Lennon Miller's rise to Motherwell stardom in focus

Motherwell academy director David Clarkson provides insight into the rise to first-team football for Lennon Miller

Transcript

00:00Again, you're always wary that players can come and go.

00:04Players are always at top, top level and then come 15, 16,

00:08they can attempt and maybe some of them drift away.

00:10Lennon's never been like that.

00:11He's always been, for me, the top, top player at every age level.

00:16He's played up at the Academy, under 13, played under 14,

00:19under 14, played 15, right way through.

00:21And again, probably a role model for a lot of the players

00:24because he's so down to earth, the way he conducts himself,

00:26the way he leads the game and takes control of situations

00:31at a young age is incredible.

00:32Now, you're not going to get that all the time.

00:35I wish we could because it'd be brilliant.

00:37But you need to embrace these type of situations with Lennon

00:41because from a young age, you could see his talent there.

00:44And he's been level-headed enough and switched on enough

00:48to know the pathway is here.

00:50He could have went umpteen teams because every scout in Europe

00:56was watching him, but he knows exactly what he wanted.

01:01He knows he's going to play the first team here.

01:03He's been given the opportunity and, again, he just went from strength to strength.

01:07And at a young age, he's still progressing.

01:10I think that's the important thing as well, that he can handle the pressure of the now.

01:13But he's still young.

01:14We forget he's only turned 18 years of age and already playing light.

01:18He's played for 10 years.

01:21But I think it's credit to him and the family because of the way he's conducted himself,

01:25the way he's took the steps to get into the first-team environment

01:29and now staying there, getting away from the pitch.

01:32Also, for me, he plays a massive part in it.

01:34It's not just what you're doing, but how you can conduct yourself.

01:37And that's where I look at coming through the academy.

01:39It's a perfect role model for young kids, young players coming through at Muddle

01:43or young Muddle fans to see a player like Lennon, who at eight, nine or ten years of age

01:49has come through and wanted to play football and now living his dream.

01:53He's not got big-headed.

01:54He's not run away from himself.

01:57He's every week still helping with the gear, still helping with the kit

01:59if they need to handle the kit.

02:00So that plays a big part in what we try and do here at Muddle One

02:05and at the academy to make the boys aware of and the players have that work ethic

02:10and that mindset of that's what it takes to make it to a first-team player of the month.