Covid-19 exodus means Lesmahagow Juniors have just two players left

Lesmahagow Juniors manager Robert Irving faces an enormous rebuilding job next summer as departures mean he has been left with just two players signed up.
Lesmahagow Juniors manager Robert Irving is now building sheds on Saturdays instead of being at football matches (pictured)Lesmahagow Juniors manager Robert Irving is now building sheds on Saturdays instead of being at football matches (pictured)
Lesmahagow Juniors manager Robert Irving is now building sheds on Saturdays instead of being at football matches (pictured)

’Gow’s decision to join several other clubs in withdrawing from this season’s West of Scotland League led to Craighead Park ace Kris Jarvie leaving for Newmains, Glen Eadie joining Kilsyth, Neil Schoneville signing for Bellshill Athletic and Lewis Hill going to Carluke Rovers so they could continue playing during the coronavirus crisis.

That means the only two players left at ’Gow are Jordan Whitefield and Darren Lygate, although the latter is currently on loan at Newmains.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Gaffer Irving told us: “It’s 100% certain that the ’Gow will survive. We’ll be back when the restrictions lift and once we can get back to some sort of normality when everybody’s playing, not just some teams.

“I’m hoping that, come the new year, supporters will be allowed back into the grounds and then I’ll get round the games and see what’s going about so I can sign new players.”

Irving has no regrets about ’Gow withdrawing from the league this season.

“100% I think it was the right decision for us to pull out,” he said. “We looked at every avenue in terms of money coming in, money going out, players’ welfare.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“We could have sustained playing from a financial point of view, but under the current restrictions – players sweating buckets at a game on a freezing day in Ayrshire and then having to drive 30 miles home unshowered before working at 9am the next morning, there’s no way I would have liked to do it as a player.

“The situation with no dressing rooms and no shower facilities and players having to travel individually to games is not acceptable to us.

“I just don’t see how the preparation can be right.

“You can’t go into the dressing room before the game, at half-time, after the game.

“I don’t see how you can bond your team together, get great team morale as that all starts in the dressing room, on team buses on the road home after a good victory, so never once on a Saturday have I thought ‘maybe we should just have played’, not under those restrictions anyway.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“I have been working on a Saturday (building sheds and fencing) and the football has never even crossed my mind.

“We’ve been busy during the lockdown because I don’t need to come into contact with folk.”

Related topics: