MOTHERWELL GET A SHAW IN THE ARM
MOTHERWELL
GRAHAM ALEXANDER last night landed Celtic fringe man Liam Shaw on a six-month loan as the Motherwell boss admitted he’s desperate to Covidproof his squad with recruits.
Well were hit with an outbreak last week which saw 11 players and staff forced to isolate.
Thankfully for Alexander, the flare-up occurred just as the Premiership went into its early shut-down but the Steelmen gaffer knows another bout could hit at any moment as Omicron continues to wreak havoc across Scotland.
Shaw – who has made just two appearances for the Hoops since joining from Sheffield Wednesday over the summer – is now hoping to kick-start his stalled career at Fir Park.
And Alexander, who fears Dundee United may yet succeed in luring Tony Watt away this month after securing the striker for next summer on a pre-contract, said: “We’re happy with the squad we have but we have players going out of contract soon and we’re guarding against something happening with one of those guys.
“We’ve also had the Covid issue. We had seven players missing and four members of staff in the last week.
“We’ve had to look at the squad and make sure we have sufficient numbers to see us through.
“We’re looking for certain players who fit our profile and are motivated to come and play games.”
Alexander, who also confirmed he won’t be resurrecting his summer interest in free agent Kyle Lafferty, added: “We see Liam fitting in with his profile. He’s motivated and it was a quick deal to do with Celtic, so we appreciate that.
“He’s ready. We have a really good squad, a competitive one, but it was just the right time to add one or two if we can to try and keep that momentum we have at the minute.” Motherwell are currently riding high in fourth spot.
It’s a different story to when former Scotland defender Alexander was appointed a year ago today.
He inherited a team battling relegation, with only goal difference keeping Well off bottom spot ahead of his first match in charge against St Mirren in Paisley.
It was a desperate situation and he revealed the Fir Park board did not sugarcoat the potential ramifications if he failed to keep the club up.
Reflecting on his first anniversary of taking charge, he said: “It has absolutely flown by! It seems like two minutes ago I was driving up the motorway late at night to come and sign my contract.
“That suggests I’ve enjoyed it. Which I have.
“It’s challenging but it’s turned out to be exactly the job I’d hoped it would.
“We’ve made progress. You can see that.
“But there’s a massive danger – and we’ve been guilty of this after certain positive results – of taking our eye off the ball subconsciously. If you relax you’re going backwards.
“We just have to win as many games as we can as quick as we can because we don’t want to be in the position we were in last January. It’s not nice.
“When I had the meeting with the board last year about the job, they made it clear that relegation would be monumental.”
ANDY NEWPORT
BY DAVID McCARTHY GRAHAM ALEXANDER isn’t the type to beat his own drum too loudly but as he celebrates his first anniversary as Motherwell boss, the noise he’s creating is being heard well beyond North Lanarkshire.
His team sits fourth in the Premiership as the top flight takes a winter breather and, perhaps more impressively, would be sitting in the same position – joint third but with a poorer goal difference than Hibs – if the table were based on all league games played in the 2021 calendar year.
That points to the Fir Park club sustaining a long period of consistency that pleases Alexander who, despite winning 40 caps for Scotland, had never played or managed in this country before heading north to replace Stephen Robinson.
Not that he came up here with his eyes shut.
The 50-year-old former Fleetwood Town, Scunthorpe and Salford City boss insists he knew plenty about the Scottish game even before his first match – a 1-1 draw with St Mirren in Paisley on January 9.
But the first 12 months have underpinned his belief that Scottish football has much more going for it than the critics down south, and some nearer home, claim.
“I love it up here and every game is a battle,” he told Record Sport.
“There are no dead games up here and there are no gimmes.
“Because the league is compact every team has something to play for.
“With the top-six split it keeps teams in the middle of the table fighting for something.
“In England you have the promotion play-offs and relegation but you have a group where there is nothing really to play for at a point of the season.
“Up here, you are fighting for the European spot, to get