Inside look at Kyle Lafferty’s elite work ethic as Johnstone Burgh boss hopes Rangers hero will stay for the long haul
ONCE upon a time, he would look up at the scoreboard on Champions League nights and see his name in neon.
Here it was scrawled in felt pen on the side of a rusty old freight container in Renfrew.
That’s where Kyle Lafferty is now. This is the life he’s chosen. Why?
That’s the bit no one outside Johnstone Burgh seems sure about.
Plenty expect him to get bored and bail out before the season’s too old.
The accepted wisdom is that Lafferty’s only there for however much cash you choose to believe he’s on.
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But ask the latest gaffer who’s put an arm around the shoulder of a striker with a CV more chequered than a trattoria tablecloth and he tells you straight — the only place he’s going is upwards with us.
Lafferty scored two on a rain-soaked West of Scotland Division One debut when, in terms of physical presence and footballing brain, he was on a different level from anyone else on the pitch.
In terms of being an ambassador for this strange new level he finds himself at, he couldn’t have been better as he posed post-match for all the selfies the local kids craved.
In terms of his impact on the league itself, the crowd at New Western Park told its own story, with bars and hospitality tents packed and their average 200-or-so gate more than doubled.
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The great unknown, though, is whether the novelty wears off for marquee signing and marquee users alike.
Fact is, since Lafferty’s second spell at Rangers ended in 2019, he’s cobbled together just 71 appearances for six different clubs in five different countries.
Burgh boss Jamie McKim’s job is to make sure his 35-year-old star signing sticks around this time.
Despite talk of a five-figure signing-on fee and a wage some Premiership clubs couldn’t match, he says it’s about far more than money.
After the new league season kicked off with a canter against local rivals whose biggest earner is on £85-a- week, McKim said: “My biggest concern is making sure Kyle’s happy here, that he feels safe.
“If that happens, he’ll put the ball in the net. And I’m convinced he’ll be here for the two years he’s signed for, and beyond that.
“He’s been brilliant so far, an absolute pleasure.
“We train twice a week from 7pm until 9pm and Kyle’s first in at six o’clock every night and the last to go home, never before quarter to ten.
“He wants to be about the place. Kyle’s an infectious character, he loves a laugh and a wind-up.
“We’ll maybe need to heighten the doors at Keanie Park! So although we know there will be plenty times when opponents want to get physical with him, he has no worries on that front.
“But it’s not just about what happens on the park, because 100 per cent there will be places we go where people won’t be as nice to him as they have been at Renfrew.
“So that’s where we need to make sure that he feels safe and happy.
“It’s not just Kyle, either. Now that we’ve shown a lot of ambition, a lot of people in the West of Scotland will want to have a pop.
“That’s the mentality here, so we have to make sure all the players feel safe and happy, both mentally and physically.”
Lafferty and Burgh were never in any danger on either front here, not from the opening minutes when the former Northern Ireland striker’s presence forced the first of a catalogue of defensive blunders and Ross McKenzie buried the opener.
After frontman Dale Simeon made it two with a looping overhead kick, Lafferty nicked a through ball one way round the keeper, went the other and raised both arms high before blootering home from a yard out.
When he then nodded home the rebound from a shot shovelled into his path, enough was enough, and off he swaggered to dry out in the dugout.
As he posed for photos half an hour later, a committee man was wiping the teamlines off the whiteboard.
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Time will tell if Lafferty’s name ends up written in permanent marker at the 16th club of his career.
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