Stuart Kettlewell discussion thread

[Throughthelaces]

1 hour ago, ppower said:

All the narrative from Stuart Kettlewell, Brian Caldwell and the media is that the Motherwell fans hounded the manager out with abuse directed at both him and his family. Caldwell further confirmed this when asked about why Kettlewell resigned. At least we, the fans know where we stand with the current regime running this club. They don't give a toss about the fans. It's nice to know how unimportant we are. I will show them how unimportant I am by not renewing my season ticket. The incompetent bunch running this club should have joined the manager and resigned. They have instigated a plan which is to bring in players from the depths of English football. Not once have they looked at the top 4 teams in the Scottish Championship. These are the teams battling for promotion and have better players than the garbage we have been signing. I will enjoy spending my season ticket money on something else.

Well after hearing it all and how we've been flung under the bus this week I have stopped my well society contribution and have let them know that I'm extremely disappointed with how the club have handled it in the media and the narrative that's been spun. If I'm a part of a group od big bad buggers to you then you won't wish to have my money that I work longer hours than SK ever did and for a lot less money. I've had 1 day off in the last 14 days and I work 10-14 hours a day so the financial outlay of going to football I expect to see a team fighting the bit out and trying to play some football. I've never personally abused anyone but the way fans have been painted this past week has been saddening and I'm so disappointed on our club right now

[Onthefringes]

2 hours ago, ppower said:

All the narrative from Stuart Kettlewell, Brian Caldwell and the media is that the Motherwell fans hounded the manager out with abuse directed at both him and his family. Caldwell further confirmed this when asked about why Kettlewell resigned. At least we, the fans know where we stand with the current regime running this club. They don't give a toss about the fans. It's nice to know how unimportant we are. I will show them how unimportant I am by not renewing my season ticket. The incompetent bunch running this club should have joined the manager and resigned. They have instigated a plan which is to bring in players from the depths of English football. Not once have they looked at the top 4 teams in the Scottish Championship. These are the teams battling for promotion and have better players than the garbage we have been signing. I will enjoy spending my season ticket money on something else.

Valid points with merit until your take on recruitment.

It’s simple logistics, the value just isn’t there despite some undoubted talent. Inflated transfer or costly development fees in a flawed system or priced out of securing pre-contracts - take your pick.

Where does the Stamatelopoulos acquisition or development of academy prospects fit into your thinking? 

[Jonesy]

38 minutes ago, Throughthelaces said:

Well after hearing it all and how we've been flung under the bus this week I have stopped my well society contribution and have let them know that I'm extremely disappointed with how the club have handled it in the media and the narrative that's been spun. If I'm a part of a group od big bad buggers to you then you won't wish to have my money that I work longer hours than SK ever did and for a lot less money. I've had 1 day off in the last 14 days and I work 10-14 hours a day so the financial outlay of going to football I expect to see a team fighting the bit out and trying to play some football. I've never personally abused anyone but the way fans have been painted this past week has been saddening and I'm so disappointed on our club right now

The Well Society wouldn't have been the ones guiding the club's reaction to anything this week, so not sure what cancelling that direct debit achieves.

[wellgirl]

7 hours ago, wellon said:

Could you not just have said " an irrelevance " and missed the " much like yourself" bit out? 🤔 

just a thought...

I've been called far worse online - as for my schooling - I'm not doing too bad for a working class lassie who is on degree number 4. 

[0Neils40yarder]

18 minutes ago, Jonesy said:

The Well Society wouldn't have been the ones guiding the club's reaction to anything this week, so not sure what cancelling that direct debit achieves.

Supporters this week have been told this week that they're not allowed to vent their feelings at games...this fella has decided the next best option is to remove his funding.

 

 

[MJC]

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

[Throughthelaces]

39 minutes ago, Jonesy said:

The Well Society wouldn't have been the ones guiding the club's reaction to anything this week, so not sure what cancelling that direct debit achieves.

The well society own the club but when these things happen amd the club is off course in how they're acting they side in. Either they're a responsible owner of a football club or a supporter Trust. I don't feel the well society represent me here so if the messaging from the club is deemed acceptable by the well society then I no longer wish for me or my money to be associated with the well society until a full and public apology and acknowledgement from both the well society as owner and the club as the club is made. 

