Tony Watt feels he is learning more than ever at Motherwell and his biggest lesson has been to shake off his self-doubt.
Watt has established himself as Stephen Robinson’s main striker after signing three contracts at Fir Park this year.
Celtic manager Neil Lennon once questioned the teenage Watt’s body language in training but the 26-year-old feels he has often been misunderstood.
The forward, who is now at his 12th club, said: “I am learning more than I have ever learned. I am taking in information and doing what’s asked of me, hopefully.
“If you ask anybody that thinks ‘bad attitude, bad egg’, whatever, I don’t think that’s been the problem in the past.
“Maybe it was self-doubt and not believing in myself. Maybe the body language has gone down and shown I’m maybe not the most self-assured person. But now it’s about learning how to express yourself and believe in yourself.
“The minute you doubt yourself in any walk of life, that’s when the cracks start to appear. But whenever you are positive and believe in yourself, even if you make a mistake it gets put to the side and you keep going, the good parts outweigh the mistakes. That’s what I believe I have improved on.
“Maybe coming here they have filled me with confidence but self-belief has improved and helped me stay in the team.”
The former Charlton player added: “If I just stay in the team and didn’t score the manager wouldn’t be happy, he believes there is a certain level I can get to and I believe it too.
“That’s what I have learned over the past six or seven months, so we are both pushing as hard as we can to get to that level.”
Watt is happy to have Robinson cajoling as well as encouraging and praising him.
“He’s been brilliant,” the one-time Scotland international said ahead of Saturday’s visit of St Mirren.
“He has been relentless on me. Even when it seems to be going well, he is still relentless. That’s just the way he is. I think he knows he needs to be on top of me.
“I’m not the finished article, there are a lot of things I can improve on. I know that by them telling me every day. If I score 25 or 30 goals this season then maybe they will stop but until then I think they will be on me constantly.
“It would be really good if he forgot my name for a day but it is what it is. I said that to him on Monday and he just laughed.
“But I got told when I was younger, the day a coach stops shouting at you, that’s the day you worry.”
Robinson will keep on shouting but the Motherwell boss hopes to hear his players more often on the pitch.
“He needs keeping shouted at,” Robinson said. “Tony’s one of those boys you need to keep driving.
“We have a team of boys who are very quiet. Sometimes it’s like a silent movie out there. Unfortunately I have to do the shouting.
“I’d love not to, but we are trying to get people to speak more and take more responsibility themselves.”
