Charlie Adam wont be the next Gerrard or Meireles but he embodies the spirit that Liverpool so desperately need to recapture

Charlie Adam individual match highlights, Blackpoolv Sunderland.

Charlie Adam MOTD analysis from Saturday night.

(By Paul Morrissey)

If that is only 4m Im a Scotsman called McTavish

Ian Holloway is from South West England as his accent corroborates, but the subject of possibly the most miserly bidding war ever is indeed a Scotsman. It is apt that the first time a Scot should be in such vogue that it should be over peanuts (in relative terms).

Of course, the common knowledge of Blackpools financial constraints has played into the hands of the big boys, who probably expected Blackpool would wrap Adam up in cotton wool, lock him in a car and drive him post haste to the first bidder. Selling an inspirational captain for so little would be pure folly.

The derisory sum being offered has been attributed to his only recent arrival in the Premiership.Bobbins. It really begs the question: Is it because he is Scoish?

Neither Ireland nor Scotlands contribution to English football require elaborate explanation. One need only peruse his/her old sticker albums to recall that virtually every great team prior to Wengers arrival housed at least one taciturn Scot and one wild Irishman.

The first ever player to win the PFA Young Player and Player of the Year award was Scottish, who was only emulated a generation later by Ronaldo.

Brian Clough would address Johnny Giles and Roy Keane with a generic Irishman (or a punch to the face when the situation demanded it), implying a savage wildness inherent in the Irishman, but he had a point: having left home in the midst of barren recessions back when a Celtic Tiger was associated with chimera commiting their entire livelihoo! d into s ecuring a contract against all the odds required an innate daftness.

Despite the legacy created by these brave heroes, a Johnny-Come-Lately to the global EPL brand could be forgiven for ignoring the influence this wild-eyed and bushy-haired rogue once exerted on the English game.

The recent decade saw the decline of the Celtic Brethren, as, only Fletcher (3), Roy Keane (2), Damien Duff (2), and John OShea (1, 02/03) have had an impact on the destination of the title (taking only truly influential seasons, hence discounting OSheas marginal role in recent titles. Gibson has yet to mark a title).

The most expensive Scottish transfers have involved a goalkeeper (Gordon) and a full back (Hutton). The Scots contribution to the upper echelons of the English game has been stymied by the proliferation of players from every corner of the globe, as it evolves into a multinational/cultural juggernaut. Charlie Adams rising star dispels the myth, however, that Englands neighbours in the British Isles are no longer capable of producing the important players.

It is worth noting that the only Scot in the erstwhile Big Four (circa 2004-2009), Fletcher, was developed meticulously by his great compatriot, while Liverpools newfound interest in Adam coincides with Daglishs return to Liverpool. Wild horses couldnt drag Wenger north of the border to survey the Scottish game; he resigned himself to the notion that Scottish football is probably a figment of our imagination, and his regular blasting of Fletcher betrays his hidden fear of the wild Scotsman.

The one Irish player Benitez bought was mistrusted from day one and hastily resold, watched from afar for six months but rarely spoken to. In 2011, their presence in the top has never been so poorly represented, as the honest values they espouse are countered by their purported skill deficiency.

! Then com es Charlie Adam, flying the flag as the lone Scottish player who may defy the conventional wisdom and help re-integrate the honest values that were once intrinsic to Liverpools greatness. If Daglish rates him so, why the disrespectful and derisory sum? Several combining factors can be attributed to the low valuation.

His improbable physique, which was supposed to be obsolete with the proliferation of Prozone stats; it gives the impression of a far-from ascetic diet, which would need to be reviewed if he were to join a club with eyes on Europe. A moment during Chelseas routing of Blackpool in the beginning of the season exposed his limitations: Malouda jogged almost mockingly alongside him while he confounded to combine an ungainly sprint-dribble. Alas, he could not outrun the lithe Franco-Carribean and eventually keeled over, physically exhausted.

Allied with his substance over style, he has avoided the radar until this season. Jersey untucked, black boots, no discernable hairstyle: hes the anti-Premier League star.

Scotlands national teams current plight doesnt do him any favours either. Nor do his midfield compatriots, like Fletcher, who has mastered the destroyers limit, and Barry Robson, more progressive in his play but somewhat nondescript. Hes broken the mould in terms of the modern image of the Scottish player, and has more in common with Archie Gemmil than his modern day countrymen. Hes actually quite un-Scottish: a cultured left foot, curling free kicks, probing balls forward.

The fall of the Scotsman and Irishman have been compounded by the irrationality and positive prejudice that now characterises transfers; the myth that having a good World Cup will put one in the shop window is only true if one hails from an exotic country.

Beausejour: signed for Birmingham for an undisclosed fee, i.e. Weve paid too much for this flashy foreigner due in no small part to his seductive name, and we are loath to discussing this, for fear of facilitating the onset of the dreaded bu! yers rem orse, the symptoms of which clearly already exhibit. The mysterious Sandro: bought for at least double Adams proposed fee, and has been gathering dust among a surfeit of central midefielders at Spurs.

Conversely, despite 3 goals in 4 games for Slovakia in South Af 10, the whereabouts of Rbert Vittek would have taken days to uncover and a proficiency in Morse Code if it werent for the irreproachable Wikipedia, who have his current location as Turkey. Rennes held an unexpected ace in Gyans epic penalty redemption and played it so in selling him to Sunderland. But Gyan can rap and dance and this pleases us.

Charlie Adam definitely maybe wont have an international championship at which to inflate his stock, and that is manifestly unjust. Because even if Richard Honey Monster Dunne doesnt roll off the tongue in Beijing he, like Charlie Adam, represents a country that has done more for English football than Ghana or Brazil ever has, building dynasties and creating legacies along the way. In fact, the Premier League can segue on to infinity and those countries will never supplant the contribution that both Ireland and Scotland have etched into the fibre of English football. Not that this will ever be reflected in their transfer worth.

Adam wont be the next Gerrard and hasnt got the athleticism of Meireles, but he embodies the spirit that Liverpool so desperately need to recapture. If he doesnt get the move he wont be spitting his dummy out on Twitter; hell do as his forbears would have done and get on with it. Honest moral values were traded off for power, pace and hype long ago, but lest we forget: a working class hero is something to be.