Motherwell inducted five club legends into their Hall of Fame on Friday night as the Steelmen paid tribute to some special club servants.
Former midfielder Keith Lasley, ‘Ancell Babe’ winger Willie Hunter, plus striking trio Tommy Coyne, Bobby Graham and Willie MacFadyen were all recognised at a sold-out night in Dalziel Park, where diehard ‘Well fan Tam Cowan played host.
The 2022 inductees are some of the most respected names to grace Fir Park and their families were in attendance to see their careers honoured.
Lasley is one of the highest appearance holders in their history, playing almost 500 games, and spent two decades at Fir Park. He was a player, captain, coach and assistant manager, before leaving in April this year to take up a role as chief operating officer at Premiership rivals St Mirren.
Lasley is also the only man to have won the club’s Player of the Year on three occasions.
The 42-year-old posted a picture from the night on his social media pages, commenting: “Very proud moment.”
Nineties favourite Coyne has been inducted in recognition of his prolific five-year spell at Fir Park between 1993-1998, where he played 156 games in claret and amber and bagged 61 goals.
That form earned him a call-up to the Jack Charlton’s Republic of Ireland squad for the 1994 World Cup in the USA and he became the first-ever ‘Well player to feature at a finals.
Graham, who had made his name at Liverpool, was signed by Ian St John in 1973 as he brought him with him from Merseyside, hoping the two Motherwell boys could help bring success to their hometown team.
The forward made 172 starts at Fir Park, netting 48 times goals and provided many assists, but silverware would elude him with a number of semi-final appearances.
MacFadyen, whose heyday came in the 1920s and 1930s, is another to have given over a decade of service to the club during his life.
His 52 league goals for Motherwell’s 1931–32 championship winning side remains the record goals total for a single season.
The boy from Overton signed for ‘Well at 17 Wishaw YMCA in 1921 and went on to score 235 goals in 378 games.
The final inductee is Hunter and as part of the legendary Ancell Babes, he is highly regarded.
Whilst at Fir Park he won three Scotland caps and managed 61 goals in 301 appearances, although it is understood he set up more goals than he scored during his decade-long spell.
Described as a “dazzling” and “magical” footballer by those who had been lucky enough to see him play, Hunter lit up Fir Park with his displays, having started out in the reserves alongside Ian St John as a teenager.
Motherwell's Head of Commercial and Marketing, Suzanne Reid, hailed the night a huge success.
She said: The Motherwell Hall of Fame dinner welcomed its fourth batch of inductees on Friday night at a sell-out event.
"A massive thank you to everyone who joined us on the night. It was a memorable occasion with lots of tears and laughter."
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