Loyalty was key factor in keeper Kelly’s return
Liam Kelly claims a sense of loyalty to Motherwell underpinned his decision to return to the club on a permanent deal.
Liam Kelly claims a sense of loyalty to Motherwell underpinned his decision to return to the club on a permanent deal.
The 25-year-old enjoyed his time at Fir Park after joining on loan from Queens Park Rangers in January.
The former Livingston goalkeeper had offers for his services this summer but with his Steelmen experience in mind, he opted for a threeyear deal with Graham Alexander's side. Ahead of the Premier Sports Cup group game against Queen's Park tonight, Kelly said: "I really enjoyed my time here and by the end of my career I want to play as many games as I possibly can.
"If I can do that somewhere I love being, then that is even better.
"I get on really well with everyone here, it is such a wellrun club and I am just delighted that they wanted me as well.
"It became apparent that I wasn't going to be used as much (at QPR) as I would like to have been used and ultimately I would rather play for somebody than watch someone else play.
"I loved my time at QPR. There is a lot of good people there. (I have) nothing bad to say about them but that's football sometimes, you just go your separate ways.
"I am delighted Motherwell came in for me in January as well. An element of loyalty came into my decision to come back here.
"It was Motherwell in January and I remembered that when I had to make my decision and they played me every game.
"Playing football is probably the most important thing to me. It might not be to other people, they might have other factors in their decisions but playing is the most important thing to me and I really enjoy being here.
"I felt the trust from the manager, the staff, goalkeeping coaches - there is a massive element of trust towards me."
Motherwell bolstered their squad further yesterday with the signing of 21-year-old Irish defender Darragh O'connor.
O'connor spent the past two years at Leicester without making the first team, following a move from Wexford.
Well boss Alexander told the club's official website: "Darragh is a young centre-half who has been with us for the last couple of weeks.
"We really like what we've seen with his attitude and commitment to the game.
"He's a young player with a lot of potential, but we also think he's got the capability to break into our first team and compete with our more senior players."
Alexander plans to work with an inflated squad this season to pre-empt possible Covid-19 problems.
Three Premier Sports Cup fixtures were cancelled over the weekend due to coronavirus issues. And with society set to open up further, Alexander
was looking to add another four or five players to his squad before signing O'connor on a one-year deal.
He said: "We still need to add
maybe four or five at least to the senior group to prepare us for the season because, with the Covid issues, we have to be prepared to lose players
through the season to isolation.
"We have to prepare ourselves to have enough players to cover those absentees.”