MJC

Twenty years to the day since we beat Hearts 3-2 in the LCSF at Easter Road. The celebrations when Marc Fitzpatrick scored the winner in the last minute of extra time will live forever.

Completely agree but I was meaning from a Motherwell perspective he doesn’t come out well. Obviously on a wider scale he’s played his part well and has his pals in the press dancing to his tune and he will no doubt get a seat on the Sportscene couch for a bit until his next manager/coaching gig.

All in all this has been a rotten week for us and no one comes out of it looking good. Not the club, not the support, not the WS and despite his army of chums in the media neither does Stuart Kettlewell in my opinion. He has ‘played politics’ and manipulated the situation to try and maintain his personal reputation and unfortunately the club and WS have played right into his hands. That is not excusing any personal abuse that was directed his way, or that towards any of his family and I think that there probably was some uncalled for and unacceptable stuff said. But I do not believe for one minute that that is the main reason that he left

As I’ve already said the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle. There probably was some nasty stuff directed towards Stuart Kettlewell. But at the same time he’s probably realised that he’s lost the dressing room and could take us no further. However the media are going to run with the angle and that his departure was solely down to ‘abuse’ and will use and play on that to create the impression that it’s all down to that and the fans who ‘forced him out’. In this day and age we live in a ‘mock outrage culture’ and people like to believe or at least pretend to believe what they are told by those who shout the loudest and who push the furthest. Social media plays a major part in this as just about everyone has access to up to date information about just about everything that goes on in sport and various other aspects of life. If personal abuse was directed at Stuart Kettlewell and his family then as I’ve already said that is shameful, but I just find all this uproar just a little bit unconvincing, to say the least.

I'm thinking of starting a Just Giving page for Kettlewell. Also be good to get #istandwithstuart trending on Twitter...

No doubt someone will ask Brendan Rodgers his opinion on Kettlewell’s ‘treatment’ in the pre-match press conference….while conveniently forgetting that Celtic fans were singing songs about him being shot dead by the IRA when the left the last time. But like I said we are unfashionable so therefore fair game to the media.

The problem is that the media view us as an ‘unfashionable club’ and Stuart Kettlewell is very popular with them. Not quite on Alex McLeish levels but still… They’re going to side with him regardless on this issue. Kettlewell has made it clear that he left because of fan abuse and the media are duly jumping on that. Now he may well have been on the end of personal abuse and his family too and as I said last night if that’s the case then it’s a disgrace. However has he really been targeted so badly? And if he has is there any photo or video evidence of it? We live in times where just about everything that happens in football grounds and life in general has some form of proof which is uploaded onto social media. I have no doubt that there were very vocal criticisms of him during the Perth double-bill but there is a big difference between fans venting frustration and fans shouting personal and nasty abuse at the manager and his family so I personally don’t think we’ve heard the full story on this one yet. I’ve always been a big believer that the truth lies somewhere in the middle and also that those who push their agenda the longest and the loudest are more likely to be listened to. The only ones who genuinely know what happened are Stuart Kettlewell and the people who were shouting at him during the last two games and there are two scenarios here which are possible. 1) What Kettlewell says is absolutely true and he was so angered and upset by the disgusting personal abuse that he and his relatives received that he felt he had no choice but to leave the club or; 2) Kettlewell realised that he had gone as far as he could and didn’t believe he could turn things around so resigned and deflected the attention onto the support for his own failure knowing that his pals in the media would back him up. Either way it’s not a good look for the club and the fanbase and Kettlewell is going to come out of this as the victim regardless.

Correct and as you rightly pointed out Rangers fans have been and still are abusing Clement and Aberdeen fans have subjected their ex manager to physical abuse recently as well as numerous occasions when they have turned on their own managers. McGhee being one of them despite being a club legend up there. But of course you will never hear the media rounding on them like this and you can guarantee that had Kettlewell been Aberdeen manager and left blaming the fans then the way it would have been reported would have been very differently, especially from BBC Scotland. We are a much easier target however.

Okay. I can only go on personal experience and I wasn’t at Perth on Saturday or the week before so can’t say anything about what was or wasn’t shouted at Kettlewell. In the games I have been at Fir Park I have heard plenty of criticism and frustration being voiced but I’ve not heard any personal abuse directed at the manager. That’s not to say that it didn’t happen. If that did happen then of course it is out of order if people are getting personal and if his family was being targeted then that’s shameful to be honest. I know that Kettlewell hasn’t done himself any favours of late with his tactics and certain comments about the fans but the football has been pretty dismal throughout his tenure and frustration has been building. That does not of course excuse personal abuse towards the manager himself and especially not towards his family. IF that’s what happened.

Certain media outlets now running with the headlines that Kettlewell walked due to “fan abuse”.

A bit like the ones who were never a fan of Stuart McCall because of their dislike of all things Rangers eh?

A lot of human beings are deplorable. And nasty, spiteful and in some cases downright evil. But I don't think that that applies solely to Motherwell fans.

For me Stuart Kettlewell leaves the club having overseen some very positive results. Keeping us up more than comfortably in 2023 after the combined debacle of Alexander and Hammell. Securing back to back draws at Celtic Park ending a wretched run against them stretching back to 2018 Being the first Motherwell manager in over twenty years to guide us to a league victory over Rangers and the first in 27 years to win a League match at Ibrox Theo Bair Pulling things around after a dismal run last season and securing Premiership safety And getting us to our first Semi Final in over six years Yes the football was dreadful a lot of the time and the results matched that especially in late 2023 but he does go with some credit in the bank.

Scott Brown? I would be very happy with him getting the gig just now but there's absolutely no chance we're paying compensation to Ayr Utd for him. As for Neil Lennon I can't see him managing again in Scotland. He's made his millions and has a cushy job as a pundit. Plus we would never be able to match his demands.

I thought he should have gone in December 2023 and again last summer but I wasn’t actively calling for him to go throughout the season. I was critical of him for his style of play but i genuinely did not dislike the guy even though things were starting to turn sour over the past month or so. Only time will tell if this is a good thing for us but I will be very surprised if it’s not Frail who gets the job or else someone already involved in the club ie. Davie Clarkson or (heaven forbid) Richard Foster.

It’ll be Frail until the end of the season at least.

Gone. Board have “very reluctantly” accepted his resignation.

This won’t be pleasant. If Celtic score in the first ten minutes they will run over the top of us and will score as many as they like.

We will lose.

Kettlewell “we don’t spend enough time in the final third” It’s a bit difficult when we can’t keep possession.

What do you expect? We’re only a wee club punching way above our weight. And Kettlewell got us to a Semi Final But on a serious note you are spot on.

If we did sack him (which we won’t) then Frail will get the job.

1-0 up with three minutes to go against the worst side in the league and we don’t even get a draw. I’m sorry but that is just unprofessional. We are in trouble now.

That is just shambolic.

Correct. We are a poor side with almost zero football in us but we at least look more competitive than we did last week.