Naismith to MLS?

[Samuel Camazzola]

2 hours ago, RENE said:

I think if we get European football he will stay even if it is for two games ???

I think the possibility of Scotland qualifying for a major tournament will lead to him signing a one year contract. He likely to remain a first pick if he stays fit and may not get that elsewhere. 

[Clark Griswold]

My philosophy on him staying or going is quite simple - let's just enjoy having him for as long as we have him.If that's til the end of the season, fine. If he signs for another year, bonus.

 

It's very rare we sign a player with as much pedigree and experience as he's had playing in the EPL for so long, so I'm just going to enjoy him pulling on the famous maroon jersey. He will be sorely missed when he does go.

[Gershwin]

I think someone needs to remind him that he'll be taking his kids away from the grandparents if he moves to the MLS.

 

One more thing about SN. I have a friend who is a Killie fan, and he was at a wedding with Naismith and his wife the summer before he joined us. He told him that he would only come back up the road to join Killie or Rangers  

[Le Chat]

5 minutes ago, Gershwin said:

I think someone needs to remind him that he'll be taking his kids away from the grandparents if he moves to the MLS.

 

 

 

We should also 'remind' him about the amount of school shootings there are in America 

[Pagey]

Living over here and watching a bit of MLS, I think Steven would get frustrated pretty quickly given how vocal he is on the pitch for us. Not sure his teammates would play to his levels and work rate. It may also be a challenge for him with his work rate in the heat some games are played in.

 

Although the lifestyle is great

 

Looking forward to seeing him and the rest of Edinburgh's top team next week when I'm back in town for the St Midden game ?

 

 

[Jamhammer]

Couldn’t blame him really. Hope not though.  

If he does go hope it’s to the Whitecaps ?

[Armageddon]

4 hours ago, hmfc_liam06 said:

 

I assume you've seen his bank account? Seen a few folk claim this. No one but Steven and his wife will know whether they need the dosh or not.

 

Don't really care how much money you do or do not have. If someone offers you multiple times what Hearts are offering you then you'll take it.

 

I agree Liam - yes he's been very well paid but he has a kid!  He might be financially happy but these guys would surely want to squirrel away as much as possible for their kids and grand kids

[tartofmidlothian]

You can tell from Levein's words that if he does go, it won't be for want of us pulling out all the stops.

[Captain America]

1 hour ago, cb1874 said:

Huge decision for him. There's no doubt that America has obvious advantages over Hearts, especially when his kids are going to be a large part of that decision. There's no better place in the world to educate your children... allied to the lifestyle and climate, it's a tough package to beat. I would argue, though, that those opportunities are more aligned to high school age kids and thereafter the college system over there. Do we know how old his kids are? If they're still primary school age, he may stay a little longer(with us playing), then move them all when they're a bit older and look to continue his career over there coaching, while his kids are at high school.

 

We can speculate all we want...the answer will be no clearer until SN makes his decision.

Sure his oldest kid started primary school in Aug just gone and he has a younger child aswell. 

[Norm]

I'm not sure America is the place you want to bring up kids, especially at the age of his kids. Was there not a member on JKB who moved back, precisely because he didn't like the fact his kids had shooter drills? 

[pointon]

If he was staying surely it would have been tied up by now 

[Beast Boy]

I know nothing about living in USA. Is it really such an unbelievable lifestyle? Surely depends massively on where about you go? It’s not a country I’ve ever felt strongly drawn to tbh. Although I’ve met and liked plenty Americans who have moved over here. ?

Edited February 15, 2019 by Glib and Shameless Crier

[kila]

17 minutes ago, Glib and Shameless Crier said:

I know nothing about living in USA. Is it really such an unbelievable lifestyle? Surely depends massively on where about you go? It’s not a country I’ve ever felt strongly drawn to tbh. Although I’ve met and liked plenty Americans who have moved over here. ?

 

I think it is more if you are rich enough you can buy elite isolation with a nice climate

 

 

[jambo1980]

2 hours ago, Normthebarman said:

I'm not sure America is the place you want to bring up kids, especially at the age of his kids. Was there not a member on JKB who moved back, precisely because he didn't like the fact his kids had shooter drills? 

 

Playing in the MLS doesn't have to mean the family living in the US, though. There are three Canadian teams, with Toronto and Vancouver being particularly appealing to outsiders (Montreal, too, especially if you speak French). Canada isn't without it's issues, but there are far fewer instances of gun violence than in the US and is a good place to raise a family.

