Liam Grimshaw completed his journey back to action by netting his first ever senior goal in last Saturday’s 2-1 victory over Livingston.

His winning goal was met with hysteria by the ‘Well fans and players alike, though for the Burnley born defender it represented much more.

Floored by glandular fever in January, it has been a testing time for Grimshaw, who found himself unable to find the energy to leave his house during the initial stages of his illness.

The 26-year-old is thankful for the support of the club, his family and the supporters during the most challenging time of his career. Now after marking his return to league action with the first goal of a career in which he has made over 120 appearances – he is now focusing on what comes next.

“It was great to score and for us to get our first win – that was big and hopefully will give us the confidence to kick on in the next few games,” said Grimshaw. “I never had anything planned in terms of celebrations, I just went berserk really.

“It was great to see people genuinely happy on Saturday, during the time I was ill the club, my family and the fans have been really supportive – it was just a good day really and the supporters will remember it for a while. In football you must move on to the next thing though and last week is done with now, my focus has already turned to having a good game against Dundee.

“Obviously it is great to be back to good health, I think I probably took my health for granted as a fit, young lad who is a sportsman. When you do become ill it comes as a bit of a shock, but it is a brilliant feeling to be able to run about, train everyday and get back to my day-to-day life without feeling completely shattered.

“You go from that lively football environment to being at home, not able to work out, train and look forward to a game at the weekend. I was very lucky to have great support from my girlfriend Courtney and my family back home were always in touch.

“It was one of those things too, although it was serious, there were a lot of a people a lot worse off – I just had to have that mindset that with time things would work out and that I would get back to being healthy.”

Away from football, Liam has a keen interest in several other sports, fashion, and music.

During the six months where he was unable to leave the house, an ability to keep himself busy was very important, though he admits the feeling of finally being able to return to the club was a massive lift.  

“I’m big into my sport and there’s never a shortage of sport on the tele, whether that is a good or a bad thing I’m not sure,” he added. “I’m big a cricket fan and enjoy horse racing, golf, boxing, snooker – anything really!

“I read a lot of books during that time too and then when I was feeling a bit better, I started to go out for walks as well as going along to the club to watch training.

“It was great to be feeling strong enough to get out of the house after a period where I was spending 24 hours a day there – I did cope fairly well with it to be fair and I was lucky in that respect.”

Hailing from Burnley and a lifelong follower of the Clarets, Liam can see a lot of similarities between the people in his hometown and those from Motherwell.

Two towns where the local people are proud of where they come from, working hard all week to provide for their families and often living for the football at the weekend.

He says he feels a real sense of pride at representing the Steelmen, having formed a strong bond with the fans and witnessing the work done by the club and the Community Trust to help support the local area.

“Motherwell are a big community club, and the fans are a massive part of that,” said the former Manchester United youth. “Obviously, it is a fan owned club and the fans are the club – that’s the case wherever you go – the supporters are the ones that are always there, players, coaches and staff will move on, but the fans will remain and support them through thick and thin.

“I think the club does great work in various areas, there’s been a big issue with suicide in the local area and they’ve done really good work with Suicide Prevention and the local charity Chris’ House. Also, the support with under privileged people who are struggling to make ends meet and kids who aren’t getting a proper meal – the club step in and help there too.

“It is a real shame that people living in a modern country that is meant to be all singing and all dancing, but there’s people unable to put food on the table – all pretty hard to believe really.

“The fact that Motherwell are fan owned and the supporters are making the decisions to some extent, maybe not on the pitch, but certainly off it. For me that’s a good thing as they are the people who are living in the town every day and seeing what goes on, they have the best interests of the club at heart.

“I think that’s what makes Motherwell so special, they look out for people. Ever since I came to the club, I’ve been well looked after by the staff and the fans – they are genuine people and something that makes this club stand out from the rest.”

The return of supporters in stadia across the UK has been a huge lift for players and supporters alike.

Liam looks back on the games he played in during the first half of last season as a ‘soulless’ experience in which the colour, enthusiasm and noise was noticeably absent.

