Pat Nevin: Lay off the work permits committee – it works for the good of the game

IT IS getting close to the time when the transfer window begins to hang heavy on the minds of football clubs and their fans. The biannual battle of brinkmanship is played out in full public view through the newspapers, television and a mass of radio programmes. It is prime time for the blame game, so be ready for fingers to be pointed at greedy players, their immoral agents, managers who missed the boat, tight-fisted boards and of course unrealistic fans. Another group who have taken some fairly

They, or I should say we because I have been sitting on it for a few years now, are called on to make decisions on which players, who do not fulfil the Government criteria, should be allowed to ply their trade on these shores. The player, and more specifically the club, will not have to go through the trauma of the tribunal if the target is from the EU or has played in 75% of the 'A' internationals his country has taken part in over the past two years. This is on the understanding that said country is ranked in the top 70 in the world over that period. If you think that is a mouthful you should read some of the official jargon!

The overriding rule is that work permits will only be issued to 'international players of the highest calibre who will make a significant contribution in footballing terms to the development of the United Kingdom game at the highest level.' Not every player clearly reaches these heady heights and so the panel is asked to sit in judgment, and the subjective decisions do not always go down well with the clubs. Even so, the indignant anger which followed the rejection of Jason Scotland's application a while back was hard to fathom for anyone who had even the most basic knowledge of the criteria. He had spent most of the previous season on the bench for Dundee United so it was difficult, nigh impossible, for the panel of football folk to sit in front of a group of Government officials and reasonably argue that he was of the highest calibre ready to make that telling significant contribution to the national game the next season. The fact he was allowed to play in a lower league by the same committee made perfect sense in that there was a reasonable chance he could be a first pick top player at that level. Not surprisingly many decided to suggest the system was a joke, but within the Government's rules it had in fact worked perfectly on that occasion.

The panel has to include people who have played at the top level and some must have worked in various organisations within the game. That would mean a current players' union man and a league or SFA official as well as the sundry ex players and coaches. In all my time on these committees I have rarely come across a difficult case. In the early days clubs would chance their arm with a cheap, unknown import but they stuck out a mile, usually as the club could produce little or no useful information on their greatness in either recommendation or video/DVD form.

The panel changes regularly with a rota of members and I wasn't involved in the infamous Hibs mafia incident when Hearts failed to secure yet another new player from abroad while that particular panel consisted of four ex-Hibernian players. As the brouhaha grew I checked his qualifications and they weren't even close to being good enough; a panel consisting of Gary Mackay, Donald Ford and the chairman of the Hearts supporters' club would have turned him down as well, given the full facts.

There was one hilarious occasion when the tables were turned, much to the amusement of all concerned. The club can't be named but they were a major British name. The date for the meeting was set but the club had a European qualifier they were expected to win the night before. They unexpectedly lost the tie and it was quite clear that they could no longer afford to buy the player in question. A group of officials from the club had to turn up on the day and argue that he wasn't in fact any good after all and the panel really ought to dismiss their case out of hand. The problem was that the player had a World Cup winner's medal in his back pocket and was a cast iron cert to get the nod. They simply didn't want to own up to their fans and face the embarrassment of not being able to afford the player everyone knew they wanted. The meeting descended into farce with both sides laughing at the situation and the work permit was duly granted. The club then scuppered the deal as quickly and as quietly as possible.

Usually, however, it is far more serious as players' livelihoods are at stake and arguably the future prospects of managers into the bargain. Some bosses do not believe there should be a need for work permits and that there should be free movement from anywhere in the world. I can see the point as other countries have less stringent – bordering on non-existent – controls on young players coming into their clubs.

Even so I think it is on balance a good thing that the policies are in place. Just like any other job the temptation to ship in very cheap foreign labour, which would swamp our domestic game, would be almost impossible to resist. It is one of the very few occasions where I would not be on the side of managers having a bigger say in the workings of the game. Most of the time I think their expertise is criminally overlooked but in this case self-interest as opposed to interest in the greater good of the game would colour their views.

It would also be a huge temptation in the boardroom. It would arguably be cheaper and definitely quicker to source youngsters from around the globe than develop our own homegrown lads for six to eight years. This is why it is imperative that players developed at our clubs only move on for what is a reasonable fee when they finally make a step up in class.

After years of too many good and bad foreign imports which left us in the international wilderness, the development of talent in our domestic game is in a healthier state than it has been for over a decade, so why change something that doesn't need to be fixed? The work permits system works, it has the flexibility to allow great players and potentially great players in while providing a check from a mass invasion. In many ways it is the best of all possible worlds, no matter how many Hibees there are on the panel.