EVERYTHING I DO IS FOR DAD
I could score ten goals in a game and he’d still be telling me how rubbish I was! That’s what he was there for
It’s been the best week for me as a player and Dad would have loved it
DOING it for the old man. Leaving it all out there because it’s what his dad would have wanted — demanded, even — from a kid with so many obvious talents.
In a harsh sporting environment, a world where each aspiring first-teamer must find his own reasons for carrying on against the odds, Lewis Moore’s motivation comes from a very deep, very special, place.
The loss of father Michael after a long illness last summer obviously hit Moore, then just a few days shy of his 21st birthday, harder than anything he’d endured in his brief career as an inbetweener on the fringes of the Hearts senior squad.
The cruel and apparently random blows that real life can rain down on unsuspecting souls has a way of adding perspective to injury setbacks, dips in form — or even disastrous loan experiences.
Even now, Moore admits, there are tough times. Days when the thrill of playing football for a living, a dream he considered abandoning when he wasn’t even making the bench for Falkirk before his January recall by Daniel Stendel, isn’t enough.
But he carries on. Because it’s what his dad — who sounds like he fitted the archetypal job description for the post, combining the skills of a taxi driver, amateur coach and armchair psychologist — would have wanted.
‘It’s been very hard for me,’ admitted Moore, in blistering form after starring in the Scottish Cup win over Rangers at Tynecastle and setting up a goal in last week’s 3-1 battering of Hibs at Easter Road.
‘I still have days during the week when my head isn’t in it. But I’m going to get that for the rest of my life.
‘It’s sad not having him, especially this week. It’s probably been the best week for me as a Hearts player and he would have loved it. But I’m sure he’ll be proud of me.
‘He passed away at the start of the summer break there. Last season was horrible for me. I was on loan at Forfar.
‘Games were on the Saturday and, for some reason, he was falling ill at the weekend.
‘So I was going into hospital on a Friday night, staying there, going to my games. then coming back. It was horrible.
‘Then he died at the start of the summer, a few days before I turned 21.
‘We had the funeral and my mum just told me to go away on holiday, so I went the next morning.
‘That took my mind off things for a week or five days but reality hit when I came back. It was a hard time for me.
‘Football takes your mind off things like girlfriend problems. But this was a wee bit bigger than that, so it was always on my mind. I’m in a better place now, though.’
As many a strong character has chosen to do, Moore now uses the memory of his dad as inspiration — and dedicates everything he achieves to the man who helped make it possible.
Referencing his truly baffling loan spell at the start of this season, he admitted: ‘When I was at Falkirk, it got to the point where I said: “I really don’t want to do this anymore. It’s just a waste of time”. And obviously I am 21 now, there’s only so long you can say: “I am a young boy”.
‘But, when I got to that stage, I was thinking of him. He drove me all across Scotland and came to tournaments in Ireland and everywhere.
‘And I’m just going to chuck it? What I am doing now is for him.’
To hear Lewis tell it, the fatherand-son pair conformed to some of the comedy stereotypes that apply across the world of sport, the Hearts academy graduate laughing as he recalled: ‘I could score ten goals in a game and he’d still be telling me how rubbish I was! That’s what he was there for.’
Even the tongue-in-cheek perfectionist of a demanding dad
would be hard-pressed to pick fault with moore’s progress since stendel decided to take a whole swathe of on-loan talents back to the mothership for assessment in January.
Out of contract this summer, he has certainly improved his chances of being retained when the necessary closeseason clear-out takes place.
Yet he admitted: ‘i was coming back in January thinking: “i’m away”. i thought i would get another loan to see out the rest of my contract.
‘i played two games in my time at Falkirk. something wasn’t right and it didn’t work out. my head was all over the place.
‘Coming back here, i just thought i was here till the summer and then away.
‘What went wrong at Falkirk? When i went there, they wanted me to play left-back. something wasn’t right.
‘Basically, from the second week i wasn’t involved. They weren’t even putting me on the bench and i’m thinking: “What’s going on here?”. ‘i’m loving every minute of playing just now. But obviously the main point is getting us out of relegation trouble. Because we should not be there.
‘That has to happen before anyone thinks about contracts. That’s how it is.
‘The main priority just now is Wednesday night (st mirren away), win. sunday (Livingston away), win.
‘When we are in a better place, that’s when i’ll start talking about contracts.’