With Steven Hammell still to clear out his desk at Fir Park, Stuart Kettlewell has stepped in as Motherwell caretaker manager.
The former Fir Park defender was sacked after yesterday’s 3-1 defeat away to Raith Rovers in the Scottish Cup.
Reacting to the developments, BBC Scotland reports Steven Thompson saying:
For Motherwell it is two managers sacked in seven months. It is a club desperately in need of stability. I’m sure Stuart [Kettlewell] will do a good job in the interim but they need to get the new manager in place and it needs to be the right manager. The players need a massive lift in confidence. You get into a real rut. That needs to be the first thing that changes.
It looks like Kettlewell was sounded out in advance of yesterday’s match against Raith, further undermining a young manager under pressure to deliver results.
Motherwell announced Hammell’s sacking around 7.30pm last night, less than three hours after the final whistle.
It would be something of a miracle if Kettlewell was first contacted after the defeat at Raith, it looks very much like he was sounded out as Plan B from the Motherwell board.
As well as his shifts with BBC Sportsound and Sportscene, Kettlewell has been keeping upto date with Premiership football from his favourite seats at Ibrox. Since October he has been ‘Lead Development Coach’ at Motherwell.
Kettlewell was already on the staff at Fir Park as *checks notes* ‘Lead Development Coach’, whatever that is, since last October, which was while Hammell was the manager. Wouldn’t be the first or last time a manager has inadvertently recruited his own replacement. If he undermined Hammell, he had plenty of time and opportunity to do it from within the building.
That’s 3 points for sevco guaranteed the next they play Motherwell.