It saddened me this week, as I’m sure it did anyone with any sort of affection or link to Motherwell, to hear the reasons cited by manager Stuart Kettlewell upon his resignation as manager of the club.
Fans pay their money and are entitled to their view on their team or how the manager and players are performing, but shelling out for a ticket doesn’t – contrary to what seems to be a widespread view – give anyone licence to say whatever they like.
I wasn’t covering the Motherwell game in Perth last weekend, so I have no idea of the nature of the shouts and abuse directed at Kettlewell. They must have been pretty severe to warrant his resignation, and if he felt that quitting was a necessary step to protect his family, who he said had been affected by it and no longer wished to attend matches, then he has absolutely done the right thing.
What has followed in the days since the news broke on Monday though has been, in my view, something of a misrepresentation of the wider situation, and indeed, the wider Motherwell support.
And while I can fully understand the club standing by Kettlewell and supporting someone who gave his lot for the cause, I have been somewhat surprised to see Motherwell themselves contributing to a narrative that Kettlewell was chased out of town by thousands of angry yokels brandishing pitchforks who just didn’t know how good they had it.
Let’s get it right. As much time as I have for Kettlewell as a man and as much respect as I have for him for his efforts at the club, there seems to have been a conflation of widespread disgruntlement at the way his team had been performing and the small band of idiots who have clearly crossed the line.
There was the time when season books were thrown on the pitch after the last game of the season when Maurice Malpas’s Motherwell side narrowly avoided relegation after a dismal campaign. Then Mark McGhee, returning to the club after a brilliant first spell in charge at Fir Park, got the full spray-painted bedsheets treatment when his second stint went awry.
I realise these incidents don’t particularly reflect well on the Motherwell fanbase either, but the point I’m trying to make is this.
Last season, Kettlewell’s side went on a 15-game run without recording a win. Prior to his resignation, his team were on a run of just one win in nine, and had just lost twice in a row in dismal fashion to the side cut adrift at the bottom of the Premiership table.
And yet, there were no protests outside the ground. No boycotts of matches. Not one ruined bedspread in sight.
Read more:
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Not one Motherwell player wanted Kettlewell to leave, says insider
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Why Kettlewell's shameful exit could put Motherwell's 40 year top flight stay at risk
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Stuart Kettlewell opts to quit as Motherwell boss after back-to-back defeats
Whatever the sins of the morons who drove Kettlewell to make his decision, they were not the sins of the majority of the fanbase.
Opinions may have been turning against the manager in terms of the direction he was taking the team and his style of play, but if you are tarring the entire support Motherwell support as being unreasonable, I would respectfully suggest that you may not watch their games on a regular basis, and are instead basing your opinion on a quick glance at the league table.
Because yes, Motherwell are currently fifth. A more than reasonable position, and one that is perhaps better than they have any right to expect. But the underlying stats and the mood music around the club screamed that the trend was a downward one.
It is a shame that he won’t get that opportunity, particularly in the context of the circumstances around his exit, but at least he can now say that he quit Motherwell when he had them in fifth, rather than being sacked when they were plummeting down the table, as seemed the inevitable course.
Anyway, what’s done is done. Kettlewell seems a good man, and overall, was a good manager for Motherwell, even if his departure has left a sour taste. Nothing justifies personal abuse, and hopefully (though I doubt it) the fans who crossed the line will have cause to reflect on their behaviour.
It is now down to the club though to start bringing the wider supporter base back onside, the majority of whom had nothing to do with the sad situation that has unfolded over the past few days.
Motherwell are a fan-owned, community club after all. They have to get that togetherness and sense of common cause back that they were once renowned for, because this week, sadly, they have allowed their name and reputation to be dragged through the mud.
