STAND outside Fir Park on Saturday morning and ask the Motherwell support what they remember most about Mark McGhee’s first spell in charge, and you are guaranteed to get a pretty broad-ranging set of responses. It is perhaps testament to him and a bit of a back-handed compliment that not all of the answers, particularly those relating to his departure, may be positive.

McGhee had more to contend with in his two years at Fir Park than some managers do throughout their entire career, and tomorrow he will find him back in the home dugout ready for some more of it. Originally brought in by John Boyle during the summer of 2007, the former Brighton and Hove Albion manager was charged with resurrecting a team that had finished second bottom the previous season and inject some belief and purpose into a squad that was struggling to find itself. Sound familiar?

This he did in style as Motherwell were catapulted up the table and beyond with them making their first foray over to the continent since the Euro became was the currency of choice for those peely wally souls in Lanarkshire who were starting to consider a pre-season jolly to Stenhousemuir as a tropical destination. With success came interest and McGhee was no different, with the infamous tale about how he was ready to board a flight to Lithuania to meet Hearts owner Vladimir Romanov before a sudden change of heart still talked about to this day. He returned to Fir Park but it was not a relationship that was to last too long, with his former club Aberdeen taking him north in the summer of 2009.

It was an exit, and perceived desire to leave, that still rankles a small element of the Motherwell support, which at the time included an even smaller minority who verbally abused him during a match at Pittodrie between the two clubs soon after his switch.

“I’ve only read small bits and bobs on social media and I’ve also spoken to a couple of fans. I think the problem, as far as I can see, is that there is an incorrect perception about how Mark left Motherwell,” Alan Burrows, the Motherwell general manager told Herald Sport. “That’s not the fault of the fans. It’s like an iceberg. Supporters see the tip of it, and that’s just the way it is. I understand the supporters’ perceptions and I can see why it has been built up, but it is different to what happened.

“It’s Mark’s right to keep it private and I understand and respect him for it. It’s a shame because, particularly in the first season, he did a tremendous job with the team. A bit like now, he inherited a group of players that finished second bottom, they were low on confidence and the fans had no faith in them but Mark transformed them into a spectacular winning team.

“I hope the fans give him a chance. Paraphrasing Mark, he said that all he wants is an opportunity to prove his worth. He doesn’t feel that what he did before should grant him that, he hopes it proves to people he can do it and he wants the chance to do it again. I would back 100 per cent on that and I hope the supporters do.”

Ironically, the familiar face of Burrows was only one of a few that greeted McGhee as he returned to Fir Park last week to try and earn himself a contract. In the six years that have elapsed, wholesale changes have taken place at the Ladbrokes Premiership club with only three players remaining from his team of 2009, while at board level Boyle has departed and Les Hutchison and the influence of the Well Society have swept in.

It is a fresh look at an old landscape that Burrows believes will offer McGhee the best of both worlds.

“The thing I would say is the people who picked him, interviewed him and hired him have never worked with him,” he said. “That’s the three members of the football committee, the chairman and the owner. I was here, but I wasn’t involved in it. It’s the board and the owner that pick the manager.

“Most of the players apart from a small handful haven’t worked with him and the club itself has changed a lot since Mark was last here. In lots of ways he is walking into a club that will be brand new to him.

“There’s plenty there for Mark to get his teeth into in terms of taking things forward and hopefully being successful with us.”

McGhee’s return was a poignant one for Burrows on both a personal and professional level. In the summer of 2007 it was the new Motherwell manager’s influence and warmth that welcomed a then fan blogger into the fold during a pre-season trip to Austria, a move that would eventually open up a path for the life-long supporter to build a career at Fir Park that would see him rise to the role of general manager last year.

On a personal level, Burrows can, sadly, recall only too well the way McGhee united a club in mourning and guided them through a sea of grief following the death of captain Phil O’Donnell on December 29, 2007.

“One of the things I remember was that Mark and Scott [Leitch] were very good with me in Austria,” he recollected. “They welcomed me in, they helped me, they even invited me in to eat with the players and the club rather than leave me on my own to find somewhere. It was things like that which made me feel part of the whole thing.

“The way Mark handled Phil’s passing was exemplary. There’s not a manual for it, nobody, including myself, knew what to do. I’d only been in the job three months and I was shocked by it all. He was very strong, decisive and calm and that helped everyone at the club. In a different situation if Mark hadn’t been in charge, I think for the club to get back on its feet and repaired itself could have been a lot more difficult.”