Leaderboard

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.

Bore off 💤

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.

I wish him all the best. A genuinely nice guy and nice speech wishing club well and thanking the fans . SK take note.....that's how you leave a club with respect

No Motherwell fan hates Rangers more than they love Motherwell. Some hate Rangers more than they hate Celtic though, and that seems to get up your nose, or at least under your skin enough to make comments like that. Halliday is playing better because he is being used properly in a system that he can contribute to. I think we can all unite and get behind that, no? 😘😘😘

What!!! Such lunacy, changes during a game?? Everyone knows you take at least 6 months to change midfield formation unless of course injuries accelerate that, thus enabling you to randomly place players in various positions which they are unfamiliar with. Someone needs to have a word with MW before this gets out of hand and let him know, that is not the Motherwell way. If it’s not nipped in the bud, next thing you know they’ll be clean sheets, entertaining football, goals from open play and cheering crowds. FFS get it sorted!!

The more he continues with this, the more he's blackening the clubs name and laughing in the face of the folk who supported him to the hilt when results and performances were awful, and those at the club who backed him even after he departed. It's a funny thing, but he was a manager that I didn't have a huge opinion on, he done some good things, some crap things, had moments of success and large periods of pish...he waffled a lot, but I felt he was more often than not, a good representative for the Club. Any good work he done on the clubs behalf has been forgotten now by the majority of the fans, and the poor work he done pails into insignificance by his behaviour since the day that he resigned. His narcissistic traits have poured to the fore, and his all out attack on the clubs fans have only been a tactic to deflect away from the fact that he was simply struggling to find the answers to get us out of the rut that he has left us in...the number of players we have currently signed at the Club is absolute testament to the fact that he had lost the run of himself. His current self-promotion and publicity is designed to get him a gig elsewhere...and sorry to say, I hope it fails miserably.

SOD was playing well before his injury.

I’ve been watching us now for more years than I care to remember and have to agree with your sentiment. I feel our club is in poor custodianship right now. Well-meaning people they may, be but utterly lacking in knowledge, skills and know-how as to what’s required to run a professional football club. Where are the changes and the investment that the Well Society were touting about when they railed against the potential US investors? For me it’s been downhill ever since and with no sign that anyone at the club has a handle on how to turn things around. The fans are now beginning to vote with their feet as shown by our attendances. Today we had 3,973 (couple of hundred from Dingwall?) and now regularly around that mark. Today Falkirk had just under 7,500 and Raith Rovers had about 3,800!! Poor attendances, a real live possibility of relegation which would lead to a drastic fall in revenues, no investment on the horizon. Sorry for being so negative but I think it’s a very bleak outlook for our club.

I always find it funny that you get certain posters continually telling everybody how poor we are, we’re getting relegated, won’t win another game etc. Then they seem to expect us to beat the team sitting in 4th place away from home and start all the wailing again when we don’t.

I’m assuming you mean during the game as opposed to afterwards? Is in game acknowledgment of failure to a group of individuals who have no qualification to opinion beyond entrance fee is something you’d like all players to do from now on? If so, I would suggest you need to come up with some form of sign language code that provides clear indication of what kind of apology is required or given. You know, like, a bow in the direction of the noisy people could mean “thank you, I honestly don’t know what I was thinking” or a curtsy could mean “your constructive feedback is always welcomed, I will endeavour to do better next time”. I’ll of course leave thst in your capable hands but whilst creating your code, can I suggest you have versions of these “non verbal messages” to include “and this time with feeling” versions cos we’d hate for the baying mob to think said player didn’t care

Watched the whole thing now, and although I do have an element of sympathy over the family issues, its just so wrong on many other levels. Comes across as if he felt very under appreciated for all the work that he did and the sacrifices he made re his family life and thats all very well and good. Thats a principled decision you make as an individual. But dont make it about personal abuse of family members, which seems to be increasingly less the case the more you hear. It wasnt so much an interview as a PR piece by the journalist. Trying to paint it as there being a specific problem at Motherwell is beyond the pale. I presume Alexander is one being referenced and that the other office holders were the ex Chairman and his buddy. Absolutely no context given and just left hanging like a bad smell. Everyone knows that the behaviour of certain individuals at the football can be unpleasant and shouldnt be tolerated. But it happens at every club and is unfortunately part of the territory. It doesnt make it right. Just a fact that requires to be dealt with. If you are unable to deal with it, maybe being a football manager isnt for you?

