St Johnstone defender Andre Raymond was on SC Braga’s radar until he was thrown in JAIL
By Eric Nicolson (The Courier)
New St Johnstone full-back Andre Raymond has revealed that his winding career path to Perth took in two days spent in JAIL.
The Trinidad and Tobago international was closing in on a big move to Portugese top flight side, SC Braga, having embarked on a tour of Europe with an academy team.
However, he discovered the hard way that he had spent too long in the country without the necessary bureaucratic boxes being ticked and the zero tolerance consequence before deportation was a short stay in prison.
The experience killed Raymond’s chance of a transfer to Braga but didn’t kill his football dream.
And the 23-year-old has now made his competitive debut for Saints, giving McDiarmid Park fans a taste of the all-action style he hopes will make him a Scottish Premiership hit.
“I was at university in America and did one semester,” Raymond recalled.
“While I was at home my friend was going with an academy team to Spain.
“I was dropping him at the airport and the coach of his team asked me what I was doing, why I wasn’t playing football and going with them.
“He wanted me to go with them.
“He spoke to my dad about it but my mum was saying: ‘No way, you have to go back to school’.
In the end he managed to persuade them and a few days later I joined them in Spain to play a tournament.
“After that we went to Portugal and I ended up with Braga but then some stuff happened – I got arrested!
“Because we’d been away from home for so long, I ended up staying for four months instead of three.
“I went back home to get my documents and then back to Portugal for pre-season with Braga, but they didn’t let me in and threw me in jail.”
‘Locked in a cell’
Raymond added: “I was in there for two days – it was horrible.
“I was allowed a 15-minute phone call and locked in a cell.
“I know it was only two days but that was enough. It was a new experience, that’s for sure!
“I wouldn’t want anyone to go through it.
“They sent me back to Trinidad and I had to spend three months out of Europe before I could go back.
“But, because of the length of time it was, Braga had moved on and signed another left-back and that left me without a club.
“I felt like giving up football again, to be honest, but I got the chance to sign for Vilar De Perdizes so I decided to do that.
“My mum wanted me to go back to school but my dad said I should push on and keep going.
“She still wants me to study though and is telling me to do it part-time, but I don’t think so at the moment.”
Encouraging start
Saints manager, Craig Levein, followed up a Dan Phillips recommendation to snap-up Raymond.
Saturday’s 2-0 win over Morton was his first game since a friendly with the national team at the end of last season, so it was no surprise Levein decided to take him off just after the hour against Morton.
But Raymond showed enough to suggest he should live up to his friend’s billing.
“I was very happy with my debut,” he said. “I needed to get some minutes in the tank and build a bond with the team.
“The intensity was really high – it was really good.
“I didn’t know the coach had asked Dan about me. Then in March, I got a phone call saying he was interested.
“He’d done some research and liked what he saw, so things started moving then.
“I made my mind up straight away I wanted to join St Johnstone. The Scottish league is a top league.
“I spent the last few months of the season watching the team play, looking at the players, the style of play and the atmosphere in the stadium.
“All the time I was speaking to the manager and hoping they would stay in the Premiership.
“I watched the Motherwell game on the final day on my computer. It was a very tense afternoon but I was very happy when the team won.
“I wanted Dan to stay but he has goals and aspirations of his own.
“We still speak a lot. He told me to come here because it’s a good club and I would fit in here.
“He said that my style of play would match-up with Scottish football and I’m feeling that too.
“I like to defend but I also like to get forward.”
