END OF THE LINE
As former Ibrox midfielder Lewis Macleod calls time on a career blighted by injury, he admits: ‘I’ve prepared for this moment ever since I left Rangers. Even when I got fit, I always thought I was never the same...’
AT THE age of 28, Lewis Macleod should be in his prime — and not announcing his retirement from football. Yet, after a hugely promising career was derailed by a catalogue of injuries, the former Rangers midfielder has admitted enough is enough.
Ten years on from the afternoon he scored his first goal in a 4-1 win over Montrose as the Ibrox club were in the early stages of their journey back to the Premiership, medial knee ligament damage has ensured Macleod’s own efforts to return to the top are at an end.
He underwent surgery in June last year but, despite tireless rehab with physio Steve Walker, Macleod explained: ‘The surgeons told me they’ve exhausted all avenues, other than another operation. But they had no idea if it would work or benefit me at all. It might even set me back.
‘It wasn’t progressing. If I struck the ball or changed direction, just having a kickabout with pals, I got pain, went back to square one and was stuck there for months.
‘I’m still relatively young to play football but, with perhaps another year out after surgery with no idea how it’s going to go, if I’m going to do other things, it’s taking another year out of that.
‘I’d always been injury-prone, if you want to say that. Never small injuries, all for long periods of time. A grade three hamstring tear, heart problem, torn ACL and torn medial ligament.
‘You almost prepare yourself for the worst and think your career may end early. I’ve prepared myself for this. Honestly, I’ve had that fear from when I left Rangers. And when I eventually got fit, I always had it in my mind I was never the same as before.
‘I’ve still got a love for football. I’d like to be involved in some capacity, recruitment or coaching. I feel I’ve a lot to give.
‘I don’t know how soon that will be. The last 18 months have been dedicated to rehab. Now is a transitional period, seeing what I want to do and taking the steps to go and do that.’
His first two seasons in the Rangers first team were curtailed. The first by injury, the second with a heart issue. However, the problems responsible for dealing him such an unfair hand began midway through his third campaign.
Cruelly, weeks after his superb Championship form earned a Scotland call from Gordon Strachan, he suffered a hamstring tear at Alloa in December 2014. Macleod, who scored 16 Rangers goals in 76 outings, explained: ‘One thing that annoys me was the timing when it all started to happen and the realisation I was never going to reach the levels I should’ve reached.
‘I was playing really well for Rangers, got a Scotland call-up. Just being around the national team, showing I could handle that, was great. But that’s all about what could’ve been. I did my hamstring just after and that’s what killed me.
‘Playing for the club me and my family supported all our lives is something I’ll always cherish.
‘I’ve great memories being a Rangers player, making my debut, playing at a full Ibrox, scoring some good goals.
‘I’d love to have come back and played for Rangers in the Premiership.’
The hamstring tear wasn’t sufficient to deter then Brentford boss Mark Warburton pressing ahead with his £1million signing in January 2015. It was an enforced departure from Rangers aged 20 and led to many lonely months in London, wondering when he might play again.
Setbacks decreed Macleod managed eight minutes of first-team action in his first 18 months with the Bees.
Then, 13 games into his comeback under Dean Smith, he damaged his cruciate knee ligament against QPR.
Psychological troubles piled on the physical ones, born of desperation to justify his lofty reputation and, at the time for Brentford, significant fee.
He revealed: ‘When the manager asked how I felt, I found myself almost lying, saying I was good even though, deep down, I wasn’t.
‘In my first season Brentford got to the play-offs against Middlesbrough, I was on the bench. I don’t know if it was because they’d paid the money for me, they wanted people to see me involved.
‘I kid you not, I couldn’t run over a jog. A midfielder went down in five minutes and I got told to warm-up.
‘I thought: “Please God, don’t put me on”. I knew I wouldn’t have lasted five minutes.
‘It was a horrible feeling; the most stressed I’ve ever been. I was pretending to myself, pretending to the physios.
‘It was the wrong thing to do. But I felt cheeky because they’ve paid this money for me. I felt I owed them. I’d do too much too soon. That might’ve affected me long term. I honestly can’t tell you the last time I went into a game feeling good — either with hamstring or knee.
‘But I never actually let anyone know that. I found that draining. I saw a sleep coach as I was up all hours of the night without any focus when injured. I think I got to the point where I started to believe lies I told myself.
‘I find it hard to make sense of. But I did it for so long that it became second nature.’
Macleod moved to Wigan but a disagreement with boss Paul Cook restricted him to 12 outings in 2019/20 before signing for Plymouth.
Seventeen games were a struggle as he battled through another knee problem before deciding to rehab back in Glasgow.
But Plymouth manager Ryan Lowe offered one vital favour first — sessions with a psychologist that proved a mentally healing process.
‘It was the first time I’d let go of everything I’d held in for years,’ he admitted. ‘It was a massive weight off my shoulders. Six years dealing with it all myself and not really speaking about how I felt.
‘She got me to take her through my career from 16 and highlighted anything she classed as a trauma.
‘There were 19 in the space of ten years. I hadn’t realised the effect they might’ve had on me.
‘At that point, she said: “I’m not surprised you’re taking some time away from football”.’