Sutton makes a name for himself at Love Street

Then, six seasons ago, the club flirted with signing a buck-toothed Brazilian who was on his way to Europe and needed somewhere to sharpen up on a loan spell before joining Paris Saint-Germain. Ronaldinho never did see Paisley. St Mirren, though, went down from the top flight on that occasion as well.

Big characters are what Gus MacPherson needs. The St Mirren manager, though, is probably fortunate that in John Sutton he has a player who now looks capable of making his own reputation after handling the pressure of carrying the burden of a very famous name. Chris Sutton carried enough weight before he crossed the border after his exploits with Blackburn Rovers but six years at Celtic put the striker into near-legendary status to make comparisons uncomfortable for his younger brother.

The fact that John Sutton chose to earn his living a few miles down the M8 from where Big Brother was venerated, made it hard for the St Mirren striker. However, eight goals so far this season — scoring against both Celtic and Rangers — represents genuine growth for a player whose 6ft 2in frame is enough of a handful for Premierleague defenders, as Heart of Midlothian could find out today.

All strikers, everywhere, hate comparisons with someone else; especially, if it is their older brother. Almost 11 years separate John from the man who has now returned to the Premiership with Aston Villa at the age of 33, and while the younger sibling may have witnessed most of Chris’s notable career, he does not directly benefit from sharing the same position.

“Chris does not see me every day, so it is hard for him to pass on advice,” the St Mirren striker explained. “We do speak a lot about football on the phone but it’s only in the summer holidays that we get the chance to meet up when go back to our parents’ home in Norwich and go running, or else play cricket together.

“It was helpful to watch him play during his career and I have asked him for pointers. It was great watching him in the European games for Celtic and that was inspirational.”

The difference between their respective careers can be measured with a simple comparison. John Sutton is 22 and enjoying his best season yet in a learning curve that is much flatter than his brother. At that age, Chris Sutton had already become the most expensive player in England with his £5 million transfer to Blackburn from Norwich City and scored 15 of the goals that brought the Premiership title to Ewood Park in 1995.

In contrast, John Sutton is more of a slow burner. Tottenham Hotspur spotted his talent and took him out of Norfolk but his journey, via loan spells at Carlisle United, Swindon Town and Raith Rovers, before Dundee and Millwall each bought him, indicates an inner toughness from which MacPherson could well benefit.

“I have had a lot of setbacks but I have learnt something at every club,” Sutton insists. “Those experiences will help me now when I come across certain situations. I have had to fight for everything I have had and it is probably better that those things happened to me at a younger age.”

If anything, Sutton ought to use Peter Crouch as a role model rather than Chris Sutton. The England striker is also a late developer. Indeed, he shares the distinction with the Paisley man of being jettisoned by Spurs. “Peter used train with the Spurs’ youth team while I was going there for training as a schoolboy,” Sutton said.

Crouch’s unflattering initial steps saw him struggle at the Swedish third division side IFK Hassleholm on loan before moving to Queen’s Park Rangers. It was only at the age of 21 that Portsmouth spotted him before the rollercoaster began, which included not just bigmoney transfers to Aston Villa and Liverpool, but also a humble loan spell at Norwich.

Both were also grateful to Jim Duffy for encouraging their goalscoring talent. The former Dundee manager was an assistant at Fratton Park and championed Crouch before making £5 million by selling him to Villa. Duffy spotted Sutton after his 13 goals in 20 games at Raith Rovers in 2003 and sold him to Millwall.

“Millwall was disappointing,” reflects Sutton. “They did not pay a huge amount for me but it was enough and I thought they would give me a chance. They were going for promotion and Denis Wise, who was the manager, didn’t use me too often. I think it was his assistant, Ray Wilkins, who liked me. He and Jim Duffy knew each other from Jim’s time with the Chelsea youth set-up.”

Sutton’s own time in Tottenham’s youth system has left the impression upon the striker that learning this game is better achieved in places like Love Street and Starks Park, rather than the neat manicured pitches in Hertfordshire at Spurs’ training complex.

Sutton knows that St Mirren cannot afford the luxury of waiting on a player to develop. “Most of the players here won promotion for the club,” the striker said. “The manager told us he would give us a chance in the top flight and we’ve done quite well. We were unlucky to lose to Celtic and Rangers and gave them hard games but whereas, the emphasis last season was on winning games because we were going for the first division title, here we know we must make ourselves harder to beat.

“I feel that you actually get more time in the Premierleague. Celtic and Rangers keep the ball for long periods, whereas teams in the first division give it back more often and there’s a battle for it.”

Now that the initial heady euphoria has worn off after the impressive start on the club’s return to the Bank of Scotland Premierleague, St Mirren are aware that the real campaign probably starts here: a run of three defeats has heightened the need for a repeat of their success over Hearts in September.

“Winning at Tynecastle was great,” Sutton reflects. “That was probably our best win of the season but there are no easy games in this league. We know that Hearts have probably underachieved this season.However, we are punching above our weight and, hopefully, we’ll keep doing so.”

Taken from timesonline.co.uk