Author: thekitrail

A Motherwell FC fan and a football shirt blogger showing off my collection.

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The Weird and Wonderful World of Motherwell Football Collectibles Volume 1

As a Motherwell fan and a collector of random Motherwell memorabilia nothing comes close to this book by Matt Johnstone. Collecting different pieces from collectors in and around North Lanarkshire including the likes of jerseys, programmes and pendants from the footballing side of the book but also it looks into Motherwell fans trainer collecting habit and everyone’s favourite football game, Subbuteo.

A solid 258 page read takes you through the history of Motherwell Football Club starting off with the formation, ground and colours and travelling through the years and bouncing around European teams the mighty well have come up against.

If you like the sound of the book you can buy it using the link here: The Weird and Wonderful World of Motherwell Football Collectibles Volume

However it’s not just the book we’re covering today as we have been so kindly been given some Daft Laddie merch to coincide with the launch of the book. A take on the classic Admiral Welsh kit of 76′ that features the two stripes arching around with claret and white replacing the green and yellow of the original. It wouldn’t be complete without the Daft Laddie logo and Daft Laddie Apparel badge.

If you want to have a look at the Daft Laddie merch shop for T-shirts and Matt’s other book “Saturday is Service Day” you can here: https://daftladdie.bigcartel.com/

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Club Tops European

Fiorentina Christmas Jumper

It wouldn’t be Christmas without a tacky Christmas jumper and here at The Kit Rail we’ve scoped out the best one from Classic Football Shirts.

Their take on the 1999/2000 is a winner in my eyes as it features the print of Batistuta in the pattern along with Buon Natale (Merry Christmas in Italian) just goes together brilliantly along with the famous ‘Viola’ colour that Fiorentina have made so famous over the years. The Nintendo logo featured in the middle of the jersey has also been replaced with a festive Ho Ho Ho.

On the back we’ve obviously got none other than ‘Batistuta 9’ who was Fiorentina’s talisman for the 99/00 season as he bagged 23 goals in the Serie A and 5 goals in 10 appearances in the Champions league, scoring in games against both Arsenal and Manchester United.

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Stephen Craigan – Motherwell’s Most Capped Player

Looking all the way back to eighteen years ago to 12/02/03, we would find a young Northern Irish lad receive his first international cap in a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Finland.

From then on Craigan would receive an impressive 54 international caps from 2003 to 2011 while racking up some impressive victories such as a 1-0 win over England in 2005 and a 3-2 victory over Spain in 2006, who would go on to become European champions from this Euro 2008 qualifying group.

Over the course of the Euro 2008 qualifiers, Craigan would go unbeaten from the 06/09/06 win over Spain to the 21/11/07 where Spain would get their revenge. In this time, Northern Ireland would beat Denmark, Sweden, Lichtenstein twice and Latvia while drawing with both Scandinavian teams as well. During this time however Craigan was unfortunately dropped for what should have been an easy away game to Latvia, Northern Ireland lost 1-0 and proved how crucial he was to the Northern Ireland set up.

These two jerseys here are both from Northern Ireland’s 2004 Caribbean tour where they played against St Kitts and Nevis, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago. They only team they didn’t beat were Barbados who they drew with 1-1.

He has also held his own against some of the worlds best such as playing against a young Robert Lewandowski in 2009, Raul, David Villa and Fernando Torres in 2006, Andrea Pirlo in 2010, Zlatan Ibrahimovic in 2007, Dimitar Berbatov in 2006 as well. However none of these generational talents compare to the numerous times he’s faced my dad at badminton over the years.

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British Club Tops

Super Richard Tait

Richard Tait arrived at Motherwell, aged 26, having just won Grimsby promotion into League Two from the National League via the playoffs after beating Forrest Green Rovers 3-1 at Wembley. The arrival of Tait wasn’t the only signing made from the English lower leagues as Ben Heneghan arrived from Chester, Carl McHugh from Plymouth Argyle and Ryan Bowman from Gateshead.

He would make his debut on the first day of the season in a 2-1 win away from home against Killie at Rugby Park. It would take Tait until the end of October to score his first goal in a 4-1 victory against Ross County. In March of his first season at the club, manager Mark McGhee was sacked and up stepped Stephen Robinson.

We all remember Robinson’s first full season, memorable cup final runs where we would see defeat at the hands of Celtic both times but that’s after the memories this team would give us such as Moult’s brace against Rangers, Curtis Main’s goal against Aberdeen or even Carl McHugh’s late strike against Hearts in the quarter final at Fir Park.

