JASON SCOTLAND’S debut for St Johnstone looks like being put on hold for another week, as the Trinidad and Tobago internationalist has got himself caught up in yet more red tape.
In order for the former Dundee United striker to get his work permit, granted controversially earlier this week, Scotland will have to leave the country and come back again.
Saints had hoped he could satisfy requirements by flying to Dublin and back, but last night it appeared likely that Scotland would have to return to his homeland, thus preventing him from playing at Airdrie tomorrow.
Scotland admitted that in darker moments the ordeal he has had to endure over the last two months, as a career at Tannadice was taken away from him by bureaucracy and review panels, he questioned his decision to become a professional footballer.
Yesterday, though, when he trained with his new team-mates for the first time, the striker only had thoughts for the future.
He said, “It’s exciting to be involved in football again. Waking up this morning and remembering that I was going to be training and playing football with new colleagues made me very happy.
“In the past eight weeks I have wondered why I picked this career. It has been very hard for me.
“I want to be playing every week and I’m delighted to be getting the chance to do it with St Johnstone and Owen Coyle.
“Of course I want to be playing in the SPL and hopefully I’ll get the chance to do that with St Johnstone.”
As well as training by himself, Scotland has been training with the United squad recently.
“I appreciated the chance to train with United,” he said. “But when the speculation about St Johnstone started, I stopped training there.”
Scotland also played three games for Trinidad and Tobago in the Gold Cup in Miami last month.
Had he been refused a work permit for the second time when the review panel met on Tuesday, Scotland had other career options.
“There were other clubs in different countries,” he said. “My Trinidad and Tobago manager was trying to organise something in Belgium if it hadn’t worked out. But I wanted to see what I could get in Scotland first, and I’m glad St Johnstone came in.”