I'm a famous footballer who used a mobility scooter during my rehab that left my wee girl embarrassed

‘He jinks past one, past two ... there’s a burst of acceleration ... he weaves in between the two pillars – nothing can stop Stevie Lawless.’

His 10-year-old daughter Rhea was no doubt left wishing something would when the school bell sounded. This wasn’t Lawless charging down the wing. This was him negotiating the pavement on his mobility scooter. Three months have passed since the Partick Thistle attacker ruptured his Achilles tendon, prompting surgery and a gruelling rehab process that has ended hopes of playing again in 2024 – albeit not if you ask the man himself.

Hobbling up the stairs at Firhill on crutches in May as the club’s promotion bid unravelled in the play-offs, Lawless responded with his trademark humour when asked how he was getting on. “Bang average,” he belted out. Now back in the gym and able to “see a bit of light at the end of the tunnel”, he’s assured fans it won’t be 2025 before they see him again if he has anything to do with it. At 33, thoughts of whether his career could be over didn’t cross the mind of a Firhill favourite who went from terrorising defenders to terrorising pedestrians.

Sitting down with MailSport, the former Motherwell plus Livingston man reflected on his first few weeks post-injury and said: “I had a plan. I knew there was going to be a couple of weeks when I couldn’t get about.

“I got the operation on the Thursday and the first time I left the house was the Monday, when my wife Lucy – who has been a massive help – took me down to get a mobility scooter. I was like, ‘I can’t do this, I need a bit of freedom’. See relying on people, I hate it.

“At least I could go to the shop, I could go down and pick the kids up from school. My 10-year-old was raging. I was turning up on my