Norwich City loanee pulls back curtain on frantic transfer to Motherwell and why he was ‘itching’ for move
The Norwich City player has sealed a deal to Motherwell.
Archie Mair has lifted the curtain on a hectic transfer move and debut for Motherwell on loan from Norwich City.
The goalkeeper came into the 3-1 Premiership loss against Hibs off the back of a crazy 24 hours.
Fir Park number one Aston Oxborough dislocated his thumb while back-up Krisztián Hegyi was recalled to West Ham United, leaving coach Stuart Kettlewell facing at the potential of playing without a senior keeper for the encounter.
Mair has senior experience with the likes of Morecambe, Notts County and Gateshead and this season, was in and around senior participation with Norwich City.
The goalkeeper was recruited by the Canaries in 2020 after showing promise at Aberdeen.
Speaking on how the transfer came about, Mair said: “It has been a whirlwind, I basically came in from training on Friday and we had a meeting, I was preparing for the game at Norwich on Sunday, and then I came out of the meeting about two o’clock. And got a phone call basically saying ‘be ready, get yourself up the road’.
“So I gathered that boots and stuff, drove down to Stansted airport and flew up, got picked up from the airport, stayed in the hotel Friday night and then went and met the boys before the game.
So yes, it’s been a whirlwind. It’s challenging yet at the same time you just want to go and play.
“It’s a game of football really and you’re ready for it. I’ve trained all week, it’s obviously a little unusual having to travel up with whatever and seeing the lads for the first time – it can be challenging but at the end of the day it’s a game of football so it was OK.
“When I got the phone call after training yesterday I was delighted and raring to go really. So there weren’t any questions on my part. I was straight in the vehicle and headed to the airport and all happy.”
Mair has had plenty of veteran professionals assisting him along the road, including Scotland star Angus Gunn and ex-Motherwell keeper George Long at Norwich City.
Tim Krul has also worked with him as has Joe Lewis at Aberdeen. He explained: “I came off the back of last season playing a lot, playing week in, week out and this year I was just kind of third choice.
“I had a spell on the bench where Angus Gunn got injured as well so it’s just mainly training, travelling to all the games, doing the warm-up and things like that.
So I was sort of wanting to go out and play by the time January rolled here.
“I think I’ve been lucky with the senior goalkeepers I’ve had at all clubs even when I was at Aberdeen, Joe Lewis then.
At Norwich I’ve had Tim Krul and then Angus Gunn currently, they’ve all been incredibly fantastic to work with and try to learn off.
“George was in the shower and I was like, ‘oh I’m way up to Motherwell’, so it was literally just a ‘good luck’ and then out the door really.
He’s definitely chatted about playing for Motherwell previously but it was so fast on Friday I didn’t really get the opportunity to have a big discussion about it.
It’s the closest I’ve been in a long so they’re all thrilled about that, they can go to games a lot easier.”
Leave a Reply