As football fans will know, newspapers recently have been carrying stories of the various squad changes that are taking place across the 42 senior clubs in Scotland. Most of these stories have had a negative slant as budgets and accordingly, the number of paid employees, will reduce.
For many a youngster, the past month has seen their hopes of making it at their first club end, as they have been released at the end of their apprenticeship, and for more experienced players, they may now be contemplating an unexpected move to part-time football or even a start in a totally new career.
Fortunately for players, these life changes do not have to be faced alone as their union, PFA Scotland, held their seventh Annual Careers Day at Hampden last week to help answer the questions raised on a player’s release from a club.
The PFA’s Education Co-ordinator, Craig Flannigan, talked through what help and advice there was on the day and what remains available.
He explained: “There are various groups of players that we looked to help. It is not just about released players, as we also spoke to apprentices who have a year left on what they can do about increasing their chances of employment in football or another industry. We spoke to the guys moving from full-time to part-time and those moving out of the game.”
Flannigan added: “Our Chief Executive, Fraser Wishart, singled out first year apprentices about the responsibilities that being a professional footballer brings. There were over 140 first year apprentices and 120 in their second year so it was a busy day.
“The current hot topic is Social Networking sites and what obligations players have there. This is an issue at all clubs and Fraser pointed out that you can end up on the front page of a national newspaper if you are at a Third Division club just as easily as a SPL one such is this country’s relationship with football.
“Hopefully, Fraser’s talk about how to conduct yourself as a professional will avoid the unfortunate penalties that some young players have suffered recently.”
Legal advice was on hand for all players with Flannigan saying: “The PFA have a legal team that work in conjunction with Fair Management Services and a Pro-Legal team. The Legal team discusses the role of agents and how we can sometimes help to clear up any misunderstandings that arise.
“Some boys get tied into contractual obligations they do not fully understand. We try to help them realise their role in getting themselves a move to another club, if that is what they want, by performing well on the pitch. You need a sound lawyer and good legal advice throughout life and we can help with that for our members.”
The PFA Pro-Legal team is just in its infancy and Flannigan gave an insight into what their role is by saying: “We talked about getting the benefit of good advice. Ricky Gillies is a Football Consultant, who works alongside Liam O’Donnell and John Paul Mowbray of Bridge Litigation, who can help players with new contracts.
“Ricky was over the course himself when he was a player at St. Mirren and had a host of Premiership clubs chasing him. He perhaps took the wrong advice and stayed in Scotland with Aberdeen so he can talk through choices with players.
“Any monies raised by these guys, which would be fairly minimal, is put back into the PFA’s Education Fund which obviously suits me with my Education Co-ordinator hat on. There is a great deal of experience within our organisation about contractual issues and we are beginning to use that more. Indeed, some agents call us for advice.”
Flannigan added: “Former Clyde, Falkirk, St. Mirren, Hamilton Accies and Dunfermline defender Jack Ross is responsible for communications at PFA Scotland and he spoke to the assembled players about the importance of a Plan B in the event of Plan A of becoming a successful player not working out.”
A bit like Gillies, Ross can speak to players through personal experience with his PFA Scotland colleague explaining: “Jack was released by Dundee when he was 18 and he went on from there to university. He played in Junior football for Camelon before stepping up to Clyde and worked his way through the divisions in Scotland all the way up to the SPL and a Scotland B Cap.”
“He highlighted to young players that the route taken by guys like Barry Ferguson and Aiden McGeady from the youth ranks to being an internationalist is not the only route, as other routes are open.
“The players leaving clubs just now have to change their aspirations for employment and PFA Scotland was looking to get them thinking about an 'exit strategy'.”
Choices for education and alternative employment were discussed with Flannigan saying: “For some second year apprenticeships and even some first year ones, being released can be hard psychologically as they may have been at the same club since they were 10.
“Stirling University do a fantastic football scholarship and players can look at that if they have University Entry qualifications. There is also an access course available to Stirling and this course is attractive as it is run on fantastic facilities. I would imagine that only Rangers, Celtic, Hearts and Hibs have the facilities that Stirling University has.”
Another possibility for players to consider is the new two year Business Degree course run on-line by the University of Denmark which starts in September. The worldwide representative organisation for all professional players, FIFPro, are behind this programme that will see 40 footballers from across Europe work on four semesters of 20 weeks on their Business Degree with the option to specialise after that in Sports Management, Sports Governance or Sports Law.