[indianajones]

End his career in a joke football league? 

 

You're better than that Naisy. 

[OTT]

Not a chance I'd send my kids to school in the states. Legitimate chance they might not come home? **** that. 

 

Not a league that is family friendly if you're playing in Florida one week then Colorado the next. 

 

He's loved here and its stable. If he wants the experience of playing there maybe some sort of loan arrangement could be sorted out with him signing here but going out for 6 months or whatever. 

[CloustonHMFC]

6 hours ago, cb1874 said:

There's no better place in the world to educate your children.

Although I have no doubt that America would be a great lifestyle if you earned the kind of money he does but there’s plenty better places to educate your children, Scotland being one of them. 

[Beast Boy]

1 hour ago, kila said:

 

I think it is more if you are rich enough you can buy elite isolation with a nice climate

 

 

 

Cool. Not sure if that’s definitely what he’s looking for though, going by his interviews. 

 

Either way, he’ll make the right choice for his family and I doubt the ambitions of football supporters will top his list of priorities. ?

[Beast Boy]

10 minutes ago, clouston1992 said:

Although I have no doubt that America would be a great lifestyle if you earned the kind of money he does but there’s plenty better places to educate your children, Scotland being one of them. 

Careful... the Scottish cringe mob will be after you for that! ?

[Dusk_Till_Dawn]

I love having him here because he’s quality but it’s not a great strategy to be relying on someone who could leave at any moment

[Dusk_Till_Dawn]

I love having him here because he’s quality but it’s not a great strategy to be relying on someone who could leave at any moment

[1971fozzy]

He’s a brilliant player. Has the lot.

if I was him I’d probably go to the US though. Warm , fabulous way of life and easy money. 

 

Flip side, not really a competitive league that matters much. Hotdogs and coors light and high fiving with each other.

 

i think he still has unfinished business here. And a fabulous house nearing completion.

 

[Unknown user]

2 minutes ago, Dusk_Till_Dawn said:

I love having him here because he’s quality but it’s not a great strategy to be relying on someone who could leave at any moment

 

We've got a player who's above the quality we can normally sign, it would be mental not to play him, so what are we meant to do? We play him as often as we can and enjoy the quality he brings for as long as we can. 

If he signs on again we won't need a replacement, if he doesn't then we will, but I don't see what other course of action we should be taking just now. 

 

If what we're doing just now is relying on him, what do you reckon we should be doing instead?

[Nookie Bear]

21 minutes ago, Dusk_Till_Dawn said:

I love having him here because he’s quality but it’s not a great strategy to be relying on someone who could leave at any moment

 

Nature of the modern game. Any player could leave at any moment for the right price and you just have to play the. For as long as their attitude is right. 

 

And anyway, imagine the seethe if Levein left Naismith out ?

[Nookie Bear]

1 hour ago, clouston1992 said:

Although I have no doubt that America would be a great lifestyle if you earned the kind of money he does but there’s plenty better places to educate your children, Scotland being one of them. 

 

Spot on about that. 

[Craig Gordons Gloves]

As someone who moved to the USA on a 7 month secondment in 2006 and it's now 2019 and i'm still here i can talk from experience and say it's a great move but one that's also not for everyone. If you look at this another way, if any of us had a desire to try out our skills in a different country and an opportunity came up, we'd most likely look at it and right now, that's really all that has happened. 

 

The money argument is a misnomer too, while he may have earned a fair bit already, he's also not got many years left of what is essentially a short career.   The other thing to consider is that MLS salaries are not actually all that high in comparison to the SPFL unless you're a real star (Pirlo/Ibrahimovic level) and Naismith wouldn't fall in that category.  The average salary is around $330k a year but the median is actually alot lower at around $120k.  I am guessing we'd not be able to offer much more than 5k a week so we'd be comparable in some ways. 

[Glamorgan Jambo]

The chance to spend a couple of years in the US and see and experience the country at first hand would be tough for anyone to turn down. And his kids are still very young so I can't see education being a huge issue. The question would be which club and what his role would be. Can't see him ever being a 'franchise player' like Rooney at Washington or Zlatan at Galaxy and can't see him being interested in being a roster filler like Kitchen at Galaxy or Nicholson at Colorado. So I'm not sure if there really will be the fit he's looking for. We'll see though. 

