Stuart Kettlewell: Manager treatment a 'disgrace' | Kevin van Veen back to Motherwell?

Stuart Kettlewell has branded the turnover of Scottish managers a 'disgrace' as he hopes 'shifting the desks' will help improve Motherwell's struggling form.

The Fir Park boss is under pressure with no wins in their last nine games leaving them just two points from the bottom of the Scottish Premiership.

There have already been changes at Rangers, Hibernian, St Johnstone and Ross County already this season and Kettlewell insists that is the wrong approach.

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"I'm not trying to defend myself from anything, but the fact I'm now the fourth longest serving manager in this division and I've only been in the post since February is a disgrace," the former County boss said.

"I don't think that's right, I don't think that's conducive to any kind of development whatsoever.

"If you have a plan or structure in place at a football club, you want to develop young talent and you want to try and build a way moving forward you're never going to do it in a short space of time."

Motherwell return from the international break on Saturday away to leaders Celtic and Kettlewell decided to try "shifting the desks" during their break to try and rebuild some confidence.

"It's like when you're sitting at primary school and the teacher moves you from sitting beside your mates just to change the focus and the environment," he added.

"Undoubtedly I feel it's my job to ensure there's a different feel, a different mood and a change of environment allowing players to maybe bond that bit more.

"You only do that to see if you can get a response to see if you can get your next three points on the board. What I insist is we get some sort of reaction off the back of it."

'We haven't been ourselves since Celtic'

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Kettlewell conceded their dramatic late defeat at home to Celtic in late September has contributed to their slump in form.

Blair Spittal thought he had salvaged a point in the fifth minute of stoppage time at Fir Park as he cancelled out Luis Palma's 87th-minute opener, but Matt O'Riley fired in Celtic's winner two minutes later.

"I was asked the question the other day, "was the late goal against Celtic a pivotal point for us? That downturn in form came from then maybe," he said. "I think it is a mentality thing.

"Given how we've performed in games, the goals we've conceded, uncharacteristic errors, that's possibly a thing.

"That last-second goal against Celtic probably, there is a little bit of a correlation, that we haven't quite looked ourselves and we haven't quite been as good as we had been up until that point.

"I don't dig too much into that but, if that is a part of it then very simply, we as a group - and individually at certain moments - are the only ones who can get ourselves out of it.

"There is no divine intervention, there is no magic wand that tells you how and what you should do in certain moments."

Kettlewell dismisses Van Veen reunion talk

Kettlewell would "love" to re-sign Kevin van Veen but accepts the financial reality would make that prospect very challenging.

The Dutch striker returned to the Netherlands in the summer in a £500,000 move to Groningen after hitting 29 goals for Motherwell last season but he is unsettled on and off the park, admitting it would be difficult to leave his baby and partner in Scotland when the child is born in the coming weeks.

He has also had a dispute with the Groningen manager and has not started the past five games, despite hitting five goals in the previous seven.

Kettlewell said: "I have a terrific relationship with Kevin, I keep in touch with him, I speak to him. I didn't just like Kevin as a player, I liked him as a guy.

"There has been contact between myself and Kevin, purely on a personal basis, because I understand he is going through a challenging time. We have seen there's been a string of poor results and Kevin has probably been the marquee signing for Groningen, so undoubtedly at times he will bear the brunt of that.

"There certainly has been contact between myself and him but there has been for a period of time.

"Would I want a top-quality striker at the football club? Of course you would. Someone whose last act in the Scottish game was to score his 29th goal, you would love that person at your football club. I make no secrets about that.

"But in simple terms all this comes down to money. If there was an option there, there would be a lot to talk about in terms of what the financial package would look like and whether Motherwell could afford that because we know Kevin took up a massive opportunity to better his financial situation and hopefully for him it was to better his career."

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