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I think the 'abuse' bit is a convenient scapegoat. He's realised he can't turn this round so he is going now to protect the legacy of the good things he has done, unsullied by a potential relegation battle, now leaving a club that has backed him to the hilt in the transfer market managerless with only a week to go in the window. That Daily Record piece could have been written by SK himself, all the positives, none of the negatives.

For the second time in a row a manager has taken us from a relegation situation into the Top 6 and then been abused out of his job. There is no way around saying this, a lot of our fans are deplorable human beings.

I doubt Casey got close enough to his man for a proper bust up.

I think the accusations of abuse are being taken out of context. It isn't nice I get that but I think its just the next phase in the wee tantrum hes been having over the last few weeks. If his family were attending games then they would have been in earshot of the wide ranging feedback he was receiving from the paying customers. Rightly or wrongly no manager is immune to stick from the stands, and from our main stand in particular. The reality is if I was a manager I don't think I'd have my close family in the stand but that's just my outlook. The abuse isn't any more than any other manager in a rough patch has recieved. Take Stevie Robinson who was being labelled an imposter at the end (he was anything but). I've never disliked Kettlewell, I wish him the best, but he was never the man to take the club forward in my view. Time to dust down and move on. Stephen Frail is not the one to do that.

Sorry to see him go but glad that he mentioned the personal abuse being a factor. Some people just can't help but show their class and they are a stain on our club and on Scottish football in general.

Just in and saw Kettlewell had resigned due to fan abuse. Jeez, that's a convenient scapegoat. Abuse goes hand in hand with a football manager. Fans pay hard earned cash in the current cost of living crisis and they go to FP for some pleasure and maybe be entertained which his team tactics couldn't provide. They are entitled to voice their displeasure. He had obviously lost the dressing room, arguments with players, throwing players under the bus in interviews, tombola football, blaming everyone but himself. Happy to take the plaudits when we won but it was everyone else's fault when we lose. Then after the last two horrendous results he turned on the fans. To be honest he should have been gone during last seasons long losing run. He has signed only two players who had a touch of skill and brought that to show, Maswanhise and Theo Bair last season. The rest of his signings you wouldn't get a balloon for. Ultimately it was his style of non football that the fans couldn't stomach any longer. We are the worst football playing team in the league and the last two games against the bottom team just brought it fully into focus. I wish him no ill, but if the board had the guts they would have sacked him before today. Either way he will walk with a severance package.

Probably be accused of being a cynic but Kettlewell for me has chosen to use abuse rather than criticism albeit severe at times lately. Suits the narrative of every ones fault but mine.

Probably inevitable but at this moment in time I feel a bit ashamed being a Motherwell fan given the circumstances. Some of our support really are *****.

Personally I would like to wish Kettlewell all the best for the future. I don't believe for a second that his family have received direct abuse from our support but at Stuart himself will be a different matter. That surely goes with the territory as unfortunate as it is. It sounds more like an excuse to deflect from the situation on the pitch to me.

I feel your frustration. I think it is a sad day for the club. I think there are some in our fanbase who have lost sight of what success means to a club like Motherwell. Maybe we need to be relegated to give sections of our support an appreciation of the contribution SK and the managers before him have made to ensuring our top league status. We can argue about the merits or likewise of Kettlewell as a manager but we certainly cannot say as a collective that we have given him our support in difficult times. I suppose that makes us no better and no worse than every other support out there. Just yet another dissatisfied, angry mob amongst many. There certainly can't be many self congratulatory pats on the back from the Motherwell support this evening. I wish SK all the very best in his next job in football.

Best outcome however the abuse side of things not cool very far from cool and i be willing to bet same people that abused Alexander to get him out the door. I genuinely wish him all the best.

