Stuart Kettlewell has been told he will remain in caretaker charge of Motherwell for Sunday’s cinch Premiership clash with Hearts.
Motherwell are understood to have conducted interviews with Grant McCann and Ian Holloway over their managerial vacancy while Jack Ross appears to have stepped back from the process.
But it looks like it will be next week before any announcement is made on a replacement for Steven Hammell.
Kettlewell said: “It’s been made very clear, I have had a conversation with the board, they have asked me to take the team again on Sunday.
“That makes it really clear for the players and everyone surrounding the football club.
“That wee bit of certainty is there and we know what we are going to do for the next couple of days.
“What happens after that, I’ll be brutally honest, I don’t know and there hasn’t been an official decision made on that.
“But that’s fine for me, it gives me an opportunity to go through the next couple of days and understand what information needs to be put across and the demands that need to be returned from the players.
“Players are a creature of habit, they like to know what they are coming into each day. I don’t think you will find any player who wants to be walking in with uncertainty about who is going to be in charge.
“It’s important there is a level of continuity but it’s a very, very short-term level of continuity right now.”
Kettlewell could find himself in the frame to keep taking the team if he delivers another result against Hearts after leading Motherwell to their first league win in 12 matches on Wednesday against St Mirren.
But on his own situation, the former Ross County manager said: “There have been no interviews. From my situation I have been pretty busy preparing the team.
“I am not expecting anything moving forward. My focus has to be on making sure we acquit ourselves right on Sunday.”
Kettlewell arrived at Fir Park in October as lead development coach, charged with taking the reserve and under-18 teams.
The 38-year-old felt he was misrepresented earlier in the week after being asked about his interest in taking charge of the first team on a longer-term basis.
“I need to make this abundantly clear: if the football club felt I could help them and make something better or get results then I would be more than happy to have a conversation,” he said.
“That’s what it is, I mean a conversation. And it would just be a layer or two on to what I have already had in terms of trying to prepare a team.
“There are no guarantees that would filter out of that, I wouldn’t be looking for any guarantees.
“The most important thing for me – and I am not trying to portray myself as the biggest clubman ever – but I want the best for the football club and the staff.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel