Stuart Kettlewell discussion thread

[MJC]

53 minutes ago, joewarkfanclub said:

If thats the case, there really is no point in sacking SK.

We better buckle up!

Kettlewell is done it’s only a matter of time before he goes. I suspect he’ll get the St.Johnstone game but if or when we go a goal down then the support will turn on him pretty quickly. If we lose there will be fans outside the Main Stand at full time and if that happens he’ll walk or he’ll be sacked.

[joewarkfanclub]

31 minutes ago, Big Wispy Flossy said:

I’m sure someone suggested Craig Levein not so long ago and was shot down in flames. He’s exactly the type of manager we need right now

I agree that we could do with an experienced manager. But Craig Levein doesnt fit the rest of the profile for me. He will probably prove me wrong on Saturday mind you!

[Spiderpig]

1I was all for giving SK a chance but this run we are on is brutal and he's showing no signs of getting us out of it, the players don't look interested to be honest, has he lost the dressing room I don't know but the team has that look about it.

If SK does go then whoever comes in is stuck with the same dross, we could have Guardiola, in charge and he would never turn the likes of Bair, Obika, Shaw, etc into decent players. For me the whole club needs a reset from top to bottom to build a decent stable team and club Iinstead of the rebuild every season we seem to have With the quality deteriorating every time.

[joewarkfanclub]

9 minutes ago, MJC said:

Kettlewell is done it’s only a matter of time before he goes. I suspect he’ll get the St.Johnstone game but if or when we go a goal down then the support will turn on him pretty quickly. If we lose there will be fans outside the Main Stand at full time and if that happens he’ll walk or he’ll be sacked.

Not disputing that.

But if all we are gonna get is another internal appointment, and we agree thats not what we need, what is the point of sacking SK?

May as well just limp on and save ourselves the settlement figure.

Personally, Im not so defeatist and if there is a parting of the ways, there will be someone out there willing to take us on.

[Kmcalpin]

Its in everyone's interests, including SK's, that the Board now acts swiftly and decisely.  In my view they've already dithered and delayed and time is not on our side.  In all of this furore though lets not forget that SK is a human being and the club should treat him with respect.

He's lost the fans and probably the players too. This is only going to end one way.

Letting him linger on until Saturday is completely pointless and damaging.

[SteelmaninOZ]

1 minute ago, Spiderpig said:

1I was all for giving SK a chance but this run we are on is brutal and he's showing no signs of getting us out of it, the players don't look interested to be honest, has he lost the dressing room I don't know but the team has that look about it.

If SK does go then whoever comes in is stuck with the same dross, we could have Guardiola, in charge and he would never turn the likes of Bair, Obika, Shaw, etc into decent players. For me the whole club needs a reset from top to bottom to build a decent stable team and club Iinstead of the rebuild every season we seem to have With the quality deteriorating every time.

Yep would have to agree with that.

However we are left with the question of who wants to sip from the poisoned chalice of the Motherwell manager?

[David]

If there is a positive, it's that the club didn't listen to the shouts for Kettlewell to be given a new contract not that long ago. If we do decide to part ways, he's only contracted to the end of this season, so we're talking less than six months.

[David]

Seeing all the usual suspects being chucked about as potential contenders for the manager's job, I have to say that I'm completely underwhelmed by most of them.

It seems the approach is to copy & paste what we've done lately and continue as is. We appoint someone new, they get a bit of a bounce out of the players and we stay up, they then get the gig for the following season, and tear up the squad in the summer because they don't have the same philosophy as the previous manager, which results in players at the club who aren't being utilised properly, contracts being ended, "punts" on players being taken, and a patchwork quilt of a squad for the following season.

We may or may not start quite well, but inevitably the wheels come off and we're back to square one. 

As boring and painful as it may be, we need to actually look at the processes that got us into the position we find ourselves in recent times. If we don't address those, we'll just keep doing the same thing over and over.

[couttsy]

Ive defended Kettlewell on here and being honest I thought he would turn it around, however last nights team selection after what we watched on Saturday was crazy, if anything we should have been looking at how we get more bodies in the middle of the park, not less! To start with only Spittal & Slattery as proper midfield players playing away from home was mad!

