Welcome to the Club – Craig Smith – Jun 2024
well folks delighted to be joined by another signing here at MTO FC it’s Craig Smith thanks very much Ros for pleas to be here I tell you what great I mean well look let’s start with the fact that that’s you played your first minutes for the club y um you must be pretty happy with your performance today I yeah I was delighted obviously it’s just the first game of preseason so we’ve still got quite a lot of things to work on but the boys were happy we managed to get a win the first game of the preseason for the fans that came but lot to build on over the next few weeks before the season starts yeah I mean okay it’s it’s this an opportunity for the fans to get to know you we bit better as well in terms of you know your background and how you’ve you’ve ended up here at the moall um I mean what what is your football Journey so to speak um yeah well so I kind of played youth football played for Livingston I’m from Livingston so I kind of lived there and I played there up until I was 16 17 and then I went to HW University um so I kind of played there for four years and then in my last year I got offered a scholarship they were just starting a scholarship program so I played on a scholarship for har W last year and obviously kind of knew Ross Through The Links at or him and through his involvement with har W he kind of got me in training at the end of last season with mrr and I really enjoyed my time and when he kind of offer me the chance to come back this season it was it was a no-brainer to come back right okay so I mean I was going to say is there a link or whatever but the reality is it’s Ross Ross is and and I’m assuming he’s giving you an idea of come to us the players we’ve got are good there’s a conveyor belt almost of of talent from universities well all you have to do is kind of look at the players in the team right now you’ve got Quin and Ali both who played at har won and you’ve got boys like Brun and Blair who played at sterland and Ben this year as well so it’s kind of you get a chance in here if you come to mro and you’re you’re from University side you’ll get a chance and they’ve all taken that chance so I’m hoping they can of fall in their footsteps well and they have to be fair to them they’ they’ve done really really well and as you say I mean there but there’s no reason for you not to I mean you you you obviously have played a fairly decent standard when you’re playing for for har what youi and uh I I believe you might even have worn the captain’s arm band yeah I was so in my fourth year I was I was Captain and and I was injured for a bit and then I came back and in my fifth year I was I was Captain again so kind of on and off over two seasons but I was I was Captain for a couple years so I I think that means you you quite like to talk on the pitch didn’t you yeah well I think you maybe kind of seen a little bit of that today kind of obviously I’m still still new to the side so I’m not kind of fully up to speed jet but I like to communicate kind of in the heart of that back four so communication i’ say definitely one of my skills I need to bring that to mro and do do you know any of the guys beforehand I mean you’ve mentioned them but I mean did you know them in terms of played against them or I’ve play quite a few of them obviously through the kind of University so I played with Quinny a few years ago at h w and and obviously Ali I played with him for four or five years and we actually work at the same place where we both working on a finance company in Edinburgh so I’m quite good friends with him already but honestly everyone in the change room has been really really welcome in the times where I trained last year and when I’ve started again this week like everybody in the CH stop class it’s a really good environment to be a part of I mean I mean are you excited about the prospect of of playing for a professional team you know oh absolutely yeah like it’s it’s a big step up coming from he W but I think the chances you get iners you just have to see the teams that were playing The League Cup like partic and mother well not really something I’ve experienced before so absolutely delighted to kind of get started and and get stuck in and and the fact that you work constantly with Ali and now you have to play football with him that didn’t put you off and no it made me think a little bit because H spend a lot of card runes up with him after working with him all day it’s not ideal but no we get on quite well so it is you well look it’s been a pleasure and I’ll tell you what great performance for your first first out the more today fans were really happy with what they were seeing today and you know was just speaking to a few of them before we came to do this interview um so a real positive start not just for yourself but for for all the newbies out there day was good no thanks very much I really appreciate that kind as I said I’m Delight to be at the club and I of can’t wait to keep going over the next few weeks pleasure thanks very much absolutely we do take care
