Personal memories fire Butcher to end Motherwell's 50-year wait

STEPHEN HALLIDAY

AS HE expounded the ancient, but nonetheless relevant truism of form going out of the window in a semi-final, Terry Butcher was grateful for the encouragement it offers his Motherwell side on two counts ahead of tonight’s meeting with Hearts at Easter Road.

With the Fir Park club recently enduring, in their manager’s own words, "a wretched run of results," with five defeats in their past six games, their record in League Cup semi-finals is also a fairly agonising one.

Remarkably, it is 50 years since Motherwell reached a League Cup final, losing 4-2 to Hearts on that occasion at Hampden. Since then, they have reached the last four of the competition on four occasions, losing each time to St Mirren (1955-56), St Johnstone (1969-70), Celtic (1986-87) and Rangers (1987-88).

If Butcher’s priority this season remains a top-six finish in the SPL, there is no doubting his deep desire to see his team break the jinx which has lasted for half-a-century and give themselves a major Hampden occasion to look forward to next month.

While others may question the League Cup’s continuing relevance to Scottish football, Butcher is not among them. He has a soft spot for the trophy, the first one he lifted as captain of Rangers when leading the Ibrox club’s renaissance in 1986, and would dearly love to win it as a manager.

"This is a great chance for both clubs to get to what is a major final," said Butcher, "and both clubs could do with the prestige and the revenue it brings. It doesn’t matter how you win these games, it’s just about getting through to the final. The incentive is huge and you can sense that among the players in training."

As he glances around his squad, which still contains a significant youthful element, Butcher feels every one of his 46 years.

"I was thinking about that 1986 final with Rangers, which was a massive thing for me," he says, "and I realised that it was only a year after lads like David Clarkson and Paul Quinn were born. It puts it in a bit of perspective for me."

This season has seen something of a dip in form for 19-year-old Clarkson, perhaps a natural fall-out from the striker’s premature, if impressive, introduction to the first team two years ago which was forced upon the club by administration.

The Scotland under-21 international was tipped to be the next Motherwell prodigy to be snapped up by a predatory bigger club, following the sales of James McFadden and Stephen Pearson to Everton and Celtic respectively over the past 18 months. As the transfer window slammed shut last night, it did so with Butcher this time keeping his squad intact.

"There hasn’t been the same kind of activity this time," he said, "but in a perverse way I almost wish there had been. If we were having to fend off offers for our players this month, it would have meant they were playing a lot better than they have been. I have to look at it positively though and it is good to keep the side together for the second half of the season."

Aside from the injured Brian Kerr and cup-tied Jim Hamilton, Butcher has a full squad of 19 first-team players to choose from tonight. Just as it was two years ago in the Scottish Cup semi-final against Rangers, when he dropped Dirk Lehmann and Keith Lasley, Butcher says informing those players who will not be involved against Hearts will be his hardest task.

He still recalls his own bitter experience in 1990 when he was dropped by Graeme Souness from the Rangers side for the League Cup semi-final against Aberdeen, paving the way for his acrimonious departure from Ibrox.

"It’s not nice," said Butcher, "but it’s something you have to do as a manager. Graeme did it to me all those years ago and I now know how difficult it is to tell someone they are not playing in a big game like this."

Phil O’Donnell, fit again after a recent injury absence, may return in midfield for Motherwell as he chases an achievement in his second spell at Fir Park to match the 1991 Scottish Cup final winning team in which he played a key role.

"Opportunities don’t come along too often for a club like Motherwell and you have to try and make the most of them," said the 32-year-old former Celtic and Scotland player.

"Although I won things with Celtic, which was fantastic, 1991 will always be a special memory because while Glasgow is a divided city when it comes to football, with Motherwell the whole town was behind us. Hearts are probably the favourites and will have a bigger support than us, but it’s a great chance for the lads here to get to a Hampden cup final."

Taken from the Scotsman