MJC

Frail will still be in charge and we will not win. A drab draw at best 1-1

This is a pointless discussion imo because it’s going to be Frail until the end of the season at least and unless we are relegated he’ll get it on a permanent basis.

Club now putting out a statement on social media stating they aware of racist abuse towards a Motherwell player online this afternoon…???

Attention seeking nonsense and totally fake. But as we’ve seen this week with Kettlewell’s faux outrage people will believe what they see and are told.

A loss as expected but at least it wasn’t a complete humiliation like it looked like it was going to be when we conceded in the first minute. We move on to the Ross County game.

Chasing shadows as expected and far too easy to score against. Conceding within the first minute without even touching the ball was ominous. Great to get an equaliser from Armstrong* but no surprises they cut us open with ease for the second. *Armstrong really does look like Fr Billy O’Dwyer aka the Spinmaster from Father Ted.

This is gonna be grim.

Have you never listened to BBC Scotland sportsound then?

Except if he did resign and tried to pull the same stunt that Kettlewell has then firstly their club wouldn’t put out the statement that we put out and secondly the media certainly wouldn’t pile on them the way they have done with us. If anything he would be vilified for trying to deflect his failures onto the Aberdeen support.

The media pile on was caused by the club in the first place with their poorly worded statement last Monday which basically threw the entire fanbase under the bus. After that they couldn’t challenge anything with any credibility so the next best thing would be to either retract it or just keep quiet about it but sadly no, we had the WS, Caldwell, SO’D and now Frail fuelling the fire with more of the same and now here we are. The Well Society’s input in particular was a fucking disgrace and it will be interesting to see if the Well Bois do anything today in terms of displays in support of Kettlewell.

Correct and we'll see the usual South Stand lower crammed full way beyond capacity due to the usual doubling up at the gates. It happens every time they come here and no doubt everywhere else they go as well but nothing will be done or said because speaking out against Celtic just isn't worth the hassle that they get in return for it.

It won’t happen of course but if we did then it would be one massive GIRFUY to Kettlewell and his pals in the media and all the more so against their favourite team.

I think most if not everyone knows that there is no way the media, especially BBC Scotland would allow Aberdeen fans to be tarred with the same brush based on the actions of a few individuals and a manager using that as a convenient excuse to quit to save his reputation like as what has happened with us. The narrative has been set and this is going to run for a bit yet. People are gullible sheep who generally believe what they’re told if they’re told it enough times so the media know they can get traction with this and will keep pushing it until something else comes up. I’m pretty disgusted with the club and some of the subservient pish they’ve come out with over the last week to be honest.

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.