This top comes from Tait’s last season at the club in which he helped Motherwell qualify for the Europa League as they finished the league in third place, only bettered by the two Glasgow sides.

Tait was mainly utilised as a right back/right wing back but was often asked to fill out on the left hand side of defence where he would be played when Cadden was used as a right wing back.

A great full back and a top professional, Richard Tait will go down as a Motherwell player to remember. After all he was better than Cafu…..

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British Club Tops

Liam Kelly – Motherwell’s #1

Liam Kelly has been Motherwell’s first choice goalie for almost a year now since arriving in January 2021. In this time he has cemented himself as number one, forcing Trevor Carson out between the sticks and even the club due to Kelly’s incredible shot stopping ability and cat like reflexes.

Starting his career out in the blue side of Glasgow, it wouldn’t be until a move to Livingston FC before he would really catch the eye as a future Scotland prospect. You would imagine a move down south to QPR would help his case for the Scotland squad but a mid table finish and not getting a fair run of games made him surplus to requirements.

QPR’s loss was Motherwell’s gain as the 6ft 2′ shot stopper has been vital to the well’s strong finish to the 20/21 season, bagging himself Motherwell Player of the Year. Signing on a three year deal has also outlined Alexander’s ambition for the club by putting his faith in Kelly to lead the line for years to come.

Kelly’s fine form has also seen himself get a call up from Steve Clarke for two Scotland camps but unfortunately is yet to receive a cap for his services. As it looks, Kelly will be battling Zander Clark for the Scotland Number #1 shirt.

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British

Scotland vs Israel WC Qualifier 09/10/21

This post today comes from the hangover after a hard fought game from Scotland yesterday which gave a nation Hope to be able to qualify for the World Cup next year in Qatar.

My experience from the game started by getting the train to Mount Florida from Glasgow Central and what better way to hype yourself up for a Scotland game by listening to bagpipes and singing songs about John McGinn.

The buzz in the stadium was ripped out the hearts of the fans within the first five minutes which left me with the dread that it was going to be one of those games. A super strike from the main man John McGinn brought some hope back but some shocking defending was frustrating to watch as we conceded another making it a higher mountain to climb especially with our Aussie lad Lyndon Dykes missing a crucial penalty.

I can happily say the second half was a much better watch with Scotland pushing much higher up the pitch and playing much better football with Dykes redeeming himself and getting his goal. It was certainly an experience seeing VAR in use for the first time in the flesh. It was over after the longest two minutes of our lives and of course the goal was given as Israel were just seen to be cheating, again.

An 88th minute miss from McGinn made it seem that all was over but an added six minute of injury time was seen as a massive boost and our favourite Manc McTominay had us all chanting his name after his added time winner.

Suppose I can’t finish a blog without talking about what tops me and Lauren had on. I went with the new away top as I had just bought it in Edinburgh airport last Thursday and it is a belter but Lauren went a bit classier with JD’s Score Draw 96’ replica home top.

I think I can speak for everyone when I say we all had a boogie after full time and I hope everyone in the tartan army enjoy their night last night. Roll on the Faroe Islands Tuesday.

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British Club Tops

John Sutton – Scottish Cup Final 2011

On the 126th Scottish Cup final Motherwell made their way to Hampden where they would come up against Celtic in Scottish football’s most prestigious knockout competition.

This jersey comes from John Sutton who had a terrific campaign as he finished the Scottish Cup as the competitions top goal scorer with six goals out of Motherwell’s 14 goals en route to the final. He would score in all games except the quarter final replay with Dundee Utd and unfortunately in the final against Celtic as the well lost 3-0 which would be Neil Lennon’s first trophy as Celtic manager.

Over the course of Sutton’s Motherwell career he would play just over 200 games for the steelmen and score a respectable 78 times. Arriving the first time from Wycombe Wanderers after spending a good spell in Scotland with St Mirren. After the Scottish Cup final, Sutton would move on to Hearts where he would find himself back at Fir Park in another three years.

After Motherwell, Sutton would move to St Johnstone and St Mirren for a second spell before moving to their local rivals Greenock Morton where he would retire in 2019 to begin his coaching career.

Made by Puma, this top uses Motherwell’s iconic hoop around the middle of the body which has featured on most home tops of recent times. Another great thing about this top is the Phil O’Donnell signature just above the Puma badge which speaks for itself.

