FIR PARK STAR CHRIS HAS COME A LONG WAY
Motherwell has been making of striker after spell in the wilderness
HIS autograph from Steven Gerrard reads ‘To Christopher...’ If only the Liverpool great and consummate professional had added a few nuggets of advice on commitment and maximising talent to the signature.
For, had they been ingrained in Chris Long’s mind from the age of six, then perhaps he wouldn’t have been inclined to mess up at 20.
The Motherwell striker admits, ahead of facing the former Anfield hero today at Ibrox, that his career is on a recovery mission from a few wasted years of his own making.
Long, 24, identified Motherwell as the club and Stephen Robinson the manager to turn him back in the right direction last summer.
The forward is convinced he possesses the talent to return to higher echelons of the English game, where he was on the fringes of Everton’s first team and made one brief Europa League appearance as a teenager.
The rot rather set in after turning down a Goodison deal to sign for Sean Dyche’s Burnley in the Championship in search of top team action in the summer of 2015.
Having scored four times in 11 outings on loan as Mark Warburton’s Brentford reached the play-offs a couple of months earlier, Long reckoned he could cut it no problem with a second-tier promotion hopeful. Regrettably, that confidence was
misplaced.
Neither the application nor attitude was right for seeing out that particular task, the result being a disappointing production of 11 appearances and no goals.
Burnley booked their place back in the Premier League without needing a great deal of what input Long could muster.
‘I’m to blame for the fact it didn’t work out before,’ Long admits. ‘I was just young and stupid — both in my lifestyle when I was playing, or me thinking that I should have been playing when I wasn’t.
‘It’s down to myself, if I’m being honest. My mentality hasn’t been right and, playing-wise at Burnley, I wasn’t up to it for some reason.
‘I know for a fact I could have played in that team but, at the time, I didn’t.
‘I had been at Everton from the age of six to 20. So it was a bit of a culture shock to move on. A different style of play at Burnley and it didn’t work out.
‘It’s been four years now since I left. And you go on loan spells and bounce about. That isn’t going to help, really.’
The bouncing about was done in England’s third tier — twice with Fleetwood, then Northampton and Bolton before landing in Blackpool last January for a deal until the end of the season.
Plenty had to change for the former England youth team-mate of Harry Kane. A mentality reset and a change of scene from the north west of England, he hopes, has provided the required jolt.
‘I could have stayed at Blackpool but wanted something different, I needed a change,’ he explains. ‘The manager here said a lot of good things and he’s a very good manager. He believes in me. I couldn’t wait to work with him.
‘He told me about the style of play and the 4-3-3 and that suits me a lot. It’s a lot of running in behind defenders and not just “hoofball” that you get in the lower leagues in England.
‘The manager said he wanted a top-six finish and a cup run. We’re exceeding that at the moment as we’re top three.
‘If we can stay there that would be great and we’ve still the Scottish Cup to come.
‘This season I’ve got the right manager and I’m at the right team. Playing the last four years in League One is frustrating.
‘Now I need to get my head own, work hard and get back to where I should be.
‘The way my mentality is at the moment, I know for a fact that once I’m back there I’ll kick on. It’s been my own fault but it’s now down to me to change it.’
Having finally got his head right — and snared the No9 shirt — what happened within the opening seconds of Long’s Motherwell debut was another smack in the face.
A Queen of the South clearance knocked the striker out cold and, after lengthy treatment, his hopes of a fast, impressive start in new surroundings were a stretcher case.
‘I was made up because I was starting, had a good pre-season and was hoping to kick on in those Betfred Cup games with goals under my belt,’ explains Long. ‘But the ball planted me straight in the face, I can’t remember much about it.
‘I couldn’t train for a week and missed the next game which was on TV. I was only back fit for one group game, which was disappointing.’
His return as a substitute in the second round against Hearts provided his first Motherwell goal. Robinson’s men exited the competition that night but have since marked themselves as surprise front-runners for third place.
Long has added goals against Hamilton and St Mirren in that Ladbrokes Premiership run.
Now Rangers, Gerrard and two good pals in the Ibrox set-up are in his sights.
From his spell at Bolton, Long is friendly with Jon Flanagan and he was mates with Scott Arfield during the ill-fated Burnley stay. Yet he could have been a Rangers player at the biggest crossroads of his career, electing to snub the Scottish Championship on loan for the English version on a permanent deal four years ago. ‘Rangers were in for me when I was leaving Everton and Mark Warburton was there but I chose not to go,’ revealed Long. ‘I’d played for Mark at Brentford, we got into the play-offs in the Championship so I’d scored goals in the league. ‘Burnley had recently been relegated to the Championship and I felt like if I stayed at Everton I didn’t want to just be another loan player.
‘My two friends have gone on to play for Rangers, so it would be good to get one over on them and bounce back from the bad result against Aberdeen.’
It’s down to myself that it didn’t work out before. I was just stupid