Stuart Kettlewell discussion thread

[ppower]

13 hours 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.

Start with the Board. That's where the problems stem from. Their management of the club and decisions will finish us as a top flight club. As soon as we became fan owned that was the end. Haven't replaced Burrows yet, probably because they don't have the money and if they did who the fuck would touch it. They have stewarded over a revolving door of managers. As for most of the signings they wouldn't get a game in my five a side team. There is nothing concerning the club that is professional in any shape or form.

[Spiderpig]

40 minutes ago, ppower said:

Start with the Board. That's where the problems stem from. Their management of the club and decisions will finish us as a top flight club. As soon as we became fan owned that was the end. Haven't replaced Burrows yet, probably because they don't have the money and if they did who the fuck would touch it. They have stewarded over a revolving door of managers. As for most of the signings they wouldn't get a game in my five a side team. There is nothing concerning the club that is professional in any shape or form.

Yep my thoughts as well, as to the root of our problems well meaning amateurs at best.

[prideoflanarkshire]

The same board that we’re going to sack Alexander but because of a scrappy lambie goal at livi to put us into the top six then one victory in the top six against Ross county to put us into Europe then all pre season signing some amount of rubbish to all end after two games against Sligo

total clueless 

[SteelmaninOZ]

6 hours ago, texanwellfan said:

Not a popular post, I’m sure, but I’m with you. The board need to take him aside and have a word with him. Calm him down, redirect his focus onto the things that worked, re institute a firm grounding in the basics and tweak from there. Do not make radical wholesale changes from week to week.  At four games or so into this bad run we were still playing very well and had we continued to play that way we would not be in this mess. However, we now have confidence/mental side of things causing us issues as well. The players and manager need to get the last 11 or so results out of their head. The focus is going forward. Consider the next 17 games as a mini season starting from scratch and focus on that league table. I’m done with sacking managers. We have already have the advantage of hindsight on that, it doesn’t work, it just leads us back to where we were. We are all in it together so the board, the players especially, and the fans need to support and encourage the manager and team. As mentioned, I think it’s very cruciaL that the board Support and guide him to keep his head straight and steer him away from panic actions. 

Well said sir 

[Great Balls of Shire]

14 hours ago, grizzlyg said:

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/stuart-kettlewell-receives-meaningful-motherwell-31614271

 

[Great Balls of Shire]

Just now, Great Balls of Shire said:

1 minute ago, Great Balls of Shire said:

Let's see some sort of reaction please guys in sat....watched a bit of st j game last night, they weren't great but got lucky with pen....Carey out wide is decent,so whoever is full back will need to be on it

 

 

[wellgirl]

15 hours ago, star sail said:

It is really difficult to know where to start with this. The third manager in as many seasons suffering the same drop off in performance level from his players as the previous two men.

Go back just 3 months ago and this same team had just won away to Hearts with Kettlewell enjoying once of the best win percentage of any manager in the clubs history. Can it really become a terminal situation once again in such a short space of time?

Reading the forum last night was bizarre. Not only were there some posters almost relishing the position the team finds itself in once more but there were others showing hostility towards those who have attempted to support the manager over this difficult few months. Some of the language is tasteless and highly emotive, particularly when we consider that Kettlewell is a man who saved us from relegation last season and has clearly given his all to make his time a success. 

I should not be surprised. Swap out the name of  Kettlewell for Hammell/ Alexander/ Robinson/ Baraclough etc.... and it is an all to familiar read on these boards.

Last night was a worry but I don't think it necessary means the end for Kettlewell. I think his team selection last night was one of a man who has let the pressure get to him. He has lost his head somewhat as one poster described it. This does not make him a poor manager necessarily, just a guy that is not thinking straight under difficult circumstances.

I think this is the sort of time that club chairmen need to step in and do their bit. Help the manager ( in this case Kettlewell) clear his head. Try to help him see clearly once more. What was working so well just six months ago that is not working now? How can we get back to making simple, effective decisions.

I want Kettlewell to get the gig on Saturday for four very simple reasons:

1. I would love to see the guy turn it round and give the club some much needed stability. 

2. To see the club buck the modern trend of sacking managers at the first sign of trouble. As a club we are quickly gaining a reputation for just that unfortunately.

3. It might just break a culture in the club where players down tools at the first sign of trouble should Kettlewell be able to turn this round.

4. If Kettlewell could turn this round it might silence, for just a little while, those on these boards that offer little by way of support to the manager or the team.

