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Just listened to the interview from start to finish and it’s fair to say, it was a tough listen. Kettlewell has in my opinion at least, really let himself down here and in the long run, will have done himself no favours. He is clearly a very intense guy. From the day he arrived, he talked at machine gun pace using flowery words that didn’t quite fit with what he was saying. That intensity only ramped up the deeper he got into the job and his levels of personal investment increased. Of course football management is a uniquely demanding role. It demands so much of your time and energy away from the Matchday, often influenced by factors outwith your span of control and attracts critique far beyond what almost any other vocation should expect. Having coached youth, first team and held director of football roles at Semi Pro (Isthmian and national league level) clubs in England I can personally vouch (though on a much smaller scale) for the levels of pressure associated and the impact a life at the sharp end of football can have on you and all those around you. Kettlewell talked about not reading the socials and working all hours and then coming home and seeing the sadness in the families eyes and using that as a driver for quitting. Every manager has that, and given that he has a family “like the Waltons” his chosen vocation and its hours worked, will also be a huge source of pressure. By choosing to work those hours, he will be choosing to miss some of his kids younger years. His choice, his guilt, not the clubs or the fans. Fan abuse is often ill informed and when in that space, often feeling extremely unfair. However, I’d bet the mortgage that the reason Kettlewell chose to walk was because…. - He’s a naturally intense guy who’s response to things going badly is to throw himself further into his work - This then brings a “I’m working my arse off here, what more do you want?” mindset. - He was bringing this mindset home with him (he says he’s an aggressive person) and it was impacting on the family dynamic. - The family begins to resent the cause of this Gollum side to his personality (his thankless employer and fans he seems to love more than us) - The slightest bit of poor fan behaviour witnessed then gets jumped on by the family because they’ve become hyper sensitive to criticism. - Kettlewell knows he’s running out of ideas and perhaps realising that hard work doesn’t fix. The fella has one maybe two opportunities left to prove himself as a manager that can stay the pace without completely losing the nut, burning himself and his family out and resorting to the blame of others. His decision to do that interview reeks of a wounded ego that doesn’t have the self awareness to recognise just how much he has to change.

Booo! Booo! Booo!

Booing is part of football and as old as time. I never do it during the game unless its at the officials! 😉 But if a performance has been utterly honking then I think its fair game at half time or full time. Singling individual players out though has never been my bag. Not really sure what it achieves.

Hopefully we aren't looking for a new manager any time soon, but if and when the time comes, I think the title of the thread should be "Our New Manager, who should he look like?"

Booing, shouting and jeering are three different things. None of them are legitimate criticism, they're just noise. Criticism should be reasonable, balanced and constructive like, for example, the majority of your posts are ill thought out and poorly worded which results in an overly negative narrative.

You’re right ! 😂😂

Bore off 💤

SK THE NAUGHTY MANAGER : Once upon a time there was a football manager who had run out of ideas, could not stop the teams losing streak and was losing the dressing room decided to resign and make up a tale about personal abuse to try to save his tarnished reputation. The gullible media and some of the people believed him, etc etc aye it's all true whatever.

Have you ever considered a career in refereeing? 😆😆😆

I hope I never have to rely eyewitness testimony from some of the posters on here.

Exactly this - none more so than any manager and I’ve seen a few since Bobby Howitt and certainly none than most other supports had out on a weekly basis. Good job he never managed Airdrie and had to make the long walk along the stand at Broomfield, he wouldn’t have lasted a week. Pure smokescreen.

Cannot disagree that abuse is not acceptable and it would seem that with the advent of social media, the parameters of acceptable have been stretched. Britain is a much worse off place for it. However, there’s something about football that brings out the worst in people. From children’s grassroots to the very top of the senior game, there are more reports of unwarranted trolling, verbal abuse and pitchside physical violence than ever before. Without doubt, whoever shouts abuse at players and managers really do need to do some self checking. All that anger is not good for their health and only serves to de-motivate the people they want to see improvement from.

You'd need to be deaf to believe that. He got abuse just about every week, even when we were doing well. No worse than pretty much every Motherwell manager we have had in my lifetime, but it was there. Some folk just like to go to the football to vent their spleen. If it stops them battering the wife and kids its probably a good thing......

Nae bother gruzzly g

Massive game for the club,, to see how the players respond to the new manager we've beaten untd 3 times already this season so here's hoping for a 4th sucess coyw.

Cedric Kipre sent off for his club(reims) after five minutes tonight . I thought that cheating bastard Craig Thomson had retired.

You sure?

I agree 🤣🤣

Not every post requires a response.

I don't think we need the refugees from the locked SK thread hijacking this one. The line is drawn _________________________________________________________ let's move on

Unless the ref speaks German, the new management team will be able to give him pelters without fear of a yellow card.

