Alex Lowry, modest as he is, despite some widely held misconceptions, would likely be embarrassed to be mentioned in the same breath as Davie Cooper. But the Ibrox icon did share something with a young man who once dreamed of following in his footsteps.
Namely, that he was a ‘Moody Blue’, the famous nickname bestowed upon Cooper, drawn partly from the late, great winger’s renowned distaste for training. But had you witnessed the smile on Lowry’s face as he strutted around the Fir Park pitch (another arena in which Cooper thrived) on Wednesday evening and had been there to admire not only his artistry with the ball at his feet, but his industry without it, you might have wondered where the 23-year-old earned his reputation for not yet making the most of his undoubted talent.
“I think it shows on the pitch how much I am enjoying myself here,” Lowry said.
“I am playing with a smile on my face. That was the main thing for me in coming here: getting back to enjoying my football and playing every week.
“Since I've come in, the boys, the staff, and the manager have all been brilliant with me. It's easy to play with a smile on your face when you're in an environment like this.
“I had heard that from quite a few people, that this was a great place to really get the best from yourself. It's a club that has a lot of history and tradition, they play good football and have always had good players.
“I spoke to the manager before I came and he told me how he wanted to play, and it suited me perfectly."
Lord knows, and the statistics starkly show it, that a young player making the breakthrough from the Rangers academy to the first team these days is a vanishingly rare occurrence. So too though, as many coaches throughout his football journey have noted, is the ability in Lowry’s boots.
Handed an Ibrox debut at the age of 18 by Giovanni van Bronkhorst, he scored the opening goal in a Scottish Cup rout of Stirling Albion, and the world looked to be at his feet. The then Rangers manager called him a ‘big talent’, and ‘an important player for the future of this club’.
Things didn’t quite go the way that Van Bronckhorst, nor Lowry, expected.
A loan spell at Hearts wasn’t a huge success. Injury plagued his progress - most notably, a knee problem inflicted by a horror tackle from Dumbarton’s Ally Love while playing for the Rangers B team, which caused quite the stooshie at the time.
Over and above all of this, he had to contend with something that no young man can possibly prepare himself to handle, as his mum tragically and suddenly passed away.
Alas, having joined Rangers at the age of 10, Lowry eventually was sold on to Wycombe Wanderers last January, having never quite made the leap from promising prospect to first team regular.
Cognisant of his talent, but not his full circumstances, there were plenty of commentators and snipers who were only too happy to fill in the gaps in an attempt to reason why this latest great white hope from the youth ranks had ultimately failed to make the grade at Ibrox.
It was his attitude. His application. He was lazy. It could be the only explanation.
“People are quick to judge when they don't know the full story,” he said.
“It was a difficult time for me with the injury and things off the pitch. It's part of football, but I think people could be a bit more understanding. I'm just happy to be back playing now and enjoying it again, but it was tough.
“Being at a club like Rangers, the pressure's always on you to perform. The pathway's not easy as there are a lot of top players in front of you. But it stood me in good stead. I learned a lot there and it's helped me with the step up to first-team football.
“Could I have done some things differently back then? Probably, yeah, but hindsight is a great thing, isn’t it? I probably concentrated a lot back then on what I could do on the ball, maybe too much.
"All I can really say now though is that it was a great experience. Getting to play in the first team was a dream come true. I think I did well when I played, but things change in football. And as I said, there were probably a few things I wish I done differently at the time.
“I'm just focused on my time here now and doing well for Motherwell."
As unwarranted as he may feel the reputation he carries in some quarters is though for failing to so far make the most of his career, that sense of injustice does prove a handy stimulus, firing him up to prove himself to his doubters, and make the very most of his opportunity at Fir Park.
"Definitely,” he said.
“I've always had that in me. I want to show people what I can do and prove them wrong. It's a good motivation for me.
"I think the perception of me as being lazy or whatever has been a bit unfair. I've always worked hard, but maybe because I'm a more technical player, people don't see it as much. Listen, you have to work hard in this Motherwell team, otherwise you won't be in it.
