PROVING GROUND
Hartley has discovered his mojo at Motherwell
THE answer to the poser: ‘How do you top two cup finals?’ is swiftly provided by Peter Hartley. The Motherwell captain responds: ‘Finish in the top six and try to win a cup final.’ These Fir Park men do not mess about, as witnessed by their no-nonsense approach last season which ruffled plenty of feathers in high places.
Physical and direct, Stephen Robinson’s group committed more fouls (559) than any other team in Ladbrokes Premiership action last term.
While storming towards the Hampden showpieces and narrowly missing out on the top half, respect was almost entirely of the grudging variety when their style of play was mentioned.
Yet when asked if the criticism of their approach annoyed them, Hartley offers a shrug and an emphatically jolly ‘no’ that bursts the idea those detractors have created a siege mentality.
It’s heartening to know, however, that each of them do possess a sizeable chip on at least one shoulder. And therein lies the key to the success of this buoyant unit forged by Robinson.
This comes through each individual’s colourful or chaotic career back story. Where, predominantly, from the English lower leagues they’ve found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. From relegations to administrations, Motherwell have a canny knack of identifying players with tales of woe to tell and untapped talent to show.
Hartley puts his hand up to claim his story is emblematic. Blackpool signed him last summer then didn’t play him. He wasn’t hanging about to be unappreciated, so joined Motherwell, initially on loan, then permanently in January. He starts this campaign as captain of the club.
Surrounded by colleagues with similar profiles, the 29-year-old loves the dynamic in the Fir Park dressing room that he hopes can carry them to greater glory in 2017/18.
‘Look at every player that we’ve signed since I’ve been here,’ said Hartley. ‘We’ve all come with a point to prove.
‘Trevor Carson had a lot of interest in him from Celtic in January and a lot of interest in the summer. He’s been relegated from the Football League twice in England. Yet he’s a really good goalkeeper.
‘So he’s come here with a point to prove, do you know what I mean?
‘I couldn’t get into Blackpool’s team, for whatever reason, after signing for them on a three-year contract. Came here on loan six weeks later — with a point to prove.
‘Carl McHugh — left Plymouth, couldn’t go anywhere else in England because they demanded a fee. Came up here and, of course, he didn’t want to go back to Plymouth.
‘Charles Dunne — got injured at Oldham, hip injury, gaffer gave him a chance and repaid the favour with that point to prove.
‘Every single one. Conor Sammon. Point to prove.
‘It’s the players, the personalities and the characters that ultimately make the secret of success. If you can get that mix together in the dressing room then, of course, good things are going to happen.’
The departure of Cedric Kipre for £1million to Wigan is a big loss but in Liam Donnelly, Mark Gillespie, Danny Johnson, Aaron TaylorSinclair and the much-derided Sammon, Hartley believes the club can kick on.
Northern Irish defender Donnelly was signed from Hartlepool, goalkeeper Gillespie lost his place at Walsall midway through last season and Taylor-Sinclair was on the bench for Plymouth.
Johnson has come ‘the Ryan Bowman route’ from Gateshead. When Sammon was added to the squad, there was a knowing smile from Hartley who thought Robinson was reverting very much to type.
However, while the on-loan Hearts forward will certainly add to the muscle up top with the bruising Curtis Main, Hartley stressed that fans will see a new side to Motherwell during the campaign.
He laughed: ‘You can see now we’ve added to our physicality by bringing big Sammo into the mix! When I saw that, I thought: “Oh yeah, surprise surprise! It’s a pleasure to have you on board!”
‘Yes, teams are going to see us as a long-ball team. But what we do when we do get into the final third is get the ball down, get it wide and we’re not afraid to get crosses into the box.
‘We can’t stand still with regards to the way we were. Otherwise we will be too predictable. We can’t be one-dimensional with a 3-5-2, we have to evolve.
‘Hopefully this season we can add a few more strings to our bow with different things we’ve worked on. I think they’ll come into play as the season goes on.
‘But we don’t want to dilute what we do best. You don’t bring a sword to a gun fight, do you? You’re going to get killed. You’ve got to know what your fundamentals are and your philosophy is.
‘If we play to our strengths we give ourselves half a chance. We are a very, very fit team. But we’ve got to try and evolve around that if we want to break into the top six, or be a potential top-four team.’
You don’t bring a sword to a gun fight, do you? You’d get killed