Jens Berthel Askou ‘extremely happy’ at Motherwell amidst Aberdeen links

Motherwell manager Jens Berthel Askou will take “positive energy” from being linked with other clubs but stressed he was “extremely happy” at Fir Park.

The Dane has emerged as one of the bookmakers’ favourites to replace Jimmy Thelin at Aberdeen and has admirers among the Celtic support after his impressive first six months in Lanarkshire.

Motherwell have only been beaten three times in the William Hill Premiership and comfortably defeated Celtic last month. The Steelmen conceded 11 league goals less than the Hoops during Wilfried Nancy’s month in charge.

Askou has Motherwell sitting two points off Celtic in fourth and is excited to see how far his team can go.

The 43-year-old said: “Look, I think for everyone who is involved in football and who is involved in a football club that is performing really, really well, and also a little bit better than people would have expected, it’s natural that the players, staff, get linked with other jobs.

“It’s not the first time and it’s not going to be the last time. Sometimes you get linked with getting sacked if you’re not winning enough games. That’s the story in the media.

“And it’s hard for us to control what somebody puts in a tweet or whatever it is and then suddenly it’s a story and then suddenly it’s the truth.

“So we take all the good attention that comes from us doing well and then we try to use that as positive energy and it puts a smile on our face when we wake up in the morning.

“But the main thing that’s important for us is that we can see and feel that we are getting better and that we are getting closer to the goal that we have within this building, to see if we can really make an impact in this league this season.”

The former IFK Gothenburg manager added: “I’m extremely happy to be here. I feel I have almost just arrived.

“And I’m, like everyone else here, really enjoying what we’re doing and want to see how far we can take it.”

Motherwell have a major fitness doubt ahead of Saturday’s trip to face Hibernian in influential midfielder Elliot Watt, who picked up an injury during last weekend’s win over St Mirren.

The 25-year-old’s performances this season have sparked interest from Rangers.

“We’ll see if he’s ready for the game or not,” Askou said. “It’s at the moment maybe a little bit unlikely. But we are still assessing and then we’ll see over the next couple of days.

“There’s always a fear that when a player gets injured that it’s going to be longer term.

“And until we have that final information then we will leave it up to the specialist to look at that and then we’ll take it from there.”

Australian midfielder Oscar Priestman is set to step into the team if Watt does not make it.

“He’s played some big games already where there has been a lot of pressure on him and he has really lived up to the demands,” Askou said. “So I’m confident that when we need him again, then he will do well.”