Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell believes community spirit and togetherness are driving the club forward.
Kettlewell hopes most of the near-6,000 Motherwell fans who helped make up last Friday’s bumper Fir Park crowd return to watch the team take on St Mirren in the William Hill Premiership on Saturday.
Motherwell would move up to at least fifth if they beat the Buddies but Kettlewell is also encouraged by other aspects of the club’s recent progress. Well set up a semi-final against Rangers with two homegrown teenagers in their starting line-up – Ewan Wilson and Lennon Miller, who netted the stoppage-time winner. The 8,327 crowd was a recent high and came on the back of a campaign to boost the crowd by the combined efforts of volunteers, Well Society board members and employee Sally Hall plus club staff.
Kettlewell said: “I hope everyone can see the direction of travel. That’s always really important to me, I’m not a short-term person. What’s really important is the buy-in from the community.
“I think everybody can see what we are trying to achieve. Not the specifics necessarily of the league position but we spoke about trying go on a cup run, about trying to pack this place out, about trying to get young players in our team, integrating youth players. So if we assess those factors, there’s a lot of positivity in there. I’m always huge on not just talking about something but trying to deliver something and evidence it, and I feel there is plenty of evidence.
“There have been challenges on and off the pitch but I think you can feel a real togetherness and community spirit within the football club at this point in time. That pleases me. I’m always a long-term thinker but it’s important you are showing improvements in every facet. I do believe that on and off the pitch we as a football club are growing. The tough task is to make sure you keep developing and you keep growing and keep performing from every aspect of the football club, not just what you see out there on the pitch.”
Togetherness and community spirit is at an all-time high.
— Motherwell FC (@MotherwellFC) September 26, 2024
Kettlewell was delighted to see the fans rewarded last Friday and is motivated to keep enticing them along to Fir Park.
“The fans 100 per cent got behind us, it was absolutely brilliant,” he said. “I spoke about it being magical in terms of the atmosphere.
“We all know how difficult it is to have that extra money to spend on tickets for football but my greatest fear, I just didn’t want to let them down. When you see that number coming out to back us in the fashion that they did, it was just so important to me that we delivered a performance. We have to show maximum effort and maximum commitment to the cause and I think the supporters saw that.
“I think it’s the best attended (domestic) game that we have had at Fir Park in 13 years outwith an Old Firm game, which tells you a story and I also think it gives us something to build on. I spoke so much about being a community club, about trying to keep that feelgood factor. We might not get everybody back in, round about 6,000 Motherwell fans were in here, but I’d love us to get close to that on Saturday and try and keep that as something that we generate throughout the course of the season.”