn't seem inconceivable that he could, with the right move and the right coaching, go on to become a very decent footballer indeed; a reasonable bet for a Scotland cap in the next year or two. Now he is set to spend the next three years playing against mainly part-time opposition, nowhere near testing himself against the best. It's hard to see how playing the likes of East Stirlingshire four times a year will make him a better player.
Of course, given what happened to Ian Black - unable to get into the Scotland squad while at Hearts, he was controversially called up shortly after signing on for Rangers' third division campaign - Templeton might think that moving to Govan will improve his international chances...
It seems such a waste of talent. And it's difficult to empathise with the player's decision. There's no doubt that Vladimir Romanov wanted to cash in on him - and indeed on Ryan McGowan, who actually turned down the opportunity to move with his teammate - though Hearts fans will hope, after the Lee Wallace fiasco, that their Lithuanian owner insisted Charles Green paid upfront, in cash, for the player this time. But he was certainly going to be the subject of good offers elsewhere, had he waited a little longer. A Bosman move next summer would surely have netted him a good signing-on fee.
I can only think that Templeton chose to sign for Rangers either out of a keenness to remain in Scotland and because of being offered a weekly wage with a lot of zeroes. As with Black, Dean Shiels and Francisco Sandaza, he appears to have become the latest beneficiary of the bizarre Rangers transfer policy of paying extortionate wages to SPL players to drop down three tiers, when they could surely find cheaper options that would do the job of getting them at least to the first division. Whilst the fee has not been confirmed, the fact that Hearts had demanded £1.3million for Templeton and McGowan together suggests the former has probably signed for over £500,000. I'm staggered nobody in the press, or in the Rangers support, has questioned the sense of paying that sort of money for a player to play in the third division - or where the cash has come from.
What's just as surprising was the lack of further transfer activity at Ibrox. It seems that, though McCoist himself felt he needed five or six signings, the only other new face is Australian-Italian striker Francesco Stella, who spent last season playing in Italy's fourth tier. One suspects that Green asked McCoist "Do you want a Stella?" and the Rangers coach is still wondering where his pint of lager is. With Carlos Bocanegra and Kirk Broadfoot gone, the squad is quite thin on numbers, and if Templeton, Shiels et al come off badly when they experience the more 'agricultural' elements of lower league defending, Rangers might find that life in the SFL continues to be anything but plain sailing.
L.
No comments:
Post a Comment