Livingston - all the threads merged

[Cptn Hooch]

There's Wee Teto announced. Cue the South African tidal wave. Sounds like we won't see him until after Christmas at the earliest though due to work permit issues

Edited August 7, 2023 by Cptn Hooch

[ATLIS]

After all that he has to go back out on loan to an African side until January at least. 4 year deal is massive though, shows how highly we rate him

[LIVIFOREVER]

4 minutes ago, Cptn Hooch said:

There's Wee Teto announced. Cue the South African tidal wave

Woohoo, wonder if he'll come on as a sub against Sevco, and rip them to bits.

[ATLIS]

Just now, LIVIFOREVER said:

Woohoo, wonder if he'll come on as a sub against Sevco, and rip them to bits.

He can't play, he didn't get his work permit. He's going out on loan back to Africa until January at least and then we can reapply

[LIVIFOREVER]

Just now, ATLIS said:

After all that he has to go back out on loan to an African side until January at least. 4 year deal is massive though, shows how highly we rate him

That'll be a no to my prev post then, was wanting to see him play after all the hype from Martindale about how good he is.

[Livi La Vida Loca]

We can only hope that there are no further issues with his work permit come January as going by Martindale's comments all summer we can't really afford to have a player on the books who can't play.

 

In saying that they must rate him very highly to take the risk and hopefully come January he can have a big impact.

[Guest]

If Teto had come in now he'd have been competing for what's already the most over-subscribed part of the team, the attacking midfield roles. So he was likely going to be loaned to QoS or Arboath anyway. 

[LIVIFOREVER]

33 minutes ago, FreedomFarter said:

If Teto had come in now he'd have been competing for what's already the most over-subscribed part of the team, the attacking midfield roles. So he was likely going to be loaned to QoS or Arboath anyway. 

Unless he's better than anyone we've got.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, LIVIFOREVER said:

Unless he's better than anyone we've got.

Maybe and hopefully but in interviews, Martindale has talked of the need to develop Teto. He's painted the picture of a longer term "project" case rather than a ready-made first teamer. 

Dundee United got a GBE from the SPFL so they could get a work permit for Sadat Anaku this time last year. Anaku was of a similar age to Teto and even playing at a lower level in Uganda. So its frustrating we've been thwarted here with Teto when that player was approved. 

Edited August 7, 2023 by FreedomFarter

[lennyzer0]

7 hours ago, FreedomFarter said:

Maybe and hopefully but in interviews, Martindale has talked of the need to develop Teto. He's painted the picture of a longer term "project" case rather than a ready-made first teamer. 

Dundee United got a GBE from the SPFL so they could get a work permit for Sadat Anaku this time last year. Anaku was of a similar age to Teto and even playing at a lower level in Uganda. So its frustrating we've been thwarted here with Teto when that player was approved. 

Seems odd to me that any Premiership team would be knocked back for a GBE - surely the SPFL have to assume that any team in our top league buying a player from abroad and offering him a substantial contract knows their business.

[vikingTON]

4 minutes ago, lennyzer0 said:

Seems odd to me that any Premiership team would be knocked back for a GBE - surely the SPFL have to assume that any team in our top league buying a player from abroad and offering him a substantial contract knows their business.

Presumably they've paid at least cursory attention to Scottish football transfers since the 1990s, because that claim is obviously bollocks.

[RandomGuy.]

7 hours ago, FreedomFarter said:

Dundee United got a GBE from the SPFL so they could get a work permit for Sadat Anaku this time last year. Anaku was of a similar age to Teto and even playing at a lower level in Uganda. So its frustrating we've been thwarted here with Teto when that player was approved. 

Not that it will ever, rightfully, happen, but would be interesting to see how different the two appeal cases looked.

I think youve to prove as best as you can that the player both improves on what you have and also improves on options you could sign from within the UK.

I get the impression your chances of success are more about how you present your case than how good a case the player actually has.

[Durnford]

If we were to need help from the Scottish Government then presumably we'd need support from Angela Constance in which case we're well and truly phuqued.

One other point though is that the Africa Cup of Nations kicks off in January; and I would be hopeful that a young South African player who's just secured an overseas contract would already be under scrutiny. On the down side I cant see many South African players receiving their first call up in the last year as being under the age of 23 and indeed one player (goalkeeper) is 31. Also, as far as I can see, no player from TS Galaxy have had a call-up to the national side in recent memory if at all; in fact a fair proportion of the current squad seem to hail from two teams, Mamelodi Sundowns or Maritzburg United.