SK for me is bowing out at the right time . He can say I left Motherwell with higher points tally, cup semi and 5th in league when he left. That keeps his stock high . for me he’s looked quite stressed since December and honestly like Mcall and Robinson had ran out of ideas . At his best he and the team did the basics well - that went a long way . Those basics haven’t been in place since November and unlike last season didn’t appear to have the cohesion . got to say he gave his all and did a lot of good things for our club. I don’t this this will put managers off - the modern game is pretty exhausting . i do think we need to go beyond replacing the manager - from recruitment to all mgr staff it’s worth ensuring we’re set for the future . do want to say thanks for SK for all the positives and also for walking when he was out of ideas - full credit to him and wish him well.

Neil lennon 😂😂

...Ignore, it was an old article 😂

For me Stuart Kettlewell leaves the club having overseen some very positive results. Keeping us up more than comfortably in 2023 after the combined debacle of Alexander and Hammell. Securing back to back draws at Celtic Park ending a wretched run against them stretching back to 2018 Being the first Motherwell manager in over twenty years to guide us to a league victory over Rangers and the first in 27 years to win a League match at Ibrox Theo Bair Pulling things around after a dismal run last season and securing Premiership safety And getting us to our first Semi Final in over six years Yes the football was dreadful a lot of the time and the results matched that especially in late 2023 but he does go with some credit in the bank.

I’ve nothing but best wishes for SK, I hope he gets another club soon. I think he’s did extremely well and did save us from relegation when he took over from Hammell. I’ve always liked him but felt he’s sort of lost the plot over the past couple of months and having a go at fans never ends well. i have no idea who we will get but whoever gets it some of us won’t be happy. It’s just life as a Motherwell fan. I just hope the players are satisfied as ultimately it’s them who have got him the sack. Maybe the new manager won’t make it a jolly for them coming in to training each day.

If a Motherwell manager is only ever tasked with achieving top flight status and nothing else, and is continually rewarded a new contract for delivering that ‘significant achievement’, then we will see no progress as a club in terms of any other goals. It’s an approach that encourages and legitimises a race to stagnation, at all costs, and asks nothing more of the manager and his squad. But if that’s your cup of tea, so be it.

I'm going to start a go fund me for the therapy I'm going to need now - or a lot of wine - or both

Manager critcises fans for abuse manager abuses refferees / 4th officials personal abuse from fans in not accceptable but come to feck stuart you have been working your ticket since you slated the fans youv managed to get out while your stock is slightly high but youv seen the mess we are in and only heading in one direction if SF sets up on a totally differant formation in the next 3 games that we might suspect there was a differance in opinions beetween manager and assisant time will tell but i personally think SK has pulled a stroke on his timing of this and his BBC radio scotland pals will rally round him , except craggs who has been highly critical of the way we play and the stats of posecion and shots on goal Any way onwards n upwards and dont let the door hit your arse on the way out stuarty boy am sure you will pop up elsewhere talking about 5 th place ,semi final , theo, blah blah But you wont talk about how bad weve been for weeks , tumbolla team selections, sq pegs in round holes, etc you will spin it all out bout your good times , but dont forget, YOU turned the fans against you NEXT PLEASE 👍

Not sure I agree with this...Robinsons blood and thunder style of play with Moult, Bowman, Hartley, Aldred etc was far easier to watch than the passive, stand off-ish, 30% possession at McDiarmid park daftness that's been served up recently. Not that I want Robinson back, nor think he would come back either

I can only assume you are referring to our goalkeeping crisis and want Stewart Rennie to make a comeback 🤪🤪

Think it's been clarified that fans weren't abusing his family - just that his family didn't want to go to games to hear him get abused

For me the personal abuse thing is all smoke and mirrors, he probably got slagged just as much last year on the winless run. For me he was losing the dressing room, and reality dawned on him that he was not going to turn our form around so he jumped before he was pushed, throw some personal abuse allegations out there and his reputation is intact. The Celtic game will be very interesting to see how the team responds, the performance there will tell us all we need to know.

