THE ROAD TO SUCCESS Paul Coutts' decision to try his luck in

0 Comments | Sunday Herald, The, Nov 16, 2008 | by Stewart Fisher

PAUL Coutts took the high road, while others took the low road, but he still got to England before them. The trading route from the Highland League to the Championship may not be one of football's busiest thoroughfares, but it experienced one of its periodic pieces of traffic this summer when the Highland League's player of the year swapped Cove Rangers for Darren Ferguson's ambitious League One Peterborough United side.

Not only did the GBP25,000 transfer fee that the Posh paid for his services help the 21-year-old midfielder to defy those old Aberdeen bosses who released him as a teenager, it also saw Coutts join a short but rather exclusive list of talented northern youngsters who have cut out the middle man and migrated south of the border. Steve Paterson left Nairn County for Manchester United in the 70s, Duncan Shearer upgraded Inverness Clachnacuddin to Chelsea in the early 80s, while of a more recent vintage Graeme Souness took Coutts' current teammate Scott Paterson to Liverpool in the early 90s, then Bristol City's Scott Murray got his big chance when Aston Villa signed him up from Fraserburgh. After undergoing considerable personal growth at Cove, Coutts could well be the next big thing. In addition to his formidable talents with the ball, his three seasons at Allan Park have seen his frame grow from 5ft 7in to 6ft 1in, and only this week he was called into Billy Stark's Scotland Under-21 side for the midweek friendly against Northern Ireland in Hamilton.

"Being told that you are not good enough is very hard to take, " Coutts said. "The coaches at Aberdeen didn't think I was big enough or able to get around the park quickly enough and that is the reason they didn't offer me professional forms. I was really gutted at the time, but it probably made me more determined to prove them wrong.

I had always thought I would make it as a footballer and it was a real wakeup call when I was released. You start having doubts, while having to go to work [with an oil company] was also an eye-opener, and made me push on as an individual. I knew that I had to change and be brave because all of my friends and family are in Scotland so to try my luck in England was a major decision for me.

"The standard is much higher down here and the facilities are much better so the decision was easy for me to make. My family were very supportive, my mum in particular, and I think that is because she was trying to get rid of me! I don't get the chance to go back often because it is so far away so obviously it is difficult to see my friends, but they know I am pursuing my dream and I am happy I have made the decision to sign for Peterborough."

Having benefited indirectly from the Sir Alex Ferguson connection in terms of the scouting network at London Road that won him a trial in the first place, one of Coutts' first acts was to take on a Manchester United XI in a pre-season friendly. After a little time to adjust to his change of surroundings, he has started each of the club's last two league games. Although his former Cove Rangers boss John Sheran was surprised that no-one higher in the Scottish footballing food chain than Ross County and St Johnstone displayed any interest in taking his services this summer, he is less surprised that Coutts has already hit the ground running.

"What did surprise us is that we never got any real interest from any SPL teams, but he will hopefully prove them wrong, " Sheran said, of the player who helped take Cove to only their second Highland League title last season.

"Once he's adjusted to full time training, there's no reason why he wouldn't be able to play in the Premier League.

"In Paul's case he has the ability to do completely unpredictable and unstoppable things, like beating three players and chipping the keeper, " Sheran added.

"But what he will have to do more and more is keeping the ball and passing it.

Every 10 years or so there's one Highland League player that pops out. Loads could go and do a good job in divisions one, two and three, and a special few can go a bit higher than that." Coutts, it seems. is one of them.