I can’t face retiring without a winner’s medal to my name
Motherwell midfielder Keith lasley has had a career most footballers can only aspire to. Almost 16 years since making his debut for the Steelmen, he has made 420 appearances for the lanarkshire club, captained them in Champions league and europa league ties, play-off finals and, last year, he was granted a testimonial.
All well and good but lasley admits there is an aching void on his resumé. For all his achievements, he has yet to claim a winner’s medal.
he has suffered pangs of jealousy in recent years as Dundee United, hearts, St Johnstone, Inverness Caledonian thistle and hibernian collected the Scottish Cup while Kilmarnock, St Mirren and ross County have lifted the league Cup.
this afternoon he and his team-mates travel to Stair Park, ahead of Stranraer in Group F only on goal difference and knowing that a defeat will cost them a place in the last 16.
Such an outcome would be bad enough at any time but, as lasley concedes, he is running out of opportunities to put that right. he remains a first pick at Fir Park but he will be 37 in September and knows that time is now the enemy.
‘tell me about it,’ he said. ‘You never know and there are some other members of the squad in there of a similar vintage who I’m sure will have the same thoughts.
‘we’d love to bring a trophy back to this club. I’ve been associated with them for a long time now and we’ve had european football and great success in the league, but I don’t think anything can beat a cup victory and that feeling.
‘the fans treasure it. to be part of a team that does that would be fantastic, so it’s up to us to go down to Stranraer. You need to take care of those games to have any chance.
‘we’ve been saying we’re due a turn for 25 years now — the silver anniversary tells us that. But it is about time we went further in the cups because our record in recent seasons hasn’t been good enough.
‘even when we were doing consistently well in the league, finishing second and third, we never really backed that up with cup runs. we got to the Scottish Cup Final in 2011 but we didn’t go close often.
‘when you see some of the clubs who’ve lifted silverware in the last few years, you do think: “why can’t we do that?”.’
he admits that the absence of a winner’s medal is something that still eats away at him.
‘It’s a big miss,’ he said. ‘there’s been one final and a few semi-finals, so it’s something that’s eluded me, although things like playing in europe and captaining the club in a Champions league qualifier exceeded my expectations in a lot of ways.
‘But it’s funny; watching the other semi-finals and finals, you do get that bit of envy. You think: “I’d love that to be me,” and I’m sure the other guys are no different.
‘You know what it means. we’ve had enough anniversary dinners at this club so, hopefully, we can write a new chapter soon and it can be this year.’
For that to happen, though, Stranraer must first be put to the sword.
‘this is a proper cup tie,’ added lasley. ‘we’re hoping to go there and get a victory and, depending on the permutations elsewhere, that should be enough to take us through.
‘It keeps it simple for us. Sometimes, when a draw will do, it’s difficult to get the right mindset going into the game but we know exactly what we need to do.
‘with the league season just a week away, it’s also good to have that winning mentality in place right from the start. these competitive games have got our juices flowing.’
lasley — along with Stephen McManus and Scott McDonald — is one of the senior pros at the lanarkshire club aiming to move into the coaching side of the game and he admits to having been surprised when James McFadden was unveiled as Mark McGhee’s new assistant manager this week.
‘James had been in training at the club and had been recovering from an injury, although he’s back fit now,’ he said.
‘So, yeah it was a little bit of a surprise for most people. I don’t think you can have enough good people at the football club and James falls into that category.’
‘I don’t think anything can beat a cup win’