I’ve got mixed emotions about today’s surprise announcement. This may not be a common opinion but I found Kettlewell to be one of our most likeable managers and he undoubtedly worked his socks off for the club. I’ll always hold him in high regard for inheriting a shambles from our most incompetent manager in my 35+ years going to Fir Park and turning our fortunes around overnight. From there we got to see really good talents like Max, Furlong, KVV, Gent, Spittal, Bair and Miller flourish and earn us a good few quid in return. Moreover, despite the poor runs and cup exits, there have been some excellent performances and we ran Rangers and Celtic close with a refreshing regularity. The win at Ibrox is one we all craved. I try and not read too much into press conferences but it’s been evident since mid-late November that his demeanour has been changing and his patience thinning. First he was having a go at the referees, then the players, then finally the fans. Who knows what goes on in the background but I suspect that some relationships with players and/or staff have been deteriorating and indeed recent comments would suggest he’s felt let down by a few. On day one of the job, Kettlewell was clear that he didn’t want any passengers in the building. Ultimately though, we’ve ended up with a bloated squad of 31 and I don’t think Kettlewell will have been comfortable with that. I’ll reserve comment on the abuse, I just hope it was mostly down to the goons online and that he and his family weren’t exposed to anything severe in person. Good luck to him going forward. Whilst he’s had a parting shot at the fans he does appear to have stepped away at the right time rather than let this current slide continue for another month or so. I don’t envy the remit of the next incumbent.

I think that’s the nub of the matter - he’s a coach not a manager and there’s a huge difference. If he and his family have been experiencing personal abuse from our supporters then that is to be utterly condemned. I used to have a season ticket in the centre stand section above the dugouts and you wouldn’t believe some of the abuse that comes from there so if his family have attended games recently it’s quite likely they’ll have heard some of this. However I doubt very much that this would be sufficient to force him to resign. As some have posted it does appear to be the lot of being a football manager - look at the abuse the Spurs fans have been giving Postecoglu recently. In the past weeks as results weren’t in his favour he did show signs that he was feeling the pressure of the job - regularly arguing with match officials, getting yellow cards, a red card leading to a touchline ban and rumours of a bust-up with a senior player at half-time during the recent cup tie at Perth. For me I think perhaps deep down he sensed that his direction of travel with the club wasn’t going the way he would’ve liked and that maybe he wasn’t able to get the players up and onside with him anymore. I wish him all the very best for the future but if he’s being honest with himself then perhaps he’d be better suited to a coaching position or assistant manager.

Frail is an interesting one. I wonder if he supported Kettlewells tactics or whether he just went with the flow. Looks like he's very popular with the players at least. It'll be interesting to see what kind of team and formation he puts out in the next 2 games assuming of course he is asked to do that. If its major changes then I think we can assume that he and Kettlewell might not have been on the same page.

Wasn't at Perth games so can't comment but what would he expect come full time. Of course there will be unhappy fans and he told us all last week he has been in game a long time so sadly that comes with the package. If fans have overstepped mark they can stay away as far as I am concerned but if Kettlewell really cared about club why through full fanbase under the bus? Basically deflecting from his own performances. I backed him a lot so this isn't a case of delighted he went although I feel it is right decision from him. A lot of fans need to look at own behaviour also but I don't think thst will stop candidates. Kettlewell will get plenty media offers, if on sportscene look forward to it being a 3hr highlights package!! I wish him well though, I never gave him personal abuse, constructive criticism yes...but I never crossed over the line

Suspect one of the most pleased at Fir Park with this news will be Scotty, who will surely now get a chance to ask more of the questions he's thought of after the game, rather than having to shelve them after 2 questions when the scheduled 7mins is up

Is it because he is ginger?

I never said it did. However the ones who are should be called out. I said after Alexander we would struggle to attract good managers to the club and we have struggled. Now it's happened again. What does the future hold for us when managers are rewarded with hatred for what is to all extent and purposes, relative success? This has become a trend and if it continues we are going to be the worse for it.