Ah ha haaaaaa haaaaaaa haaaaaaa. BOOM BOOM

Is that you Mr Roy? Boom! Boom! 😆😆😆

I've never watched Doctor Who, maybe that's why I go on steelmen online, all making sense now Never seen Star Wars either ...I used to enjoy Basil Brush, however....sorry I'm digressing.

Define "older crowd" I might need to disassociate myself from that particular group! 😆😆😆

There was definitely abuse fired at him but not convinced on what levels. My anger was he threw whole support under the bus and forgets after cup game he had a right dig at "so called experts " I am sure Oprah Mcgregor of The Scottish Sun will have a follow up interview lined up, maybe better getting Robert Grieve to do it, the one journalist that saw threw all the excuses.

Wee Al was class for us, and he thoroughly deserved his move to Luton in the Championship at that point.

I was right, you are the criticism police. Glad to have you engaged in ‘legitimate criticism’, although perhaps lacking a constructive strand.

"Why does he not do better when I shout bad things at him? It works with my dog."

You can criticise SOD for his performances if you like, but to criticise his attitude towards the fans is way off line imho. He takes plenty stick but has never bitten back or disrespected us publicly. He has certainly had his fall outs with managers , but we have all been crying out this season for players who will challenge the manager and not just sit silently and accept what is happening. Personally, I dont think he has been great for us over the piece, but nowhere near as bad as some make him out to be. Thats not a great defence for him and its difficult to see how he keeps his place in a high pressing team, but lets keep it factual.

There are plenty of rotten players in our side currently but SOD gets a disproportionate amount of stick in my view. Always has

It must be quite a talent to fool so many professional managers and coaches at different teams and different levels for 15 years.

Posted this on P&B, and figured I may as well post it here as well... I thought I'd share a few reflections on my decision-making process for the Well Society board before I finalise my selections. The first thing I've noticed is that many people are basing their decisions on what individual candidates contribute in terms of work experience, career history, and so forth. For me, that isn't a primary concern. As we've already observed, we can engage those individuals and their skillsets through the workstreams and various other projects. We don't need someone on the board just to make use of their skills or experience. If we're honest, if it were about experience and contributions, then individuals like Douglas Dickie and Tom Feely should be an automatic choice every single time. Both are immensely experienced with skillsets beneficial to the board. No, for me there is one criterion that outweighs all others. When there's a tough decision to be made, such as the Barmack situation, where the executive board might be leaning in a direction that doesn't quite align with fan views or interests, can those on the Society board be trusted to stand firm and vote appropriately? Or will they be influenced by a brief visit to the "big" board's offices for a cup of tea and a biscuit? I don't want someone on the board because they can enhance marketing, financial stewardship, or anything similar. I want someone on the board because they truly understand fan ownership. I'm observing many candidates who are undoubtedly qualified in their day jobs and career experiences, and I've seen many of them actively engaging on the forums and social media over the past few weeks. However, when we were all debating with Erik at 11pm on a Friday night, tirelessly posting counterpoints, researching different business models, meticulously reviewing each line and the phrasing of various plans and heads of terms, and working on documents to chart a new course for the Well Society in the face of allegations of lacking experience or credibility compared to the Netflix chap, many of these individuals were notably absent. Of course, that could be due to circumstance. Were they too busy? Had family issues? All of which is perfectly understandable. But, maybe it's because they simply did not think Erik's proposal was all that problematic? Everyone will make their choices based on their own criteria. But for me, it doesn't really boil down to what a candidate has achieved in their career, what experience they have, or what they "bring to the table" in that respect. We have multiple workstreams for that. I'm more interested in what they contributed during perhaps the most critical non-footballing issue we've faced as a club in recent times. And what their actions would be should a situation like that arise again. There is already one individual who was very vocal about how he felt during that time, and for that reason he will never get my vote. I'm sure he may well be a perfectly nice guy, but on this particular issue I don't feel I can ever trust him, no matter what other life skills he may provide. If he's really behind the idea of fan ownership then he can sign up for a workstream. He doesn't need a board vote. Give me someone who has spent their entire working life on a building site and doesn't even own a shirt and tie, but who will do everything in their power to protect the club from the likes of Erik Barmack over someone like a Douglas Dickie. Those who were part of that process know who they are, and those particular individuals will have my vote this time around. They stood up and were counted when they could have very easily just sat back and did nothing. There's one individual in particular who did more than most, and that particular candidate will be the first name I add to my vote later today.

Kettlewell wasn't perfect but some people seem to be breaking their neck to suggest he wasn't abused I personally don't think him getting irate at officials justifies the abuse he got from a section of our fans I was in the pod stand last Saturday and a couple of fans screamed abuse at players for the majority of the game.