However to suggest he’s lost the dressing is nonsense (last night apart) the one thing we have shown in recent weeks is a great spirit to get back into games! St Johnstone away, County at home and Celtic away, all in recent weeks.

i think he’ll get Saturday, but with confidence shot to pieces, injuries piling, and a manager that seems to have lost the ability to set us up hard to beat I’m not confident to say the least.

[Great Balls of Shire]

1 minute ago, couttsy said:

Ive defended Kettlewell on here and being honest I thought he would turn it around, however last nights team selection after what we watched on Saturday was crazy, if anything we should have been looking at how we get more bodies in the middle of the park, not less! To start with only Spittal & Slattery as proper midfield players playing away from home was mad!

However to suggest he’s lost the dressing is nonsense (last night apart) the one thing we have shown in recent weeks is a great spirit to get back into games! St Johnstone away, County at home and Celtic away, all in recent weeks.

i think he’ll get Saturday, but with confidence shot to pieces, injuries piling, and a manager that seems to have lost the ability to set us up hard to beat I’m not confident to say the least.

"Losing the dressing room" is a tired old cliche..a combination of not good enough and not interested is more apt... supposedly current and former Scottish internationals playing and they're two of the worst

[wellfan]

18 minutes ago, David said:

If we do decide to part ways, he's only contracted to the end of this season, so we're talking less than six months.

That is the only silver lining here, and it also means we're unlikely to be willing to offer his replacement anything more than 18 months until we're confident that we're out of this current rinse/repeat cycle. 

[David]

4 minutes ago, couttsy said:

Ive defended Kettlewell on here and being honest I thought he would turn it around, however last nights team selection after what we watched on Saturday was crazy, if anything we should have been looking at how we get more bodies in the middle of the park, not less! To start with only Spittal & Slattery as proper midfield players playing away from home was mad!

The problem is, we've gone from having nine midfielders in the squad last season, to having five. One of which is out injured for a fairly lengthy amount of time, and another who seemingly can't buy himself a game despite being signed in the summer. 

Kettlewell and the recruitment team have painted themselves into a corner in that regard. We can't get more bodies in the middle of the park because we don't really have any.

 

[joewarkfanclub]

3 minutes ago, Spiderpig said:

1I was all for giving SK a chance but this run we are on is brutal and he's showing no signs of getting us out of it, the players don't look interested to be honest, has he lost the dressing room I don't know but the team has that look about it.

If SK does go then whoever comes in is stuck with the same dross, we could have Guardiola, in charge and he would never turn the likes of Bair, Obika, Shaw, etc into decent players. For me the whole club needs a reset from top to bottom to build a decent stable team and club Iinstead of the rebuild every season we seem to have With the quality deteriorating every time.

There is a lot of merit in what you say.

However, I dont necessarily think the players have chucked it, or are so bad that we couldnt get out of the situation we are in.

They have shown in the past that with the right shape and personnel in place they can be effective and play some decent football and there have been spells even during this run where they have shown spirit and determination to come back from behind and snatch points.

However, for the last few weeks SK has been playing too many players in roles that are not their natural positions or that they are just not suited to.

That has led to an erosion of confidence and some really haphazard performances.

I had thought that after the international break we would get a reset and get back to playing our best players in their natural positions. However that hasnt happened and last nights team selection and substitutions certainly didnt give any confidence that SK was aware of what the problems were or how to fix it. That performance had the feel of last seasons St Johnstone game that led to Hammells demise.

That being the case, I reluctantly feel that it may be time for a parting of the ways. But as you say, there are deeper problems that a change of manager wont address on its own.

 

[El Grew]

Kevin Thomson?

Good football pedigree and a proven winner. He managed Kelty Hearts to the 2021/22 SPFL League 2 title with a 61% win rate. An ambitious guy by all accounts.

[couttsy]

39 minutes ago, David said:

The problem is, we've gone from having nine midfielders in the squad last season, to having five. One of which is out injured for a fairly lengthy amount of time, and another who seemingly can't buy himself a game despite being signed in the summer. 

Kettlewell and the recruitment team have painted themselves into a corner in that regard. We can't get more bodies in the middle of the park because we don't really have any.

