Craigan: Well kids will love Sligo test
STEPHEN CRAIGAN was driven to win as a youngster by the fear of doing his senior team-mates out of a Saturday night pint.
Now it’s his Motherwell kids’ chance to come of age as they look to become the first Colts side to reach the quarter-finals of the Irn-Bru Cup.
Craigan toughened up in the school of hard knocks during a loan spell at Lanarkshire junior outfit Blantyre Vics.
He could have crumbled under the pressure of trying to earn the modest £6 win bonus most of the players wanted for a few beers after the game.
But instead it proved to be a crucial part of his development as he progressed to the Well first team and returned to Fir Park for a second spell after moving to Partick Thistle.
Craigan also represented Northern Ireland 54 times and is now nurturing the next batch of Steelmen starlets as Under-20s coach with today’s League of Ireland side Sligo Rovers their biggest test.
Craigan is a fan of the format despite some criticism and reckons going up against senior players is invaluable for his young charges.
The 41-year-old admitted it whetted the appetite of his players when they took on Crusaders last season with many of them begging for a loan move.
And he knows from personal experience
BY GAVIN BERRY
how going up against older players can speed up the development of younger ones after Alex McLeish sent him on loan.
He said: “I went on loan to Blantyre Vics – and some people said I should have stayed there! But it helped me make the step up.
“We were playing for £6 a win but that got them three pints on a Saturday so they needed it. And on a smaller scale it taught you that mentality of ‘you need to win’.
“When the guy next to you was demanding you win, it frightened the life out of you.
“But you shrivelled away or stood up and said, ‘That’s for me’.
“I was 18 years old and on the books at Motherwell. Lee McCulloch was at Carluke and a couple of boys at Cumbernauld so we had players sprinkled about because the squad was bigger.
“There was no youth league at that time so the younger ones went out on loan. Alex McLeish came and told me I was going on loan. I know people complain about the
“The boys like this competition in the respect they are playing against players older than them.
“We played Crusaders last season and the boys travelled like a first-team game and stayed overnight.
“And after it four players came to me and asked if they could go on loan because they’d had that taste. We lost in the last minute and the disappointment was incredible but they wanted senior football.”
Craigan says his youngsters can’t wait to face Sligo and revealed just stepping on to the Fir Park surface will be a novelty.
He said: “The pitch looks amazing but the boys are not even allowed to touch it. It’s nice to think they have a chance to play on it.
“They have earned that right by getting this far. It’s exciting for us all including myself and ( fellow coach) Stephen McManus.
“There’s a bit of trepidation as well because they don’t know a lot about Sligo. Playing at Fir Park takes them out of their comfort zone because they aren’t used to playing here.” TOM BEADLING admits he’d have been ground down by his injury hell without the support of Dunfermline’s coffee club.
Now the Pars midfielder is preparing to make his top-team return and is in contention for today’s Irn-Bru Cup visit by Championship rivals Alloa.
Beadling, 22, suffered an excruciating thigh tear during a win over Falkirk in April and – apart from a failed comeback bid – has been sidelined since.
But team-mates James Craigen and Ryan Williamson, who battled back from a broken leg in 2015 to become a Scotland Under-21, proved a great support. He said: “They both helped me a lot, going for coffee and a chat two or three times a week.
“Ryzo’s a great example. He came back from a really serious injury even stronger.”
Jim Goodwin has warned Wasps they must tighten up for their Fife trip.
They blew a 3-0 lead on their last league outing to draw 3-3 with Queen of the South and the Alloa boss said: “Everyone saw in the opening half hour against Queens what the boys are capable of. Now we need to cut out the sloppy goals.”