He said so. So presumably he must be a liar in your eyes. And yet he's made himself unemployed and has no guarantee of ever managing a club again. Do you honestly think it's a wily calculation to further his career? It was obvious over the last couple of weeks he was rattled by the abuse he was getting. I've been ill the last couple of weeks and not very active online but the atrocious abuse towards players, staff etc is there at the best of times, I can only imagine what it's been like since the cup defeat. It's embarrassing and disgusting.

Lennon I think could be a decent enough fit for a club like ours. I think he’s a decent manager as well but I have no doubt there will be a % of our fans who will hate him for a couple of reasons.

Neil Lennon is also a shite manager.

A lot of human beings are deplorable. And nasty, spiteful and in some cases downright evil. But I don't think that that applies solely to Motherwell fans.

Plenty, it's part and parcel of the game. Not defending it but it's reality. We're Aberdeen fans any different with Goodwin. Are Rangers fans any different with Clement. They ve dedicated all their lives to the game. They know what's coming once they lose fans.

I sit in the East Stand and I never heard regular abuse at him. Not sure what it's like in the Main Stand. There is no excuse for personal abuse but it also sounds his way of deflecting away from his recent record. If he had care about the club that certainly isn't the way to part. But.......again there is no excuse for personal abuse when it stops his family going. I couldn't go Alexander but the abuse he got at times was shocking also. A big reset for some of our fans also

How many will be willing to apply when they see the abuse the manager of a "community club" receives. I was behind him, right up until after the semi, but the football was turgid. I wish him all the best for the future.

He is probably a good coach but not manager material . Too one dimentional with formations and no inspirational flair to go for the win from the kickoff or when we went a goal up against teams we should be going for. His style of football was brutal. His panic buying poor. Still wish him all the best where ever he ends up. Tried his best but ran out of ideas.

The interview wasn't great but it's admirable that he won't let his family be abused too, if that's what happened Some people need to get a grip , it's only a bloody game.

Yep Id agree, that is what makes me unsure about SK , do we replace him with someone who serves up the same shite we've watched frequently over the years..

Yes changing managers can be costly but so can inaction. If we don't change and lose say 2/3 league places that will be costly. If we're caught up in a relegation dogfight that could be extremely costly. Relegation? If we wait until injuries clear up when will that be? McGinn out for the season; Robinson out until next season; Ox out for 2- 3 months, Seddon out for another 2 months. All that assumes we don't pick up any more injuries. We will not be able to field our strongest team this season.

You could say the same thing of continually funding a struggling manager.

