Stuart Kettlewell discussion thread

[stv]

1 hour ago, El Grew said:

I used to have a season ticket in the centre stand section above the dugouts and you wouldn’t believe some of the abuse that comes from there so if his family have attended games recently it’s quite likely they’ll have heard some of this.

Ha , you’re having a laff iv sat there for over 30 years and you would need to poke most of the residents with a big stick to wake them up , never mind them dishing out personal abuse to the dug out. 

Most games we have just been resigned to the fact we are shite and heads down walked out. He must be referring to online stuff.

[Happy Dosser]

I sit near the directors' box in the main stand and have never heard anything like sustained  abuse directed at  SK apart from a few random expressions of frustration at times. The difference seems to have been that on Saturday a)  he was in the stand, possibly near  some disgruntled  'Well fans and not on the touchline and b) this was after he had criticised the fans for their reaction to a very poor cup performance against St Johnstone.

No one knows the level of  abuse he was reacting to recently  but my impression is that his criticism of fans for basically not knowing what they were talking about after they had travelled north in large numbers (and after a dangerous storm) pissed off a lot of the most loyal fan base. That looks like the turning point in this relationship.

I think he worked very hard but simply ran out of ideas and the injury crisis gradually wore him down. Slagging off supporters is a high-risk reaction to (in my opinion)  justified criticism ten days ago which rarely ends well. I don't think for a moment this compares to the  levels of criticism that managers at Rangers, Aberdeen or Spurs are experiencing at the moment, though.

In the words of the old ditty, balls of brass and a corrugated arse are necessary in the difficult job of being  a football manager and I doubt most applicants for the job are under any illusions as to the possible  adverse fan reaction when things start to go wrong.

I'm sure that Mr K  will gain employment on the media circuit very soon  until a suitable  post comes around. I wish him well because he worked whole-heartedly here  and I hope he has learned a few managerial  lessons in his time at  Fir Park.

It will be interesting to see the reaction of our  players in the Celtic game and the team selection of whoever is in charge.

The king is dead. Long live the king.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[robsterwood]

All the best to Stuart Kettlewell. He has brought some good times and performances and been good ambassador for the club. Sorry to hear reason for him going but think maybe change was needed too. 

[Spiderpig]

For me the personal abuse thing is all smoke and mirrors, he probably got slagged just as much last year on the winless run.

For me he was losing the dressing room, and reality dawned on him that he was not going to turn our form around so he jumped before he was pushed, throw some personal abuse allegations out there and his reputation is intact.  

The Celtic game will be very interesting to see how the team responds, the performance there will tell us all we need to know.

[Happy Dosser]

15 minutes ago, stv said:

He must be referring to online stuff.

Possibly, but SK has already said he does not "do" social media.

[Yorkyred]

Beg SR to come back.

[0Neils40yarder]

The more I think about this, the more annoyed I'm getting at SK and him citing abuse from the stands as his reason for rapping it...I'm glad he has mind, but it looks to me that he's hiding behind that excuse (there is no way, that the abuse was that excessive that it's forced a pure dead fitba man into chucking it) because he knew the writing was on the wall after recent performances from the team on the park, the recent spate of run-ins he's had with officialdom and his incredibly stupid interview where he couldn't have been more condescending to the people who pay his wages if he'd tried.

I didn't have a huge opinion on SK before today, either positive or negative but he's gone way down in my estimation now.

[AllyMax]

11 minutes ago, Yorkyred said:

Beg SR to come back.

Maybe we could get all the people that shouted to get him out to hold a demo outside the club shop to get him back.

[fizoxy]

1 minute ago, AllyMax said:

Maybe we could get all the people that shouted to get him out to hold a demo outside the club shop to get him back.

To he fair, SK resigning must have saved them a fortune on bedsheets and duct tape, so why not.

[mfc88]

Kettlewell was what we needed 2 years ago. He dug us out a hole then, and he can certainly take credit for good things in those 2 years. Unfortunatley, we've never really kicked on from his first half season, and his footballing philosophy for the club is no longer working. 

Good luck for the future Stuart.

[grizzlyg]

24 minutes ago, 0Neils40yarder said:

The more I think about this, the more annoyed I'm getting at SK and him citing abuse from the stands as his reason for rapping it...I'm glad he has mind, but it looks to me that he's hiding behind that excuse (there is no way, that the abuse was that excessive that it's forced a pure dead fitba man into chucking it) because he knew the writing was on the wall after recent performances from the team on the park, the recent spate of run-ins he's had with officialdom and his incredibly stupid interview where he couldn't have been more condescending to the people who pay his wages if he'd tried.

I didn't have a huge opinion on SK before today, either positive or negative but he's gone way down in my estimation now.

I agree pal,  this is where I am not comfortable with it.  He has basically thrown whole fanbase under a bus and trying to tarnish our reputation. 

Now yes, there are wallopers in our support ( same as everyone else) bit it smacks of " I got £1.6 for bair and £700k for KVV and that's thanks I get"

Basically Stuart even your players are fed up of your tactics and have clearly downed tools ( which I also think is shocking.

Don't worry, your media pals will keep you in employment 

[FirParkCornerExile]

He's gone now, we can argue til the cows come home the rights and wrongs, changes nothing now. Onwards and hopefully upwards and an end to the eye bleeding pish we've been watching.

[wellfan]

Whether we like it or not, what we've seen today is perhaps the most tactically astute move by Kettlewell since he joined Motherwell.

In all seriousness though, he has done the right thing for his future career here. The tipping point had been reached. 

[wellgirl]

21 minutes ago, grizzlyg said:

I agree pal,  this is where I am not comfortable with it.  He has basically thrown whole fanbase under a bus and trying to tarnish our reputation. 

