Gather 'round, lads and lasses. I bring for your appraisal the tale of Andrew Shinnie, a right radical of a chap who was born in the bonny land of Scotland on July 17, 1989. At the age of 36, he's not quite a spring chicken, but his legs continue to thump the pitch as a central midfielder for Livingston. Quite the model footballer he is, standing at a respectable 5ft 10in (1.8m) and weighing in at 11st (70kg). I'm sure you'll be thrilled to know he dons the number 22 jersey like a knight clad in green and white.
Once again, those market aficionados at Transfermarkt have valued our hero Shinnie at a staggering… wait for it…€50k (around £43k). A king's ransom, that is. If only it translated onto the pitch.
As every good tale has to start somewhere, Shinnie's football journey began in 2005 with the Rangers, where he 'made waves' with two stirring appearances in his debut 2006 - 2007 season at the Scottish Premiership. His career got so much more exciting when in 2008 he took his thrilling two-game experience on loan to Dundee. Dundee fans will remember his 32 appearances and 1 goal over two seasons with something less than fondness.
In an earth-shattering move, Shinnie transferred from Rangers to Inverness CT, then languishing in League One, in 2011. After a couple of seasons at Inverness CT, wherein he chalked up 57 appearances and 19 goals, the chap thought it might be fun to toddle off to Birmingham City in England's Championship. Here, he tried his luck for three seasons that saw him take to the pitch 67 times and satiate the goal mouth merely four times.
Following an uninspiring loan stint at Rotherham United and a somewhat slightly more exciting loan spell at Hibernian in the Scottish Premiership, where he scored 1 goal in 27 appearances, our wandering knight found himself loaned out to Luton Town in 2017. With a blatant déjà vu, Shinnie made similar moves one-term on loan and then a permanent move to Luton, resulting in identical seasons in 2017 - 2018 and 2019 - 2020, with 41 appearances and 2 goals in total.
No journey is complete without a pit-stop, or in Shinnie's case, a brief huddle at Charlton Athletic in England's Championship, before he made his triumphant return to the land of his people at Livingston in the Scottish Premiership in 2021. And here, dear friends, is where we find our hero today, having demonstrated his usual flair with 133 appearances and 10 goals in four-and-a-half seasons, including currently in the 2025 - 2026 season.
Of course, we mustn't forget Shinnie's 'remarkable' contribution to the League Cup 2025 - 2026 for Livingston, where he started once and the Premiership Play-offs 2024 - 2025 where he was played as a substitute twice. Quite the illustrious career, wouldn't you agree?