Why Motherwell fans are turning against Stuart Kettlewell By Craig Fowler Columnist I'm going to tell you about a Scottish football manager. This man has been in charge of his current club for almost two years. He has a 40 per cent winning percentage from 92 games despite not managing one of the bigger clubs in the division. He currently has his team in the top half despite their best player being a teenager with less than 50 career top-flight games. And in each of the last two seasons he has been forced into selling his top goalscorer, having significantly improved each of those players' form, making the club over £2 million in the process. I am, of course, referring to Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell. A man who, for all the successes I laid out above, is not a popular figure with a sizeable chunk of the Fir Park faithful. Tensions increased last week when Kettlewell took aim at his critics in a pre-match press conference ahead of his side's trip to St Johnstone in the Scottish Premiership. "I’ll not be influenced by any noise or opinions from people that have never done the job and never dedicated their life to this game," he said. That line lacks context in isolation. Within the overall body of what he told reporters on Thursday, it appears more respectful and comes across as an honest assessment of what most managers think. Any coach who alters his team and tactics at the whim of supporter sentiment is not going to last in the job very long, as the team would soon become an incoherent mess with the gameplan ripped up on an almost weekly basis. However, Kettlewell has been in the game long enough to know that any direct shot at supporters is going to be isolated in the media and hungrily feasted on, which is what happened. Even by social media standards, Motherwell fans were outraged by the comment and it further strained a relationship which wasn't exactly harmonious beforehand. Other than Stephen Robinson, Kettlewell is Motherwell's most successful manager in over a decade. He inherited a mess of a squad heading for relegation when Stevie Hammell was sacked and quickly turned things around; he's kept their head above water despite being in charge of some average-looking squads; he rebounds from losing his best players and, as I'll reiterate again, they're in the top half of the league. This is despite a perplexing injury list that has had a Motherwell-supporting colleague of mine often wondering whether they host training on an active minefield. This injury list now includes Lennon Miller, a generational talent and the team's fulcrum. So why are some of the supporters so unhappy? It all goes back to an aspect of the game by which all managers are judged: the style of play. It is correct that the most important thing in football is winning matches. If you win games above expectation then you are going to be safe and secure in your job. However, the manner in which a team goes about trying to win those games still matters very much. That's because a manager who wins matches by playing a brand of football which supporters aren't happy with isn't going to accumulate much credit in the bank. So as soon as things start to go sour there is no grace period, the knives are immediately out, and that's what has happened at Motherwell recently following a sequence of just one victory in their last nine games. Motherwell are, statistically speaking, the most passive team in the league. No Scottish Premiership team presses the opposition with less intensity, which would be more forgivable in the eyes of fans if the team weren't also happy to concede possession to opponents. With just a 39.2 per cent share of the ball across this season so far, no side holds on to it for less time than Kettlewell's men. They also hold the third worst Expected Goals (xG) tally and second highest Expected Goals Against (xGA) mark, suggesting that the success of this season has been built on a foundation of sand. Putting that to the side, even if every single point accrued to this point has been deserved, for supporters it's been done without much joy. Even the one victory in the past nine, the 2-0 win over Aberdeen (*sarcastic slow clap*), fans went away from the stadium grumbling after a disheartening second-half performance against ten men. In the end, victory will always pacify, but there are rarely ever positives to take when it doesn't happen, which is why supporters were so furious with the exit to St Johnstone in the Scottish Cup. Motherwell went out with a whimper to an opponent who'd previously managed just two draws in nine games and have now beaten them in successive weekends. There are also questions with regards to squad building. Thirty-five players have been signed by Kettlewell but there aren't many undoubted success stories, and there are still gaps in the squad. The Fir Park corps is bursting with forward players but only Apostolos Stamatelopoulos is truly adept at holding the ball up and playing with his back to goal. Without him in recent games due to injury they've struggled to make it stick. Fans are also sick of seeing a three-at-the-back variation which gets played regardless of who is fit and in form. Ewan Wilson has made the breakthrough this season at left wing-back and impressed earlier in the campaign, but his form has struggled recently as he's been asked to carry too much in a system that only really functions at its best when the wing-backs are flying. So long as the Steelmen remain in the top half of the table then Kettlewell will remain in a job, regardless of what fans think of him. But you can basically throw a duvet sheet over the Premiership table from Motherwell in fifth to Kilmarnock in 11th. If the league position starts to reflect recent results then there aren't going to be many defenders left among the support when it comes time for the board to discuss the manager's position.

You could say the same about the manager. That is, any manager who knows he can survive come what may (e.g. 15 game winless run) has no reason to fear for his position or need to up his game. His attitude towards the fans of a fan owned club suggests to me that he’s never been put under any real pressure from his employer to toe the line or sort it out.

No we shouldn't , we may consider that option but I certainly wouldn't be telling him its two wins or hes out. The pressure on us is big enough without adding fuel to the Fire before the games . SK will know hes under scrutiny.

