Motherwell: Has Stuart Kettlewell done enough to get job permanently?
- Published
Stuart Kettlewell has two successive wins as Motherwell's caretaker manager
After guiding Motherwell to a second win in five days, Stuart Kettlewell insisted there was "definitely no magic" about his impact - but has the caretaker pulled off the trick off earning himself the job permanently?
The former Ross County manager is one of three candidates under consideration by the Scottish Premiership club after interviews this week - Grant McCann and Ian Holloway are the others.
And while those two have significant bodies of work in England to their name, neither have done what Kettlewell has in the past week or so by earning victories over St Mirren and Hearts.
So, with Motherwell's prospects of prolonging their proud 38-year stay in the top flight now significantly enhanced, is the caretaker the man to take them forward?
Kettlewell himself urged "caution" after the game about making that assumption.
He says he simply wants what is best for the club and the board has to make sure that whoever takes charge can maintain the improvement for the remaining 12 league games.
"I am genuinely not pitching myself out for this job," said Kettlewell, who was embraced by chairman Jim McMahon after the game. "If the club think I can help them out, there is a conversation to be had.
"Genuinely, we have not had that conversation - I wasn't expecting that conversation."
'Kettlewell has put board in awkward position'
Speaking before the game with Hearts, Kettlewell said points and performances would make a more intoxicating case for him than "presentations and Powerpoints", and the reaction he has got from the players has been eye-catching.
The Motherwell players outworked Hearts and showed a far greater appetite for the contest. It was more blood and sweat than pass and move at times, but such are the foundations on which success is built.
"The gaffer just told us to do the fundamentals well," said goalscorer Jon Obika, while team-mate Calum Butcher spoke of the clarity of what they had been asked to do.
The caretaker brushed aside any praise - "there's definitely no Kettlewell magic, I can tell you that" - and spoke glowingly of the reaction of his players.
"It is my job to see if I can pick some weaknesses in Hearts and St Mirren, to identify where they can hurt us," Kettlewell said. "Once you put all that information out there, it's how the players respond it it on the pitch over 90 minutes."
And they responded to it in a way they rarely did for Stevie Hammell, who was sacked after a run of one win in 13 games culminated in last weekend's abject Scottish Cup defeat by Raith Rovers
"When you see the change in the players, as a board you're seeing the momentum, why would you change that and go with someone else?" asked former Motherwell captain Stephen Craigan on Sportsound
"Stuart Kettlewell has put the board in a really awkward position. If they've got their eye on someone else, he'll be giving them second thoughts."
The others they might have eyes on - former QPR and Crystal Palace boss Holloway and ex-Peterborough and Hull City chief McCann - might be able to point to successes in England, but how much do either know about the Scottish game?
Could they prepare a team to face relegation rivals Kilmarnock and Ross County in the next two games as well as Kettlewell might?
"Stuart has experience of the league, which is really important," added former Scotland manager Craig Levein on Sportsound.
"You can only go on the evidence. Midweek was a scrappy, fighting display from Motherwell, which I think they had been missing. Then today, they played a little bit as well. Some of their play today was really good."
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