New team of signings will see Well alright
MOTHERWELL will look to lay down a marker against Rangers this afternoon.
That’s the confident message from Carl McHugh, the 24-year-old Irishman charged with leading a Fir Park group containing no fewer than 11 new signings.
“Yes, there has been big turnover of players, but hopefully it is one which will lead to a successful season,” he said.
“We want to be kicking on for a top-six place, not down at the bottom scrapping for our lives with three or four games to go.
“It’s a big number of players in. But the manager obviously felt we needed a change from last season, and he has put his stamp on it.’
“All the boys have tried to help the new ones integrate and settle in off the pitch.
“They seem to have fitted in quickly and already there is a good spirit in the dressing-room.
“Everyone is striving for the same thing. All the players that have been brought in are hungry, have a point to prove and are at a stage in their careers where they want to kick on.
“You have seen that on the pitch, as we started the season really well in the League Cup. However, the real business starts now.
“Our full focus is on playing Rangers. We’d love to lay down a marker, send a message out.”
As McHugh points out, it will be a similar story for the opposition.
“They have had big changes, too, so it will be a chance for everyone to see how the teams have settled in over preseason,” he said. “They have brought in a lot of good players and had a few decent results.
“But we are just focusing on ourselves.
“We know we still have a lot of work to in order to become the team that we want to be.”
If the Motherwell defender sounds positive, it might just be down to the influence of sports psychology.
“I did that at Bradford. It’s a part of the game that is maybe underplayed,” he said.
“Maybe people don’t tap into it enough.
“At that stage, I was young and in and out of the team and finding it difficult to be out for a few weeks then back in.
“The sports psychologist worked for the club, and Phil Parkinson, our manager at the time, thought it would be good for me.
“Fair play to him, he was right. It helped me off the pitch.
“It helped me kick on over the last few years.
“There are different things involved.
“But in basic terms, it’s just about getting you into a different mindset going into training and games to maximise what you get back out.”