Paul Lambert has sponsored new strips for Linwood Rangers’ youngest team, more than four decades after joining the club as a boy.
The former Scotland and Celtic player met the 2019 team at Moss Edge in Linwood on Friday 6th November. He was six or seven when he first played for the club.
Lambert told Renfrewshire News he had sponsored a Linwood Rangers team before. His friend and former teammate David Flannigan is now the club’s child protection officer.
“I’d done it many years ago before with David Flannigan who I played with growing up. He was on the same team as myself and I knew he’d keep the legacy at Linwood Rangers. When we started here all those years ago, it was a man called Alex Stephen who more or less set this whole thing up and without Alex Stephen I wouldn’t be here,” he said.
“I needed a coach or a manager like him. He kept all the kids in a good disciplined place. So without him I wouldn’t have been a footballer because as I said he ran the school team when I was at Mossedge and he kept us straight and narrow.
“When I heard Dale Stevenson was taking over the mantle and I think what he’s done at the football club has been incredible because he’s kept Alex’s name going really.”
Photo: Paul Lambert (left ) with Linwood Rangers cild protection officer David Flannigan
Photo Credit: Linwood Rangers
Stephen was a local police officer who joined Linwood Rangers Youth Club as a coach in 1971. He went on to become chairman and stayed involved until his death in 2004.
Asked if he was originally from Linwood, Lambert said: “I was born in Glasgow. Mum and Dad stayed in Duke Street in Glasgow and then they moved down to this area all those years ago. And when I was six or seven I joined Linwood Rangers and I just went from there.”
“We used to train, I think, every Monday and Friday. But it was in the gym over there, in that school over there,” he said, pointing towards the site of the old Mossedge Primary School.
Lambert recalled playing football in the street before joining the club.
“We used to play street football when we were here and then obviously Linwood Rangers came along and then we joined an age group,” he said.
“At the football club when I started out I think I was seven when I came here and that gave me the grounding of being a footballer. Along with your parents, Linwood Rangers gave me the grounding of playing football like this and then I got scouted when I was 13 with St Mirren and it kind of just snowballed from there.”
“Linwood was a hotbed growing up. So many good footballers came through Linwood, so many good ones. Some made it and some never,” he said.
Lambert said the important thing was to give children somewhere to play.
“Nobody knows if they’re ever going to be a footballer. It’s very difficult to be a footballer. It’s a real low rate that people become footballers because you need a lot of luck.
“But if they can keep the interest and you’ve just got to let them play. If they weren’t here they’d be doing that maybe on the street or something. So that’s why having the facilities is really good for them.”
Craig Divertie, head coach of the 2019 team, said Lambert’s support was “absolutely outstanding”. He said the new strips let the boys “feel like they’re a proper football team”.
Divertie added: “It’s really appreciated because as we were out there looking for sponsors and in the current climate it’s hard for businesses to be able to give money to grassroots football at times. It’s a lot of money to buy kits and it’s a big commitment from businesses when they’re stretched with everything.
“So it was really appreciated for Paul to do it.”
Linwood Rangers chairman James McIntyre said: “Just to see the boys with the kit on, it’s superb. We really need the help with sponsorship and things like that.”
McIntyre said the 2019s were the youngest group currently playing for the club. A group for children born in 2021 had just started, and the club hoped to get a 2020 group going again.
Vice-chairman Stewart Mackenzie described Lambert’s support as “invaluable”.
“It gets harder and harder every year to buy new kits for kids, so when something like that comes along, it’s ideal,” he said.
Lambert added: “I just think it’s great. As I said before, it’s a club that I’m so grateful for. When I joined it, I’ve been grateful for it and what it gave me.
“It gave me the grounding to be a footballer.”
Parents and carers can ask about age groups and available places through the Linwood Rangers Youth Club Facebook page.
Photo: Linwood Rangers’ 2019 players gather around Paul Lambert and their coaches at Moss Edge
Photo Credit: Renfrewshire News
Photo: Paul Lambert holds up one of the new Linwood Rangers shirts he sponsored for the 2019 team
Photo Credit: Renfrewshire News
Photo: A young Linwood Rangers player raises his arm as he walks across the pitch with a teammate
Photo Credit: Renfrewshire News
Photo: Paul Lambert speaks to the young players during his visit to Moss Edge
Photo Credit: Renfrewshire News
Photo: A Linwood Rangers youngster takes the ball along the touchline during training
Photo Credit: Renfrewshire News
Photo: A young player keeps the ball close under the floodlights at Moss Edge
Photo Credit: Renfrewshire News
Photo: Players from the 2019 team wear their new blue strips at Moss Edge
Photo Credit: Renfrewshire News
Photo: A Linwood Rangers youngster sticks out his tongue as his teammates gather at Moss Edge
Photo Credit: Renfrewshire News
Photo: A Linwood Rangers player wears a blue training jacket with ‘P Lambert’ on the back
Photo Credit: Renfrewshire News
Photo: Paul Lambert with Linwood Rangers’ 2019 players, coaches and club officials at Moss Edge<
Photo Credit: Renfrewshire News