Motherwell loses captain in bar “attack”

By: Ian Rose | April 29th, 2008

Details are sketchy, but here’s an incident has popped up which might just have consequences all over the SPL. Paul Quinn, captain of Motherwell, is out for the rest of the season with a broken jaw after being attacked outside a nightclub in Wishaw, his hometown. No one seems to be saying much about whether this was a random act or the last blow in a larger bar fight, but either way, the 22-year-old right back, who took the armband after the death of Phil O’Donnell, is out just when Motherwell need him most. Well still sit in third place, a spot they once definitively owned, but their lead over fourth-place Dundee United is down to a single point. They have two games in hand, but here’s where things get really interesting - those two games are against Rangers.

(Note to Old Firm conspiracy buffs - I am in no way suggesting the attack has anything to do with Rangers. If it came out that way, that would be a hell of a story, but all indications are it was some random drunk, pissed and swinging.)

Anyway, Motherwell are down their captain and best defender, with a ton of meaningful games in the run up to season’s end, including two against Rangers and one against Celtic. Those three matches are hugely important not only to the trio of sides competing to join Queen of the South … sigh … in the UEFA Cup (Well, Hibs and United) but also to the big boys in Glasgow as well. Celtic, of course, need to basically win out to have a shot at the title, now five points up but three games further along. Rangers, however, also badly need to get back to the winning ways that, until recently, defined their season. The team that so recently went 20 games without a loss is now recovering from their second derby defeat in two weeks. If they continue to falter, as they could with all the injuries and suspensions, Celtic might make an incredible steal, but a weakened Motherwell defense is going to make that slip up that much less likely.

Considering how Motherwell have defied expectations this season, I’m sure they’ll thumb their nose at this and surprise us one way or the other again, but either way, the end of this season is not going quietly. Least of all for poor Paul Quinn’s face.