Motherwell captain Liam Kelly admits the players let Steven Hammell down; interim manager Stuart Kettlewell believes the players are behind him; the Fir Park side sit 11th in the Scottish Premiership ahead of Wednesday's game against St Mirren
Tuesday 14 February 2023 12:26, UK
Motherwell captain Liam Kelly says the players accept they "caused" Steven Hammell's departure with a run of poor performances.
Hammell's sacking came after Saturday's Scottish Cup defeat to second-tier Raith Rovers, which left Motherwell with just one win in 14 games.
The Fir Park side host sixth-placed St Mirren on Wednesday, with only goal difference keeping them off the bottom of the Scottish Premiership.
Really disappointed to see the manager go as a consequence of performances, we've caused that," Kelly told Sky Sports News.
"I've spoken to Steven and Brian Kerr [Hammell's assistant] and they were hurting a lot.
"We know we've let them down as players but, ultimately, we need to do our best to keep the club in the Scottish Premiership this season."
Motherwell are on an 11-game winless league run, with their last Scottish Premiership victory coming at Dundee United in October last year.
"We're not daft, we're not naive and we're realistic to the situation that we're in, but we're a good run of results from getting out that situation," Kelly added.
"I know that seems unlikely at the moment but things can change quickly in football.
"We've got a lot of trust in the players that we've got in the building. Yes, we've been underperforming but we'll keep grafting and we'll do our very best to get a result on Wednesday night.
"Hopefully that will kick start a run of results to see us ok."
Stuart Kettlewell says the Motherwell players have looked him in the eye and told him they're behind him after he was placed in interim charge following Hammell's departure.
"It was a simple conversation of: this is how I intend to work for the next three days, this is what I'm going to do," the former Ross County manager said.
"You guys will feel, and rightly so, that you've let the previous manager down, but you need to own that, take responsibility for that.
"This is what I'm doing. You're either coming with me or you're not. If you're not coming with me and you don't want to respond to what I'm asking you, then tell me now and you won't be a part of that here while I'm in charge.
"That's fine, I'll respect them for their honesty, and nobody has put their hand up or said that's the situation - everybody wants to come forward and try to do the best for this football club.
"I take that as gospel now. You've looked me in the eye. We've looked into the whites of the eye and said to each and every one of them that that's how the situation is going to be.
"For us to compete against St Mirren we're going to have to have 11 to 18 or 20 players, including the guys on the bench. We're going to have to have every single one of them unified.
"If you're not able to do that, or I'm not able to achieve that in the short-term, then it will be exceptionally difficult to compete with St Mirren.
"Their work ethic, their organisation, their togetherness, for me is what has got them into the position they're in just now."
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