[FirParkCornerExile]

19 minutes ago, MJC said:

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

Correct.

[Jonesy]

1 hour ago, 0Neils40yarder said:

Supporters this week have been told this week that they're not allowed to vent their feelings at games...this fella has decided the next best option is to remove his funding.

 

 

 

37 minutes ago, Throughthelaces said:

The well society own the club but when these things happen amd the club is off course in how they're acting they side in. Either they're a responsible owner of a football club or a supporter Trust. I don't feel the well society represent me here so if the messaging from the club is deemed acceptable by the well society then I no longer wish for me or my money to be associated with the well society until a full and public apology and acknowledgement from both the well society as owner and the club as the club is made. 

That's fair enough but they don't run the club day-to-day. The best way to make the point and pulling any funding would be to stop buying any tickets/tell them you won't be renewing your season ticket?

[Throughthelaces]

18 minutes ago, Jonesy said:

 

That's fair enough but they don't run the club day-to-day. The best way to make the point and pulling any funding would be to stop buying any tickets/tell them you won't be renewing your season ticket?

Well it's more difficult than that If I didn't have friends who I've made coming to watch motherwell every week and it wasn't such a big part of my social life I would stop spending but I'll put this way I may or may not renew my season card

 I will be unlikely to spend on kits and training gear as most of my gym outfits come from the club shop. 

At the end of the day well society are owners and need to start acting as such. This situation this week with the club in the media the chairman spending 10 minutes on the clubs youtube channel addressing the fans as though we're ill behaved children and that Stevie Frail clip has happened on their watch. They weren't slow at complaining about the 3rd kit to Caldwell which if were as cash strapped as always claiming maybe a 3rd kit for profit isn't a bad thing.but that's another argument. 

[dennyc]

Been mulling the interview over for a wee while to give me time to clear my head. Mainly because I found myself with more questions than answers. And a few things that I struggled to make sense of.

Firstly, for me, there is no doubt that Brian Caldwell was at a low ebb and was shocked by the whole turn of events. He clearly feels empathy for his employee and is supporting him as best he can. It was a difficult and disturbing watch. I also get his unease at how quickly folk were applying to fill Stuart Kettlewell's shoes.

But I find it strange that given the close working relationship we are told the two had........meeting or talking nearly every day and almost certainly more so in January given our downturn in form, injury situation and the need for action in the transfer window.....that our CEO had no inkling whatsoever of the mental anguish Stuart Kettlewell and his family were going through. To a lesser extent that also applies to other Board Members.

Also we are told that the abuse situation heightened during the home victory against Aberdeen. Initially I thought it must have been during the cup loss to St Johnstone. I sit directly behind the home dugout and have witnessed fans screaming at SK to sort things out. At the Aberdeen game and at others throughout this season and last. So it does happen but not to any greater a degree than Alexander, Hammell and others before them had to endure. Not excusing or justifying it but just trying to get things into perspective in my own head. Given that I and others were aware of it, I find hard to accept that those sitting in the Directors' Box a few rows behind me did not see or hear what was a fairly regular occurrence. Or did they see it and disregard it as something that happens at matches the length and breadth of the country? Either way it makes no sense.

It also struck me that there appears to have been no serious attempt to persuade SK to hang on a bit longer. possibly following a Club Statement asking for calm and informing fans that such abuse would not be tolerated. If I was to take a cynical view I might think that Caldwell was in part relieved at Stuart's decision as it might have avoided him having to take action if the performance on the pitch continued to spiral downwards. 

I don't do Facebook or Twitter so apologies if more details of the abuse Kettlewell suffered was revealed on those platforms. But I have witnessed nothing first hand that merits the all out assault on what feels like ALL Motherwell fans by the media,. And which sadly seemed to be supported by the statements initially released by MFC and the Well Society.

I am not in any way playing down the abuse that most definitely takes in football be it aimed at players, Managers, Officials or even fans. But this whole situation makes less and less sense to me the more I try to understand it. For me, there are far too many contradictions.

Hopefully Stuart Kettlewell and his family are now in a much better place. Time for everybody to move on.

