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