Looking after the needs of a player off the pitch is crucial to their success on it… but too many Scottish clubs don’t have adequate care for foreign arrivals

The scarf is raised above the head, the camera clicks and the new signing paints on a grin before being wheeled into the press room to talk about his hopes and dreams for the future.

In the garden of promise and potential, everything is rosy and the future is bright.

When the cameras stop rolling and the mics are switched off, the gritty, unseen realities of a move to a new country kick in.

For overseas players there is visa paperwork to fix and a bank account to open in the UK to enable them to move from a hotel and pay for a flat or a house. To reach that remote training ground out of town, they need a car and there might be schools to find for the kids.

A lifelong supporter of Hibernian, Tracey Smith served as a non-executive fan representative on the Easter Road board before she was asked to help some new players settle in.

To produce their best form on the pitch, they had to overcome the day-to-day hassle of adapting to life in Edinburgh. Spotting a gap in the market, Smith started her own player-care consultancy to help new arrivals up and down the UK with basic life admin.

‘Last night I dropped off a mattress topper to a player because the mattress they have in their accommodation isn’t great,’ she tells Mail Sport.

Adam Idah will have no difficulty adjusting to life at Celtic but not every player is so fortunate

Aberdeen new boy Topi Keskinen is one player currently learning to adjust to a foreign land

‘So you are making them as comfortable as possible because if they don’t get a good night’s sleep, then how can they give their best in training and games?

‘And when that happens the manager starts asking questions, saying, “What’s going on?”

English Premier League and EFL academies must have at least one player-care professional. At first-team level, the picture is patchy. While some clubs provide help and assistance for their prize assets, Smith calculates that only half of the clubs in the Scottish Premiership provide full-time player care. Budget constraints are an issue.

Rangers boss Philippe Clement cast a light on some of the logistical issues facing players moving to Scotland or England when he blamed Brexit paperwork and red tape for a delayed debut for new £1.5million Dutch defender Robin Propper.

Becoming a surrogate mother to players thrown in at the deep end, Smith welcomed the Ibrox boss shining a light on issues fans and media rarely consider. Or, for that matter, clubs.

‘There are still a lot of clubs in Scotland that don’t have player care,’ she adds. ‘When they are paying out so much money for players, why would they not look after them?

‘From feedback I have received, I would say maybe half of the clubs in the Scottish Premiership are doing what they can. With others, there will be lots of staff drafted in to help players on top of their day jobs. It’s an area that still needs a bit of work and attention.

‘What they have to remember is that players are the biggest assets football clubs have. It’s very important because it affects performance on the park as well.

Deivydas Matulevicius, or ‘Dave’ as he became known, was helped by Smith after joining Hibs

‘If they can get it right for the players off the park, it makes it easier to get them right on it.

‘All the Premiership clubs down south will have player care because they can easily afford it.

‘In the SPFL, it comes down to whether there’s money for an extra body because it is a full-time job.’

Based in England, the Player Care Group are leaders in the field, administering education and certificates recognised by football clubs on both sides of the border. Far removed from the glitz and the mania of Sky Sports bulletins on deadline day, there are gritty, real-life matters to be dealt with. Signing the contract is just the start.

A full-time player-care liaison officer at Hibs before branching out on her own in January, Smith has worked with first-team players, academy prospects and women’s teams.

‘Today I am organising UK bank accounts for players so that they can receive their wages, get a flat, buy a car,’ she continues. ‘People don’t see that kind of thing when a player holds a scarf above their head, but all of that has a knock-on effect on how they settle and when they play.

‘As supporters, we just see footballers in terms of how they perform on the pitch and judge them accordingly.

‘People put them up on a pedestal and think everything is fine because some get paid a lot of money. The reality is that they are just normal human beings. I worked at Hibs and helped two Lithuanians called Deivydas Matulevicius and Vykintas Slivka. One of the guys was single, while the other was waiting for his family to arrive.

Tracey Smith set up her own player care service after realising there was a gap in the market

‘Deivydas just became Dave because no one could pronounce his surname, bless him. And he changed hugely once his family arrived. He was transformed.

‘When you are signing a player, you are signing a family at the same time and you need to make sure they are looked after as well. Because if a partner is not settling then that can have an effect on a player and they might feel they need to move on.’

Shuttling back and forth from London to Edinburgh this week, Smith has been forced to familiarise herself with the concept of passport vignettes, the sticker placed in passports following a successful entry clearance application.

‘Visas are the biggest issue,’ she explains. ‘Before Brexit, anyone with an EU passport could move over and there were no issues.

‘Towards the end of a transfer window it gets very busy. You see new players chucked into a hotel and they don’t really know what’s happening. Sometimes I think there’s an element of “man up” and get on with it.

‘But to me, what I do is vital to the mental health and welfare of players and how they perform on the pitch.

‘They are functioning in a high-pressure environment where they are being judged by so many people on social media. These days it’s 24/7 and everyone has an opinion.

‘I have actually had a couple of players call me “mum” because that’s what you become to them. You’re helping them with all aspects of their personal life to become the best player they can be and that starts off the pitch.

‘It’s nice to see a player settle or provide an ear when they are feeling a little bit down and feel isolated and think, “I played a little part in helping”.’