Club Chaplain, Grant Hamilton this week brings us his sit down interview with midfielder, Lewis Kidd in the latest edition of the “Chaplain’s Corner”.
Welcome Lewis. Thanks for agreeing to answer some questions today.
My first one is a bit of an icebreaker that I use if I’m working with groups of people. I want you to imagine you are a chat show host and you can interview any 3 people, living or dead. Who would you invite on your show and why?
“Wow! (Brief pause) I’d start with Roger Federer because I look up to him. I just think he is one of the greatest sportsmen ever. I would love to see what his mindset was as he came through his career to that stage where he was number one for so many years. Even today he is still competing with the best. I just find him fascinating”
I remember he was also Lee Robinson’s hero.
"I know. He is unbelievable and to still be playing at the highest level today is amazing.
You’re putting me on the spot to think of another couple. I know if we were just chatting normally I could easily think of some but I’m struggling in an interview”.
It doesn’t have to be a sports person. It can be a musician or just someone you’d like to meet.
“Mike Tyson would be a great shout. You would get a good chat with him. I find him amazing and the fact that he had problems makes him more interesting. I’d like to find out what was going through his head at certain times in his career and also how his life has changed over the years.
My final guest would be Barack Obama. He had such a powerful job but I’d love to ask him if there were ever times when he thought it was too much for him or he just couldn’t handle it. He was the first black President of the USA and the most powerful man in the world and I’d just love to find out about his journey and how he handled it. I just find him fascinating”.
I know the answer to this question but I’ll ask anyway – fullback or Centre midfielder?
(Lewis groans and laughs) “Centre Mid 100%. Don’t get me wrong; I’ve done well at Right Back and Right Wing Back but Centre Mid is where I grew up playing and that is where I enjoy playing the most. I feel like I can be more involved in the game and less limited than I am at Right Back”.
It’s funny that you mention growing up playing Centre midfield because my sub question was going to be about how your game has developed in general over your career – How has the way you’ve been deployed by teams since your Celtic days, changed over the years?
“I was basically a Centre Mid up to around 20 years old then I had to fill in at right back one time. I happened to do well and then the manager decided I could play there regularly, partly because I had a lot of energy and partly because I was comfortable on the ball. When other players then got drafted into my midfield position I just accepted the change on the basis that it was good to be playing at all”.
From a fan point of view, Right Wing Back looks quite exciting – lot’s of attacking and crossing.
“I never minded Right Wing Back. That was where I played a lot the first time I was with Queens. I was doing well and enjoying playing with Holty (Kevin Holt) who was covering the left. We were basically attacking all the time and it was good but as I said, I just feel like I’m more involved in the whole game in general from Centre Mid”.
That little memory of your first spell at Queens leads nicely into my next question - What are your best memories of your first time round at Queens?
“Off the pitch, the dressing room we had was just amazing (season 2014-15). The players we had, the laughs we got. We had Del, (Lyle) Beany, (Ian Russell) Mitch, (Chris Mitchell), Pates (Michael Paton), Vinnie (Mark Durnan), McShane (Ian McShane); all boys that really welcomed a young player like me who was new to the first team. Straight away there was just a feeling that we were a real team. We were all good mates and you just loved coming to training”.
Then there is the memories on the pitch – there was a period of time when we had Hibs away and beat them 1-0, then a 3-0 win against Rangers. That was my best memory of playing for Queens because I got Man of the Match in that one. That whole week though where we beat Hibs away, Rangers at home and then Falkirk 1-0 at home basically got us a play off place. Before the Hibs game we got beaten by Raith Rovers away (and also Hearts) so as we looked into that tough week we feared the worst because our fixtures were much harder than Falkirk’s.
Obviously the play-offs were brilliant and I do believe that if we had scored another goal at Ibrox we would definitely have gone through in extra time because we were the better team.
I enjoyed the season after that as well (2015-16) but in my first season I played every game. It was just great and I loved it”.
