RICHARD Tait grew up dreaming of playing at Murrayfield, not Hampden. At least, that was, until his fellow Galashiels native John Collins scored that famous penalty against Brazil in the opening game of France ‘98 and he decided to switch his career goals from rugby to football.
“I grew up in Kelso so it was mainly rugby then the 1998 World Cup was on and I flipped to that,” said Tait, ahead of his involvement in today’s BetFred Cup semi-final against Rangers. “It was just the whole occasion with Scotland getting there. It got to the point where the Rugby World Cup was on and we’d play rugby then switch when the football World Cup came on, but my dad [also Richard] got sick of buying us the different gear that we needed and he was like: ‘Look, you’ve got to pick one or the other’. It just so happened the World Cup was on for football, so we picked football.”
Those inclined to be disparaging might say the difference between the two codes is blurred a little when it comes to a brawny Motherwell side who are good under the high ball, strong in the tackle and like to hunt in packs. But Stephen Robinson has built a serious football side in a short space of time in Lanarkshire.
And if he has populated it with players such as Tait who have a point to prove after decent yet unheralded stints south of the border, then so be it. It wasn’t so long ago, after all, that Tait was locking horns with even local celebrities like Louis Moult in the shadowy nether regions beneath the Football League.
“Speaking personally, I played in the lower leagues and I definitely have a point to prove,” said the 27-year-old, who could line up in a left wing-back berth today. “I’m enjoying myself here and I think I’m doing a half decent job. As long as I can keep that going I’ll be happy.
“When you stop and think about it, it is a massive game on Sunday - massive for the club, massive for the boys and massive for the fans,” he added. “I was playing darts with Trev [Carson, the goalkeeper] during the week and he was throwing a few and just saying: ‘I can’t wait til Sunday’.”
The main source of a novelty factor for Tait won’t be so much that he is gracing one of British football’s major stages – more that something approaching a capacity crowd will turn up to watch him.
When he and his left wing back rival Elliot Frear lined up against each other for the National League Playoff Final in May 2016, only 17,000 were accommodated within the vast confines of Wembley. There have been FA Trophy finals too, skipper Carl McHugh graced the Carling Cup final for Bradford City against Swansea City, while central defender Peter Hartley, once of Plymouth Argyle, is another man with experience of a playoff final appearance at that famous old stadium in North London.
“I like to remind Elliott quite a few times we did him in the final!” jokes Tait. “When I was at Cambridge we got to the play-off final too but I wasn’t in the squad. Then when I went to Grimsby I played in the final for them.
“They were great experiences even if it’s a strange atmosphere,” he added. “The Grimsby fans were excellent and made it feel like it was almost full. But I think Forest Green bring about 2,000, which was rubbish really. I played two FA Trophy finals there too, winning one and losing one. There were 49,000 at the game we lost against Halifax.
“Times like that and winning games like that hold you in good stead for games like this. There’ll be a bigger crowd on Sunday I’d imagine and probably a better atmosphere too. Any player will tell you they want to play in front of big crowds and in big atmospheres. It spurs you on to do your best.”
Tait regrets the fact that he didn’t give Scottish football a try earlier during his career but even his arrival in Motherwell had an accidental quality to it.
“I came up on the plane and my girlfriend at the time lived in London,” said Tait. “I said to her, ‘it’s not going to work this, it’s going to be too far, I am not really too fussed about going’.
“But she said, ‘just go up and see what you think’. So, begrudgingly, I came up, thinking ‘I am not going to sign here, I am just going to tick a box really’. I came up and as soon as I got shown around and the ground, I was ‘right, it’s going to be a difficult phone call here’.
As a ‘cross fit’ addict who hopes to have his own ‘box’ [basically a fully kitted out gym] one day, Tait hopes to give Rangers a run for their money today. “One of my main strengths in football has probably been that I am fit and able to run around quite a lot,” he said. “I enjoy chasing the ball. The lads will joke in training that I give it away just so I can go and run after it – and that is probably true sometimes.”
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