Now he feels it is the down to the ‘Well players to give their fans something to cheer about after their 16-month absence from Fir Park and is also excited about the prospect of having increased attendances over the course of the season due to the ‘Well In’ initiative raising funds to buy season tickets for low-income families and the unemployed in the local area.

“I think having the fans back is massive, the fans at Motherwell galvanise the players,” he said. “Last season was soulless you would find yourself 1-0 down with 10 minutes to go and when the ball goes out the park it is taking 30-40 seconds to come back.

“If the fans are there, the ball is returned right away and they give you that extra lift -we want to give the fans we a reason to turn up.

“That is what it is all about, the fans work all week, and they want to come and watch some form of entertainment – if we can do that by working hard and adding a bit of quality to our game then I’m sure they’ll get behind us. Following a team like Burnley is probably quite like supporting Motherwell. If you can get a team that are going out and giving their all on the pitch – I think fans can resonate with that.

“Football is a form of escapism from people’s everyday lives and if we can get people along that might not have had the chance before then that is a great thing.

“Kids especially nowadays tend to grow up just watching football on the television and don’t go to games. Motherwell tend to try target that generation and that’s the way to do it. It can be difficult because the town is situated just outside Glasgow and a lot of people go and watch Celtic and Rangers, we’ve got that hardcore following though and if we can build on that it can only be a benefit to the club.”

A firm fan favourite from very early in his ‘Well career, Grimshaw is now heading into his fifth full season with the club.

Given the high turnover of players at Fir Park on almost a yearly basis, he believes it is important the core of the squad who have been around the club for a length of time lead by example and help the new faces settle in.

Grimshaw also pinpoints his time at Manchester United as a great example of how to make people feel a part of the setup and reveals he received a surprise contact from the Premier League giants during the first lockdown in April of last year.

“There’s always been guys that have been here for four or five years that know what it is all about and I think it is down to those guys to help new guys bed in and let them know what is expected,” he assessed. “It is something that comes with modern football that you often have 12-13 new players coming in every season and it makes it difficult to hit the ground running.

“Some of them won’t know the league, some haven’t been playing for a while for whatever reason – therefore those that have been here longer feel a responsibility to help move them in the right direction.

“I had a fantastic experience at Man Utd, I was there from the age of eight right up until the age of 19 when I came to Motherwell on loan. As you would imagine, it is a brilliant club, probably the biggest in the world.

“In the last few years, I know United haven’t had the success they might have hoped for, but for a club of that size, how they treated me when I was there and also after I left was incredible.

“There is a lot of brilliant people that work there and during the first lockdown, I got a message from someone from United explaining they were getting in touch with people who had played there previously to offer courses and checking in if we needed any support – I think in football you can sometimes be forgotten about when you move on, but that just shows they look after people who have been there and do things the right way.”

Another demonstration of Liam’s popularity among the Motherwell fans came following the loss of a popular figure who was a lifelong supporter.

Andrew Paterson passed away at the age of 47 in June and as a tribute his family and friends raised money to sponsor a player in his honour. The fundraising target was smashed within a few hours and when the time came to pick the player, Liam was the overwhelmingly popular choice.

The former Preston and Chesterfield defender is proud to have been chosen by Andrew’s family and is determined to do them proud during the new campaign.

“I didn’t know Andrew personally, but it has been mentioned to me by people at the club and they explained he was a big Motherwell fan,” he said. “It is a great honour to be able to represent his family and friends – hopefully I can have a good season personally and the team can do as well to make them proud.”

By Andy Ross

Former Motherwell and Scotland manager Craig Brown is expecting an exciting season in the Scottish Premiership after a summer to remember for fans across the country.

There were plenty of opportunities for Brown to take a trip down memory lane in recent months, as Scotland finally ended their 21-year absence from a major tournament – with much of the build-up based around a nostalgic look back on times where qualification was almost taken for granted.

The 81-year-old, who led the Scots to the 1998 World Cup and the European Championship in 1996, was thrilled to see the national side grace the big stage again and feels the foundations have been laid for more of the same when it comes to qualification.

“I’m just trying to imagine if we weren’t in that tournament what a summer would have been like, it would have been quite a disaster in my view,” Brown said. “It was great for us to be back, there’s no doubt about it.

