Cameron Howieson (Auckland FC | A-League)

England seems to be difficult because clubs are always in a state of flux. In some of the continental leagues you have a bit more job security and the clubs seem to move around less. One of the reasons Wood hasn't ever got regular game time is because the team he plays for always seems to have a chance in circumstances.

The real reason Wood has never got a lot of EPL game time is it is simply a level beyond him. 

He needs in my opinion to now concentrate on making a solid career for himself at Championship level. 

Exactly. He has proven he is capable at Championship Level in the past with both Leicester and Milwall and again, in my opinion, needs to just look at getting a solid contract at that level and look to establish himself. Bouncing around on loan from one side to the next is doing little for him

Wood is far to young to write of. He could progress for another 10 years some CF's get better into their 30's. He just needs game time i'm convinced he would have scored as many goals as any of the other strikers on his team if he had the same level of game time.

I wouldn't read too much into that.  Burnley operate neither a full reserve team nor a full youth team, but instead have a development team which is a mix of experienced pros and young up and comers that plays a series of arranged matches to give a better experience against similar teams than playing just the local reserve and youth teams. Howieson played mainly for this development squad. When playing their full youth team, Burnley have done pretty well over recent years getting to a FA youth cup semi-final and beating Man U youth at Old Trafford where Cam played a blinder.

In any case, if you look at the record of youth cup winners, even amongst the elite clubs, not many of these apparent elite players go on to make it at any reasonable level.  It's a tough life!  Good luck.  He'll need it.

On trial at St Mirren, it would seem.

Match last week v Caledonian Thistle (link). Also played on Tuesday in a 1-0 win against Oldham. This is from a St Mirren forum (via a Burnley forum)

"Overall, St Mirren played some decent football against a strong Oldham side. Anderson Pinto and Albert Kuqi were hooked at half time, Kuqi looked very slow at times similar to Callum Ball whereas Anderson was a hard worker, never pulled out of a challenge and gave his all. Shaun Rooney, Luke Conlon, Aaron McEneff all played well but after chatting with Spalding, It seems Howieson is the only one who may earn a deal. The game went well, Saints won 1-0 thanks to a close range strike from Lewis McLear. Also well done to the buddies who took the risk of knowing it was closed doors and still travelled."

St Mirren have another friendly tonight against Bradford, so it will be interesting if he features.

Looks like terms are being offered

http://www.saintmirren.net/pages/?p=45343

If he signs first game is Rangers away

Yeah good on him alright.Mucho gametime coming up hopefully

Think it is a very fine line to say the second level of Scottish football is remotely on par with the third level in England 

Possibly more like conference and with wages to match

Isn't one of the bigger clubs outside of the the SPL - relegated a couple seasons ago.

Decent wages and it keeps him close to England etc if he makes an impression.

would be better to join A league tbh

Contrast that with Kosta and other Kiwis, I'm not sure he would find an audience other than the Phoenix and it would seem they have not been knocking (assumption)

Good on him, and hopefully he gets regular first team football with them. But Scotland is a weak league - 23rd in the UEFA coefficients which are used to determine the number of champions league and Europa league spots - behind such football powerhouses as Cyprus and Belarus. If he was at a club in Belarus's second tier, would people be so positive?

Genuine question here - in terms of getting spotted by a bigger club and progressing his career - would Auckland City have been a better option?

Unless I'm significantly out of touch with the jargon and 'tbh' no longer means 'to be honest'...

...how do you figure that??

The Tim Payne route.

The Scottish Championship is visible to a lot of clubs offering similar (and more) money to A-League clubs, and I don't think the Club World Cup is really a realistic venue for being discovered, especially if like Howieson you are already likely to be known to plenty of scouts. At this stage he just needs to be playing first team football, and if he performs, a move up the ladder will come, whether through promotion or transfer. I know I'd rather be right in front of 100-odd professional clubs than 10.

Even though they got relegated, you're still a lot more visible and closer to a higher level.

And even though the wages might not be once they were, I'd be very surprised if he'd be getting more at City.

Plus, he's 'local' - so will have plenty of opportunities for movement. And having been in the UK for a few years now I'm sure he'd see 'coming home' as a failure. Then there's the preference for players in Europe, from a national-selection perspective.

But yeah, very fair question.

Wonder where NZFC would rank on the co-efficients!

Probably bigger crouds, St Mirren average less than 4,000. Good on him. Gotta play though.

The latest from the St Mirren site certainly suggests that he is on the way there. I actually like this move, Paisley is only 25kms from Glasgow which is a fantastic city - the mighty Celtic and Thistle are a bus ride away and he gets to play Rangers at Ibrox. Glasgow has the uncanny distinction of creating the worlds best football managers without even thinking about it.

As long as he keeps off the Buckfast and doesn't end up covered in tats, trackmarks and asbos living in Easterhouse with 7 angry children and no teeth he will be just fine.

Admittedly if you keep going West from Paisley the only tourist attractions are the Trident nuclear submarine base, a castle the Campbells stole off my peace-loving and harmless ancestors, and a couple of decaying lollie shops manned by decaying Scottish widows. 

West Sydney just doesn't have those attractive qualities - only brick venereal disease, warm pots of toohey and hysterically bogan teenagers.  SO yeah, his toothless bucky face would be welcomed at WSW 

The quality of coaches and managers coming out of Scotland is dropping - one manager in the EPL, 2 in the championship and Celtic managed by a Norwegian.

True that, been a while since Aberdeen was winning European Cups....

...not since Aberdeen won in Europe though!!

Deal confirmed at St Mirren. I year + 1 year option.  Link

Not keen to play in friendlies - but available for Qualifiers.

Hudson seems keen on building a squad that plays together and as often as possible - but realistic enough to bring in a 'big' player when it comes to the crunch.
Is Howieson 'big' enough??

http://m.heraldscotland.com/sport/13499012.display/

No, he is not.

Especailly not if he's playing as a winger

Got 16 minutes off the bench in a 3-1 win over Berwick this morning. Berwick are an English club who plays in Scotland.

Not indispensable, but a player with promise. Good talent who needs a sustained run in first team football at St Mirren.

Interesting stance these players are taking though, running the risk of a prolonged/permanent exclusion from the AW's set up by turning down the chance of playing for your country. 

As pointless as friendlies can be, it's not just about jumping on a plane and piss arsing your way around the world to see and do new things, it's about working in a team environment, and developing a stronger understanding between players.

Having said that, the kid is young, and as pointed out earlier, he's definitely not a walk in to the first XI player at the minute anyway. See how he goes in the (Scottish) Championship and see if he can make a go of it from there. 

He played 15 mins off the bench in the 3-1 win over Berwick this morning

Good luck to him.  He's basically starting his pro career now so we'll see how he goes