IT is not very often that a player wishes to remain in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League, rather than return to the npower Championship, yet Dean Shiels, the Kilmarnock midfielder, has reiterated his desire to stay at the Rugby Park club beyond the expiration of his loan from Doncaster Rovers, on January 16,

The 24-year-old, whose father, Kenny, manages the SPL club, has been an influential player and would favour seeing out the season at Kilmarnock, however unlikely he fears that may be.

"I'd like to extend the loan," Shiels said, "but I'm not really sure if that's going to be possible. There hasn't been much communication with Doncaster. I had a good agreement with the previous manager, Sean O'Driscoll, who was great with me. He understood my circumstances and reluctantly let me come up. Now a new manager [Dean Saunders] has come in and things are a little different.

"Everything's a bit up in the air, and we're getting closer to January which is making things unsettling. I think they know that I'd be happy to stay in Scotland. It's just a case of trying to make that happen."

Far more typical is Scott Allan's possible transfer from Dundee United, today's visitors to Rugby Park, to West Bromwich Albion in the Barclays Premier League. Robbie Neilson, the United defender, believes the chance of playing in that division will persuade Allan to choose West Brom over Rangers, should the SPL club match the £400,000 offer United accepted from the English side this week.

He said: "Scott spoke to me when I first came in about what it's like in England and I think he should take the chance if that's what he wants to do.

"West Brom are a good club and have a record of giving young boys a chance. You don't want to go too high, it's all about playing football when you're young and West Brom have shown they are willing to give younger players their opportunity.

"I think if you get the chance to go to England you should take it because it's a great experience. And getting an opportunity at that level is massive, you might never get it again.

"He has a lot of belief in himself and that's 50 or 60% of the game. If you are confident in yourself and think you are going to win then that's half the battle.

"I think any young player who gets a chance like that should spread their wings and give it a go."

Neilson returned after three years south of the border and came back to an SPL which has been the subject of savage criticism in recent times, but he claims people are guilty of being too negative about the game in Scotland and insists that the top half of the Premier League would hold their own in the Championship.

He said: "I think we are guilty of talking down the SPL too much.

"The Championship is a big league with a lot of good teams in there, but I don't think there's too much of a difference between down there and the top six sides in the SPL.

"The bottom half of the Championship and into League One isn't as good. There are SPL teams who could go down there and hold their own at Championship level.

"There are a lot of good young players in Scotland and we need to focus on that and take the positives about the game."