Pars deal reward for Lang’s belief

Former Rangers youngster Tom Lang admits he found the transition to part-time football ‘difficult’, but is thrilled to be back in the full-time game with Dunfermline.

The 22-year-old has penned a two-year deal with the Pars after winning promotion from League Two with Clyde last season.

The one-time Birmingham City trainee confesses he never envisaged dropping down to the SPFL’s bottom tier after he left Ibrox in 2016.

But the defender is determined to prove he is back on the up again after kick-starting his career under Danny Lennon at the Bully Wee.

He said: “I’m really delighted to be back in full-time football – that was the target all along.

“But it can be difficult, the transition from fulltime to part-time football, and the transition to men’s football, which I had never played until I went part-time.

“So, it was difficult. In the first couple of years, I really struggled to play many games at all.

“And then Clyde was the best move for me.

“I played quite a few games there, week-in, week-out, and I feel like my game’s really progressed since I’ve been given that chance to play.

“I really can’t wait. “I just want to push on now and do everything I can to be as fit as possible and work every day to make myself a better player.”

Lang had spells with Dumbarton and Stranraer before joining Clyde last year and he admits it was only last season that he felt he found the mental – and physical – strength to cope with revitalising his career.

Having worked during the day as a personal trainer last term, he added: “Of course there were doubts when I left Rangers, but I was always going to play football.

“But once you’re parttime and you’re not playing you start thinking ‘what’s the point of this?’

“You’ve just got to keep that mentality that it will all work out and something will happen.

“At the time I left Rangers, I went on trial to four or five clubs (including Dundee United, QPR and Barnsley) and they were good clubs, but I was only 19 and they said I was too old for under-20s, so I needed to be ready for the first team.

“In the end, you sign for a part-time team but you think you’re better than that and then you’re not playing.

“So, you do need to get your head round it and I would advise young players to get their heads around it quickly and don’t think about the short-term but the longterm picture.

“You’ve just got to work on yourself as if you are still full-time and hopefully you get the rewards from that. Luckily, I have done.”

Tom Lang: found it hard to drop in to part-time game after leaving Rangers.