“I have travelled across the world and I’m still a part of the European Coaches Association and when we meet, they all admit a tournament without Scotland is just not the same – the fans bring a colour and noise to the occasion.

“It was a delight to see the team back, though I was a wee bit disappointed we were a bit meek against Croatia in the crucial game especially. We played brilliantly against England and if we had maintained that against Croatia then we maybe would be talking about having progressed out of the group.”

Despite Steve Clark’s men falling short in their quest to progress through to the knockout stages of a major tournament for the first time, Brown is confident the future is looking bright for the national side.

He pinpoints the likes of Andy Robertston, John McGinn, Kieran Tierney and Scott McTominay as the players who will drive the team on to future success, though believes it is too early to hail Chelsea youngster Billy Gilmour as a future star in the dark blue.

“I think everything is in place absolutely, the fans are behind the team and the manager,” he added. Hopefully we can take advantage of the groundwork that has been done so far.

“We have some smashing young players and that’s even without Billy Gilmour who really has only had one outstanding game.

“I think back to Barry Ferguson who at the same age commanded the game against England in the play-off at Wembley, they had a very powerful midfield that had the likes of Paul Ince, Paul Scholes, Jamie Redknapp and David Beckham, but the best player on the park was Ferguson.

“At that time, he was just a year older than Gilmour is just now. I think he has a bit to do yet to get to that standard, though having won the Champions League at Chelsea and earning Man of the Match against England at Wembley he has already achieved a lot in the game.”

Brown oversaw the national team for 70 international fixtures, more than any other Scotland manager. After stepping down after the Scots failed to reach the 2002 World Cup, he took up the hotseat at Preston North End six months later.

It was at Deepdale where he would work with ‘Well boss Graham Alexander and his assistant Chris Lucketti – two individuals he has retained a great level of respect for.

“Along with Keith Lasley, Motherwell have three great guys in charge of the team – I really hope they do well,” he said. “Lucketti was the most expensive signing that Moyesie (David Moyes) made for Preston, he signed him from Bury and he was the captain of the club –Chris is a brilliant guy and a very good player.

“Graham Alexander was a massive player for Preston, he’s a club legend there and went on to captain the side. As for ‘Las, he is outstanding as a guy, and he was an outstanding player.”

Brown’s time at Preston would come to end in August 2004 and he would be replaced by former Motherwell gaffer Billy Davies. He reflects on his time with the Lilywhites as one where financial constraints played a big factor, something that denied him the chance to secure the services of two future Scotland stars.

“We didn’t have much of a transfer budget at Preston,” he remembered. “We had to sell but didn’t have much to buy with.

“We had an offer for James McFadden rejected when he was at Motherwell and I actually also tried to sign McFadden for Aberdeen when he was at Birmingham. The selling point was that he has family in Stonehaven and we’d get him a house there, though it didn’t come to pass.

“Ricardo Fuller who we had signed for Preston from Hearts, was sold to Portsmouth who were in the Premier League at the time, and I was given £400,000 to spend.

“I didn’t spend it as the guy I wanted was a lot more expensive – that player was Scott Brown from Hibs. I had £400,000 to spend and he went to Celtic for over four million, I only was able to offer 10% of that – we were nowhere near in the offer we made.”

Over five years would pass before Craig returned to management, stepping in on what initially appeared to be a temporary basis when Jim Gannon was sacked by Motherwell. It would be his first in Scottish club management since he left Clyde in 1986.

His predecessor Gannon was a controversial character, who despite success in the transfer market, found himself clashing with the more experienced players at the club as well as the footballing authorities.

Brown’s close friend and vastly experienced assistant manager, Archie Knox accompanied him to ‘Well and the pair were hailed the ‘Jack and Victor’ of Scottish football.

Their impact was almost instant and from struggling at the foot of the table, the Steelmen would finish in fifth spot and as a result secured a place in the qualifying stages for the Europa League.

“Jim Gannon signed a few good players, but the team weren’t playing well, myself and Archie came in temporarily to help out, but it went well and the club were happy to keep us,” he recounted. “Jim wanted a young team, but it was quite easy to change the fortunes at Motherwell, when you looked at the quality of the guys who weren’t playing, the likes of Stephen Craigan, Stevie Hammell and Keith Lasley had been frozen out.

