Elgin City and Buckie Thistle complete transfer swap making Jack MacIver second Borough Briggs summer signing with Fin Allen heading to Victoria Park in permanent deals
A swap deal has taken a Highland League player to the SPFL, and another in the opposite direction.
Elgin City have completed the signing of wide attacker Jack MacIver from Buckie Thistle on a two-year deal.
He is the Black and Whites’ second summer signing after defender Connall Ewan’s pre-contract deal from Ross County.
As part of the MacIver deal, City youngster Fin Allen has made a permanent switch to Buckie.
Both players are no stranger to their new employers, as MacIver had a successful loan spell with City in the second half of last season while Allen starred for Jags in a similar three-month stint.
Elgin manager Allan Hale admitted it was his intention to bring MacIver on a permanent transfer if his loan spell worked out well.
And he has had to stave off competition from other clubs to secure the 21-year-old’s name on the dotted line.
“The whole point of why you take people on loan is that you've got one eye on trying to make that permanent,” he said.
“Jack's someone that we're aware of, having worked with him before and saw the qualities that he brought to my Huntly team, and he obviously then went to Buckie and had a similar impact.
“He’s someone that we've admired and I think everyone can recognise the value that he brought in the second half of the season (at Elgin).
“Not just the goal contributions that he made, but the consistency within his performance levels, even having to play a position that he's not played before.
“You can see his quality and how good he is on the ball, he's got the ability to make things happen in the final third. You can see his quality from set pieces as well, which is extremely valuable.
“He's a very intelligent footballer, technically very good but tactically he understands the game as well. He's someone that will be a really important part of what we're trying to do and for him it's about maintaining that consistency that he showed, which I'm sure he will.
“He's got all the attributes, he's got the confidence and his style suits the SPFL. It's a great signing for us and one that we're delighted to get over the line.
“Once the season finished, for us it was a priority to get it done, and try and get it done quickly really before we move on to any other bits of business really.
Hale also revealed that Elgin have inserted a buyback clause in Allen’s Buckie contract, meaning they will get an option to bring the 20-year-old back to Borough Briggs if he continues his football development in the Highland League.
Allen was outstanding for Buckie after being loaned out to the Victoria Park in February, scoring eight goals in ten games, mainly in a centre forward role.
“Obviously Fin had a similar impact at Buckie, and it's just one that makes sense at this time,” Hale added. “Fin's been really unfortunate, I think he's had a lot of injury problems, more so in the early part of when we came in, and then he's just struggled to break in, probably as a result of that.
“It's disappointing to see Fin go because he's a very talented player. I just think when he's at the age that he is now, what's important for Fin is to go and play 90 minutes every week.
“Don't get me wrong, he'd be part of the squad next season, but what's important for his development at this stage is to be playing regularly. He just wouldn't be guaranteed 90 minutes week in, week out in our team at the moment.
“With the last couple of years that he's had, I don't think another season of being an impact player and getting 20, 30 minutes most weeks would be suited to him. At the moment I think he'll be a key part of Buckie's plans.
“The fact that we've got that option to buy him back for an agreed value is good business for us. It allows Finn the opportunity to go and play his football and if he does well, similar to the agreement we've got with Matty Jamieson, (at Forres Mechanics), if they go out there and they do well and they show that they're outgrowing the Highland League, then the opportunity will be there to bring them back in the future.”
Hale is a fan of buyback deals and gave his view on how they benefit all parties.
“For us, when you're selling local young players, I think it's important that they can see that there's a pathway back up the leagues.
“They've got that security knowing that if they do well, the club has an option to buy them back for an agreed fee.
“I think it protects the club, it protects the player but it also protects the likes of Buckie and things like that as well because they'll get market value for a player of that ability. It's one that makes sense all round.”
