SCOTT SEVERIN
This article originally appeared in Watford's matchday programme on Saturday 22 August 2009. Every home game the programme is available in and around Vicarage Road.
CELTIC at home, Rangers away, Motherwell at home, Dundee United away, Celtic at home, Rangers away, Motherwell at home, Dundee United away.
Sound a bit boring? Well it's an extract from either end of an SPL fixture list. Faces so familiar you're not sure if they're friend or foe.
Time for a change, thought Scott Severin.
"It does feel like Groundhog Day up there, to be honest!" smiles the softly-spoken midfielder.
"I've probably played against the likes of Celtic, Rangers and Motherwell 40-odd times or more - because don't forget you play each other four times in the league, plus the inevitable cup ties in the later rounds.
"That was a big part of my decision; to test myself every week. If you had Rangers or Celtic coming up you knew it was going to be tough, but it's hard to keep your state of mind at the same level when next week it's a team down the bottom. The divide is so big - just within one division of 12 clubs - that it's a real test to hold your focus for every match."
Okay, that's the football side of it, but there's simply much more than that wrapped up in a player's decision to move. Severin's a family man with a son about to start his schooling years. This is the stuff you don't read about too often - but they're real-life situations we'd all be faced with when presented with a new job opportunity several hundred miles from home comforts.
"It was a big decision for me, no doubt about it," said the Scot, born and bred in Stirling.
"I'm 30 now so I think it was a case of now or never in many respects. I wanted to say I'd had a go down here and I'm hoping it's going to be successful for me and Watford.
"Moving the family has been a different challenge in its own way. My boy was all set fair to start at a school in Aberdeen, so we've been getting him sorted out pretty quickly. My wife runs a business from home, although it's actually based in Edinburgh, so that's not too bad for her fortunately."
Like most of us would, Severin had a ring round some lads in the know - Scots at other English clubs, in his case - to see how the land was lying with them.
"There's a few lads who've left Aberdeen in recent years; Barry Nicholson and Michael Hart went to Preston, Chris Clark was away to Plymouth and there's lots of other guys down here from Scotland.
"I spoke to Barry near the end of last season and he said I'd really enjoy it. The biggest thing for him was you were meeting a very different challenge week in, week out. You mustn't forget how repetitive Scottish football can become at times - so it was no surprise that's the thing he mentioned above anything else."
Repetitive from Severin will be good by us - about 50-odd consistently good performances and a few goals will probably do just fine!
And he seems just the sort of player to deliver that. He served Aberdeen with distinction for the past five seasons, having grown up through the Heart of Midlothian youth system from the mid-90s to his move north in 2004.
Similar to England, the scene is much the same regards the recruitment of young players. The big clubs dominate - in perhaps an even smaller geographical catchment area - while the others offer first-team chances to counter the argument of simply signing for the most glamorous name.
"Everybody's in the same boat when you're that age, going round different clubs on trial," he recalls, of teenage years spent trying to impress.
"But I remember always thinking that Hearts had treated me the best. They had a few young lads getting a chance in the first-team at that time so I thought it'd be a good choice for myself."
That old tradition of a home visit from the first-team manager (Sir Alex still does sometimes!) may have gone by then, but Hearts' Chief Scout called on Scott to facilitate his signature.
"He came round to my house with the contract. There was a few people who thought I was making the wrong choice but I don't think that for a moment when I look back now.
"My parents were really good - they just left it up to me to do what I thought was best and were really supportive. I'd been training since the age of 12 so I'd got to know the staff and everyone at Hearts. It felt the right thing to do.
"Celtic and Rangers had a lot of money to spend at that time, and I couldn't see any way I'd be getting a chance there if I did join the youth team."
That was back around 1995 for the former Aberdeen skipper; a time before the largesse and unpredictable behaviour of Vladimir Romanov had taken a hold at Tynecastle.
"We had a real conveyer belt of good young players coming through at Hearts - and it was just as well, because there wasn't much money around.
