TS SPL Player of the Month - AUGUST - Steven Naismith

[LAF]

TS SPL Player of the Month - August...

Steven Naismith

Steven John Naismith (born 14 September 1986, in Irvine, Scotland), is a Scottish footballer, currently playing for Scottish Premier League club Rangers.

Career
He made his senior debut in the 2003-04 season as a substitute against Hibernian in April 2004. This was in a season where he helped Kilmarnock Under 19's win the Scottish Youth Cup against Rangers 1-0 at Rugby Park. He scored his first senior goal for the club in a 2-2 draw with Hearts in February 2005.

In the 2005-06 season he won the Scottish Football Writers' "Young Player Of The Year" Award, after some impressive performances and scoring 13 goals. He plays as no 7 for Kilmarnock in the Striker position, but can also play on the left of midfield. A resident of Stewarton, Naismith attended Lainshaw Primary School and Stewarton Academy, whilst his footballing education took place with local junior team Stewarton Annick. He then played several years in the Kilmarnock youth team before signing for the Kilmarnock senior team at the age of 18.

Naismith scored on his debut for Scotland U21s v Iceland in a 4-0 victory in March 2006 and in the same month scored on his debut for the Scotland B team v Turkey in a 3-2 defeat. He has also played for Scotland at U18 level.

Naismith's performances led to a two-day trial with Arsenal in August 2006. In the same month, Kilmarnock rejected a seven-figure bid for the player from Southampton.

In January 2007 Naismith scored his first professional hat-trick, in a 3-0 CIS Cup victory over Falkirk.

In April 2007, Naismith received the Young Player of the Year award for his efforts in the 2006/2007 season. This award has started the chase for the young strikers signature with clubs such as Aston Villa, Bristol City, Rangers and most recently Celtic apparently prepared to bid.

On 1 June 2007 Naismith was called up to the Scotland squad for the first time and made his debut as a late substitute in the 2-0 win over the Faroe Islands.

On 4 June 2007 it was reported that Rangers had made a bid of around £400,000 for the striker, with Kilmarnock officials incensed by what they thought a derisory offer. Around this time Kilmarnock confirmed a bid of £1.4m cash plus £0.3m add-ons had been rejected from an English side, which suggested Rangers had made a severe under-valuation of the player. Several days later still, on 8 June 2007 it was reported that Celtic and Charlton Athletic had expressed an interest for the striker. Rangers confirmed on the 6th of July, that they had withdrawn their 4th and final bid for the starlet, and that they would pursue other targets.

On the July 26, it was widely reported that Naismith had handed in an official transfer request. His agent Andrew McCormick hit out at Kilmarnock for not allowing Steven to join his "boyhood heroes", Rangers, and claimed that the Ibrox club would be the only transfer he would consider, however on August 1, 2007, reports surfaced on the BBC suggesting Kilmarnock were close to accepting a bid of around £2m from Rangers' arch rivals Celtic. Naismith has now withdrawn his transfer request.

On August 21, 2007, Naismith captained the Scotland U-21 team and scored the 4th minute winner against the Czech Republic U-21s.

On Friday August 31 at 23:11 Sky Sports broke the news that Kilmarnock had accepted Rangers' most recent offer for the striker, a fee in the region of £1.9m had been agreed between the two clubs and he signed just 19 seconds before the end of the window. The next day he started as a sub against Gretna and made his appearance with 7 minutes left.

Wonder goal:

TalkSoccer Media Player

[DavidMc]

Steven Naismith. Not only for his performances, but the way he has handled the transfer specualtion aswell.

[LAF]

I agree. He's been awesome since the start of the season.

Barry Ferguson is playing like a captain should.

[Doc-Bhoy]

I'll go for Naismith, has dealt well with all transfer disaters and it hasnt affected his preformances.

[LAF]

Well looks like Naismith becomes the first TS SPL Player of the month. I'll post pictures, vids etc. later.

[Oliver_Kahn]

Do you want me to close the poll mate ?

[LAF]

Yeah please.

[LAF]

Updated.