Naismith ponders his future, O’Connor heads to Birmingham

By: Ian Rose | June 22nd, 2007

UPDATE TO THIS POST: O’Connor has reportedly signed with Birmingham.

The two hottest Scottish properties in football right now are Garry O’Connor and Steven Naismith. O’Connor, currently at Locomotiv Moscow, showed his quality with two goals in two games for Scotland since being recalled to the national side. Naismith was, along with Scott Brown, the most exciting young player in the SPL this season, netting 15 goals for Kilmarnock. While Brown was snapped up by Celtic from Hibs, Naismith has been uneasy about an Old Firm future. On one hand, Champions League football and 50,000 fans at every home game is obviously a big argument in favor, but Naismith hates the bench, and is worried he’d spend too much time holding it down if he signed on to the relatively deep rosters of Celtic or Rangers. O’Connor, on the other hand, looks to be headed to the English Premiership, with Birmingham making the first solid offer of £2.5 million, but with interest also being shown by Wigan and West Ham.

For my part, I’m happy to see O’Connor returning to Britain. As I’ve said before in this blog, the more national team players we have in the top European leagues, the better for Scotland. There’s been some talk that his family never really settled into Moscow either, and so it will likely be better for Garry all around. As for Naismith, I really hope he stays out of the Old Firm. I’m not an OF-hater, but he’s right in wondering about playing time. The SPL is at a stage right now where there are too many excellent players to contain on just the Old Firm rosters, and that is a very good place to be. Hearts is said to have some interest in him, but hasn’t made any official moves. If the waiting game continues, Killie could hold onto him, which would be a huge coup for them, as he’s been a big part of their fifth-place finish the last two seasons. Rangers are unlikely to get their mitts on him, after an offer of £400,000 which was seen by Killie as “insulting”.