EDIT - also getting him in on a holiday visa was probably going to be frowned upon as well.

Edited August 8, 2023 by Durnford

[lennyzer0]

1 hour ago, virginton said:

Presumably they've paid at least cursory attention to Scottish football transfers since the 1990s, because that claim is obviously bollocks.

Good point, well made, to be fair.

[LIVIFOREVER]

9 hours ago, FreedomFarter said:

Maybe and hopefully but in interviews, Martindale has talked of the need to develop Teto. He's painted the picture of a longer term "project" case rather than a ready-made first teamer. 

Dundee United got a GBE from the SPFL so they could get a work permit for Sadat Anaku this time last year. Anaku was of a similar age to Teto and even playing at a lower level in Uganda. So its frustrating we've been thwarted here with Teto when that player was approved. 

I'm getting mixed messages on that score, on one hand he's saying Teto is unlike any Livi player we've seen, and is absolutely brilliant and exciting to watch technical footballer,  and on the other, don't expect too much from him and he may need time to develop. 

I think Martindale is bursting with excitement having watched him play, but then trying to play it down so no pressure is put on him, but the excitement is winning.

 

My main concern is how small he is, and how he'll cope with Scottish footballers kicking his legs from him.

Edited August 8, 2023 by LIVIFOREVER

[Menga Bus]

Not all that convinced he’ll actually meet and improve on the criteria required by January, he needs to get a loan move to a decent standard of team but also requires to play a certain amount of game time for some on the requirements. It’s a complicated matter and not a case of waiting till January for a permit to come through, he has to actively go out and meet certain requirements to become eligible. A lot of the requirements are based on the club he’ll be loaned to, their league performances, and that team giving him game time. However, davie and the livi staff must be fairly confident that he’ll meet these requirements so hopefully we’ll see him sooner rather than later. 

[Durnford]

I do think getting him here under a tourist visa was the wrong strategy. Basically it sends the wrong message when applying for a work permit.

It would also be interesting to know the reason the works visa was turned down in the first place (in South Africa). I'm wondering if the authorities were suspicious about how small he was and whether he was in fact under age? From the photos he barely looks 16 but then that could be deceptive.

And it wouldn't be the first player we've had where there was a question over his age; remember Cherif Toure Maman; wasn't there a big hoo ha after he left us about his actual age?

I'm sure Teto actually is the stated age however it is rather difficult to prove it in some areas hence the authorities might have been suspicious; trying to bypass things only made it look more questionable..

 

 

 

[Guest]

14 minutes ago, Menga Bus said:

Not all that convinced he’ll actually meet and improve on the criteria required by January, he needs to get a loan move to a decent standard of team but also requires to play a certain amount of game time for some on the requirements. It’s a complicated matter and not a case of waiting till January for a permit to come through, he has to actively go out and meet certain requirements to become eligible. A lot of the requirements are based on the club he’ll be loaned to, their league performances, and that team giving him game time. However, davie and the livi staff must be fairly confident that he’ll meet these requirements so hopefully we’ll see him sooner rather than later. 

From what I've read online, the UK guidelines were created with the English Premier League in mind so very few foreign players signed by Scottish clubs come anywhere close to meeting the criteria, even Old Firm foreign signings often don't meet them. However, there's the Governing Body Endorsement in Scotland that's awarded by the SPFL and it always obtains the player a permit. As Random Guy pointed out a few comments back, the GBE doesn't seem to have set criteria but instead is just a subjective decision based on the presented merit of each case. As you speculate, it's likely that Livi have been told there's a good chance Teto will be awarded a GBE upon his next application if certain steps are undertaken in the meantime. If there wasn't that reasonable optimism for success next time then you'd think the club would've instead just cancelled the deal altogether.

[mozam76]

42 minutes ago, Durnford said:

I do think getting him here under a tourist visa was the wrong strategy. 

Maybe it was the only strategy available. 

The rest of your post is veering towards racial stereotyping in my opinion. 

[Guest]

Age cheats give their age as younger not older than they actually are. Daft suggestion so lets just move on from it, no harm done.