The prodigal Bairn: Morgaro Gomis reflects on his nomadic career

The introductory words on Morgaro Gomis's website promoting his eponymous football academy come from the heart, and from personal experience.

The 35-year-old Falkirk midfielder is planning to become a full-time one-to-one coach when his playing days finally end but he is not promising superstardom for those who come under his tutelage, nor a magic formula for a career in football; the story of how he became a professional bears witness to that. He is testament to belief in one's own ability, of demonstrating a dedication to his craft that would shame a wood carver.

His story is not yet complete but the latest page will be written tomorrow night when Falkirk, the 12th club of Gomis's career, take on Celtic in the Scottish Cup third round.

His tale begins in the Parisian commune of Le Blanc-Mesnil.

“Growing up in the suburbs of Paris is not easy,” he says in perfect English, his accent flecked with Scottish brogue. “But I had a great childhood. Me and my friends just played football all the time, after school, during school. There was nothing else to do.”

Gomis was 13 when he was spotted by Montpellier playing for his local kids team CSL Aulnay. He was the first of his confreres to be recruited by a pro team and says he only understood he was under pressure to succeed when, ultimately, he failed.

“The academy was not just football, they looked at your education but I wasn't really paying attention when I went to school. Sometimes I wasn't even doing my homework. They gave me a warning after the first year and when the second season finished they told me they were not going to keep me. I couldn't believe it. I went back to Paris. I was basically in hiding. I felt ashamed because I had been released and I didn't want anybody to see me. I put on weight and I didn't play football until the year after.

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“In January 2002 I decided to move to England because I had family there. I knew some people who put me in touch with a guy who was working for Chelsea. I told him I had been at the academy at Montpellier. This man was also working with Windsor & Eton in the Ryman League and he said he would take a look at me there. After the first session he came up to me and said 'Are you sure you were at the Montpellier academy?'” he laughs.

“I said: 'Look, give me time, I'll show you'. I eventually went to Chelsea on trial but after two months they said they weren't going to sign me.”

It was to become a familiar pattern; he was jettisoned by Barnet for making a mistake in a 20-minute runout during a pre-season game. He went to Lewes next in the Conference South yet, despite an impressive spell, he had grown weary of being asked to play in positions other than his favoured central midfield because, at 5ft 6½ins, he was deemed too small. The hardest path to tread is the one others keep diverting you away from, but Gomis strode on.

“My agent called me back and said 'look, we should try Scotland'. I wasn't sure. I'd been in Scotland the year before when Clyde had this big trial. Craig Bryson was there, Dougie Imrie was there and, after three days, they said I wasn't good enough – but we didn't touch the ball, all we did was run,” he laughs.

His agent managed to convince him, though, and told Gomis that the Cowdenbeath manager Mixu Paatelainen was interested.

“I played a friendly against Dunfermline and Jim Leishman came to see me after that game and started asking me where I was from. Mixu turned to me and said: 'Gomis go into my office and don't move.' We ended up leaving the stadium at midnight [with me] having signed a contract,” he laughs again.

Finally Gomis was given the chance to shine in midfield and after four months triggered the interest of Craig Levein. Suddenly he was being elevated into the kind of company he always believed he belonged in.

“When I got there I was training with the players I had been used to watching on Sportscene – Barry Robson, Mark Kerr, Noel Hunt and Lee Wilkie – at the same time I was thinking 'they're not better than me; I deserve to be here'. When I signed, Craig Levein said in the paper that I wasn't ready to play for the first team. [But that season] I played my first game in the Premier League against Celtic; I ended up playing 13 of the 21 games and I was named young player of the year by the supporters club.”

At Tannadice, he formed a telepathic partnership with the Ghanaian midfielder Prince Buaben. It was an on-field relationship that was burnished by their closeness off the pitch and their cohesion was most in evidence on the day Dundee United won the Scottish Cup in 2010 with a 3-0 victory over Ross County. Watch footage of the game now and the pair appear to be operating on some kind of invisible pulley system.

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“Because we were best friends we always used to talk a lot about football but the thing with Prince was that when we were on the pitch we didn't talk, we'd just go and play. Craig Levein just used to say to us 'make us play'. We knew that if one went up the other had to stay, it was automatic. We had a good understanding with each other.”

“I think we knew we were going to win the game. We were just so confident. We lost the League Cup final two years earlier to Rangers and we didn't deserve to lose that game. We knew [in 2010] that we couldn't miss the chance again.”

United did not finish lower than fifth in his four full seasons under Levein and latterly Peter Houston, the manager who was in charge when they lifted the cup. It was a heady time to be at Tannadice but Gomis says, however, that he felt he had unfinished business in England. The Skybet Championship provided him with the opportunity to prove himself in 2011. Despite not playing as often as he would have liked, he says he enjoyed his two-year stay at Birmingham City. The plan was to remain in England when his time at St Andrews was up but a switch to Huddersfield Town fell down due to machinations between agents and after spending the summer training in Dundee, moves were made to bring him back to Tannadice.

“I think it was a mistake,” he says now of his decision to re-sign in 2013. “The season before I had played more games in the Championship than I did in Scotland. I found out on the internet that I was going to be released when I was in Dubai on holiday. Craig Levein had just been made sporting director of Hearts and he called me and asked me if I wanted to sign for them.”

It was a triumphant return for Gomis and he played some of his best football in that 2014-15 campaign as Hearts returned to the SPFL Premiership but things changed in his second season. His father, Joachim, died in 2015 and he says it took him time to recover.

“He went to every game when I was young. From the age of five, with my local team in Paris, he was there. Every game. It was a really hard season. People would say I wasn't the same because I had lost my father but I don't want to use that as an excuse. In January, I decided I needed to leave. I didn't like people saying the same thing every day.

“I went back to Hearts for pre-season [after a loan spell at Motherwell]. I wanted to show them that I was going to fight for my place but then they changed my shirt number and they didn't tell me. In my head I thought 'I need to leave again'.”

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The winding road continued in Malaysia at Kelantan and in Oman with Sur before another stop at Dundee United.

He enjoyed his time in Asia but he did so without his family.

“My wife, Carla, had just had a baby [Arianna], and my then four-year-old [Lucia], had just started school so we didn't want to disturb the routine. The first time Arianna came to the apartment – it had a gym and a swimming pool – she said she didn't want to go back to Scotland,” he chuckles again.

He is “home” now and life in League 1 appears to be suiting him. Falkirk are well placed for a return to the Championship and Gomis – whose contract is up this summer – says he remains committed to playing on, wherever that may be.

This evening against Celtic he will look to turn back the clock, albeit he will seek to avoid the fate he suffered on his last visit to Celtic Park on cup duty with Hearts when he was sent off after 10 minutes following a two-footed tackle on Scott Brown.

“I don't think Scott will hold a grudge,” he laughs. “Actually, I really like him. It's always been good to play against him. We know it is going to be a difficult game, but there is no point in going to play if you don't think you are going to win it.”

Whatever happens next, he has long since stopped running from that failure at Montpellier.

“My mum still lives in the same place in Paris. When I go back now I feel proud, I feel happy at what I have done. Not just in football. I've got a wife, I've got two kids, I live in a beautiful country. I love Scotland, it's my home now. It has been a great ride.”