This is an excerpt from this week's Claret and Amber Alert, a free Motherwell newsletter written by Graeme McGarry that goes out every Thursday at 6pm. To sign up, click here.
Stephen O’Donnell may be among the most likable men in Scottish football.
He is generous with his time with fans and the media alike. He overcame the doubters and critics to forge a highly unlikely but very creditable Scotland career. He put Jack Grealish up in the air and down on his sculpted bahookie at Wembley. He’s a local Lanarkshire lad. What’s not to like?
‘Sods’ is an easy guy to root for. So, it was with some surprise and delight that Motherwell fans met news of his signing back in 2021. A current Scotland international who had recently left a rival club ending up at Fir Park seemed to mark out his capture as a real coup.
On the whole, it has proved to be just that. But even the man himself, in typically modest fashion, would likely admit that it hasn’t always been plain sailing.
There have been losses of form and confidence. Spells out of the side because of that, and because of his much-publicised issues with Graham Alexander (he was hardly alone there, in fairness) that led to him being stripped of the Fir Park captaincy.
But there has been a renaissance. And how.
There were signs that O’Donnell was really starting to find his form once again towards the end of last season as he flitted between the right wingback role and a station on the right of Stuart Kettlewell’s back three.
Even still, there was perhaps a feeling that with Johnny Koutroumbis (remember him?) arriving in the summer and with the centre-back options bolstered by the arrivals of Liam Gordon and Kofi Balmer (come to think of it, remember him?), that O’Donnell may have been relegated to something of a supporting role at the age of 32.
The injury to Koutroumbis in pre-season means we will never know if that was the plan or not, but one man’s misfortune is another man’s opportunity, and O’Donnell has grasped that chance with both hands.
He has been playing well throughout the early knockings of the season, but his performance on Sunday against Hearts was, quite frankly, ridiculous for a man of his age. O’Donnell was everywhere.
And thanks to the rather fetching GPS bra that players these days wear, I can exclusively reveal that he covered 11.7km during what was a brilliant win for the team overall, with only two (much younger) players on the field covering more ground.
Around three kilometres of that may have come as he celebrated his goal, mind you, but it’s an impressive stat, nonetheless.
Steve Clarke was in the Phil O’Donnell Stand watching on, and given his past history with O’Donnell and the undoubted trust he has in him, I half expected him to be amongst the names announced by the Scotland manager when he named his squad this week for the upcoming Nations League matches.
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Sadly, it has been confirmed that Aaron Hickey will remain sidelined for most of, if not the entirety of, this season. Nathan Patterson has yet to return to regular action following his own injury woes. Anthony Ralston has started the season on the bench for Celtic, and mostly had a torrid time of it at the Euros.
If Clarke was selecting his squad based on the evidence in front of his eyes on Sunday alone, O’Donnell would have been a shoo-in. Alas, Motherwell fans had to settle for former player Max Johnston being drafted into the squad on the right of the backline along with Ralston.
Which, given the Scotland manager really does need to start casting an eye towards the future, is fair enough, I suppose.
O’Donnell’s Scotland days may be behind him then, but his showing against Hearts was, for me, his best since joining the club, and recent evidence suggests that his best days in a Motherwell jersey may lie ahead.
Whenever Koutroumbis does eventually get back to full training, he will have a hell of a fight on to prise that starting jersey away from him.
AND ANOTHER THING…
It’s good to talk, as Bob Hoskins used to say, so it has been a very welcome feature of Brian Caldwell’s short reign as CEO so far that he is willing to periodically update supporters on important matters and deal with their concerns head on.
That being said, while I can now certainly understand the reasoning behind some decisions this season, such as unaccompanied 14-year-olds being turned away at the gate or away fans being housed in the upper tier of the Tommy McLean Stand, it doesn’t mean I’m now ok with those calls.
Some of my best memories were attending matches with pals around that age, so it is a real shame that adherence to some sort of age limit may be a hard tide for the club to swim against, but I hope at least that away supporters will be shunted back down the stairs as soon as it is possible to do so.
I don’t buy the line that having them up the back of the stand gives Motherwell a sporting advantage, given the team have lost to sides when there are no fans in there and beaten other teams when it is packed out.
What is certain though is that it has a detrimental effect on the atmosphere at Fir Park, and therefore the matchday experience for the paying punter.
