Motherwell defender Paul McGinn joked he would have been telling folk to ‘check themselves into rehab’ if they’d told him the Steelmen would go from joint-bottom of the Premiership to the best of the bottom six last season.
When Stuart Kettlewell took the reins after Steven Hammell’s sacking in February, Motherwell were staring at a battle for their Premiership survival and a potential first season outside of the top flight in 38 years.
Incredibly, Kettlewell worked his magic to haul the club away from the mire and up to seventh place with a run of just two defeats in 14 matches, which came against Rangers and relegated side Dundee United.
McGinn admits it was a bleak time when club legend Hammell – who was announced as Celtic’s new head of academy coaching last week – was let go in the aftermath of a Scottish Cup exit to Raith Rovers, and says he would have been questioning the sanity of anyone who would have foretold the Steelmen’s impressive revival.
He said: “After Raith we felt pretty grim, very low. People you call friends losing their jobs is about as low as you can get in football.
"But from that position, if you’d told me what was going to happen I’d be asking ‘What are you taking?’ and telling them to ‘Get off it now and check yourself into rehab.’
“It’s hard to believe, but we are really pleased where we’ve come from there and, hopefully, we can keep it going next season.
“That was only two defeats [in Kettlewell’s run to the end of the season] and that was us playing Celtic and Rangers in that run as well, so it is really impressive.
“You get that bit of luck when you are going the right way.
"When you are heading down the way, you get bad decisions, bad luck, but I suppose you make your own luck. On the whole, the way we finished the season gives us a good feeling heading into next season.
“It’s not what we wanted at the start of the season, but all we could do was get back off the canvas and we did that well.
“We are going into next season with a really positive view.”
Despite some reports that he is out of contract, McGinn has another year left on his deal at Fir Park.
And he had a playful dig at former chief executive Alan Burrows, who is now at Premiership rivals Aberdeen, for the confusion.
McGinn laughed: “Loads of people have asked me if I’m out of contract this season.
“That dafty from Aberdeen tweeted I’d signed one year at the time, so it is his fault. I’m putting it down to him!
“I signed a two-year deal, so I’ve got at least another year here, I’m pretty settled and ready for next season.
“It was a good finish to the season and we ended up with a few points more than last year, so it just shows you what the league was like.
"Europe will be the next target, but every year you want to make sure you are safe, first and foremost.”
Motherwell are back for pre-season training on Monday, June 19, and will head for a training camp in The Netherlands on June 24 ahead of competitive action kicking off in the Viaplay League Cup on July 15.
They start with a long trip north to face League Two Elgin City before a trip south to Dumfries to play Queen of the South on Tuesday, July 18, kick-off 7.45pm.
A televised home game against Championship side Queen’s Park then awaits on Saturday, July 22, kick-off 5.15pm on Viaplay.
And they host League Two outfit East Fife at Fir Park on Saturday, July 29, kick-off 3pm, to finish off the group.
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