[Jonesy]

13 minutes ago, Throughthelaces said:

Well it's more difficult than that If I didn't have friends who I've made coming to watch motherwell every week and it wasn't such a big part of my social life I would stop spending but I'll put this way I may or may not renew my season card

 I will be unlikely to spend on kits and training gear as most of my gym outfits come from the club shop. 

At the end of the day well society are owners and need to start acting as such. This situation this week with the club in the media the chairman spending 10 minutes on the clubs youtube channel addressing the fans as though we're ill behaved children and that Stevie Frail clip has happened on their watch. They weren't slow at complaining about the 3rd kit to Caldwell which if were as cash strapped as always claiming maybe a 3rd kit for profit isn't a bad thing.but that's another argument. 

That's the exact reason the club know they can come out with the sort of shit they have this week and keep treating fans like shit in general - they know we'll keep piling our money in through the turnstiles regardless. The club won't give a fuck about your Well Society payment so long as you still turn up on a Saturday and hand over your cash. There's only 1 way to break that cycle.

 

I completely missed them making an argument about the 3rd kit.

[Throughthelaces]

7 minutes ago, Jonesy said:

That's the exact reason the club know they can come out with the sort of shit they have this week and keep treating fans like shit in general - they know we'll keep piling our money in through the turnstiles regardless. The club won't give a fuck about your Well Society payment so long as you still turn up on a Saturday and hand over your cash. There's only 1 way to break that cycle.

 

I completely missed them making an argument about the 3rd kit.

Heard from someone who's in the know. But they decided they weren't happy because not consulted and it wasn't a profit share for a charity. 

[Clackscat]

1 hour ago, dennyc said:

Been mulling the interview over for a wee while to give me time to clear my head. Mainly because I found myself with more questions than answers. And a few things that I struggled to make sense of.

Firstly, for me, there is no doubt that Brian Caldwell was at a low ebb and was shocked by the whole turn of events. He clearly feels empathy for his employee and is supporting him as best he can. It was a difficult and disturbing watch. I also get his unease at how quickly folk were applying to fill Stuart Kettlewell's shoes.

But I find it strange that given the close working relationship we are told the two had........meeting or talking nearly every day and almost certainly more so in January given our downturn in form, injury situation and the need for action in the transfer window.....that our CEO had no inkling whatsoever of the mental anguish Stuart Kettlewell and his family were going through. To a lesser extent that also applies to other Board Members.

Also we are told that the abuse situation heightened during the home victory against Aberdeen. Initially I thought it must have been during the cup loss to St Johnstone. I sit directly behind the home dugout and have witnessed fans screaming at SK to sort things out. At the Aberdeen game and at others throughout this season and last. So it does happen but not to any greater a degree than Alexander, Hammell and others before them had to endure. Not excusing or justifying it but just trying to get things into perspective in my own head. Given that I and others were aware of it, I find hard to accept that those sitting in the Directors' Box a few rows behind me did not see or hear what was a fairly regular occurrence. Or did they see it and disregard it as something that happens at matches the length and breadth of the country? Either way it makes no sense.

It also struck me that there appears to have been no serious attempt to persuade SK to hang on a bit longer. possibly following a Club Statement asking for calm and informing fans that such abuse would not be tolerated. If I was to take a cynical view I might think that Caldwell was in part relieved at Stuart's decision as it might have avoided him having to take action if the performance on the pitch continued to spiral downwards. 

I don't do Facebook or Twitter so apologies if more details of the abuse Kettlewell suffered was revealed on those platforms. But I have witnessed nothing first hand that merits the all out assault on what feels like ALL Motherwell by the media,. And which sadly seemed to be supported by the statements initially released by MFC and the Well Society.

I am not in any way playing down the abuse that most definitely takes in football be it aimed at players, Managers, Officials or even fans. But this whole situation makes less and less sense to me the more I try to understand it. For me, there are far too many contradictions.

Hopefully Stuart Kettlewell and his family are now in a much better place. Time for everybody to move on.

Spot on, exactly my thoughts, it produced more questions than answers.

I actually started typing out a post last night so similar to yours it's scary, then tiredness took over and the fact I'm getting scunnered with the whole thing.

Thankfully todays interviews with Frail and SODs finally moved things in the right direction, and Graeme McGarry's piece in the Herald has reassured me that there is still proper journalism out there.

