Lawrence Shankland is quite rightly bang in the running to be named PFA Scotland Player of the Year.
It’s his goals and his performances that have led Hearts to third place in the Premiership, which is where they will finish. That final position brings them automatic group-stage football in Europe. With that comes a cash injection of £5million. Shankland has played the biggest part in earning it. So why not lash a chunk back to him and get him to sign that new contract?
I’ve been interested to read some of the commentary in recent days about the prospect of the money helping Hearts to get closer to Celtic and Rangers. Well I’ll ask one question. How much would it cost to replace Lawrence’s influence and goals? You could take the whole £5m and it would not get near it. In fact, you could spend £10m and maybe still not get what Lawrence gives you.
So forget about who to bring in next. Concentrate on keeping the main man. To get him tied down on that long-term deal would be the biggest deal they could do this summer. If they do have to pay him a bit extra, well so what? Every now and again, there are players that you just need to go that extra mile for. He is the club captain, he is the talisman and I’d be happy to go to £10,000 or £12,000 per week. That’d be big for Hearts.
I’d imagine there are a number of boys on £4,000-£6,000 a week, so I think if you gave him £12,000 with add-ons with scoring bonuses and appearances, that could work. To be honest, offer a decent wage with a £500,000 signing-on fee and that’s job done. Half a million straight into your account. You are skipping all the way to the bank with that.
It sounds a lot, but it’s only 10 per cent of what they are going to get for group-stage qualification. Put it this way, you offer him £1m and you’ve still got £4m left over. It sounds like a heavy-duty spend, but the hole that would be left without Lawrence’s goals would be impossible to replace. The grass is not always greener and that goes for both parties.
When you get to a certain age and a certain stage, you need to realise that as a player. Lawrence has seen that from his own time when he went to Belgium and sometimes you just need to keep watering your own garden. I noted him admitting that, turning 29 at the beginning of next season, clubs who are looking to have a resale value on their purchases are not going to be looking at him because he’s getting too old for that.
He’ll probably be looking at the situation and thinking that, if he leaves, it’ll be for one contract and it might end up somewhere he doesn’t like. It might not suit his family if they have to move.
Stay at Hearts, you are settled, your family is settled, your life is settled. Whatever gets put on the Tynecastle table, it is going to be a decent offer, so why not just stay where you are loved?
It is not often you see individuals stay at clubs for over five years and Lawrence would be well regarded forever if he stays. I’m lucky enough to work at the club in an ambassador role and I see the way I get treated. The fans embrace you. There’s nothing like it.
Boys like John Robertson, Gary Mackay, they are lauded and Lawrence would be just the same. So, financially, if Hearts make a really good offer, I believe it would make sense for him. I wouldn’t see any acrimony amongst the other boys over that as, if I was in that changing room, I’d understand Lawrence getting a load more money than me.
If you are a decent pro, you understand football and don’t live in cuckoo-land, you’ll get it. A decent dressing room would sit around Lawrence, shrug their shoulders and say: Who cares? We’re all making good money and you accept strikers get more than anyone else because putting the ball in the net is the hardest thing.
In any case, how many win bonuses is he going to earn us all? Let’s face it, he doesn’t even have to be playing well to score. The thing is, if I got the impression he was an eejit and had his head up his own a**e, I’d say get rid of him. Cash in. But he’s not like that. I know what he is like day-in, day-out as a person, what he’s like around the building, what he’d be like around the younger lads in the squad.
It would be nice to see the likes of Stephen Kingsley and Lawrence staying for the long term. It’d be so beneficial for the likes of Macaulay Tait and others emerging. Lawrence ticks every single box for Hearts and it’s now down to hoping Hearts can tick every box for Lawrence.
