jpg75 Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 Scarborough teen signed by Scottish giant Rangers FC http://www.thestar.com/sports/soccer/article/936640--scarborough-teen-signed-by-scottish-giant-rangers-fc Like countless other Canadian-born kids with parents who hail from Europe, Fraser Aird inherited his favourite sports team. Rangers FC was the choice in Aird’s Scarborough home, the inevitable byproduct of having both a father and a maternal grandpa who were longtime season ticket holders at Ibrox Stadium, the club’s Glasgow ground.... ...An attacking midfielder with speed and an eye for goal, Aird will initially join Rangers’ Under-17 side. But club officials expect him to move quickly to the Under-19s, which is the third squad behind the first team and reserves. “He’s a talented footballer with good technical ability,” says Jim Sinclair, who as director of the Rangers’ Murray Park Academy oversees all club sides but the first team. “He has a wee bit of the Scot in him. He’s gritty. He’s direct.” I'm not sure i'm enamoured with that last sentence, but good luck to the kid. Wonder if the U17 staff are aware of him, i suppose they should be - in the picture in the article he's training with the OSA NTC! Hopefully he remembers where he's from and plays for Canada and not Scotland (if he ends up being good enough). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheeta Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 "He has a wee bit of the Scot in him" With a name like Fraser Aird? Yah think? We do tend to think of grit as an absence of quality sometimes, a crutch used to compensate in the absence of higher levels of certain skills, but then again we can find ourselves lamenting the absence of grit in some of our more skilled players when adversary demands it. And there's the trick. Learning to use your qualities whatever they are, pace, fineness, vision, grit, as a tool and not as a crutch to become the best footballer you can. Good luck to young Mr Aird. Here's hoping a bright future and long years of disappointing results against Celtic awaits him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOGAKANATA Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 Was he part of Canada's u17 camp? and if not ! why not?. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpg75 Posted February 11, 2011 Author Share Posted February 11, 2011 For the record i'm not against him being Scottish or gritty, it's the "he's direct" part i'm weary of. For some it can mean he's fearless and willing to attack the defender head-on, for others it can mean kick the bloody ball into a general area and let your teammate fight for it. By the way, he went on trial at Celtic AND Rangers back in 2008 - trials his family paid for out of pocket. He went back for trials the past couple of years at Burnley and Rangers that were paid for by the respective clubs. Looks like the persistence paid off. Guessing TFC was never going to be an option for this kid, he had a dream and made his mind up he was going to chase it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jordan Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 Lots of youth are getting chances now to establish themselves, if he does well he could see a chance in a few years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpg75 Posted February 11, 2011 Author Share Posted February 11, 2011 Fraser is a '95. He represented Canada at the Danone Nations Cup in 2007: http://www.insidesoccer.net/fraser-aird-at-the-2007-danone-nations-cup/ A write up by his coach of his first trial at Celtic in 2008: http://wb.markhamsoccer.org/media/msc1/Fraser%20Trains%20with%20Celtic.PDF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivan Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 He was also part of the U15 team that split a 2 game series with the US earlier this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ed Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 For the record i'm not against him being Scottish or gritty, it's the "he's direct" part i'm weary of. For some it can mean he's fearless and willing to attack the defender head-on, for others it can mean kick the bloody ball into a general area and let your teammate fight for it. By the way, he went on trial at Celtic AND Rangers back in 2008 - trials his family paid for out of pocket. He went back for trials the past couple of years at Burnley and Rangers that were paid for by the respective clubs. Looks like the persistence paid off. Guessing TFC was never going to be an option for this kid, he had a dream and made his mind up he was going to chase it. Landon Donovan is best described as a 'direct' player. No dicking about, beat your man, go to net. We could use some of that. Just saying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpg75 Posted February 11, 2011 Author Share Posted February 11, 2011 Landon Donovan is best described as a 'direct' player. No dicking about, beat your man, go to net. We could use some of that. Just saying. If he's like Landon Donovan then great, if he's running around like a headless chicken - no thanks. U15 Camp roster: http://www.canadasoccer.com/news/viewArtical.asp?Press_ID=4523 Good to know he's onboard with Canada! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canucklefan Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 If he's like Landon Donovan then great, if he's running around like a headless chicken - no thanks. U15 Camp roster: http://www.canadasoccer.com/news/viewArtical.asp?Press_ID=4523 Good to know he's onboard with Canada! Playing for the U15 doesn't mean being on board with Canada. Bunbury case comes in minde, also Begovic and Lensky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivan Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 For the record, 5 or 6 '95s and a '96 made our U17 team that will open the CONCACAF championships this week. Hopefully, this is indicative of the quality of talent we are developing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpg75 Posted February 14, 2011 Author Share Posted February 14, 2011 Playing for the U15 doesn't mean being on board with Canada. Bunbury case comes in minde, also Begovic and Lensky. I guess, but atleast he's not avoiding playing for us so there's a little more hope... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfof Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 My favourite part of the coach's write-up on the kid was the picture showing us that Celtic had to change the sponsor on the wee ones' shirts. What, they didn't want 12-year-olds plugging beer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redhat Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 My favourite part of the coach's write-up on the kid was the picture showing us that Celtic had to change the sponsor on the wee ones' shirts. What, they didn't want 12-year-olds plugging beer? Just baby sips. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coppercanuck Posted February 26, 2011 Share Posted February 26, 2011 My question is how does this compare to the Salgado kid in Vancouver? A 16 year-old from Canada can sign a pro contract in Scotland but a 17 year-old can't sign with a Canadian team? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThiKu Posted February 26, 2011 Share Posted February 26, 2011 Excellent question. Aird probably hasn't signed a professional contract? Did his family move to Scotland? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanadianSoccerFan Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 Fraser Aird clearly has access to a UK passport which nullifies the FIFA restriction on moving abroad prior to the age of 18. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maccaliam Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 yeah, if his grandfather and father are weegies (and Rangers fans), he´s definitely got a British Passport. Believe I have heard Hulk, the Brazilian at FC Porto, has been desribed as being very direct, so here´s hoping there´s a bit of him in Frasier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forster01 Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 We lose another one although he is still young and could become a nobody, it would have been nice for him to stay with us? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jordan Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 I don't think he switched. He is On Rangers U17 roster this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oranje Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 CSN is reporting that he has indeed opted to play for the Scots after not getting called up to our most recent U-17 call up. http://www.canadiansoccernews.com/content.php?2129-Ay-the-boy-is-Canadian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 CSN is reporting that he has indeed opted to play for the Scots after not getting called up to our most recent U-17 call up. http://www.canadiansoccernews.com/content.php?2129-Ay-the-boy-is-Canadian It would be nice if "journalists" like Ben actually gave us some direct quotes from a few of the parties involved. Like Fleming, Hart or Fraser. It seems a lot of speculation on Bens part. Maybe he's right but he'd have a lot more credibility if he had a couple quotes in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greatest Cockney Rip Off Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 It would be nice if "journalists" like Ben actually gave us some direct quotes from a few of the parties involved. Like Fleming, Hart or Fraser. It seems a lot of speculation on Bens part. Maybe he's right but he'd have a lot more credibility if he had a couple quotes in there. I 100% agree. What if he turned down the call up for the u17s or has never planned on playing for Canada? Seems like really poor journalism to assume he wasn't selected and it must be CSA's fault. Automatically blaming the CSA for a player who chooses another country is becoming predictable and boring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greatest Cockney Rip Off Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Well it looks like I spoke a little soon, from his twitter: "sannytim Sanford Carabin by fairdRFC Congrats @fairdRFC on call up. Was never a doubt. Canada's loss once again. #toldyousean" http://twitter.com/#!/fairdRFC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe MacCarthy Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Just a general observation, but if these kids' moral characteristics are so weak that they can't take a single rejection, then these are guys I don't think will add very much when playing in Central America having little bags of pee tossed in their direction. No names mentioned, of course. Speaking of Rangers someone posted at Ontario Soccer Talk that Luca Gasparotto has signed a 3 year contract with Rangers. I have not been able to find any confirmation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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