Liam Polworth First Interview

“Hopefully I can bring a hunger into the team and help turn the results around.”

John Hughes was Liam Polworth’s manager at Inverness Caledonian Thistle from December 2013 until May 2016. It was a period during which the Highlanders won the Scottish Cup and competed in Europe and Liam started 33 of the clubs 38 Scottish Premiership matches during Hughes’ final season there. In his first interview as a Dunfermline player he said that he was really looking forward to working under him again.

“He was a really good manager at Inverness and was brilliant with the boys in terms of the style of play he implemented in the team. I think you are starting to see that at Dunfermline.”

At Inverness Liam felt that John Hughes got the best out of everyone at that club and there was no reason for them to do as well as we did:-

“He was able to squeeze an extra bit out of every player he had and he developed a style that we all took to. The work he would implement every day, with the help of Brian Rice, galvanised the whole squad. They brought a direction to what we are trying to do and the success we had, for a small club, was massive.”

Clearly the Pars boss knows his most recent on loan signing from Kilmarnock, very well. John Hughes said that there is no doubting his footballing ability:-

“He is a great passer and he has got a goal in him. I feel that he has reached nowhere near his potential. As a coach and a manager I have always seen that potential, and sometimes guys go to clubs or work with managers where it doesn’t work out, that happens. I think that I can get the best out of Liam Polworth and if I do that there is only one team benefiting and that is Dunfermline.”

Liam is one of ten midfielders in the Dunfermline Athletic squad, but the 27 year old is versatile and the manager sees that a big advantage without having earmarked a place for him in the starting eleven:-

“He can play anywhere, right across four or five positions. He is very very good at coming off the sides and picking up those wee half spaces. He got worked hard this morning and we will need to see what kind of nick he is in on Thursday in terms of recovery and where his legs are.

“He is a right good footballer who knows the game. Liam is a very intelligent boy with a wide range of attributes - great on dead balls, a good crosser, a good finisher, scores goals. He has a great range of passing and if his fitness levels are where we are hoping that they are, he gets about the pitch as well.”

Liam was a team mate of Pars’ January signing Joe Chalmers while at Inverness, the two are good friends off the pitch so Liam claimed that it was good to be back together. Hughes revealed that he had been pursuing this move since the January transfer window opened.

“For some unknown reason, it was a yes, a no, we couldn’t get it done. We were always keeping our eye on it, trying to do business elsewhere and we are just grateful that eventually it got done.

“We are thankful to Kilmarnock that they have let him go and play football. We have a right good footballer, he has got goals in him, he can come in off the sides, he can play a number ten, he can play a sitting midfielder.

“He is a Scotland under 21 internationalist and when he first went to Motherwell there was talk of him getting a full call up into the Scotland squad. If we can get him back to that form, we have knocked it off.

“It is all down to him, it is alright talking about but you have to put in place the hard work, the desire, the commitment to go and be the player. It doesn’t just happen, you have to make it happen.”

The manager admitted that with real competition for places Liam needs to get up to speed and be knocking the door down to get in the team. Liam is up for that and he added:-

“When you are a footballer and not playing on a Saturday, no-one is going to enjoy it. That’s the best part of the job. Hopefully I can bring that hunger into the team and help turn the results around.”

Liam only joined Killie at the start of this season and although he has made 20 appearances for them with only three off the bench, he has played on only two of the Ayrshire clubs last 12 matches. He was philosophical about that continuing:-

“It’s just one of those things in football. Sometimes it doesn’t work out and maybe it wasn’t the right thing to do. I just need to go out and play football and hopefully that’ll happen at Dunfermline. You want to prove that you are good enough to play. I certainly believe I am.”

Though possibly not as match sharp as he would like, Liam feels if the manager calls upon him then he will be there and ready to go:-

“I’ve been training away at Kilmarnock, just like normal and I might be a bit short on match time, but apart from that, I’m ready.”

A relegation battle is something that he has not been a part of in the Championship before but he is confident that under John Hughes and with the quality of player already at Dunfermline, the critical situation can be turned around. Somewhat conveniently albeit as a Kilmarnock player, Liam has watched Dunfermline’s last two matches and he confesses that he can’t quite believe they are in the position they are in:-

“Considering some of the football they were playing against Kilmarnock — who are meant to be the best team in the league. You can see that there’s quality there but sometimes, when you are not winning games, things don’t fall for you.”

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