Now yes, there are wallopers in our support ( same as everyone else) bit it smacks of " I got £1.6 for bair and £700k for KVV and that's thanks I get"

Basically Stuart even your players are fed up of your tactics and have clearly downed tools ( which I also think is shocking.

Don't worry, your media pals will keep you in employment 

There's been a few people on Facebook who have said tonight that he and some players got a lot of abuse at both the St Johnstone games. I personally don't feel like I've been thrown under the bus - because I've never abused him - and like I said the other night - I don't think any professional footballer should be downing tools. Until very recently I was living well below the poverty line - I've scraped the money together to get both of my last two years season tickets and some very well paid players just decide to pack it in - not good enough in my view - and some of them have done it with other managers as other folk have said 

Aye that statement will have rubbed folk up the wrong way - but it's not all on him 

[fizoxy]

15 minutes ago, wellfan said:

Whether we like it or not, what we've seen today is perhaps the most tactically astute move by Kettlewell since he joined Motherwell. 

He's going to try the exact same thing at his next 5 clubs now.

[wellgirl]

1 hour ago, Mootherwell86 said:

I’m already fed up of this chat. In an ideal world we would have kept SK until the end of season, shook his hand, wished him well and moved on. He’s done a very good job in tenure and I suspect he’s well outperformed what’s expected of him from the board. 

There’s no doubt we have a large selection of brain donors in our support, although as others have mentioned we’re absolutely no different to any other club. That being said, I am skeptical of Kettlewells reasoning behind his resignation. 

What is it that our fans actually expect? Aberdeen, Dundee United, Hearts and Hibs have all struggled over the course of SKs tenure to varying degrees despite spending vast amounts more than us. Keep seeing ‘style of play’ batted around, do any of the aforementioned teams play with an attractive style and concurrently accumulate more points than us?  Personally, I’d settle for being organised, difficult to play against and positive. Is that too much to ask? 

I won’t defend some of our powderpuff, toothless performances. The last 4 away games have been horrific. A lack of urgency, desire and ambition has left me fairly scunnered. 

As for talk of losing the dressing room and the rumoured bust-up with Dan Casey, that’s football. My gripe would be more with the player than the manager. In this instance, fans should’ve stuck by the manager and trusted his judgement, Dan Casey has been consistently part of the one of the worst defences in the league over the last 2 seasons. Dan Casey would’ve been better served organising his box and defending set pieces rather than handing out tactical advice at half time in Perth.

I suspect, that there will be fans of all clubs in our league that are similarly disillusioned with the product on display and that the clubs will ultimately bear the brunt of this. In reality, the standard of Scottish football as a whole is absolutely rotten. In fact it’s that poor, our fifth best team has just signed a striker on-loan from the worst team in League 2. Perhaps expectations need to tempered? 

I’m not particularly fussed that SK has decided to leave but I am concerned that in the bigger picture,  we will be here again in 18 months time. 
 

Not a good day for our club.

I agree. But the bigger issue for me is whoever leaked that him and Casey had the bust up - the writing was clearly on the wall after that 

[santheman]

7 minutes ago, wellgirl said:

I agree. But the bigger issue for me is whoever leaked that him and Casey had the bust up - the writing was clearly on the wall after that 

Bust ups in the dressing room that become common knowledge rarely end well for the manager in charge.

[wellgirl]

Just now, santheman said:

Bust ups in the dressing room that become common knowledge rarely end well for the manager in charge.

Quite 

[weeyin]

I doubt Casey got close enough to his man for a proper bust up.

[wellgirl]

2 minutes ago, weeyin said:

I doubt Casey got close enough to his man for a proper bust up.

🤣

[mio]

The rumour I heard was Casey has signed a pre contract with Hearts? Not sure if this is old news or not?

SK has gone now though and unfortunately the support have been painted in a bad light even though 80% of us were supportive of him. I’d have expected him to stay until summer like a few posters have mentioned.

Anyway, we move on quickly and god knows who we’ll get and I’m sure there will be some stinking names flung about.

 

[Big Stall]

Was he getting abuse? Probably

Is that appropriate if we get down to brass tacks for a workplace in 2025? Of course not

Is it part and parcel of the job and happens to any football manager at any club on a horrific run throwing up horrific performances week on week? Of course and thats not going to change.

Now we dont know the level of it, hopefully it was just plenty 'get tae fucks' and nothing more sinister. What has been clear for sometime is that he is really feeling the pressure. He has run out of answers on the pitch and its come to a head. Im guessing if he was in a better space the abuse would wash over him.

At the end of the day, the product on the pitch has been poor and the bit thats done it for him is that it & results have been getting worse the last couple of months. Yes he has been hamstrung by injuries but his selections and tactics have done him no favours. I and plenty others wantef him to do well but it just became impossible to keep supporting him. Thanks for the efforts Stuart, best of luck in the future but it was probably best for all concerned to part ways.

[grizzlyg]

19 minutes ago, wellgirl said:

I agree. But the bigger issue for me is whoever leaked that him and Casey had the bust up - the writing was clearly on the wall after that 

Got to be SOD surely? 🤣🤣,  just kidding Stevie

[wellgirl]

2 minutes ago, mio said:

The rumour I heard was Casey has signed a pre contract with Hearts? Not sure if this is old news or not?

SK has gone now though and unfortunately the support have been painted in a bad light even though 80% of us were supportive of him. I’d have expected him to stay until summer like a few posters have mentioned.

Anyway, we move on quickly and god knows who we’ll get and I’m sure there will be some stinking names flung about.

 

Been suggested but nothing confirmed 

[wellgirl]

Just now, grizzlyg said:

Got to be SOD surely? 🤣🤣,  just kidding Stevie

Well SOD caused the storm - and the cost of living crisis - has to be