By my maths, we have a 31 man squad. Remove Oxborough, McGinn, Seddon, Robinson and Callachan. That's down to 26. Tavares and Koutroumbis don't look fit for purpose. Down to 24. Miller and Stamatelopolous out currently, 22. So currently a 22 man squad while relying on Nicholson and Slattery staying fit. So a 20 man squad. We're not quite at 'if you're fit you're getting a game' but we're not a million miles away and that's how standards slip. That's the real cost of so many injured players. Those in the eleven don't have to maintain standards to keep their place in the team...

What you describe are good achievements and I’ve outlined previously what I see as realistic expectations for Motherwell. My point is that do you truly see us achieving anything more than 10th place and a blown budget under Kettlewell every season? The League Cup semi was a red herring as we were shite and it was a pretty easy run to it. He’s a busted flush and truly incapable of learning and developing. It’s a case of continual stagnation and crisis management under him.

Ok, here goes. As far as who we've signed, that's up for debate as to who is good and who isn't. As far as filling areas of need, it has been pretty organized and methodical, outside of signing Vale and Tavares when we needed 2 midfielders. All rough working based on the website, but coming into this season we had: GK - Ox (re-signed), Connelly WB - Wilson (kind of), SoD CB - Blaney, McGinn, Casey Mid - Slattery (re-signed, injured), Miller, Nicholson (re-signed), Davor, Halliday, Paton FW - Moses, Bair Youth (that looked like they might get games at the time)- Ferrie, Ross, Wells. None look to be worth worrying about, which is a shame, I'd prefer to have 3 of our own youth products on the bench. So we needed: - a goalie, - 2 WBs, - at least one CB. - at least one midfielder - at least 2 forwards I might be off in the order here, but pre season we signed GK - Hegyi WB - Seddon, Johnny K CB - Balmer, gordon Mid - Callachan, Sparrow FW - Stuparevic, Robinson At the time, we thought maybe one defender too many, but that balmer and Gordon were good gers, then..... Mcginn injured pre-season So logically, as expected. We filled holes in the required positions, and left with a squad of 23 outside of the younger players, so room to add 1 or 2, with bair expected to go, and mcginn injured. Consensus at the time was that callachan was a bad signing, Sparrow was bench fodder, and Robinson was a good call. July 11th - koutroumbis out for months - Down a RWB July 15th - Kaleta joins - Back even on RWB July 16th - Theo Bair sold for actual money - Down a striker July 26th - Harry paton injury (and should have been a pen) - Down a midfielder July 30th - AP signed - back even on strikers Nicholson injury mentioned on August 5th - Down 2 midfielders Callachan injury (big fucking surprise) reported on August 8th - Down 3 midfielders Blaney out 6 weeks on August 8th - Down 2 defenders, but we signed two, so covered. August 13th - Watt came in - ok 5 strikers, maybe that's enough Aug 14th - AP injured for 6 weeks - Down to 4 strikers, uh oh Aug 19th - Maswanhise joined - back to 5 forwards, yay August 29th ish - Tavares and vale joined at the end of the summer window - 7 forwards now, wtf? Aug 20th - Stuparevic sent out on loan - Just the 6 forwards now - still down 3 midfielders 3rd Dec - Robinson out for season - only 5 strikers left 20th Dec-ish - Nicholson back - Down 2 midfielders 30th Dec - mcginn back, yay 31st Dec - Miller injured for months, well baws. - Down 3 midfielders 1st Jan ish - AP out for some time, double baws. - 4 forwards, bare bones 1st Jan ish - where's Jair? - 3 forwards 6th Jan - Slattery back, wooo. - Down 2 midfielders 7th Jan - Kai andrews signed - Down 1 midfielder 11th Jan - Ox injured -Down one keeper 11th Jan - Hegyi recalled by west ham - Down 2 keepers, oh no 11th Jan - Mair signs, Connelly recalled - back to two keepers, for now phew. - 13th Jan - Mcginn injured for months again, fuck - Down a cb Jan sometime - seddon injured for months, again fuck - Down a wb 24th Jan - signed armstrong - 5 forwards, but vale suspended, Moses ill 23rd Jan signed balcombe 23rd Jan - Connelly sent back on loan - back to 2 keepers 23rd Jan - Mair injured - one keeper again 23rd Jan - Connelly temp recalled - 2 keepers again 24th Jan - signed Dom Thompson - back even on WBs So numbers wise, outside of the vale and Tavares signings, we've tended to replace what we've lost, other than midfielders. Stuparevic and Johnny K not being up to scratch hasn't helped. I'd say that if it wasn't for injuries we wouldn't have signed Mair, Balcombe, Kaleta, one of Gordon or Balmer, Andrews, Armstrong, Thompwe'reat least one of Watt/Tavares/JT/vale. If we sign Mcghee then I'd say we're covered numbers-wise. He probably covers CB too. As such, I don't think the signing policy has been chaotic or scatter gun in itself, the fact that we have needed to sign replacements for replacements has meant we really are scraping the bottom of the barrel for incomings. With AP due back, and just signing Armstrong, I wouldn't expect another striker unless someone goes. Saying that, we did have 7 at one point. Moses and Slattery were Ill at the weekend, but could see Moses moving on. Looks like Tavares and Watt will stay unless their parent clubs want to play them. They don't. So the scope for outgoings are Miller and any of those up in the summer on pcas, ie Casey. The only incoming loans we can make have to be u21 due to rules. In conclusion, outside of selling someone, I don't think we need to be online on deadline day. Unless someone else gets injured.