Flannigan added: “We have eight players interested in the five places we have available on this programme. This qualification could see players move on to operate effectively at a Boardroom level or within one of the organisations such as the SFL, SPL and the SFA. Guys that have played the game and have a specific sports degree would be really employable in these fields.
“This course would suit players who have university qualifications but would struggle to get to a regular university due to training commitments.”
At Hampden, advisors concerned with Routes into Education and Part-time careers were also on hand and they will look to continue issuing one to one advice throughout the summer.
Moves to America have become more commonplace recently and First Point USA were represented at Hampden to talk through the choices available for scholarships to the States with Flannigan saying: “America seems to be the first choice for a lot of guys leaving the game particularly if a Scholarship is available. There is a process to go through for players to get there and we can help with that.”
Another alternative for youngsters comes from a partnership between the Players Union and the SFA which looks to provide an alternative employment opportunity in football by becoming referees.
John Fleming, Head of Referee Development, along with Category One referee Brian Winter spoke to the attendees about becoming whistlers with Flannigan saying: “We were pleasantly surprised by the interest shown in becoming match officials. It makes sense for boys to consider it as a career as they have been involved in football for years and have a passion for it.
“They probably have a better understanding of the game than other people of the same age. They know what a good tackle is for example, as they will have done hundreds of them, and we are seriously encouraging the players to consider becoming match officials if they do not find new clubs. From a PFA Scotland point of view, it is a very positive thing to find players paid employment in a complementary field. Also for the game, it can only be a positive move.”
Flannigan added: “Both John and Brian were delighted with the response and this joint approach can only help build bridges. The more players that referee the better as they will learn that we all make mistakes and that too much emphasis has been placed on wrong decisions in the past.
“That will lead to greater respect and players moving on from decisions to getting on with the game.”
All first year apprentices were spoken to regarding a referee's role and not just those interested in a career in black with Flannigan saying: “Their talk was all about education, awareness and respect.
"There was a survey carried out amongst the apprentices about the Laws of the Game and it showed a high degree of a lack of understanding in certain areas. Hibs carried out a pilot scheme with their entire Under-19 youth squad recently and that has seen a couple of their players start to referee games at Under-12 level which is fantastic.
“There is a commitment from PFA Scotland that we will take the lead in improving relationships between players and referees. Fraser was conscious that everyone needs to get around the table and talk about things. We believe that better relations make better players as they just have to worry about themselves and not every refereeing decision.”
One area players should also consider is the leisure industry with Flannigan saying: “There are a lot of positions regarding sport that are funded by local and national Government. There are general Sport and Leisure Coaching positions and there are also positions within the SFA as well as the ones available through the Community Cashback Scheme and local council initiatives.
“Football players have good transferrable skills," said Flannigan before adding, “Most employers look for confident employees that can work well in a team. Players have responsibility put on them at an early age and they also need to work in front of a lot of people.”
Ironically and unfortunately for Flannigan and his colleagues, the Open Day was a well attended event as he advised: “The final figures have not been collated yet but 78% of players signed by clubs at 16 are out of the game by the time they are 21. The retention rate of apprentices this year from the nine clubs we know about is 28%.”
“That is not worse than in previous seasons however, the volume of total players released is up. Some clubs have released 15 players and that has not happened before and it will be really interesting to see where all these players end up.”
The Open Day is just one of the events used by PFA Scotland to work with their members with support available throughout the year as Flannigan explained.
“The Open Day has a great amount of content aimed at young players as they are the majority of players being released. However, we have run workshops over the past couple of years where we really try to get players thinking about their education.
“We had a CV workshop recently where we spoke to players to put together a CV that would help them get a job in another industry. The players would list the medals they had won and we would gently point out that an employer would be looking at the transferrable skills that they used to win those medals. What is their role at club functions, do they speak at them and that type of thing? We also encourage players to carry out voluntary work and that helps build transferrable skills as well.”
The union has also identified job markets such as financial services as one where players should consider employment with Flannigan saying: “We ran a careers day around being a Financial Advisor. Jobs like that are attractive as they have flexible hours that would suit either a full-time or a part-time player.”
Flannigan finished by saying: “We will also shortly be launching our new look website and that will make it easier for our members to get in touch with the correct people at PFA Scotland. We are here to help.”
To view player availability on the SFL website please click HERE
Any players wishing to advertise their availability should email [email protected]
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