Players We Hated: Steve Kirk

Following on from last week’s unintentionally controversial (!) article about Neil Lennon, we now turn our attentions to another SPL villain of the past: Steve Kirk of Motherwell (and latterly Falkirk).

Kirk was one of the many players from his era who broke into the SPL as a ‘promising youngster’, only to ultimately never quite realise the potential that he unquestionably had.

As a young player at Motherwell, the blonde haired attacking midfielder certainly had many attributes, with his most notable one being his uncanny knack of scoring important goals, something that he would continue to do for the better part of his ‘Well career.

There is no better illustration of this than the scoring run he went on during Motherwell’s famous Scottish Cup triumph of 1991, when I THINK he may have scored in every round of the tournament (correct me if I’m wrong, Stattos!), including the winning goal itself in the memorable 4-3 final win over Dundee United at Hampden.

But with all due respect to Motherwell, if Kirk had indeed realised his potential when he’d had the opportunity to, he would probably have been long gone by the time that year came around, but as it was he never quite moved onto the next level and ended up being your archetypal ‘one-club player’ until he eventually moved on after a testimonial at Fir Park.

However there was a side to Kirk that was most certainly alien to most free-scoring midfielders in the SPL back in those days. The guy was an out-and-out cheat, and with a very nasty streak in him too, as we’d see much later in his career during his time with Falkirk.

The first time I recall witnessing Kirk’s affinity with the ‘black arts’ of the game was during a league match between Motherwell and Hearts during the mid-to-late ’80s. At the Hearts end of the ground near the ‘shed’ area, he cut in from the left wing and ghosted past Walter Kidd on the referee’s blind side. The Hearts defender had barely had time to catch his bearings before Kirk, who had a great chance to cross the ball, slapped the side of his own leg and fell over, literally screaming for a penalty!

Because the referee’s view was blocked by Kidd and a couple of other players, it probably did look like a foul from where he was and so the kick was awarded, but the Hearts defenders in the vicinity (not to mention the fans!) went absolutely ballistic! Players had to be separated and a few bookings were shown, but right out of the SFA school of justice, Kirk was not one of them. And yes, the penalty was converted (aren’t they always?!).

That was the first time I saw what Kirk was capable of, but he was to go onto become pretty renowned for this sort of thing within the Scottish game. I remember several stormy encounters between the same two sides as the ’80s drew to a close, with one cup tie at Tynecastle in particular springing to mind. I’m pretty sure that Wayne Foster’s dismissal that day was for throwing a punch at Kirk, so if that was the case then it’s fair to say that he didn’t waste this particular red card!

As for the Kirk nastiness, well, he single-handedly acquired the title of ‘baddest man in town’ during a match for Falkirk at Tynecastle in the mid-’90s. Midway through the first half a Hearts player was down injured and it was one of those situations when the opposition had the ball and wasn’t sure whether or not to put it out of play to allow for treatment.

The ball eventually made its way to Kirk on the Wheatfield Stand touchline and, clearly frustrated, he decided it was time that the ball went into touch. However instead of just knocking it out of play, the little runt turned around, looked the crowd up and down and aimed the hardest kick he could muster to blast the ball straight at the second or third row of seats from almost point-blank range!

Needless to say people got hurt, and typically it turned out to be a little girl of something like five years of age. The stand was in uproar of course and I seem to remember a man getting into trouble for going onto the track to try and square up to Kirk, but to be honest on this occasion that sort of action was 100% justified, particularly as the cowardly match officials decided that Kirk should remain on the park.

I don’t think I can ever recall seeing another incident like the latter in a football match – well, certainly not in the flesh anyway. I did hear a rumour that former Rangers player Ian Ferguson did this to Celtic’s fans when playing for Dunfermline at East End Park a few years ago, but it’s just hearsay, no matter how much I probably believe that!

But Kirk was one of those players whom you’d probably never have tired watching being on the end of a brutal tackle from someone like Pasquale Bruno! It’s just a pity that we didn’t get the chance to witness that….grrrrr…..