It is the easiest thing in the world to say that the manager is rubbish and should be sacked because in all likelihood most managers are now just 4/5 poor results away from the sack. It does not make you a visionary to spout the same negative vibes time and time again to then claim victory when almost enivitably managers are shown the door.

I am not saying Kettlewell will turn this round. Actually for the first time last night I think the balance shifted towards him not getting out of this. All I am saying is that I hope every option of support is given to him at the club to help him turn this round. If he gets that chance this weekend we need to back him. The atmosphere does not have to be toxic unless the fans choose to make it that way.

 

 

I don't think anyone from the club should be intervening and telling SK how to do his job - perhaps the board would be best placed looking at their own part in the mess our club is in. 

[wellgirl]

18 hours ago, steelboy said:

He should be sacked by now.

Even if he was given the three games to get a win the nature of the performance last night should have overridden that. The players don't want to play for him and in modern football that's a death sentence for a manager. 

The same as players didn't want to play for Hammell and Alexander? 

[David]

11 hours ago, wellsince75 said:

chairman needs his backside kicked , can’t be that hard to get a ceo , not hard to spot recruitment issues and that’s 2 rookie managers that he’s hired .

100%.

I know my recent posts in the transfer thread were lengthy, to say the least, but what really does my head in is that it wouldn't take a fortune to put such plans into place. 

It certainly wouldn't take the amount of money we've shelled out to send two managers home while looking to employ yet another. We're spending far more on rectifying mistakes made on an almost yearly basis.

What we're working with right now is a scattergun approach. There doesn't seem to be any kind of planning or philosophy behind what we're doing. I mean, I could be wrong, I don't have access to the inner workings of the club, but I'd love to ask those who made the decisions what the thought process was behind moving from Graham Alexander to Stevie Hammell, then from Hammell to Kettlewell.

What are the criteria for these hires? Is it simply a case of Hammell being chosen because he's a "Motherwell man" and was already at the club? Did Kettlewell get the job because he is articulate and sounds like he knows what he's doing?

There has to be more to it than that, and for such a decision we need someone who is experienced in this department and has the final say on who gets the job. They can be supported by others who provide insight, data and opinions, but the final decision has to rest with someone who has done this before.

11 hours ago, wellsince75 said:

it’s clear that recruitment is brutal , clear that if smaller squad we should pay higher salary for better talent .

One thing that any new Motherwell manager has to deal with is the fact that when he comes into a job in football it's unlike any other industry. He can't just evaluate the team he has and then cut loose those who don't fit with his way of working. If players are under contract it's not always easy to move them on, and they take up a wage that would otherwise be spent elsewhere.

It works in cycles, which is why I tend to believe a manager needs three transfer windows, which is 18 months or so to get a handle on the team. 

But, we could negate the above issues by having an overriding club philosophy and way of playing, and then recruit coaches, managers and players to fit within that. I don't think we're doing that though. From what I've seen, we speak to managerial candidates, recruit them based on some other criteria, and then they come in with their own differing philosophy and try to implement that on a squad that often isn't fit for purpose.

And that is a recipe for disaster because it means we're constantly in a state of flux. Of course, we'll hit a run of form or stumble upon a player or two who does really well, but most of the time that's the exception rather than part of the plan.

[joewarkfanclub]

1 hour ago, wellgirl said:

I don't think anyone from the club should be intervening and telling SK how to do his job - perhaps the board would be best placed looking at their own part in the mess our club is in. 

Sorry, but if the board dont intervene and SK cant see the wood for the trees, what happens then? Relegation? Sack SK?

I agree that the board should be reviewing matters so we dont make the same mistakes again, but we are a club. All the working parts need to be in communication with each other. That probably includes the fans given we are a fan owned club.

[steelman1991]

Can't see why we can't appoint a CEO - all the candidates are on this thread. 

[grizzlyg]

1 hour ago, Great Balls of Shire said:

 

I didn't put that link to the Daily Record up, strange 

[steelboy]

2 hours ago, wellgirl said:

The same as players didn't want to play for Hammell and Alexander? 

Exactly. Getting the players to play for you is the job these days. 

[santheman]

For me the real rot started after the Livi game and we qualified for Europe.

That was the time for the board to grasp the nettle and offload Alexander as IMO by then he had lost the fans backing with his brand of football but the board in their infinite wisdom couldn't look beyond short term success and look at the long game.

That would have given us the carrot of European football to dangle in front of any potential  new manager and a summer to recruit new players which might have appealed to a better quality of applicant.

Instead they opted for the cheapest, easy, and (in their eyes) safe option and Sligo was the result of that.

