Simp-Lee the Best Read online

  To Amanda, Callum and Jack; to my parents and brothers.

  The best I could ever wish for. Love you all.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  Lee McCulloch

  I would like to thank my family for your help and support and encouragement over the years. You have all given invaluable guidance and support when I’ve been writing this book.

  The idea of writing this book was something I gave careful consideration to and was initially hesitant to get involved in. But my main motivation was to thank the people who have helped mould me as a person, a partner, a father, a son, a brother and a footballer. It also appealed for my two young sons, Callum and Jack, to have this book to look back on and learn what my career was all about.

  Mum and Dad always put their three sons first, never thinking of themselves. They have wonderful family values and the upbringing they gave me has made me the man I am today. I’ll never forget the things both of you taught me. I am eternally grateful.

  To my brothers, Gregor and Wullie. Gregor, thanks for your support, smooth style and wit. Wullie, for sharing a bedroom with me and sharing all you had in your life. And for never once letting me win at football when you used to play with me.

  To all of my previous managers in football – from Boys Club through to the professional game – thanks for your patience and support, especially Tom Forsyth and Jim Griffin at Motherwell for giving me the confidence to kick on. To all of the staff at Motherwell, Wigan, Rangers and Scotland for being part of your club and sharing some brilliant memories.

  My two closest mates, Christopher Reid and John Paul Curran, for the childhood times we had, the fun, the laughter and for sticking with me through the rough times and always being there. Your loyalty and honesty has been priceless. Great memories. Thanks for your input.

  To the Motherwell fans that backed me all the way and the incredible Wigan fans that helped take us to the Premiership. To the hundreds of thousands of Glasgow Rangers fans for your amazing support and dedication for helping to keep our club alive and with your energy and commitment we WILL get back to where we belong.

  My thanks also to all the staff at Glasgow Rangers FC.

  To Campbell Brown and his staff at Black & White Publishing. Thanks for your professionalism and for believing in this book.

  Stuart Gilmour at the Bothwell Brasserie, thanks for the endless coffees and great meals. You provided us with a great base to write this book.

  Dylan and Mathew, my wee nephews and pals. It’s been a joy to watch you both grow up. You both have been like little brothers to me. My big cousin, Derek Anson, who passed away when I was younger. I loved it when you used to take me out to play football and the time you gave me to help me become streetwise.

  To my friend and mentor, Davie Weir, thanks for doing me the honour of your foreword.

  Thanks to Mark Guidi, who has helped bring my book together. Your humour helped me get through some long days. Your calmness was invaluable when I got stressed. You’re a genuine, honest and hardworking guy and for that I thank you. Special thanks to your lovely family – Anne, Eva, Sophia and Claudia – for allowing me your time.

  And, of course, to my wife-to-be, Amanda. Your love and support has never dwindled. It’s been great to share so many high times and special moments together, from the English Second Division to the Champions League. Your calmness and sense of perspective helped me cope with the lows.

  And our two sons, Callum and Jack. You both give me so much love and bring me more happiness than you could ever imagine. Keep up your energy to help keep me young. Nothing gives me more pleasure than being a dad to you both.

  Mark Guidi

  My thanks to Lee for choosing me to work with him on his book. From start to finish, it was a pleasure and a privilege. Thoroughly enjoyed your company.

  To Amanda, Callum and Jack, thanks for making me welcome in your home.

  To Iris and John. Your recollections of Lee were of great help. Really appreciated it all.

  Brian McSweeney and Gavin Berry were brilliant for me in their assistance and research.

  To Campbell Brown, Alison McBride, Janne Moller, Kristen Susienka and all staff at Black & White Publishing. Thanks for publishing this book and your invaluable guidance throughout the whole process.

