David Clarkson: We were so relieved to hear Mark McGhee was staying as boss

Jun 29 2008 Gordon Waddell

DAVID CLARKSON scaled new heights and crashed to painful depths in the choppy waters of a season that changed his life.

Now David reckons he and his Motherwell mates are due some plain sailing after a summer breeze at Fir Park.

The 22-year-old is still bouncing back from the crushing blow of losing his uncle Phil O'Donnell in mid-season which not even qualifying for Europe and a debut Scotland goal could temper.

The last thing Clarkson needed was more upheaval.

But the one thing he believes will help him push his pain into the shadows and push Well onwards is the stability of seeing the same faces around him when he gets stripped for the first time on Thursday.

With the reassuring presence of Mark McGhee and Scott Leitch still in the dressing-room after snubbing Hearts, Mark Reynolds still on board despite a Rangers bid and a near identical squad back for day one of pre-season the only way he can see things going is up.

Clarkson said: "We were relieved to find out the boss was staying - the same as the fans and the rest of the club will be.

"There was a real fear he might go. This was a place you enjoyed coming into last season, you enjoyed the company, the training, the coaching and Mark created a lot of that.

"He has already said it's one of the reasons he's staying and I understand that. The gaffer was such a new lease of life for the club. So now we go into the season with almost the same group of boys and manager. It's unusual for that to happen and it's fantastic. It could be a real help for us to kick on."

Only Ross McCormack will be missing from the squad after he signed for Cardiff on Friday and Clarkson admits that is a blow He said: "You can see how well we worked together - me, Ross and Chris Porter up front.

"Maybe we'll see some fresh faces but most of the team will be here and that will help. It's a young team. You have the likes of Jamie Murphy and Mark Archdeacon coming through at 18.

"Mark Reynolds has just turned 21 and myself, Paul Quinn and Marc Fitzpatrick are 22."

It's easy to forget how young a Well side McGhee turned out last season given the maturity of their play in the run-in.

In a three-way fight for the UEFA Cup spot they dug deep and earned their place in a draw that takes place on August 29.

And for Clarkson especially it was a watershed season after seeing his career ebbing away after such a bright start - capped by a Scotland goal 14 minutes into his debut against the Czech Republic.

The 13-goal frontman said: "Last season was so important for me. I knew it was big because it was a fresh start under the new gaffer but more that I had to get back on form.

"I had hit a wee low ebb but I'm still only 22 and you get through these spells.

"Now I hope I can build on the confidence last term has given me. The way it finished was just unbelievable.

"Europe was a great achievement but getting called up for your country is something I've always thought about.

"So to get the call, play then score was amazing. I spoke to the manager afterwards and he told me I'd done well and it was up to me to keep my form up and he'll take it from there."

David has had a quiet time since that May 30 closer, kept in shape and is straining at the leash to get pre-season going.

He knows Motherwell must hit the ground running with the toughest start of any SPL side.

Clarkson said: "It's the total opposite of last season when we had St Mirren, Inverness, Killie and Gretna.

"Now we're away to Hearts on the first day then play the rest of last season's top six in succession including back to back games against the Old Firm.

"But it's up to us to have a good pre-season, get off to a start and keep our standards high.

"We're back on Thursday and I've followed a programme I was given. But you can do all the running you want at home, pre-season is totally different.

"Last term's was the toughest I'd ever done but we all pushed ourselves. The boss made us believe we could get through it.

"We'd play a game then he'd make us do a run and say: 'This is a mental test - you thought you were getting a day off. You know you can do it though'."