Apologies in advance, long winded post 🙂 I started going to Motherwell with my da' (because my old man was a 'Well fan when he was younger) in about 1972/3 and got my first season ticket (old main stand, 5 rows back, 5 seats in) in '75 for the start of the new 10 team premier league. A few games into the season, we played Rangers and the row in front of me was full of their fans. This was my first experience of them (aged about 12). A sat with my old man and we were sat between a couple of folk that some on here may know. Don St John, a disabled club singer and Andy Edgar (later to become Hamilton Accies photographer). Early in the game, Don called John Grieg a 'clown' and was harassed, threatened, had a punch swung at him and was told for the whole game that he was 'getting it' down the back stairs. Over the years, I've witnessed and ended up sadly getting involved in numerous and regular altercations with their fans in the main stand. Call it luck, call it whatever, but I've never actually had to deal with that kind of shit from Celtic fans. Don't take this the wrong way, I'm not saying they don't have cunty fans as well, i've just never had to deal with any. As a result of these experiences at a young age, it gave me a really deep seated hatred of them (chuck in the 95/96 cup semi for good measure). Celtic to me are just another team that I love seeing us beat, along with any other team we play but I have to admit I get that extra wee spring in my step when we pump the currant buns. None of this has anything to do with religion or background. If I followed a team cause of where I went to school i'd be a h*n and if I followed my pals from my childhood who i played football with up the park, i'd probably, on balance, be a tim. I'm neither. I'm a Motherwell fan and have inflicted the same on my kids 🙂 I certainly don't hate Rangers more than I love Motherwell and I certainly don't have any 'sympathies' for the other lot.

Two for us and one for them?

It matters because of the way he left and the narrative he tried to create. I stayed with him to the end and would have been happy for his legacy to be one of a half decent Motherwell manager who eventually ran out of ideas. He changed that. No one else. For that reason, I dont want to leave him any way to justify himself. He shat it. The players are proving it now.

Sensational. Wimmer has the ‘Well playing actual football. Win, lose, or draw today, that first half was brilliant to watch.

Very encouraging last night. A 6 pointer and we won it with some style. Not getting carried away though as one swallow and all that. A real team effort and good to see the likes of Halliday and O'Donnell play well too. I wasn't encouraged by the pre match line up but that proved to be unfounded and in the first half we played well on the ground with pace, passing and some nice football. I thought Lennon Miller was at his best, and in a more advanced role, although not 100% fit. Our Viking up front put in a real shift, although he's not a goalscorer. The football on offer was exciting and the fans responded to that. We could have been out of sight by HT but it was what it was. One point of concern was the ease that Dundee got down our flanks but that can be worked on. A high intensity first 45. We were always going to run out of gas in the second period and Dundee changed their set up to some effect. We were under the cosh for a large part of the second half and it was no surprise that Dundee drew one back. As Weeyin says it will take the squad months to up fitness levels and MW will be well aware of that. Perhaps our substitutions were a tad late but maybe that was more down to match officials. I thought Moses and Harry Paton did well when they entered the fray, with their fresh legs. It speaks volumes for the team to come back and score the winner after losing a late goal. Both sides claimed for penalties but neither was given, ours without even a VAR check. I thought Dan Casey's power of recovery was impressive not to say surprising after being out injured for a spell. The fans rightly applauded the team afterwards and stayed on to show their support. It just goes to show what a bit effort and positive attitude on the field can do. The atmosphere was far better last night than it has been for months. Onwards and Upwards.

Im guessing the majority of posters on here werent at the game today as I feel I was watching something totally different from everyone else. First half I thought we competed well enough and were much less passive than under Kettlewell. We werent as composed on the ball as we might have been but we still created a few chances with Maswanhise in particular coming very close. United had more possession but the goal apart, which could have been defended better, they didnt threaten us that much. Second half was much better. We controlled the ball more and put pressure on the United defence and they had to put bodies on the line to keep us out. United did create some chances on the break but Balcombe and our defence dealt with it for the most part. Yes we lost the game today, but it was far more entertaining to watch and I left with a hope and a belief that things are going ro get better. Thats lightyears ahead of the way Ive felt for most of the season. The performance was far from perfect and all our weaknesses and deficiencies are still there for all to see. But if folks dont think that was an improvement today? I dont know what to say. PS Lennon Miller maybe wasnt great today in a creative sense. But he worked his socks off and his interceptions were absolutely vital at times. He dealt with Alan Campbell physically to the extent Campbell was substituted. Maybe cut the boy some slack and appreciate what he does bring instead of what he didnt today.

He’s full of shite and this entire “boo-hoo the fans forced me out” nonsense was just a smokescreen to preserve his own reputation and deflect from the fact that he had ran his course, the team he built was on its arse and the football was dismal. But he’s gone now and we move on.

The face ye make when you suddenly realise you've made a big mistake

You have to be on something to type that. The man's a complete liability. Get him tae f..k.