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British Club Tops

C. I. S. Insurance Cup Final 04-05

Motherwell’s first cup final since the well remembered Scottish Cup final of 1991 would see them kick off against Rangers, in the so called “Davie Cooper Final”, at Hampden on the 20th of Match 2005. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be for the steelmen as the gers ran riot on the day putting five past Motherwell goalkeeper Gordon Marshall. This would be Marshall’s last season in football after he retired at the grand age of 39.

This Marshall top comes from the semi-final game at Easter Road against Hearts where Motherwell had put up a good performance by giving themselves a two goal lead but then seen it slip in the last 5 minutes after conceding twice, taking the game into extra time. With all Motherwell fans on the edge of their seat and with penalties on the horizon up steps Fitzpatrick to fire the Well’ to Hampden.

Marshall started in the final at Hampden alongside players such as Phil O’Donnell, Steven Hammell, Stephen Craigan, Martyn Corrigan, Scott McDonald and Kevin McBride with the latter being who’s top we also have here.

Starting at right midfield of a 4-4-2, McBride would play majority of the match before coming off as a substitute in the 83rd minute for Paul Quinn. After his original loan spell from Celtic, McBride would join the Steelmen on a permanent basis on a two year deal before leaving on a free in 2007.

Since then, Motherwell have featured in another three finals. The first being the 2011 Scottish Cup and the next two coming in the same season in the 17/18 after an impressive season from Stephen Robinson’s men. All of which have unfortunately been played against Celtic at Hampden.

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British Club Tops

Motherwell 76 & 81

On todays feature we’re showing off two pretty unique Motherwell tops with one coming from the late 70’s and the other from the early 80’s.

The first being Admiral’s first away kit worn by the well but as you can see there is no badge on this top and instead the Admiral badge is on the white side of the top instead of on the stripe. It wouldn’t be until later in the season when the badge was introduced.

The first time this top was ever worn was in the Scottish Cup Semi Final against Rangers in 1976 where Motherwell would go 2-0 up after an hour into the game before crumbling to the Gers and losing 3-2 with the last coming in the 85th minute. Joe Wark and Willie Pettigrew both played with the latter scoring Motherwell’s second that night.

Motherwell finished a respectable 4th, 3 points off Hibernian who would claim the second UEFA Cup spot that season.

The second top being showcased is an Adidas number from the 81/82 when Motherwell were promoted back into the top division after beating Killie to the title by ten points. They also managed a +56 goal difference after scoring 92 goals. During the season, they eventually changed this top to a darker yellow top with a tighter neck.

This top was worn by Junior Burns who only started a few games for the well but did manage to score a winning goal at Ibrox which resulted in John Greig resigning from the Gers.

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British Club Tops

John Ruddy – Motherwell 09/10

Starting his career with Cambridge United, he would only play the one season before getting his move to the Premier League with Everton for a fee around £250,000. While at Everton Ruddy would go on loan a total of nine times but his most successful spell would be his last, moving up to Scotland with Motherwell.

Starting off as an initial 6-month loan in summer of 2009, Ruddy would take the first team spot in his stride, doing so well that he would extend his stay for the rest of the season.

Ruddy would finish the season with 15 clean sheets in 34 appearances with one of the highlights of this season coming in the second last game of the season, a 12 goal thriller against Hibernian at Fir Park. Hibs would go 6-2 up with Motherwell leaving it late with a 90+3 screamer from another Everton loanee Lukas Jutkiewicz.

After leaving Motherwell, Ruddy would move to Norwich to work under former Motherwell man Paul Lambert. In his first season with the canaries, he would become pivotal in Norwich’s promotion to the Premier League. Ruddy would also be voted Norwich’s Players Player of the Season in his first Premier League season keeping them in the league with a very respectable 12th place finish.

He would make his England debut against against Italy in a friendly in August 2012 after he was ruled out of Euro 2012 due to a broken finger but things worked out as he married his wife Laura on 2 June 2012. Prior to the Euro 2012 tournament, he jokingly cited breaking his finger as the reason he was able to have his wedding on that date.

Currently 34, Ruddy is backup keeper at Wolves but was key to helping them get back into the Premier League as he won the 17/18 Championship Golden Glove with 24 clean sheets and represented Wolves in the PFA Team of the Year. He was then replaced by Portugal goalkeeper Rui Patricio in their return to the Premier League.