wellfan

SOD has absolutely zero self-awareness here. I'd go as far as saying that he's pretty much just Kettlewelled himself unless he can turn his own performances around.

It’s not, but many were/are of the belief that we weren’t in bother and that Kettlewell and Frail should remain as they were.

Yep. Exactly as I posted yesterday. Rather ironically, he's pulled off a tactical blinder here.

There's clearly more to Kettlewell's reasoning for his departure than he and the club are letting on, although I'm sure it'll all come out in the wash soon enough. That isn't said to diminish the reality of any hurt he or his family have sustained due to alleged/reported/whatever verbal abuse dished out at matches; it's just odd to have resigned over a few nutters shouting vitriolic shite at you, particularly when it's considered that he's been getting that level of in-person abuse since the bad run of 2023. In the meantime, however, apparently we're the most evil disgusting bastards in football, and we have that club statement to thank for that.

I don’t see anything other than Frail being made ‘interim manager’ until the end of the season, along with the current coaches etc. That scenario, which may or may not be pretty, will give the club a decent amount of time and space to find the right candidates for the entire management and coaching team for next season. The pool of potential candidates will also be better by the end of the season.

The club’s statement on Kettlewell’s departure stinks of McMahon’s departure statement, where both continue to highlight the need for a head of comms or media strategy or something to that effect.

There is no need to blow the load early on Frail as he already has a rolling contract.

As you say, Frail pretty much has a free hit until the end of the season. He does well, then he either walks away or is extended. He doesn’t do well, then he either walks away or isn’t extended, citing that the damage had already been done under Kettlewell. It sure is going to be interesting seeing how Frail sets up his team and to see who he does/doesn’t start etc.

Given that Kettlewell has been allowed to blow the family jewels on his massive squad before he jumped ship, and the fact that Frail's salary is already factored into the budget until the end of the season, I can't see the club rushing (or afford) to employ a whole new management team at this stage. It'll likely be Frail to the end of the season, then reassess.

I've now downgraded my prediction to a rugby score.

Whether we like it or not, what we've seen today is perhaps the most tactically astute move by Kettlewell since he joined Motherwell. In all seriousness though, he has done the right thing for his future career here. The tipping point had been reached.

Their plan has clearly been to give him unfettered access to the chequebook.

So it seems that the only point they would ever be due a full 12 months of salary would be if they were canned immediately following the renewal reset point. In that case, either bin them now and pay a few months compo or tell them they won’t be renewed at the end of May unless they do a better bloody job!

Agreed 31 August 2024: https://www.motherwellfc.co.uk/2024/08/31/stuart-kettlewell-and-stephen-frail-sign-new-deals/ This article doesn’t say anything about 12 months, so I can only assume the rolling contract reset date is 31 August each year, which would mean they have 6 month left unless it automatically renews.

I’ve read this, but it doesn’t cover the technicalities I asked. Google AI states the following: A rolling contract of employment for a football manager is a contract that continues until either party gives notice to end it. This type of contract is a type of fixed-term contract that automatically renews on a set date. What is that set date? End of season? Or what? It can’t always just be 12 months from every date, or has that been stated somewhere?

Has anyone actually had it confirmed by the club that Kettlewell and Frail’s rolling contracts are 12 months (at all times) or season to season? The latter meaning they are only eligible for 4-5 more months of wages before the rolling period would reset for 2025/26.

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

You’re right, I don’t rate Kettlewell, and haven’t done for 14 months, for multiple reasons. What’s happening now, though, is many of his supporters and fence-sitters on this forum (and P&B) are coming to realise that the thrust of my year-long critique isn’t just a personal grudge. And it’s not just me who’s been critiquing him all this time. Do we really need to wait to finish in 10th place with a squad of 30+ players for us to collectively and finally realise that Kettlewell just isn’t that good?!

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.

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.

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.

A significant marker for success? I thought that not getting relegated was the absolute minimum aim of the job each season, particularly given that we’ve now been in the top flight for 4 decades. I’d suggest that a significant marker for success for a manager would be winning a domestic cup and/or European qualification. To suggest otherwise really is a race to the bottom in terms of defining significant achievements.

This game is unfortunately a free hit for Kettlewell to try more stupid stuff. Given the square pegs into round holes strategy we continue to see, I would not be surprised to see Maswanhise at LWB or O’Donnell at CM or Balmer at CF. We’re going to get battered.

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.

We’ve got a different Board now, so perhaps their approach could be different.