On your first point, there’s no need to concede right or wrong. We both had our opinions at that time and that’s that, but fair play regardless. Things have moved on. On your questions, I would say that the recruitment issues are as big a problem as the manager, and I’ve said my piece elsewhere on Daws being a big part of the problem. In short, I don’t really think we have any sort of logical recruitment strategy. It’s all a bit scattergun. Lots of gambles. Plucking players from here, there, and everywhere. And with a heavy reliance on loans to get us out of messes, which sees us continually having to rebuild once they leave. It also appears that Kettlewell is perhaps being given a little more rope than other managers with similar sized budgets would get. I.e. he knows he’ll always get away with it and be bailed out However, we do have a new Board in place, who are different to those in place during the 2023/24 saga, although they have just emptied the clubs pockets for Kettlewell, so who knows what’s next on their agenda. My feeling is we need to stop promoting from within, unless it’s well-justified, and try to adopt a longer term strategy, which includes developing and integrating more of the young boys instead of constantly wasting money on developing other teams’ young players through our over reliance on loans. All of this will require a strategic overhaul of the management, coaching, recruitment, and academy departments, at least. Because at the moment, it’s all just firefighting and hoping that some of the expensive shit thrown at the wall sticks every year. We’re a fan owned club and should demand something better for the present and future of our club.

I'm hurting like many on here but when sensible and constructive posters like dennyc and clackscat are expressing such grave concerns, SK should be bothered too, although of course those two posters have never played professional football or managed a senior football club (as far as I know) so they can be quickly discounted 😈. This was pretty much the "Souness Defence" to criticism but I don't think SK has reached those heights of performance. I'm sure he works very hard but things just haven't worked out for a whole lot of reasons this season, most of which have been rehearsed on here for a while. The board may let things play out because they think SK still has some "credit" but if these disjointed and spiritless performances continue, the fans may well turn on them as well as the manager and things will be liable to change quickly. Defeat against Celtic is probably a given, so the next three matches in February will be vital., all winable in normal circumstances for a competent and motivated football team. If the manager can achieve a couple of wins at least and fashion an organised team which plays with some shape and spirit, he will certainly deserve some more time. However, for me, things are approaching Alexander levels of disengagement and disillusion with our "style" of play. I simply can't be bothered listening to the manager's explanations any more either. At least if the worst comes to the worst, given our choice of strip this year, I can kid myself I'm not really watching a Motherwell team 😱. May The Force be with us.