Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell ignoring criticism from ‘experts’

Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell will ignore his critics as he defended his record in the wake of his side’s Scottish Cup exit.

The Steelmen failed to test the St Johnstone goalkeeper in a 1-0 defeat in Perth, where they return on Premiership duty on Saturday.

Fifth-placed Motherwell are 16 points above bottom side Saints and Kettlewell came under fierce criticism from a section of fans.

In almost two years in charge, Kettlewell has comfortably guided Motherwell to top-flight safety twice, overseen transfers that have brought in about £2million, taken the club to the Premier Sports Cup semi-finals and blooded young players such as Lennon Miller and Ewan Wilson.

But criticism of his style of play has intensified recently.

“There’s a lot of experts out there and a lot of people that know better than the folk that have actually walked in the shoes and experienced the trials and tribulations,” Kettlewell said.

“You get things right, you get things wrong. Have a look around Scotland at this time of year – weather conditions, pitches – it often dramatically changes from what it looks like on the first day of the season when the pitches are perfect and the sun’s shining. That has a huge bearing on football.

“I refer you back to last season. We had so many plaudits at times for how we were playing, the style of football, keeping possession, creating chances. We went 15 games and never won a game of football.

“You’re trying to find that balance between trying to entertain and winning games of football, which is always the most important thing.

“We’re nine points better off than at this stage last season and trying to entertain.

“And the bit that people keep forgetting about is a huge remit at this football club is to try and develop your own players, to bring players through from your academy, from loan deals, young players. Sometimes with that, there’s inconsistencies.

“I’m the first one to hold my hands up to that. But what I’m not prepared to do is become ridiculously emotional because somebody says that they don’t like the style of football or they’re not happy with a particular game.

“If I was in that mindset, then we’d be ripping things up every single week.

“The plan that we set out two years ago has actually been pretty fruitful for us in terms of player sales, points gained, overall records.

“That’s where every manager has to stand strong. You have to blank out a lot of that noise. There’s a lot of people that I respect in the game that have that experience, a lot of people that I would listen to their opinion.

“I’m not disregarding or disrespecting anybody. But it’s safe to say I’ll not be influenced by any noise or opinions from people that have never done the job and never dedicated their life to this game. I think that’s the case for all managers.”

Kettlewell is working amid a selection crisis which could leave him without 10 players on Saturday.

The absence of Jack Vale, Callum Slattery, Ross Callachan, Sam Nicholson and Harry Paton for much of the season and a more recent injury to Miller has left Motherwell’s midfield missing much of its creativity.

Miller and Slattery have not featured in the same team for 15 months.

“Some of the guys you mentioned are not bad on the ball,” Kettlewell said.

“They can handle the ball pretty well. I’ve always said I won’t make an excuse, but I’ll let you draw your own conclusion.”