[alwaysthereinspirit]

9 minutes ago, Glamorgan Jambo said:

The chance to spend a couple of years in the US and see and experience the country at first hand would be tough for anyone to turn down. And his kids are still very young so I can't see education being a huge issue. The question would be which club and what his role would be. Can't see him ever being a 'franchise player' like Rooney at Washington or Zlatan at Galaxy and can't see him being interested in being a roster filler like Kitchen at Galaxy or Nicholson at Colorado. So I'm not sure if there really will be the fit he's looking for. We'll see though. 

New England Revolution. Closest team to Scotland. Win win for him and me.

Welcome Steven.

[Glamorgan Jambo]

2 minutes ago, alwaysthereinspirit said:

New England Revolution. Closest team to Scotland. Win win for him and me.

Welcome Steven.

Who is their current franchise player? 

[alwaysthereinspirit]

Just now, Glamorgan Jambo said:

Who is their current franchise player? 

Honestly couldn't tell you. I don't watch them much. I'd go see him though. I went a few years back quite a bit when Steve Nicol was coach. Also when Jose Goncalves was captain.

[John mcCartney]

put a good bunch of players around him and let him call the shots

continuing thru in fecking lanarkshire on sunday

[Pasquale for King]

8 hours ago, Pagey said:

Living over here and watching a bit of MLS, I think Steven would get frustrated pretty quickly given how vocal he is on the pitch for us. Not sure his teammates would play to his levels and work rate. It may also be a challenge for him with his work rate in the heat some games are played in.

 

Although the lifestyle is great

 

Looking forward to seeing him and the rest of Edinburgh's top team next week when I'm back in town for the St Midden game ?

 

 

Was just going to say this. Also as someone else said it’s a lonely life for his wife, Rooney and his family are struggling to cope and he’s not been there a year yet. I don’t know how easy it would be for his wife with being a dentist and getting a job or starting a practise etc, they do take better care of their teeth. Is the upheaval worth it? All questions they will need answers for. The money on offer is great for the top players but not so much for the others (Zlatan v Kitchen for example). Quite a few artificial pitches too.Not exactly the safest place to go. 

Totally biased point of view of course and hope he stays.

Edited February 15, 2019 by Pasquale for King

[Pasquale for King]

2 hours ago, alwaysthereinspirit said:

New England Revolution. Closest team to Scotland. Win win for him and me.

Welcome Steven.

As our most important player it’s certainly not a win win for Hearts . 

[luckydug]

10 hours ago, cb1874 said:

Huge decision for him. There's no doubt that America has obvious advantages over Hearts, especially when his kids are going to be a large part of that decision. There's no better place in the world to educate your children... allied to the lifestyle and climate, it's a tough package to beat. I would argue, though, that those opportunities are more aligned to high school age kids and thereafter the college system over there. Do we know how old his kids are? If they're still primary school age, he may stay a little longer(with us playing), then move them all when they're a bit older and look to continue his career over there coaching, while his kids are at high school.

 

We can speculate all we want...the answer will be no clearer until SN makes his decision.

 

I dont get this fascination with a country thats run by a madman and could soon be on the brink of a civil war.

As for lifestyle he has plenty of money and may not fancy the upheaval.

People saying no one would refuse the kind of money on offer are only speaking for themselfs.

Speaking for myself I would not go near the place in the current political climate.

If its about good weather plenty teams in Spain etc 

 

[Jammy T]

8 hours ago, pointon said:

If he was staying surely it would have been tied up by now 

If he was leaving surely he’d have tied up a pre-contract by now??

[DesertDawg]

1 hour ago, luckydug said:

 

I dont get this fascination with a country thats run by a madman and could soon be on the brink of a civil war.

As for lifestyle he has plenty of money and may not fancy the upheaval.

People saying no one would refuse the kind of money on offer are only speaking for themselfs.

Speaking for myself I would not go near the place in the current political climate.

If its about good weather plenty teams in Spain etc 

 

 

I don't get the fascination of living in a country run by a bunch of money grubbers from Eton who don't care about anyone but themselves but there you go.

 

Frankly, I' m not sure if Naismith could even make the top MLS teams like Atlanta.

 

https://www.atlutd.com/

 

 

 

 

[AlphonseCapone]

I'd be devastated if he leaves. Can't fault his commitment to us whatsoever. If he chooses to go to America then I can't fault that whatsoever. A chance at a new lifestyle for him and his family, even if only for a few years, fair play to him, he's earned the opportunity. 