(GH and LK continued to reminisce about how amazing it was to beat Hibs, Rangers and Falkirk in one week, before finally moving on to the next question).
Have you noticed any changes to the training set up between Hamilton Palace and Broadwood?
“I think they are pretty similar. Traveling wise, Hamilton is perfect for me as I only live five minutes up the road. At Broadwood it was great to train on the pitch. It was a good surface and is even better now. The David Lloyd Centre at Hamilton has done wonders for us though. Lunch is provided and that’s one thing we never got at Broadwood where we had to bring a packed lunch”.
So you don’t have to buy lunch off Higgy (Chris Higgins) anymore?
“No, absolutely – those lunches were …. (GH laughs and suggests we stop recording but LK insists on carrying on in the hope that Higgy will read it)
You could bounce Higgy’s meatballs off the floor and catch them again! That was his wee phase where he thought he was a chef. I thinks the boys quickly shut that idea down”. (just for accuracy – Chris didn’t actually cook the meals and did employ a chef to do the cooking).
On a more personal note, one of the core values of Sports Chaplaincy is ‘excellence’ but even after 6 years it’s sometimes hard to know how to be usefully a Chaplain because sometimes you’re just there, being a ballboy and occasionally chatting to players. How do you think a Chaplain could be useful to a team like Queens?
“(laughs) I don’t know! To be fair, you’ve been here six seasons and even though I never came to you for a personal chat the first time round I’ve been lucky because I’ve never struggled in that department. I do think though, especially with you, that the boys all respect you and have been used to your face over the years and I just think its good seeing you come in. Even just wee things like seeing you come in every week, shaking your hand, saying ‘hi’ and having a wee bit of ‘convo.’ You’re just a good guy and all Chaplains have a useful role. (there was a bit of chat about the role of the Falkirk Chaplain and differences in their set up in comparison to Queens).
So far, I’ve never needed to discuss anything very personal but I know that if I was ever struggling or needed someone to talk to, I could come and talk to you no bother”.
Thanks Lewis. I appreciate that. Now here is the difficult question that I prepared you for in advance.
When things go wrong emotionally with players we know they can go badly wrong. I remember when you left Queens in 2016 that the last time we saw each other was at Chris Mitchell’s funeral. Do you think since 2016 that football clubs are better prepared to offer pastoral care to players? Also, how have you seen the pastoral care side of things develop?
“I was asked this question recently by Mitch’s dad in Falkirk at an event for the Chris Mitchell Foundation. I was talking away to him and I was asked the question and I do believe that since the tragedy, people are speaking about suicide and mental health a lot more, which is good – but – I don’t really… I don’t know….(pauses) Teams will have days when they invite people to talk about mental health issues but I still think there is an element where the football dressing room is still a place where people don’t want to come forward and they just keep things to themselves”.
Obviously help is there (Chaplains / Confidential SFA Helpline) but how comfortable are players about actually coming forward and addressing it?
“There are definitely more people coming out and maybe trying to get help or offer help but even though there is a lot more talk around the subject I don’t see that much difference on the ground. I don’t know how you sort that because even though you want players to talk, on the other hand you don’t want to be coming in every day and talking about it”.
You don’t need to solve it. I’m just asking for an opinion and what you are saying is helpful.
“Football is just a tough environment. See if we knew what Mitch was going through we would have been there for him but the fact that Mitch was one of those guys who was bubbly and always laughing and joking and constantly….(pause)
He hid his pain well.
“Yes, he kept it hidden. I hope people can recognise signs better now. I just wish we had known what he was going through”.
So do I.
(Pause then final question) I appreciate your honesty. Let’s try and end on a lighter note. For the fans reading this -how would your team mates describe Lewis Kidd?
“Always gives 100%, works hard and that I’m there for everyone. I don’t know what they’d say about my ball skills but I imagine they would say I’m a good team player. I’m a good laugh around the place and I keep spirits high”.
Well you’ve kept my spirits high in this interview and I really appreciate you talking to me. Thanks Lewis.