 

Agree the recruitment has been poor and that Miller has been a big miss (bigger than I expected or than he should be at 17), but looking specifically at last night he could easily have started Davor and/or Butcher in there.

[wellfan]

1 minute ago, El Grew said:

Kevin Thomson?

Good football pedigree and a proven winner. He managed Kelty Hearts to the 2021/22 SPFL League 2 title with a 61% win rate. An ambitious guy by all accounts.

I don't think we need another young and ambitious guy. We need someone with experience and a modicum of proven ability at a similar level. 

[steelman1991]

5 minutes ago, El Grew said:

Kevin Thomson?

Good football pedigree and a proven winner. He managed Kelty Hearts to the 2021/22 SPFL League 2 title with a 61% win rate. An ambitious guy by all accounts.

He was interviewed last time and knocked back.

[twistandshout1983]

This season has relegation written all over it , one of the most concerning things is the teams below us all have games in hand now

I was all for giving Kettlewell longer but the current run we are on is dreadful ,  we need 3 points from somewhere though at this moment in time not sure when it will be 

[MJC]

The club need to show a bit of ambition and push the boat out further than their comfort zone for the next appointment otherwise we’ll be in exactly the same position in nine months/a years time. If that means “spending over the odds” then so be it. I would be looking at someone like Warnock or even Tony Mowbray. I’ve no idea that either of them would even want the job but at least ask the question, make a decent offer to someone of that calibre.

However I know that we won’t do that and whoever gets it will be yet another cheap, unimaginative “promote from within” appointment. The only other possibility that we might try is going for an ‘appease the fans’ approach like McFadden which would be absolutely horrendous but the happy Clappies in our support would lap that up. Likewise Stuart McCall who would be hopeless for us in this predicament.

[David]

7 minutes ago, MJC said:

The only other possibility that we might try is going for an ‘appease the fans’ approach like McFadden which would be absolutely horrendous but the happy Clappies in our support would lap that up.

You're talking nonsense right there. Don't make the naive error of believing that because someone is a supporter of the club, isn't overly negative, and tries to see the positives that they're absolute morons. 

No one I have spoken to would want Faddy to get the job. At all. If he did get it, would they support him? Absolutely. Big difference there though.

[bobbybingo]

7 minutes ago, MJC said:

The club need to show a bit of ambition and push the boat out further than their comfort zone for the next appointment otherwise we’ll be in exactly the same position in nine months/a years time. If that means “spending over the odds” then so be it. I would be looking at someone like Warnock or even Tony Mowbray. I’ve no idea that either of them would even want the job but at least ask the question, make a decent offer to someone of that calibre.

However I know that we won’t do that and whoever gets it will be yet another cheap, unimaginative “promote from within” appointment. The only other possibility that we might try is going for an ‘appease the fans’ approach like McFadden which would be absolutely horrendous but the happy Clappies in our support would lap that up. Likewise Stuart McCall who would be hopeless for us in this predicament.

I think you can give the McFadden stuff a rest. Out of all names I've heard mentioned, realistic and ludicrous, his isn't one of them.

[twistandshout1983]

See the Scottish Sun already talking about Lennon for the job when of course Kettlewell is still in the job 

Take anything they say with a pinch of salt , Lambert and McCall two others mentioned 

[bobbybingo]

8 minutes ago, twistandshout1983 said:

See the Scottish Sun already talking about Lennon for the job when of course Kettlewell is still in the job 

Take anything they say with a pinch of salt , Lambert and McCall two others mentioned 

They've got their top men on the job, as usual. If you're not ex Old Firm, they don't give a toss.

[David]

10 minutes ago, twistandshout1983 said:

See the Scottish Sun already talking about Lennon for the job when of course Kettlewell is still in the job 

Take anything they say with a pinch of salt , Lambert and McCall two others mentioned 

The Sun and The Record will just be punting the usual names. It's lazy journalism at its very best.

[Great Balls of Shire]

3 hours ago, MJC said:

That’s exactly what will happen unfortunately. It’ll be Frail, Clarkson or Foster or a combination of all three.

So is there any point punting him before Saturday? Unless they are bringing in someone immediately.