“Bringing in these experienced players improved the team immediately and we had a very good record with them. We didn’t have money to go out and buy players, we had to look for transfers that wouldn’t involve a fee or look at loan signings.

“We had a very good goalkeeper in John Ruddy during the first season and managed to get one every bit as good in Darren Randolph for the following campaign, a good goalkeeper helps you a lot – getting him on a free was a huge boost for the team.”

In the qualifying stages for the Europa League, Motherwell would impress. Icelandic side Breidablik were dispatched before a superb showing in the 4-1 aggregate triumph against Aalesunds FK set up a play-off encounter with Danish outfit Odense.

It would end in disappointment for the Steelmen, who lost the tie 3-1 on aggregate and even 11 years on, the former ‘Well boss has some regrets of how the tie unfolded – including the actions of the Odense Sporting Director who learned the hard way not to upset Craig Brown.

“I think it has to be said that it was a massive achievement to reach the play-off stage,” he said. “Aberdeen have been in Europe the past five seasons and haven’t reached the play-off yet, we had one year at Motherwell and reached that stage.

“I have major regret about it the Odense tie as I feel we should have beaten them over the two-legs, it would have been marvellous to get to the group stages – John Boyle would have been happy then.

“There was an incident with their Sporting Director at the end of the second match, he barged into me – rather than go round me, he tried to go through me – so I had a wee punch at him. It was just an impulsive reaction, there was a wee bit of bitterness about it, it is not usually associated with Danish football, and I was astonished by the way he acted.”

Motherwell and Hibernian both open their respective Scottish Premiership campaigns here at Fir Park this afternoon in a fixture that has served up more than its fair share of drama over the years – though there undoubtedly is one encounter that stands out from the rest.

In May 2010, the two sides played out an incredible 12 goal thriller, with Lukas Jutkiewicz’s sublime volley in injury time completing a remarkable Motherwell comeback from 6-2 behind to level the match at 6-6 in the most dramatic of circumstances.

It was a night that nobody involved or in attendance will ever forget, though the memories of watching his side concede six goals on home soil still frustrates Brown.

“I joke about the game, when people ask, I tell them that Archie was coaching the defence and I was coaching the attack – you can imagine Archie’s response to that,” he laughed. “It was embarrassing to be behind in the game as we were, Colin Nish scored every time he shot – it was quite unheralded for him to play as well as he did that night.

“It was a very exciting game for the fans, but as a manager it isn’t one you are proud of, to lose six goals at home is quite frankly a disgrace. If you remember the next game, we went to Ibrox and came back from 3-1 down to draw 3-3 against Rangers, so we made a habit of big comebacks.

“Although it was an exciting one, I look back on that night with a bit of embarrassment – our defence just fell apart.”

Although Brown and Knox were only at the club just short of a year before moving on to Aberdeen, the veteran manager still holds a strong affinity for the Steelmen.

He admits the controversial circumstances of his departure perhaps ‘blotted his copybook’ with some supporters, though is keen to stress that had certain circumstances been met, history would have taken a different course.

“We were working without a contract – if we had signed a contract there is no way we would have left,” said Brown. “I loved Motherwell and still do.

“Even when I left, initially I had said no, as we had a far better team than Aberdeen – we had been up to Pittodrie and beat them 3-0. Leeann Dempster talked about a contact and presented one to us, we said we would sign it providing the bit was removed that said we would not oversee the full football operation.

“I oversaw the first team only and Gordon Young, who was excellent incidentally, oversaw the youths. He had a watertight contract that stated he was in full charge of the teams from under 20’s down.

“All Motherwell had to do was alter that and give me full control over the whole football operation and if they had done so I would never have broken the contract.

“What could have come up from that was that if Gordon Young wanted to play Steven Saunders who was coming through at that stage for a Youth Cup tie and I wanted him for the first team, he could overrule me because he had sole charge of every player under the age of 20.

“I would have been happy to delegate and give control to Gordon as he’s an outstanding coach – it is a shame we weren’t able to resolve the issue as if we could have sorted that we would have remained here and have been very happy.”