wellfan

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.

Fair enough. I think we have a lot to lose in terms of ticket sales if this shit continues this season. The bond between club and fans could also be damaged. Future season ticket sales may also be impacted.

I don't buy this view anymore and it's why I posted the above about this being a pattern of crises we're now seeing. He got time during/after the 15 game winless run last season to turn it around, and we ended up finishing 9th thanks to Bair hitting a purple patch. Perhaps he turned things around or we limped over the line. That's up for debate. We're now into a new season, suffering another bad run and have a humungous and (likely) expensive squad due to his scattergun approach to transfer business, yet folk are again suggesting he be given more time to turn it around. Unfortunately, however, the togetherness of last season isn't there and he's clearly a man rattled. More time to do more damage is looking more and more likely. At point point do we cut our losses and look for someone else? I'd say now, before either (a) he turns it around, we just about survive, and the cycle repeats itself next season with the budget being blown again to bail him out again, or (b) we're relegated this season as he fails to turn it around. The bigger picture is do we keep accepting season after season of streaky runs and crisis management as the new norm under Kettlewell, or would we prefer to seek a bit more consistency in form and an actual footballing identity?!

You can bet your bottom dollar that if Kettlewell survives this season's crapfest, just like he survived last season's shitfest, we'll find ourselves in yet another shitty situation of his own making come Dec 2025/Jan 2026. What we're witnessing now is a pattern. He needs to be shown the door; if not now, then definitely by the end of this season.

The new Chairman has his first impending crisis to deal with.

I think Miller will now leave this window. With us being knocked out of the Scottish Cup and on a downwards trajectory, there’s absolutely zero incentive for him to hang around until summer.

If only Kettlewell shared your levels of humility then maybe things wouldn't become toxic and the fans would remain on his side.

Yep, all they are is a group of players. There is no semblance of a functioning team amongst them. And that's entirely on the man who built and coaches this group.

Celtic will absolutely tear this ragtag group of players apart. A cricket score wouldn't surprise me.

Oh, so familiar. Groundhog Day. It's happening again. Again, isn't it?! He was shown to be gash by December 2023, and he still won't do in January 2025. But it looks like our meagre budget is enough for a 30-man first team squad now. Groundhog Day mk2.

The highlight of his post-match interview was him using the term 'tender hooks'. Damn, Stuart, those hooks be tender.

Exactly, but some genius gave him a contract and made him vice-captain.