Pearson back at Motherwell buoyed by his glory in India
AFTER a fruitful second stint in the Indian Super League, Stephen Pearson is now relishing his third spell back at Motherwell.
The 34-year-old revealed that Fir Park assistant manager James McFadden had been bending his ear about returning to the club where it all began for him, but the feeling from speaking to him upon his return is that it was not a particularly hard sell.
Whether he goes back to India again – his first spell was with Kerala Blasters in 2014 – at the end of his short-term deal at Motherwell remains to be seen, but when you listen to his experiences of life with Calcutta at the end of 2016, it’s easy to see its allure.
“I’ve not thought that far ahead,” said Pearson. “My focus now is on Motherwell until the summer and then we’ll assess things.
“I thoroughly enjoyed it [in India]. It was different to the first year, a different team, different set-up but I had a good experience, managed to play a lot of games and managed to win the Indian Super League which was nice.
“To go out there and come back with something which proves you did well was pleasing.
“Sourav Ganguly owns the club I was at alongside the financial owners. Sachin Tendulkar is involved in the club we played in the final. A lot of the teams there are owned by cricket players, sportsmen or people involved in Bollywood.
“There are quite a few foreign players out in India now.
“The main marquee signing was probably Diego Forlan, who played for Mumbai.
“Each team is allowed one marquee player so they always try and get the best one they can. It wasn’t me at Kolkata! Unfortunately not. Our marquee player was Helder Postiga, the Portuguese striker who was at Spurs.
“It’s now back to basics at the ‘Well but I am looking forward to it. The club had a brilliant result in midweek [at Ross County]. There is a tough run of fixtures coming up but hopefully we can kick on.
“I’ve known Faddy a long time and we’ve always kept in touch. He was interested in how I was doing out in India and made it clear they wanted me back. Even when I left in the summer, I went hoping myself for a return, as did the club. I’m delighted to be here and hopefully now I can help the club push up the table.”
Today’s lunchtime clash with Hearts may come too soon for Pearson after a significant lay-off from competitive action, although the absence of Scott McDonald through suspension may tempt Mark McGhee to lean on the experience of the midfielder.
“I finished up on the 19th of December, so I’ve had quite a bit of time off, six weeks in total,” he said. “Is it too early for me to be involved? I’ll leave that with the gaffer. We’ll see how it goes.”
Hearts go into the game in buoyant mood after their midweek dismantling of Rangers. New midfielder Alexandros Tziolis enjoyed an impressive cameo from the bench towards the end of the evening, and he has revealed how a Greek tragedy helped him secure a switch to Tynecastle.
The vastly experienced former Panathinaikos, Werder Bremen and Monaco playmaker was in the Greece side that lost 3-1 in Belfast in 2015 on the night that Northern Ireland secured their historic qualification to Euro 2016. It was another low in a woeful campaign for the Greeks but Tziolos’ performance caught the eye of then Northern Ireland coach Austin MacPhee.
After the Hearts assistant made contact with the 31-year-old last month, the 62-times capped internationalist also sounded out former Tynecastle midfielder Christos Karipidis to make sure that leaving PAOK was the right move.
Tziolis said: “In the last few days of the transfer window my agent told me there was interest from Hearts and Austin MacPhee called me.
“Austin knew me from the Greece national team when we played against Northern Ireland. We spoke and I took the decision to come. We were in the same group as Northern Ireland for Euro 2016 qualifying.
“It wasn’t a good period for the Greece national team and we lost 2-0 at home and 3-1 in Belfast to Northern Ireland.
“Northern Ireland actually qualified for the tournament when they beat us so they had a party. It was a bad time for us, but at least some good came out of it with Austin seeing something in me.
“It’s hard to see what he would have spotted – we lost 3-1.”
One of nine January recruits at Hearts, Tziolis, who played in Bremen’s 2009 Europa League final defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk, insists he was convinced that Hearts was the right club after speaking to fellow countryman Karipidis, a team-mate of his at Cypriot club APOEL.
He added: “He is a great guy and I’m very close to him and he told me all about the club, city and fans.
“Christos enjoyed his time at Hearts and he was actually a bit jealous when I told him I was coming here.
“I was already thinking positive things about Hearts but if you are going to a new club then it’s normal to talk to someone who was there and it made the decision easier.
“I wasn’t enjoying my time at PAOK in the last few months so I needed somewhere to go and play and this was a very good opportunity for me.”