I was brought up in the 60s and schooled in a Rangers environment and I loved football. My first strip was a Rangers one, my first game attended was a Rangers one. I was oblivious to the other stuff around that (at first) but as I grew older and went to more games that changed, the culmination in that was a game v Hibs, sitting with my dad in the posh seats, (his bosses season tkts) while the smartly dressed guy in front with wife by his side stood up and called Pat Quinn every sweary anti catholic insult you could think of and nothing was said. I was 12 and can remember it as if it was yesterday, I never went back and drifted away from senior football until after a change of school in EK I met lads who were Well fans and found my spiritual home, 50 years later, still lifelong friends. I have a deep rooted dislike of Rangers and Celtic and everything both of them stand for. With the odd exception you cannot have a reasonable football discussion with fans of either, who view everything through their tinted glasses and cannot comprehend any other view. Deep as that feeling is I do not dislike either of them more than I love my club which stands for everything I believe in, and I believe all of us who take the harder road of supporting a 'smaller' club do so from that perspective. I honestly do not believe any Well fan hates either of the arse cheeks (detestable as they are) more than support our club; that is our overriding purpose.

My dad was at ibrox back in 1961.....I love my mum......her reply to me yesterday.............And the boys in blue went down 1-2 to the boys in claret and Amber 🙂 Classic

I read a book about reverse psychology. It wasn't very good. You shouldn't buy it.

Wee Bazza: we're simply the best. Michael Wimmer: no, the wurst! Help ma boab, I've done a grizzly 😱!

0-1 defeat

Had SK not resigned it was a definite possibility.

That sound ye can hear is my arsehole unpuckering

Such a fkn weird club, surely they’re “normal” fans …. There must be some..,, must cringe at this? I wonder how much in tax should have been paid but wasn’t in the EBt years. That money might have helped swell the coffers of a depleted few regiments.

Correct, fans will accept it if things go wrong and they can see what the teams trying to do. No matter what any manager says it's still an entertainment business and I think a few fans may have stuck longer with SK if we lost but we're pushing teams hard, playing a bit of football and creating chances. SK stuff was utterly turgid. Games with not a single effort on goal even against pish. Main priority was not to lose never to win. No width to our play, boot it long all game, it was utterly mind numbing. Even if we hadn't got the winner last night most Motherwell fans, though disappointed, would have seen some entertainment and that we may be progressing. None of that was happening under SK. Last night I enjoyed my first game in months. Even the Aberdeen win we played for 15 mins thankfully got two goals but the spent 45 mins being dominated by 10 men from a team who didn't win a game in 15.

What? Picking him? 🤣🤣🤣

They certainly don't Winalot.

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.

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.

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

It's an interesting point. He was better pre-injury. What I would say is this - a lot is pointed to Kettlewells bad run of games but lets look at his best run. Johnston & Furlong as wing backs. It wasn't just Van Veens great run of form. If we play 3 at the back we need dynamic wing backs and O'Donnell is unfortunately not a fit for that system. Perhaps in a 4 at the back at RB.

We’ll find out next year when he’s working at Arnold Clark. “tell you what Scotty, this is a great wee run around, I built it myself in my workshop, I’ve spent 20hrs a day working on it. I’m not going to take any advice on it from anyone who hasn’t dedicated their life tampering with a 1.2 engine…… “ ….it’ll work a treat for 6months and then it’ll be a right off and he’ll blame Arnold Clark”

It's amazing how people let their own opinions obliterate actual facts. Kettlewell took over and took us from 11th to 7th with a P15 W9 D3 L3 and one of the draws was at Celtic Park. If Wimmer even gets close to that record he'll be praised to the skies.

Old news. We move on now. Lost all respect for him. Not denying there was unnecessary abuse at him but he definitely orchestrated that move and blamed it all on the support

Two weeks to get ready for this game btw and we get served up that utter embarrassment.

I'm starting to think there must be a version of Winter Wonderland I've never heard of.

When he who should not be named was in charge that was a definite possibility. Not out woods yet but definitely better position

First home game for Barry . Feel really sorry for Rangers. said no one on this forum 😊

Chased every ball. Commitment levels so high. I can get behind that every week.

100% cannot afford to lose this game or we are in deep shit. A win gives the new manager some breathing space to figure things out and keeps us in touch with the top 6. It really couldnt be any more important.

And we didn't shite the bed against Rangers despite the media gasbagging about the good of Scottish football

Ahh! The four spring duck technique

Any choice other than Trump would have been better.

I've got a feeling this might be a rough ride initially, I can almost hear Kenny McIntyre and his cohorts on radio getting their knives sharpened for a big pile on if the new regime doesn't start well. 5th when he left etc etc. They love nothing more than a crisis they can feast on (a la Adeen, Hibs, Hearts) It's going to be important that the fan base sticks behind him even if initial results disappoint, and I think it will as there is universal acceptance he has a huge task on his hands. (as long as an improvement in tactics, work rate and aggression is on show) .