Former Rangers and Celtic transfer guru returns to Scottish football as he’s deemed ‘ideal’ man for key role

Former Rangers and Celtic transfer guru returns to Scottish football as he’s deemed ‘ideal’ man for key role

A former Rangers and Celtic talent spotter is back in Scottish football at Premiership level.

St Mirren have established themselves as a top six club through the work of Stephen Robinson and savvy recruitment amongst other facets. They have now lost a key man with the Northern Irish boss’ long time head of recruitment Martin Foyle heading to England at Carlisle United.

John Park is coming in as his replacement. Park was a key scout at Celtic between 2009-2016 and ended up across the city at Rangers between 2022-2023. He has most recently been in key recruitment roles at Blackburn Rovers and Birmingham City, the transfer guru now back in Scotland with the Buddies.

Former Rangers and Celtic scout joins St Mirren

A statement from St Mirren reads: “St Mirren Football Club is delighted to announce the appointment of John Park as our new Head of Recruitment and Emerging Talent with Martin Foyle leaving the club to join Carlisle United. Martin joined the club in 2022 under manager Stephen Robinson and has played a pivotal role in our recruitment strategy during his time at the club. He moves on to a new challenge and we would like place on record our sincere thanks to Martin for all his efforts and wish him every success in the future.

“We are delighted, however, to welcome John Park to the club as Martin’s replacement. The highly experienced talent spotter brings a wealth of knowledge to the role having worked across the world at the likes of Celtic, Rangers, Blackburn Rovers, Birmingham City, Maccabi Haifa, Vancouver Whitecaps and more.

“Most recently Head of Recruitment at Blackburn Rovers, John returns to Scotland to take on the role of Head of Recruitment and Emerging Talent at Saints. With a proven track record in player trading and development, John’s remit will involve building upon the club strategy to align and integrate our football operations to achieve sustainable success.”

St Mirren reaction to ex Rangers and Celtic man

St Mirren Chief Operating Officer Keith Lasley said: “We are sorry to see Martin moving on and wish him the best of luck in his new challenge. His contributions have been key in the club’s progression over the past few seasons and we thank him for all his efforts. We have, however, moved quickly to bring John to the club and we are excited to welcome him to St Mirren. John’s experiences across the world, significantly in player trading and youth development, make him the ideal person to build upon the relative success at the club over the past few years in line with our club strategy.”

Park said: “I’m delighted to be joining St Mirren. I’m excited to meet the manager, build a relationship with him and add to the good work that has been done over the past few years. The club has a clear strategy in terms of its football operations and I believe my experience will help build upon that.”

Robinson added: “Martin has been an integral part of what we’ve done over the past three and a half years and he’s been an integral part of what I’ve done as a manager over 10 years now. He’s a close friend of mine now and it’s a sad loss for the club. Another opportunity arose that was exciting for him and it’s with regret that Martin is leaving. I’d like to put on record my thanks to him for his recruitment and for all he’s done at the football club. The club have appointed John and it’s important that we get working together quickly, build a relationship, and I look forward to that.”