TON-UP FOR BAIRD
MORTON defender Jack Baird says that the thought of making 100 appearances for the Cappielow club would have been nothing more than a pipe dream when the covid pandemic forced Scottish football into a six month hiatus — but he insists that his two spells at the club have been the most enjoyable of his career.
The towering stopper previously expressed his delight at becoming the latest player to hit the landmark for Morton after appearing in last week’s defeat to Dunfermline, even though he’d have wanted a better result to mark the occasion.
But baird holds a great deal of satisfaction that he’s been able to make the landmark milestone at a club he values so dearly.
He told the Tele: “I won’t lie, when my loan ended before Covid, 100 appearances for any team at that point wasn’t exactly at the forefront of my mind.
“I remember just wanting to go and get back playing football at that point.
“When I went down to Ayr, I was probably thinking that I wanted to go and make as many appearances for them as I could but then I felt it was the best option for me to come back here, which has turned out to be a great decision.
“It’s never something I had thought about at the point of re-signing either, but when you reach the 90 mark, you do get a bit motivated to hit that milestone and I’m glad it’s happened, I’d have liked a better result to mark it too, but we can go and rectify that today.
“I like it here. It’s a place where I’m genuinely happy and I enjoy coming to my work.
“I get to work with good people, as well as good coaches and ultimately
I’m getting to have a kick about with people who are some of my closest friends most days each week.
“I’d say for the most part it’s gone well too. In terms of last year we did very well and then when I was on loan here it went alright as well, we were on the up before the pandemic hit us.
“A lot of folk were maybe confused how I’d got to 100 appearances as quickly as this but because of the pandemic and things like that people forget I was here for three quarters of a season before that.”
Baird admits that it’s not all been plain sailing though with some tough periods tackled in his five-year association with the club.
Losing out on the play-offs last season does remain in the back of his mind, but he’s glad that he and his team-mates have managed to show their battling capabilities to overturn a poor start to the season this time around.
Baird added: “I’d say that last season, the run we’ve been on this season and then even my loan spell were three of the most enjoyable spells of my career, or three seasons I’ve really enjoyed in my career.
“Don’t get me wrong there’s been some difficult moments in there, losing out on the play offs last season and the start of this season was really difficult for us too and we’ve kind of slipped into a bit of similar form again on paper.
“In no way is it the same though, because we’ve had a far more difficult run over a shorter period of time.
“But overall, 100 games has been very enjoyable in my opinion.”