LIAM Kelly has vowed to help Motherwell win over the fans who turned on Graham Alexander after their Conference League defeat to Sligo Rovers - and predicted the Fir Park club can secure a top six cinch Premiership spot for the second season running with their backing.
Manager Alexander was targeted following his side’s 2-0 defeat to Sligo Rovers in the second leg of the second qualifying round in Ireland on Thursday night – a result which completed a bitterly disappointing 3-0 aggregate loss.
Kelly revealed the former Scotland internationalist had decided to stand down on Friday due to concerns over the impact that the abuse he was receiving from supporters was having on him, his team and his family.
The goalkeeper is determined to help Motherwell, who will have club great and academy director Stevie Hammell in the dugout when they play St Mirren in their opening league game against St Mirren in Paisley today, return to winning ways and get the fans “back onside”.
The 26-year-old remains convinced his side, who finished in fifth place in the top flight last term, can still enjoy a successful 2022/23 campaign.
“The manager felt that toxicity levels towards him just weren’t fair on us as players and him and his family,” he said. “That is part of the reason the manager decided to move on. It wasn’t beneficial to anybody. I spoke to him last night and I don’t think he’ll mind me sharing that.
“When they scored so early the mood is so negative. The timing of the goals were the most hurtful to us. You could hear the negative noise then which gave us such an uphill task. It wasn’t a nice night.
“It felt towards the end that even if we did something right people were waiting for us to do something wrong. That is why the manager felt it was time to move on. We need the supporters to help us, pull us through, guide us through the game. In return we need to give them something to shout about.”
Kelly added: “We can’t do anything about what has happened now. We have to deal with what’s happening in front of us. We need to move forward. As gutting as it is, it is a clean slate for everybody now. We start again, no games have been played, it is a completely new season.
“We need to make sure that the negativity and toxicity towards us as players, which in my opinion was rightfully deserved because we have not performed well enough since the turn of the year, becomes positive.
“We have to get everybody back on side by performing better on the pitch and giving the supporters something to be happy about. The better we play the more onside they are with us.
“The fact we achieved top six last time suggests that we can do it again. There’s so much room for improvement here and, when you consider we ended up in fifth place, that’s a big positive to take.
“Every player can get better and collectively we can do more as a team. Hammy’s going to be in charge and he’ll get every bit of effort from everyone in the changing room and so will the new manager when he comes in.”
St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson, who spent three-and-a-half years in charge at Fir Park before leaving in 2020, has been tipped to take over from Alexander.
“Obviously Stephen Robinson was a very successful manager for Motherwell,” said Kelly. “He is the first name to be linked with this job, but I am sure he will not be the last name. The reason I came here was it was such an attractive club, such a massive club. I wanted to be a part of this.
“In terms of the game tomorrow, I don’t think it’s right for me to be commenting on the opposition manager and him coming in here. I don’t really have any thoughts on it to be honest.
“I am really focused on the game tomorrow. We are really disappointed that we lost our manager and are desperate to win this game tomorrow.”