 

I hope he stays, I think we offer him a lot but if goes to America then I wish him nothing but the best, the guy gives everything for us when he wears our strip. 

[luckydug]

7 minutes ago, DesertDawg said:

 

I don't get the fascination of living in a country run by a bunch of money grubbers from Eton who don't care about anyone but themselves but there you go.

 

Frankly, I' m not sure if Naismith could even make the top MLS teams like Atlanta.

 

https://www.atlutd.com/

 

 

 

 

I agree with the first paragraph.

Unfortunately many of my fellow Scots were too feart to do something about it when we had the chance.

About SN though he wanted to come back to Scotland and I'm hoping he doesn't want the hassle of relocating and starting afresh in a (very)strange country.

[Pasquale for King]

2 hours ago, luckydug said:

 

I dont get this fascination with a country thats run by a madman and could soon be on the brink of a civil war.

As for lifestyle he has plenty of money and may not fancy the upheaval.

People saying no one would refuse the kind of money on offer are only speaking for themselfs.

Speaking for myself I would not go near the place in the current political climate.

If its about good weather plenty teams in Spain etc 

 

Spain isn’t much better politically to be honest, no gun crime though. On the surface you have better weather and he would be in the more affluent areas.  Not sure if he would earn top dollar so to speak. I wouldn’t want to go there if I was him with the problems it currently faces. Let’s face it though as we’re stuck in this blessed Union for now this country is getting slowly worse on a year by year basis.

CL has made a good point about his international opportunities being limited  too. 

[Pasquale for King]

1 hour ago, luckydug said:

I agree with the first paragraph.

Unfortunately many of my fellow Scots were too feart to do something about it when we had the chance.

About SN though he wanted to come back to Scotland and I'm hoping he doesn't want the hassle of relocating and starting afresh in a (very)strange country.

Fingers crossed ?, he’s practically irreplaceable.

[StevenNaismith]

I think he will be a Hearts player next season. Just a hunch.

[manaliveits105]

Up late Steven 

[sidjamesbottle]

with the majority of American sides playing on astro and Naismith having previous issues with his knees it might not be straight forward, think we have a good chance of keeping him, as Levein says nothing stopping him going there to coach a bit later in his career 

[Samuel Camazzola]

10 hours ago, alwaysthereinspirit said:

Honestly couldn't tell you. I don't watch them much. I'd go see him though. I went a few years back quite a bit when Steve Nicol was coach. Also when Jose Goncalves was captain.

Jankauskas was there about 10 years ago too. 

[portobellojambo1]

4 hours ago, StevenNaismith said:

I think he will be a Hearts player next season. Just a hunch.

 

As do I. I don't doubt that something may well have come up in a conversation between himself and Craig Levein about the MLS. It may well have been said as no more than a passing comment. However, there is no way of us knowing if what wording appeared in print matched what the journalist was actually told. But by printing it in the journalist's chosen manner it has created interest for the paper, the discussion taking place on this thread is an example of that.

[80bob]

Better get the ground workers to lay off with digging the foundations for his new house 

[luckydug]

2 hours ago, sidjamesbottle said:

with the majority of American sides playing on astro and Naismith having previous issues with his knees it might not be straight forward, think we have a good chance of keeping him, as Levein says nothing stopping him going there to coach a bit later in his career 

Would rather he stayed here to coach.

He would be a big loss to Scotland as a coach as well.

[Bazzas right boot]

If he was staying with us he would have signed already, nothing to stop him other than not wanting to sign. 

 

Highly unlikely he'll stay imo. 

 

[The Future's Maroon]

 

See Levein has ‘recruited’ McLeish in his bid to get SN to stay, urging him not to pick MLS based players (jokingly).

 

I think he’ll stay personally.

Edited February 16, 2019 by The Future's Maroon

[Unknown user]

2 hours ago, The Future's Maroon said:

 

See Levein has ‘recruited’ McLeish in his bid to get SN to stay, urging him not to pick MLS based players (jokingly).

 

I think he’ll stay personally.

 

I think we've got a decent chance, I always hark back to the initial loan where we would have had him on a permanent contract if Norwich hadn't moved the goalposts. 

He was willing to commit to us then, hopefully he'll still be willing now.