Jan. 19, 2008 – Andy Dorman makes Scottish Premier League debut

Jan. 19, 2008 – Andy Dorman makes Scottish Premier League debut. St. Mirren FC 3×1 Motherwell

The Revolution failed to meet Dorman’s salary demands, so he moved to Scotland and took his career (and bank account) to another level. Nine minutes into his first game, Dorman assisted on a Mark Corcoran goal in a 3-1 win over Motherwell.

Among Dorman’s highlights in Scotland would be a two-goal showing in a 4-0 victory over Celtic March 24, 2010. Dorman’s performances in Scotland led to a move to Crystal Palace in the League Championship, plus three appearances with Wales’ national team – in his final international, he replaced Aaron Ramsey in the 90^th minute of a 2-0 win over Northern Ireland.

Dorman was among the Revolution stars that had been overlooked during their collegiate careers. The Revolution selected Dorman with the 58^th pick (out of 60) in the 2004 draft and he went on to become a key component of the team’s 2007 U.S. Open Cup title and advances to the MLS Cup finals from 2005-07. Dorman specialized in making late runs into the penalty area, his positioning and timing making him a threat off the bench, before he became a starter in ’06.

After a successful collegiate career at BU and a strong start to his pro career, Dorman said he wanted to stay with the Revolution. At 25, Dorman was near the prime of his career. He had scored seven goals, tied with Pat Noonan for second on the team, during the 2007 season. Dorman seemed deserving of a major salary increase, negotiations in his favor with leverage from the St. Mirren offer. By my math, Dorman would have had to play seven years under the Revolution’s terms to match St. Mirren’s offer for one season.

Unsurprisingly, the Revolution lost both Dorman and Noonan on free transfers, another signal of the team’s impending decline.

Here is the lead to a story I wrote for The Boston Globe’s 1/1/08 editions:

There are positives and negatives about Andy Dorman’s move from the Revolution to St. Mirren in Scotland.

Dorman, who is expected to finalize a contract with the Scottish Premier League club this week, is the second attacking midfielder to move from the Revolution to Britain in a year.

This indicates the Revolution are developing players of European-class quality. But it is also a bad sign for Major League Soccer that it could not come close to meeting the salary demands of Clint Dempsey, who went to Fulham FC on a $4 million transfer last January, or Dorman, who had earned a total of less than $120,000 in four seasons.

Dorman’s contract, a one-year deal with a year option, will be worth nearly $400,000 with bonuses. That is the equivalent of MLS’s top salaries, excluding designated players such as David Beckham and Cuauhtemoc Blanco.

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