Jens Berthel Askou aims to 'break barriers' with Motherwell and deliver dynamic football

New Motherwell manager Jens Berthel Askou believes his side can “break barriers” for success and will do that with a dynamic and aggressive style of play.

Askou was appointed last week as the successor to Michael Wimmer, who unexpectedly left to return to Asutira just a few months into the job.

The Dane, who had a long playing career including a spell alongside Rangers manager Russell Martin in Norwich City’s defence, has managed Vendsyssel, HB Thorshavn, Horsens and IFK Gothenburg in his career so far.

His last two posts were as assistant manager at Sparta Prague and FC Copenhagen but he has now stepped back into a front-line job and the 42-year-old says he’s excited about what’s ahead.

He returned to being a manager “because it’s what I feel I’m the best at and what I thrive the most with”. And the attraction to Motherwell was because Fir Park offered “a platform to do something new and modern, and break some new barriers in Scottish football”.

Askou comes into the job with clear ideas on how he likes his sides to play, and he was happy to outline what the Motherwell fans can expect to see when his ideas are bedded in and his new-look side gets into competitive action.

“The football I prefer to play is dynamic football with players who want the ball, who want to do something with it and take the initiative, with big intensity on and off the ball,” he said.

“Aggressiveness, discipline, structure.

“We don’t just want to do the long ball in behind – that is still an important part of football – but we need to have more layers and more details in our way of playing football, using more dimensions in the game than what Scottish football traditionally has.

“We want to break barriers and traditions, but still show that intensity and team spirit that every fan will want to see.

“I expect to see a team that wants to win and shows that positive body language with a lot of intensity.

“Hopefully we see some intensity-filled football, which will be attractive to watch and play.”

As well as knowing new Rangers boss Martin, Askou is familiar with Aberdeen manager Jimmy Thelin from his time in Sweden.

“I haven’t spoken to Jimmy yet, but we had a very good relationship when I was in Sweden, very, very good guy, and a very good and successful coach in Sweden,” he said.

“And obviously Russ, who was a great teammate back in the days in Norwich, has done fantastic with his career, and I’ve had contact with him over the years. It’s going to be great to see both of them.”

While he will recognise a couple of faces when the season starts, Askou was also familiar with Premiership sides and sees a variety in style that he hasn’t come across much on his travels.

“I think some other leagues are more pioneering and the Scottish league, as far as I know, there is still a lot of variation in terms of the way teams approach the game,” he said.

“Whereas, if you compare it with the Danish league, there is not a lot of variation anymore. It is very streamlined to a very modern, Northern European, passing possession-based style, playing out from the back.

“Some teams have gone in that direction here. Celtic, for example, has done that with Brendan Rodgers and I am absolutely positive that Rangers and Russell Martin is uncompromising in his style of play. He will play some very interesting football going forward.

“More teams have tried to do it at the other end of the league and some are still doing it very traditionally.

“I think that it is very interesting to be in a league where the variation is very big.

“The recent Motherwell manager tried to modernise the team and we will try to use the platform he has built and go from there.”

Askou said he was pleased with the opportunity to put his own side together, with a number of players having left Fir Park this summer, but he was cautious about putting a fixed target on what could be achieved until he has had time.

However, he said that a place in the top six seemed like a realistic target after the team had been close last season.

“I think we shouldn’t talk about placement right now because there’s a lot of things to do still before we can say what this is, what this club is capable of this season,” he said.

“What I will say is I also looked at the club’s history over recent years. In the last five years we’ve been in the top six once.

“We’ve been 3.4 points on average off reaching top six.

“Is it possible if we lift things and if we do things a little bit better over 33 games, I think it’s possible to find a win and a draw, and we will try to do that.

“And with respect to the finances, we want to do it sustainably, both financially and football wise.

“We’ll see if we can break into the top six and see if we can stabilise the club.

“We know that it takes time and it takes continuity which the club hasn’t had recently.

“You know I’m the third manager in six months, so you know we need some time.”