Alex Greive paid his own way from New Zealand in a bid to make his professional football dream come true.
And Jim Goodwin was the man who ensured that almighty roll of the dice paid dividends.
Greive, 24, shelled out big bucks to make the 11,000-mile journey from Auckland for a trial with St Mirren in 2021/22, taking advantage of the Buddies’ link-up with his Kiwi outfit Birkenhead United.
Having backed himself – in a very literal sense – to make the grade, he impressed Paisley gaffer Goodwin enough to earn a two-and-a-half-year contract.
Since then, he has notched nine goals in 76 outings and earned 10 full caps for New Zealand.
But, having found regular action hard to come by at St Mirren of late, he will see out the season on loan at Tannadice.
“St Mirren had signed a partnership with my club (Birkenhead) because they have a good reputation for developing young players,” recalled Greive. “I was doing well in New Zealand and St Mirren were keen to get me over.
“I came over on a trial basis for a month and I signed in the January.
“I paid my own way. I can’t remember the exact numbers, but I had to pay a fair bit to come across!
“The Scottish Premiership was an exciting opportunity and I felt if I could do well there then it would be amazing. You need to back yourself at every level and it was a gamble worth taking.”
Friends reunited
However, he only worked with Goodwin for a MONTH before the Irishman joined Aberdeen.
And the prospect of a reunion with the boss who brought him to Scotland is an exciting one for Greive.
“Jim got in contact with my agent, from there, things happened pretty quickly,” he added. “Our time got cut short at St Mirren but I enjoyed working for him for that month.
“It is great to get back working with him.”
And good news, it appears, travels fast.
As soon as United had registered their interest, Declan Gallagher and Tony Watt – both of whom were St Mirren teammates last season – got in touch to extend a Tannadice welcome.
He added: “I had a good relationship with Tony and Deccy so it was good to see Tony in training. Obviously, Deccy is still injured. But I’m excited to be in the team with them, again.
“As soon as I had my first contact with Dundee United, somehow both had already found out and they were both texting me!
“But it was great, and Tony was telling me to let him know if I needed any help or anything – so that was really nice to have.”
Greive is fit and available to make his United debut when they visit Inverness tonight.
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