“I'm happy to do that for the team."
The reputation that Motherwell have for relaunching careers now goes before them, and as Lowry says, that was a major tick in the Fir Park pro column when he was assessing his options in the summer.
They didn’t perhaps need much help to persuade him to make the move then, but in the shape of former Motherwell and now Wycombe defender Dan Casey, they had someone prepared to give him the hard sell in any case.
"I spoke to Dan before coming here and he just said you absolutely have to go for it,” he said.
“He was telling me how good the club was, how great the fans were and how much I'd enjoy it.
“He's a great guy and it was good to have him there."
Another draw was the lure of European football, even if luck deserted Motherwell in the draw for the Conference League playoff round, as they pulled top seeds and last season’s beaten Europa League finalists Freiburg out of the hat after seeing off HB Torshavn and HJK Helsinki.
Even in their eventual defeat though to the Bundesliga outfit, there was plenty for Motherwell to take from the two legs that is serving them well in the early knockings of their domestic campaign, and Lowry was keen to soak up as much as he could from the encounter.
"It was a great experience for us,” he said.
“Playing against a team like Freiburg shows you the level you need to be at. We showed that we can compete with these teams and it's given us a lot of confidence for the season ahead.
“I was really watching the player they had playing as a 10 [Yuito Suzuki] closely. What he was doing, how he was moving, how he was getting on the ball. He’s a top international player and you can definitely pick things up from players like that.
“Hopefully, the experience will stand us all in good stead for what is to come.”
What is to come in the here and now is a visit to his old stomping ground this afternoon, as Motherwell travel to Govan looking to register a win at Ibrox for the fourth season in a row. With the way they have started the season, one of only three undefeated teams across the opening four games of the Premiership campaign, it wouldn’t be a seismic shock if they managed to do so.
As well as results breeding confidence though, the Motherwell players are made acutely aware by their manager Alfred Johansson that these positive outcomes are earned through their humility and hard work, which Lowry hopes may become the sort of attributes he is soon renowned for himself.
“The manager has been absolutely different class,” he said.
“One of the first things that strikes you when you walk in is that the standard here is very high. The manager's got us playing a certain way and everyone knows their roles. It's a great environment to be in and I'm really enjoying it.
"He's been great with me since the first day I came in. He just told me to go and enjoy it and play my own game. He's not tried to change me; he just wants me to do what I'm good at. It gives you a lot of confidence when a manager says that to you.
“You see players coming here and doing well, and everyone knows it's a good place to come and play football. The manager wants to play the right way and that suits me.
“We've been working on so much. For instance, when to play those line-breaking passes and when to keep the ball. It's about picking the right moments. I'm really learning a lot from him.”
So impressive has Uddingston lad Lowry’s introduction to life back in Lanarkshire been, there are now few doubters among the Motherwell support. His stunning goal against Dundee United during the week was the cherry on top of an eye-catching performance full of feints and flicks, passing and probing that had the opposition in a daze.
Already, discussion among the Fir Park faithful is turning towards the terms of his loan deal, and whether or not the club can make him a permanent fixture in the team.
For Lowry, such conversations are for the future. Another lesson he has taken, undoubtedly, from his past mistakes.
“I'm honestly just taking it game by game,” he said.
“I know that’s a cliché, but if I’m honest, I probably was guilty of looking too far ahead when I was younger, and I wasn’t focusing enough on what was in front of me.
"So, the short-term aim is just to keep playing and helping the team get as many points as possible. Long-term, I want to keep improving and see where it takes me.
"Definitely, I’m open to staying, but that’s for another day. I'm really happy here, so we'll see what happens. I'm just focusing on my football at the moment.
“That's the most important thing for me. When you're enjoying it, you play your best football. I'm really happy here and I think that shows in my performances."
A ‘Moody Blue’, no more then. If that ever really was the case.
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