I find myself wondering though if Brian Caldwell's heart is in it going forward, not bourne out of any knowledge, just the impression I was left with. 

 

 

 

[cambo97]

15 hours ago, MJC said:

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

That's the only bit I don't agree with; SK hasn't come out well with the MFC support but I suspect outside our "bubble" he's not lost anything.

[0Neils40yarder]

On 1/30/2025 at 11:03 PM, 0Neils40yarder said:

In a world where, no amount, level or type, of verbal abuse is allowed...just how are the modern fitba fans meant to show their unhappiness at whatever drivel it is that's been served up?

 

This is a semi-serious question...yes, we are there to support but at what stage are we allowed to be unhappy and what form should that unhappiness be shown?

I asked this a couple of days ago now and had no response...how does the modern-day football fan get his/her point across when they're not enjoying what they're watching? 

Shout abuse and boo?

Stop going altogether?

Sit on their hands and act like they don't care?

Take to social media and criticise?

 

I've read loads of folk saying that verbal abuse isn't on...and I get that, but to me there is a huge difference between a shout like 'this is fucking rotten Kettlewell' to something like 'I hope you die in your sleep Brendan Rodgers'

 

Genuinely, is the support just meant to wring their hands and mutter under their breath when the 'entertainment' is unbelievably honking?

[MJC]

23 minutes ago, cambo97 said:

That's the only bit I don't agree with; SK hasn't come out well with the MFC support but I suspect outside our "bubble" he's not lost anything.

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. 

[smiddy]

Tam cowan just came out on the side of the fans on bbc radio scotland saying maybe SK is the one to come out n clarify the situation so as NOT to include ALL fans 

[FirParkCornerExile]

1 minute ago, smiddy said:

Tam cowan just came out on the side of the fans on bbc radio scotland saying maybe SK is the one to come out n clarify the situation so as NOT to include ALL fans 

I thought his resume /analysis was spot on and long overdue. 

[smiddy]

5 minutes ago, FirParkCornerExile said:

I thought his resume /analysis was spot on and long overdue. 

Deffo. Hees kind of left the ball in SKs court to say his bit 

[smiddy]

And now calling him out again 👍👍

[SteelmaninOZ]

19 hours ago, wellgirl said:

I've been called far worse online - as for my schooling - I'm not doing too bad for a working class lassie who is on degree number 4. 

Ah soon be Dr wellgirl phd well done you 👍

[mio]

5 minutes ago, smiddy said:

Deffo. Hees kind of left the ball in SKs court to say his bit 

I’m not the biggest Tam Cowan fan but he’s said everything correctly here, I agree with him completely. 
I like SK and supported the guy but he’s went down in my estimations, it seems like he’s went in a big huff and compares working really hard to being an incredible manager.
I think he’s left the club in a really disrespectful way. Say what you want about Alexander but he slipped off without chastising our whole support….. when he got 100 times the stick SK ever got.

[smiddy]

1 minute ago, mio said:

I’m not the biggest Tam Cowan fan but he’s said everything correctly here, I agree with him completely. 
I like SK and supported the guy but he’s went down in my estimations, it seems like he’s went in a big huff and compares working really hard to being an incredible manager.
I think he’s left the club in a really disrespectful way. Say what you want about Alexander but he slipped off without chastising our whole support….. when he got 100 times the stick SK ever got.

2.30 will be good they are askin the pundits what they think,

craggs will be good , he had all the stats on SK Last week 

[wellfan]

9 minutes ago, mio said:

I’m not the biggest Tam Cowan fan but he’s said everything correctly here, I agree with him completely. 
I like SK and supported the guy but he’s went down in my estimations, it seems like he’s went in a big huff and compares working really hard to being an incredible manager.
I think he’s left the club in a really disrespectful way. Say what you want about Alexander but he slipped off without chastising our whole support….. when he got 100 times the stick SK ever got.

Even as Kettlewell’s biggest critic, I don’t think that’s fair to say about him at the moment. The resignation narrative has been led by Caldwell, albeit echoing what Kettlewell told him, but I don’t think Kettlewell has had a fair chance to publicly say his piece as yet.