  CONTENTS

  TITLE

  DEDICATION

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  FOREWORD BY DAVID WEIR

  1 MY MENTOR AND MY INSPIRATION

  2 GROWING UP WITH THE BROTHERS GRIN

  3 £80 A WEEK BUT I FELT LIKE A MILLION DOLLARS

  4 FROM YTS TO WIGAN

  5 WHELAN AND DEALING OUR WAY TO THE BIG TIME

  6 MY FAMILY

  7 SCOTLAND: THE VOGTS OF CONFIDENCE

  8 PLAYING IN THE PREMIERSHIP: ‘THAT’S FOR YOU, JIG’ – MIXING WITH THE BIG BOYS

  9 CLASH IN THE LATICS: HOW I GOT MY DREAM MOVE TO IBROX

  10 HOW I PAID THE PENALTY FOR JOINING GERS

  11 INTO THE LYON’S DEN: MY CHAMPIONS LEAGUE DREAM 2007-08

  12 THE LONG AND GRINDING ROAD TO MANCHESTER

  13 THE NIGHT SCOTLAND STUNNED THE WORLD

  14 THE PEP TALK THAT SAVED MY IBROX CAREER

  15 WHY I WAS NEVER UP FOR THE CAP WITH BURLEY

  16 WALTER’S WINNERS

  17 ADMINISTRATION

  18 NEW ERA: THE GREEN SHOTS OF RECOVERY

  19 SIMPLY THE BEST DERBY IN THE WORLD

  20 LEE-DING OUT MY TEAM

  21 SFL WINNERS

  22 LEE MCCULLOCH’S DREAM TEAM

  23 WHY I’LL GIVE SOMETHING BACK TO THE GAME I LOVE

  COPYRIGHT

  FOREWORD BY DAVID WEIR

  IT WAS the summer of 2007 and my mobile phone was red hot. Nothing to do with the decent weather we had during that period. No, it was because of Lee McCulloch. My Scotland colleague wanted kept up-to-date if we were going to become team-mates at club level.

  I was at Glasgow Rangers, having decided to stay on under Walter Smith after I had initially signed on a six-month loan deal from Everton. It was always an ambition of mine to play for Rangers, the team I supported as a lad.

  Lee was exactly the same. He was at Wigan Athletic, doing very well in the English Premiership for them, but he knew Rangers wanted him and he was desperate for the move to go through. So was I.

  I played against Lee when I was with Hearts and he was just kicking off his career in the Motherwell first team. Our paths also crossed in the English Premiership when I was with Everton. It was when he started to get involved with the Scotland set-up that we got to know each other. We struck up an affinity right away because he is a likeable guy and we had lots in common. So, when Rangers and Wigan haggled over a transfer fee, Lee used me as his ‘inside man’ at Ibrox to keep him in the loop, to notify him of any developments at our end, just in case Wigan kept things from him.

  I wanted Lee to get his move. I knew how much it meant to him. And I believed he would be a great signing, a true asset on and off the park.

  And so the phone calls continued. It was incessant – three or four times a day, for the best part of two months. He wanted updates, to find out if Walter had mentioned anything to me, if progress had been made. I tried to give him encouraging news but it was difficult. I doubt Walter would have listened to me or told me anything confidential. So, I just urged Lee to be patient.

  He got his wish in mid-July 2007 when he signed for Rangers. I was delighted for him. And for me. No more blisters on my ears!

  Rangers were Lee’s boyhood team. A lot of people pay lip service to that but it was genuine from him. His mum and dad made sure he was steeped in the tradition of the club. That helped the bond we had because I felt proud and privileged to be a part of Rangers.

 
But it wasn’t always full of the joys for him. He had to go through tough times at the club during his first eighteen months. Lee wasn’t happy with his form for periods and felt he wasn’t contributing as much as he should have been. It’s not easy to play for Rangers, it really isn’t, especially when you have been brought up as a supporter and live in the West of Scotland. If things don’t go well on a match day then some people look upon you as a failure. It’s hard. I was fortunate I could head back down the road to Manchester and escape. For Lee, though, there was no hideaway, whether it was dropping kids off at school, going to the supermarket, or whatever. It can take over your life.

  He was desperate to do well, but I felt he tried too hard to succeed. I told him to relax, that his talent would shine through eventually. But he wanted it all in an instant. He wanted to play every week and to score goals every week. He tried to force it, but he was doing it all for the right reasons.

