ABDUL OSMAN could have been forgiven if he had turned his back on Scottish football and vowed never to return to this side of the border.
Instead, the midfielder is delighted he has given our top flight another crack, six years on from the demise of former club Gretna. Osman had no idea what would unfold when he made the move to Raydale Park from Maidenhead United in 2007, but his time in Scotland would be a short-lived affair as the Gretna fairytale came to a sorry end.
After spells at Northampton Town and Crewe and a season in Greece with Kerkyra, the 27-year-old has given our game another go and has shone since signing for Partick Thistle this summer. "It is a long time since I was last here but there were more better players then," he said. "Hearts, Hibs and Rangers were in the league but it is still a difficult league. There are always reasons why teams fall out of the league.
"It is still a decent level and I'm enjoying it. It was a difficult time at Gretna. Every game was hard for us: we went into games not expecting to win and it was tough.
"I still enjoyed it and it was a good experience. It makes you stronger. I was young then and I think it helped me a lot. After that I went back down south and played in League 1.
"I think it made me a stronger person. It was my first pro contract so it didn't bother me as much. If it was to happen now, that would be a totally different story. It was an experience and, after that, I went to Greece and had similar problems with money. It is a learning experience."
Osman has caught the eye since joining Alan Archibald's side and will look to help them to another top-flight triumph when they host St Johnstone in the SPFL Premiership this afternoon. The Englishman has added a steely presence to the Firhill midfield and given Thistle's flair players some protection as they look to unlock defences.
But the towering midfielder admits it was the prospect of free-flowing football with Archibald's side enticed him back to Scotland after leaving Crewe last term. "In my opinion, Scottish football is better than League 1 and League 2," he said. "The mentality of how teams want to play is different. It is more tactical and you play more football.
"In League 1 and 2, in some games you hardly touch the ball. Some teams go route one but Crewe are one of the teams that try to play football because that is their philosophy and how they want to do things.
"Thistle are the same and it suits me well. I like the rough side of the game but, as a midfielder, if you can get on the ball it benefits you more."
Frazer Wright, meanwhile, admits that he was ready to retire from football at the end of last season. The St Johnstone defender lifted the Scottish Cup at the end of last season, but struggled with his fitness and went through a spell out of the first team. "The way I was feeling, I was looking at probably chucking it at the end of the season," admitted Wright. "Because of the [injured] hip I think I've only been operating at 50% and it was taking me two or three days to recover from every game I played.
"I know the standards I can reach and I was nowhere near them. But I'm feeling much better now."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article