Stuart Kettlewell will get the chance to take the Motherwell job permanently on the back of his impressive caretaker stint.
Record Sport understands Fir Park chairman Jim McMahon has told the 38-year-old the position is his if he wants it and the parties will meet this morning to talk terms. Kettlewell has steadied the ship in the wake of Steven Hammell’s dismissal last weekend with two wins on the bounce to move SIX points clear of the relegation zone.
Resurgent Well defeated Hearts 2-0 at Fir Park yesterday on the back of the midweek win against St Mirren and it was enough to convinced club chiefs the ex-Ross County man could take charge on a longer-term basis. Well bosses also held talks with much-travelled English gaffer Ian Holloway and former Hull City gaffer Grant McCann, while former Hibs manager Jack Ross took himself out of the running.
Discussions will take place this morning and it remains to be seen if the job will be until the end of the season or much longer. Kettlewell admitted last night he was planning to sleep on it after a dream week in the caretaker gig. He admitted he couldn’t do much more in terms of an audition for the position and said: “I’ve spoken to one or two of the guys who were delighted with the 90 minutes, the result and performance.
“Win, lose or draw then get up the road and try and chill out because the last week has been chaos trying to work towards six points. But there has to be a reset in that and try to get some sleep as well because that’s not been coming too freely recently. You want the best for the club so we’ll pick that up tomorrow and see the situation.
“I’m massive on the practical side. So many people talk about the game. The younger ones do something on the
Playstation or FIFA and think you can do it as a player. It’s the same for coaches and managers. You can sit with powerpoint presentations but a lot of the time you look and ask, ‘Is there evidence you’re capable?’
“I came in realising it was a group of players capable of getting six points. We’ve seen it from them before so you have that nugget of hope but it goes across the pages when you look at coaches or managers. You have to have done something to have evidence.”
Kettlewell was thrilled with the points and the display as Motherwell did a number on a below-par Hearts side.
But the caretaker boss was more delighted to give the Fir Park fans something to savour after making it back-to-back home wins for the first time since late 2021. He said: “The fans are firmly behind the players but the players gave the fans something to be behind. There’s people wanting to kick us while we’re down and you have to do something to change that narrative. The players did that.
“They were excellent. I don’t want to make it about me. We asked them to go about a job in the last two games and they’ve been excellent. The clean sheet was pleasing. We’ve been vulnerable but you could see the players had a belief with shape and discipline in nullifying Hearts. It gave us a foundation to build into the game.
“The last bit was the game management and I thought by and large they were on point again.
“The front two were a handful, there was energy from midfield, they and the full-backs were incredible. Then they were looking with puppy dog eyes to say they can’t go another step but that’s fine because they’ve earned the position.
“But it’s not about any individual, we have to be a collective and you have to be a good team-mate.
“It’s a massive victory for the club.”