  Playing for Rangers can bury players. There is massive attention on and off the pitch. Walter was always good at reminding us of what was required and how to deal with it. But some players just couldn’t handle it, couldn’t recover from the shock level of what exactly is involved when you play for Rangers and represent the club.

  Lee could have crumbled, but he dug deep. That tells you so much about his character. Thankfully, with the support of Amanda and their sons and his parents, he came through the other side and it happened for him.

  On a personal level, Lee was a massive help to me when I was captain. He had the trust and confidence of the younger players and they would confide in him. If he felt it was required, he would relay information back to me or deal with it himself. In that sense, he made sound judgement calls. He was my barometer for the mood in the dressing room. He’d let players know if they weren’t up to the standards required, but do it in a nice way, for the right reasons, for the good of the club. He was also the life and soul of the dressing room, well liked and well respected.

  On the park, as we sat in the dressing room before big games, it always gave me great comfort to see the likes of him, Allan McGregor, Barry Ferguson and Nikica Jelavic in the team, guys we could hang our hats on. I knew Lee was reliable and had my back covered. Those are invaluable assets.

  He is now captain and is very proud. He is my friend, first and foremost, but I genuinely believe he should be captain. In fact, I would have made him captain as soon as I left in the early part of 2012. He was my natural successor.

  Now that I’ve gone, I miss him. I was always in early at Murray Park for training, and I knew when Lee had arrived. He’d say ‘morning’ to everyone, from Stevie at Security to the girls at reception, and he would say it in a loud voice and in a genuine manner. So, I would hear about seven ‘mornings’ before I got to see his face. He was loud and gregarious. We’d joke about that. He was funny, big-hearted and lit the place up. When he came in he made the training ground a better place to be. It’s important to have a good environment every day at your work. That must have been invaluable during the critical period the club faced in 2012.

  Not long after I left, he and others at Rangers had a lot to deal with. He wasn’t the captain at that time but he was the natural leader. He co-ordinated with the PFA during the administration period to make sure every player was being looked after properly and given the best possible advice. People were fearing for their livelihoods and he made sure he gave up his wages to keep others in employment and keep Rangers functioning. That speaks volumes and confirmed everything I thought about him.

  Now, with the club in the hands of new owners and coming out the other side, Lee has been a great sounding board for the young players at the club as it goes through a vital transitional period.

  I still speak to Lee, Kris Boyd and Allan McGregor. We all have a bond and I think that will continue to be the case long-term. As a footballer, you may play for four or five clubs in your career and be team-mates with hundreds of other footballers, but, at the end up, you might only have a handful you keep in touch with. I’ll have that with Lee, and he will have that with a lot of people because he’s a great guy to know.

  David Weir

  1

  MY MENTOR AND MY INSPIRATION

  THERE ARE certain dates etched in my mind. 7 January 2005 when my eldest son Callum was born is one of those dates. His wee brother Jack came into the world on 14 March 2006. Happiest days of my life. My partner Amanda made me the most grateful man alive when she brought our boys into the world. We both look upon the birth of children as one of life’s miracles. I really do find it truly incredible. I feel proud, privileged and blessed to be the father of two such wonderful boys. 11 July 2007 is another date that will never leave me. It was the day I signed for Glasgow Rangers. It took me more than a decade to start a relationship with Amanda because she was a stunner and I was too shy to speak to her, never mind ask her out, and Rangers took nearly twenty years to come and get me. Worth the wait on both occasions. I hope Amanda and Rangers feel the same!

  In terms of my professional career, I have many people to thank for helping me get to where I am today. They will all be mentioned in due course but I must start with my dad. Had it not been for him I would never have the great job that I’ve had for nearly twenty years. He drove me on and was inspirational. I’m living my dream because of him. Yet, at times, I couldn’t stand him for it. Could see him far enough. I felt he put too much strain and pressure on me from a very young age. He was doing it for the right reasons but when I was eight and nine years old it was hard to see it that way.