"It's not just nice to have that at clubs of their size, it's a necessity. Without the money of the bigger two, clubs at the next level down have got to be virtually self-sufficient in many ways."
So was he glad to have pre-dated the loose cannon Romanov or not?
"Well there wasn't a lot of money around the club before him - so it's tempting to say it'd have been better to be there more recently!
"But I'm not one who really likes uncertainty and I don't think anyone at Hearts could have been sure about what they were doing over the past few years.
"Funny enough, the money situation was behind my leaving in 1999. The club literally didn't have enough to commit to another contract with me and the manager at the time, Jim Jeffries, started seeing a few promising lads slipping away.
"Hearts were struggling, so it had to be done. Then a few years later, Mr Romanov turned up and I think most people know what's gone on there since then."
The Edinburgh club was a middling Scottish team brought to the attentions of English football fans only because of the crazy goings-on.
But for Severin, years in the Gorgie district of Scotland's capital are remembered fondly by the man himself, no parts more so than the intense rivalry generated between the Jam Tarts and their Hibernian derby rivals from the Leith district across the city.
"They were great derby matches to play in, no doubt about it. I remember I scored the winner at their place, Easter Road, once. I went out for a meal that night and came home to find a brick through my car window.
"So I don't like anyone suggesting the rivalry wasn't just as intense as the Glasgow derby. Of course they get 50,000 and more to the games, but it doesn't mean that the smaller derby you're playing in is any less significant.
"Once you learn what it means to supporters, you never take those matches lightly - although I did make a note not to score another winner there again in a hurry!"
The 2004 move to Aberdeen, a bit like now, was viewed by Severin as a fresh challenge - a chance to re-prove his full value if you like.
"They'd come in for me once that summer but I turned them down. But when the new manager was installed, Jimmy Calderwood who'd done really well at Dunfermline, they came back for me again I wanted to move.
"That appointment showed me they were serious about progressing - and I'd heard good reports about the manager from other players round and about.
"It was difficult to leave Hearts as they'd done so much for me and I'd been there from such a young age. But I didn't feel I owed them anything extra so I left with a smile and good memories rather than any regrets," explains the Scotland international, first capped in 2001.
"Jimmy had a flipchart at Aberdeen where he'd have about nine of 10 different formations which he expected the players to be able to adapt to. Three at the back as a sweeper, centre-half, emergency striker; they were all in there for me. We laughed about it a bit but you know what, I probably ended up playing in all those positions and he got the best out of me.
"In fact, he's one of those guys that's able to get the best out of all of his players. It worked for him, challenging them to do different things all the time."
But as much as it's a further string to the bow, can versatility also work against a player? Severin should know, switched between central midfield and centre-half often enough at Pittodrie.
"I found myself at centre-half for most of my time at Aberdeen. It can be frustrating; I remember having one or two good games in midfield, then getting moved back because of the people available.
"You can get the feeling you're not mastering any one thing. But the team is the most important thing so, as a professional footballer, you should be prepared to do a job anywhere you're asked.
"To be truthful, I feel my best position is in centre midfield," he adds. "But I played nearly all my 40-odd games at the back last season for Aberdeen.
"So I can see me taking a few weeks or so to get back into those good practices in midfield. It's the sort of stuff that does come naturally, but not so naturally if you've not done it for a while.
"I've played pre-season and the first few matches in there so I don't see it taking me too long to get back up to full speed.
The 5ft 11ins ball-winner is sure his manager would like a settled team, too, without thinking about where to play Scott Severin this week.
"I'd like supporters to judge me on what I do in the middle of the park, rather than where in the team I'm going to turn up next. Don't get me wrong, I'll play where I'm picked because that's what being part of a team is all about.
"But I'm sure the gaffer wants a nice, settled side. I know it's ideal world stuff and we'll pick up injuries along the way, of course, but I want a really good run to show what I can do."
A good run against 23 different ways of playing. Plenty of challenges for Scott - but you get the feeling that, like his own style, he just can't wait to get stuck in.
