Greg Shields: Why ex-Rangers star quit Scotland for new life in America 15 years ago

The Falkirk-born former right-back, 48, who was recently appointed Saints boss after Garry Wright’s resignation, uprooted for the States over 15 years ago to become a player with Carolina RailHawks, managed at the time by fellow Scotsman Martin Rennie.

Shields said: “My dad passed away in March 2009 and I actually left to go and play in America about three months later.

"I think it was purely because I’d had enough of Scottish football.

"I’d been there and done it and I wasn’t going to get any better. I was 33 at the time and I was clearly on a downward spiral.

"I still had a couple of years left at Dunfermline but I thought: ‘It’s time to go, I want to experience something different and take the kids out’.

"I did, and I was never interested in management or coaching at that point. I had just thought it wasn’t for me.

"But going out to America was an unbelievable education in terms of how the game, I think, should be played.”

When asked to pinpoint the differences between US soccer and its Scottish equivalent, Shields added: “The weather dictates it because North Carolina is like Florida, everything’s slow build-up, you can only press in bursts because it is so hot and it drains you.

"It made me understand how to play the game really slowly, have comfort in possession and keep the ball. It was so easy on the surfaces.

"How you talk to people, how you treat people, how you bond with people, was totally different, all the way through from youths to professional level.

"I was lucky, I was coach under a guy called Colin Clarke, an ex-Northern Ireland international.

"I had a good education there. I had an academy with a youth programme with 15,000 kids. There were curriculums with big details, what everybody had to abide by, what sessions, how long.

"And then the sports scientists and analysts came in as well.

“There was a place for all these people because it benefits, it helps the player in terms of recovery.

"I didn’t know how to work a laptop before but now I can do all my laptop stuff!

"You’ve got to evolve and I have. And I quite enjoy that because players learn in so many different ways.

"You can talk over a tactic board, you can show on the pitch or on video and individuals will pick things up differently, as I do.

"Players absorb things differently so from that point of view, me being in America helped the understanding of it all.

"Dave Sarachan, the ex-US national coach, came in just as I left and if I had stayed I would probably have been as assistant under Dave.”

But Shields’ career path then took another twist as he accepted an offer to return to these shores and become Dunfermline Athletic assistant manager.

The former Scotland B international also served as the Pars’ interim manager and football academy head before landing at St Andrews United last month.

Shields’ new side were denied a competitive fixture last weekend as their scheduled away East of Scotland Football League Premier Division encounter at Jeanfield Swifts was postponed.

Saints did however play a swiftly arranged friendly against Tayport at the Regional Performance Centre in Dundee, with Shields’ men losing 1-0.

This Saturday sees St Andrews United – second bottom of the table with 11 points from 13 matches – without a competitive fixture.