  My dad was in the Navy for nine years during the 1950s and ’60s and was a leading seaman as his life on the waves took him all over the world for Queen and Country. He always reminds everyone he is a certified ‘Blue Nose’ as he has sailed beyond the Arctic Circle and, at a special ceremony on board, had his certificate given to him by King Neptune, which is akin to the more popular and wider-known ‘crossing the line’ ceremony. He also served as a guard at Winston Churchill’s funeral in London in January 1965 and was a guard at one of the Queen’s garden parties. The period spent with the Navy really moulded his outlook on life and how he would raise his three sons, my two older brothers, Gregor and Wullie, and me. Mum would affectionately call him ‘Popeye’. Maybe I could say he was like Uncle Albert from Only Fools and Horses as Dad liked to go on about how he sailed the Seven Seas and torpedoed the enemy!

  He was also into his boxing during his Navy days. He would get up at 5.30 to run six or seven miles three mornings a week and then spend three nights in the gym. It must have been in there he perfected his right hook!

  Dad has always been a stickler for discipline, manners and good timekeeping. He’s always up at the crack of dawn; bed made, clean-shaven, hair combed, shoes polished and wearing a shirt and tie. Proper old school, although he’s relaxed his dress code a little in recent years and will sometimes be seen wearing a casual shirt! He expected the same code of discipline and work ethic from me but I struggled to live up to it during my school days. Now, though, I’m very similar to him. There is a part of that in my makeup, my DNA. My dad’s regimental discipline and the influence Billy Davies, Alex McLeish, Jim Griffin and Tom Forsyth had on me in my early professional years at Motherwell have helped to structure my career and my life outside of the game.

  Dad would have me up early for school. He’d shout at me from the bottom of the stairs to get out of my bed. No kid likes to get out of a toasting hot bed to go to school, particularly when you’re warm under the covers and it’s the middle of winter. Dad would give me his two-minute warning and he’d come up and pull the blankets off the bed.

  As I mentioned earlier, he was a real fitness fanatic. From as far back as I can remember he’d be out running. I think he used to like doing a four-mile run. I can remember lagging behind him, trying to keep up. I was in my early years at primary school at that time. Later in my childhood, he bought me running spikes. He’d take me sprint training and to sprint coaches at Motherwell
College to give me an extra yard of pace in the hope it would help lead to a career in football. Dad played for the Navy football team and also represented Lanarkshire at athletics. He kept his vest from that event and I got him to sign it and framed it for him. He loves it.

  He was delighted I loved sport and I was into a few things other than football. I was very keen on badminton and was proud to be selected for Lanarkshire. I was told I could compete at a high level in the sport but it clashed with football one day when I was due to either go to Meadowbank Arena for a Lanarkshire Doubles match or play in a Scottish Cup tie for Wishaw Boys Club. I had to choose. Football won. I also took part in athletics at the Lanarkshire Games and won the gold medal at the shot put. No matter the sport, Dad would encourage me to go for it.

  I just knew, however, not to expect much praise from him. He’d rather bring up a negative aspect about my performance than a positive one. I longed for his approval, a small pat on the back. It rarely, if ever, came. But I did have tremendous support from him. Wherever we went for sport, Dad was always there. He never drove so we had to rely on public transport. He’d be well prepared and have the timetable of the buses to hand so we would never be late. Had he not been willing to sacrifice his time and always find the money for bus fares and football boots, then I’d never be where I am today.

  When I started playing football at boys’ club level he’d always be the loudest parent at the side of the pitch. He’d be shouting the odds at me. If I had scored four or five goals he’d be screaming at me to get another one. He never shouted at any other kids, not unless he was praising them.

  He loved football and was the manager of Forgewood Boys Club. I played in his team, even though I was two years younger than the age group. He also took the school team at Wishaw Primary. I was in Primary 4 at that time and up against boys three years older. Sometimes I would get permission to get out of class for training or games, and that was a brilliant perk. The football link is in the genes, no doubt. My eldest brother Gregor was a good footballer but decided in his teens to pursue golf. Wullie was also a good player. He had a trial for Celtic when he was thirteen or fourteen. He was a striker and would rattle in forty or fifty goals a season. He just fell away from the game. That was a shame. Loads of people, even to this day, still say Wullie had much more ability than me when he was my age and I don’t doubt that for a second.