To be fair though there may have been financial implications at the time that we don't know about but when you look at the money we must have splashed out since on severance pay and the January player sale then would we have been any worse off financially and possibly in a better position than we currently are.

 

[El Grew]

Stuart Kettlewell comments from the BBC:

“There's certainly not been any conversations about my future at the club. We are so knee jerk in this country. We don't strip layers back and look at factors like budget, size of squad and injuries.”

Sounds awfully like a pre-emptive strike at the board.

And he didn’t know about any of that before he took the job? Who the f*ck did he think he was joining? Real Madrid!?

Well that’s it for me. Time to get rid asap!

[numpty]

1 hour ago, El Grew said:

Stuart Kettlewell comments from the BBC:

“There's certainly not been any conversations about my future at the club. We are so knee jerk in this country. We don't strip layers back and look at factors like budget, size of squad and injuries.”

Sounds awfully like a pre-emptive strike at the board.

And he didn’t know about any of that before he took the job? Who the f*ck did he think he was joining? Real Madrid!?

Well that’s it for me. Time to get rid asap!

Sounds to me more like he's saying he's always been well aware of those things, and that they're the mitigating factors that should give him more time.

[Kmcalpin]

13 hours ago, El Grew said:

Stuart Kettlewell comments from the BBC:

“There's certainly not been any conversations about my future at the club. We are so knee jerk in this country. We don't strip layers back and look at factors like budget, size of squad and injuries.”

Sounds awfully like a pre-emptive strike at the board.

And he didn’t know about any of that before he took the job? Who the f*ck did he think he was joining? Real Madrid!?

Well that’s it for me. Time to get rid asap!

Fair comment in principle, but the fans have a right to complain if their team can't register a single win in 12 games.  I do find it odd though that the Board hasn't had a wee informal chat him though. That doesn't sound good.

[El Grew]

7 hours ago, numpty said:

Sounds to me more like he's saying he's always been well aware of those things, and that they're the mitigating factors that should give him more time.

If that’s your take on it fair enough. Mine is different. It all depends how you view his remarks in relation to the present context.

[GazzyB]

1 hour ago, El Grew said:

If that’s your take on it fair enough. Mine is different. It all depends how you view his remarks in relation to the present context.

I'm in agreement with you. Any SPFL team to go 12 games with no win is unacceptable, regardless of budget size and injuries. Quite condescending of him to be honest.

[wellsince75]

I think SK has lost the plot.  As well spoken as he is infant of camera the narrative has changed a lot recently. 

He always did mention low budget but he's gone from talking about shape and dong the simple things well as group to pointing out individual errors. 

The shift from we're all in it together to it's not my fault it's the players is unacceptable. 

He's the guy who put a 2 man midfield on the park when we needed to shore up midfield. I don't see him really taking responsibility , more positioning himself for it not being his fault when the hammer comes. 

[wellfan]

He's positioning himself for a job on Sportscene as, unfortunately, that's probably his level. 

[Great Balls of Shire]

12 hours ago, El Grew said:

Stuart Kettlewell comments from the BBC:

“There's certainly not been any conversations about my future at the club. We are so knee jerk in this country. We don't strip layers back and look at factors like budget, size of squad and injuries.”

Sounds awfully like a pre-emptive strike at the board.

And he didn’t know about any of that before he took the job? Who the f*ck did he think he was joining? Real Madrid!?

Well that’s it for me. Time to get rid asap!

If you watched the interview and put what he said in context , that's not how he meant it...I hope the players turn up tomorrow and do him a favour...this changing mgrs every year isn't a good look.

[Great Balls of Shire]

9 hours ago, Kmcalpin said:

Fair comment in principle, but the fans have a right to complain if their team can't register a single win in 12 games. 

Think he said that in interview too

[joewarkfanclub]

14 minutes ago, Great Balls of Shire said:

Think he said that in interview too

He did. He would just prefer if the fans left it until the end of the game.

I think thats also fair comment.

Ive never understood fans berating players in the middle of a game.

I dint know anyone who goes to work and gets better at their job by being shouted at whilst their doing it.

By all means shout encouragement. But screaming at someone how shite they are only ever has a negative effect. 

Saturday is huge.

Lets get behind the team for 90 minutes.

If they lose and the performance is another gutless one, then SK, the players and the board become fair game.

[Great Balls of Shire]

1 hour ago, wellfan said:

He's positioning himself for a job on Sportscene as, unfortunately, that's probably his level. 

He also said he's never done social media which doesn't seem a bad idea ...based on everyone making up their own narrative

Let's support the team in Saturday and see what gives