EXHAUSTED Motherwell interim manager Stuart Kettlewell is concentrating on taking a well-earned rest after watching his team pick up their second win of the week rather than worrying about his job prospects, saying he hasn’t yet spoken to the Fir Park board about his future.
Kettlewell hasn’t been getting much sleep since being asked to take the Motherwell team following the departure of Steven Hammell, and after the 2-0 win over Hearts, his focus was on enjoying some rare downtime.
When asked if he had any indication about the board’s thinking in relation to the permanent manager’s position, Kettlewell said: “No, I’ve spoken to one or two of the guys who were delighted with the 90 minutes, the result and performance. That’s as far as we’ve gone.
“There’s been speaking to the media and the players and there has been no contact or conversation about what happens, I wasn’t expecting it. Win, lose or draw [I wanted to] 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.”
Kettlewell has been delighted by the reaction he has got from the Motherwell players after coming into the position with their confidence at rock bottom, saying they are motivated by proving their critics wrong.
“It’s about how people respond,” he said.
“You can have the best plans but if people don’t deliver I could be looking very silly. I was prepared for that but fortunately the players have been different class and full credit has to go to them because the supporters got something they deserved. The fans are firmly behind the players, but the players gave the fans something to be behind. “It’s been a short-term fix but there are players who can keep going and improving so that looks really positive. But the starting point has to be how we started against St Mirren to give you that opportunity to go again [against Hearts].
“Before the team meeting I could see they were bright and bubbly even though nobody probably gave us a shot of winning this game.
“There were people wanting to kick us while we’re down and you have to do something to change that narrative, and the players did that.”
