Louis Laing



Center Back, Louis Laing joined Motherwell on loan on the 30th January 2015. The young Englishman possessed some key tools which were sadly lacking in the ‘well defence during the 2014/15 season, he was quick, strong and a solid tackler.

Laing had previously started his career at Sunderland where despite being highly rated he would only manage to feature in one senior game at the Stadium of Light, he had made a great impression as a youth and won caps with England U16, U17, U18 and U19 levels. In fairness his last few years with the Black Cats had been ravished by injury and when he was released in 2014 it was no surprise many clubs were vying for his signature with Championship side Nottingham Forest winning the race to sign him. Stuart Pearce of course knew Louis well as they worked together in the English youth setup.

Louis certainly had a debut to forget for the Steelmen as he was sent off after only 25 minutes for a last man challenge, but the side managed to salvage a 1-1 draw against St Johnstone. He would score his first goal for the club a month later with a fine header in a 2-1 victory over Inverness at Fir Park.

The Englishman certainly played his part in helping the club avoid relegation, despite finishing in the playoff spot he will be remembered for playing a pivotal role in the stunning 6-1 aggregate win over Rangers when everyone had the club written off.

He was released by Forest at the end of season having failed to make an appearance at the City Ground, but would ultimately sign a permanent deal with Motherwell on the 20th June 2015. The young defender however wouldn’t enjoy too much success during his permanent transfer as he had to battle with another youthful centre back in the shape of Kieran Kennedy who was Mark McGhee’s preferred partner alongside Stephen McManus in the backline. McGhee did however see Laing as a potential midfield defensive linch pin and was deployed their in a match versus Celtic, afterwards McGhee stated Louis could have a successful career in that role but that would be the first and only time he would feature in that position for Motherwell.

With the surprise emergence of young Ben Hall, this pushed Louis further down the pecking order, in the latter part go the 2015/16 season he was deployed as a right back and made a decent impression, he would grab a valuable winner against Hamilton but this goal came at a price as an injury would put him back on the treatment table.

Perhaps due to finding himself losing his first team spot, he seemed to drain of confidence and he mentioned in an interview that when he was out of the side that he had considered quitting the game altogether. He still found himself out of the managers plans going into the 2016/17 season and he was eventually farmed out on loan to Notts County before leaving the club in January 2017 when he agreed to leave by mutual consent. Initially, Laing had a move to a side in Australia lined up but when the move didn’t materialise he would join Richie Foran’s Inverness Caledonian Thistle side who were battling it out with Motherwell to avoid relegation with Caley ultimately being the side that would go down.

Laing was a player who looked like he would develop into a decent defender but seemed to regress due to his lack of confidence. In July 2017 he dropped down a few levels to join Hartlepool United in the English National League.

Name:
Louis Laing
Height:
6″ 2″
Weight:
Date of Birth:
6th March 1993
Place of Birth:
Newcastle Upon Tyne
Position:
Defender
Nationality:
English

Football Career:

Sunderland 2011 2014
Wycombe Wanderers (Loan) 2012
Nottingham Forest 2014 2015
Notts County (Loan) 2014
Motherwell (Loan)  2015 
Motherwell  2015  2017 
Notts County (Loan) 2016 2017
Inverness Caledonian Thistle 2017
Hartlepool United 2017

Well Career:

Apps Goals
League:
26 (2) 2
Scottish Cup:
0 0
League Cup:
1 0
Other:
2 0
Total:
29 (2) 2