JAKE CARROLL is looking forward to getting reacquainted with Scottish football at Motherwell after a previous spell north of the border at Partick Thistle, but there is one opponent who he isn’t particularly relishing locking horns with again.
The full-back is a former teammate of Hearts striker Uche Ikpeazu, and having come off second-best in a training ground duel with the hulking forward in his days in England, Carroll isn’t exactly champing at the bit to take his old pal on again.
“I’m not looking forward to battles with Uche,” Carroll said. “He nearly ended my life one time in training at Cambridge. I went up for a header with him and I woke up in hospital about an hour later.
“It was just in training and I went up for a header with him and a couple of hour later I woke up in A&E. I was seeing stars.
“I remember in my first training session with him the ball was rolling to him and I was defending against him and everyone on the training pitch was shouting not to get tight to him. I was thinking ‘what’s going on here?’ But I found out eventually why.
“So, I don’t want that again. He’s a big lad but he’s a great lad and has done well at Hearts.
“I was a on the fence a little bit about coming back up here after that, but it didn’t put me off.”
On a more serious note, Carroll says that the style of play in Scotland is unfairly labelled as being more physical than elsewhere, and the free-flowing style adopted by Motherwell in particular in the second half of the season was a major attraction for him to plump for Fir Park.
“I was never one of the people in England that disregarded Scottish football,” he said. “Obviously as I’d played here before I know how good the standard is.
“I don’t see Scottish football as overly physical; a lot of lads are aggressive in the tackle, but I love that. I think it suits me. Maybe the refs let a little bit more go up here but I don’t see it as being a mad brawl.
“We’ll get the ball down and play. That’s what the manager wants to do here, he wants to play good football and sometimes play out from the back.
“There are good footballers here.”
Meanwhile, Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson says that he had no contact with Doncaster Rovers after being linked with a move to the English League One side.
Rovers have since appointed Darren Moore as their new boss, but Robinson says he wants to extend his contract at Fir Park rather than move anywhere else, having started talks with the club over a new deal.
“I never spoke to anybody [else],” Robinson said. “There’s no reason for me to be looking elsewhere at this moment in time.
“I want to get things sorted, but we’re in the very early stages of that and I’m sure it will get sorted out. We’ve spoken briefly and that is ongoing as it stands at the minute. My contract is up at the end of the season and of course I’d like to get it sorted soon. I’m very happy here.
“It would be nice to get a bit of security and to give that bit of security to everyone else going forward.”
Robinson has added another wide player to his squad with the signing of Christian Ilic. The Croatian signed a one-year deal with the club after impressing in a friendly win over Darlington last week.
One man who won’t be coming back to Fir Park it seems though is Gboly Ariyibi, who spent the second half of last season with Motherwell on loan from Nottingham Forest.
“I wouldn’t think that is a possibility, no,” said Robinson.
“I’ve tried very, very hard, but Gboly has indicated to me that he is looking at other things.
“We’ve got wide players in, and I’m very happy with the players we have.”
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