'It’s an unbelievable signing for us' - Syngenta boss Gordon Wylde hails acquisition of former Newcastle United ace

Wylde, whose team won 4-0 at Craigroyston in last Saturday’s East of Scotland League second division match thanks to second-half goals by Declan Fitzpatrick, Liam Taggart and James Finlay (2), has snapped up ex-Toon star Reagan Thomson who came on as a substitute in the weekend victory.

"Before I was with Syngenta I worked with Queen’s Park for seven years and I sold Reagan to Newcastle,” Wylde told the Falkirk Herald. "He is a Scotland youth internationalist, a top 20 player in Scotland for his age.

"He spent two-and-a-half to three seasons with Newcastle. When his contract came to an end he signed for Hamilton Accies this summer.

"He was there for about four or five weeks there but just wasn’t enjoying it and had injury problems. He’s from Govan and you know what boys from Govan are like, if they’re not enjoying it they just pack up their bags and go.

"I got him his move to Newcastle and have always looked after him.

"He doesn’t have a dad. It was just his mum and seven siblings living in Govan."

Wylde said Saturday’s game at Craigroyston had been “a wake up call” for Thomson on a heavy grass pitch.

He added: "It’s an unbelievable signing for us. He’ll probably move on as he’s probably a Championship player.

"He will run riot in our league at home because he’s a fantastic talent. He said he loved it on Saturday because it was like park football playing with his mates.

"I thought: ‘Wow, what an attitude’.

"He is very aggressive, you won’t get the ball off him. He’s probably ahead of our boys in that he makes passes that split defences. He will score a lot of goals for us if we keep him long enough.”

Syngenta, second in the table with 31 points from 13 games, continue their league campaign at home to 15th-placed Edinburgh United this Saturday with kick-off at 3pm.