Lang Feels Welcome at Clyde

Clyde defender Tom Lang has spoken exclusively to the official website after committing himself to the club until summer 2019.

Having started his career at Birmingham City and then moving onto Rangers before stints with Dumbarton and Stranraer, Lang explained that he is now enjoying his football more than ever before.

Speaking after playing a part in three wins in a row, he said:-

“Everyone has been really friendly since I have joined and made me feel really welcome. I joined on the first of January and played on the second, so I was right into it straight away. The Edinburgh game was my sixth – that has been six games in five weeks so it has been great to play so many right away.

“It is the most I have enjoyed my football and I am really glad I have joined the club. Hopefully we can just keep doing what we have been doing, keep winning games and get as far up in the table as possible.”

After initially penning a short-term deal until the end of the season, Lang impressed enough in his first five games to be offered a new 18-month contract and he explained that he didn’t think twice about extending his stay with The Bully Wee:-

“I played five games and pretty much loved every single game. Danny told me that I’d be involved in the team and he has stuck to his word. I have already progressed as a player under Danny and that can only be a good thing for the future. Another year with him will be great.

“I knew of the manager but I’d never been in contact with him before joining. It has been going really well – from day one I knew what he wanted – hard work and to make sure the team started picking up points. He is a really good guy, same with Moorey. You know exactly what they expect and you just want to give everything for that kind of management. They are trying to do everything they can to get us up the table, so as players we feel we have the responsibility to do everything we can to help them do that.”

The defender started his football career as a 12-year-old in the youth system at Birmingham City, before leaving there to join Rangers shortly before his 18th birthday. During his time at Birmingham he represented Scotland at youth level, while since leaving Rangers he has played in the Championship and League 1, gaining plenty of experience despite being just 20-years-old. 

However, he admits he is now experiencing something slightly new – the position of right back:- 

“Over the last few games I have been playing right back and that has been new to me as I am predominantly a centre half, but I am enjoying the new role because I seem to get more of the ball! 

“I really enjoyed it against Montrose and Peterhead and then the last game was probably more difficult, actually. Edinburgh on Saturday were a good football side so it was a different type of game. We had to choose our moments and deal with their pressure. We managed to keep going but at the end of the game I was shattered, absolutely done in!

“Different learning experiences like that are great for me and will hopefully make me a better player.

“If I do keep getting games at right back then I will be trying to improve the attacking side of my game. I think defensively I will be fine but the one thing I probably need to get better at is playing one-on-one and getting past people. I’ve never really needed to do that in games before – obviously I’ve done it in training but it’s different in games when you sometimes have all that space in front of you.

“But I am loving the confidence of the manager thinking I can do that role and bomb on to help the wingers in an attacking role.” 

Lang finished by looking forward to the coming weeks for himself and the rest of a squad, who he explains are a closely knit bunch:-

“Danny keeps talking about how important everyone in the squad is and everyone has a positive attitude when they come to the club now. There’s no turning up late or anything like that, everyone on the bench is supporting the boys to do well and I think things like that make a big difference around the whole camp. 

“Everyone is in really good spirits, whether they are playing or not. Straight away I have got on with everyone. We all know it is all about football and getting Clyde as high as possible after a bad start to the season. Now, after the last few games, everyone is happier after matches and there’s just a great spirit.

“It is just a case of maintaining it against Berwick and then Cowdenbeath in the next couple of games so that we get away from the bottom end of the table and start looking towards the play-offs. Then we can see what happens. 

“We need to make sure to keep it up and that standards don’t drop. Hopefully, if we keep winning games, we can move up the table one-by-one.”