Kettlewell hoping new Motherwell CEO can be the 'glue' that holds club together

Stuart Kettlewell is hoping new Motherwell chief executive Brian Caldwell can be the “glue” that holds the club together going forward.

The former St Mirren, Ayr United and Shrewsbury Town CEO started his new role at the Fir Park club on Tuesday and the manager says the first impressions have been positive.

Kettlewell, who was speaking to the media head of Motherwell’s game against Dundee on Saturday – when they will need to win along with St Johnstone beat Hibs to keep their faint hopes of a top-six finish alive – said: “It’s been really good.

“Brian’s a guy that’s really well respected in Scottish football, I always reference how important is that you’ve done the job before and Brian has done it for a significant period of time, both in Scotland and in England, and I think he is the type of guy that could show you a list of achievements within that, which is important in the modern day.

“My early conversations with him have been really positive, he’s a pro-active guy and he wants to try and have some sort of impact at the football club.

“Some of his first words were that he is here to support and work with me and he is here to become that glue to bring every aspect of the football club together, which is massive.”

It was reported on Wednesday that the North Lanarkshire club have moved a step closer to potential US based investment.

And while Kettlewell is continuing to focus on the football side of things, and is not expecting any imminent changes behind the scenes, he believes it is a “positive step” and one that could help the club evolve if it comes to fruition.

He said: “It’s obviously a story that’s been out there, I think yesterday probably just indicates that it’s one stage further forward but my understanding of the conversations that I have had, and I haven’t been involved in a great deal of it, is that it is just a small step.

“My understanding again is that with all these things it can be a bit of a longer process, so that doesn’t necessarily change anything in my mind set and my kind of remit, if you look at our budget over the summer that’s going to look exactly how it is just now until someone tells me any different, which certainly doesn’t seem to be on the horizon or anything like that.

“But what I think it is, is a positive step, I always believe in evolution and if there is ways to improve things at football clubs, but, again, you will have seen that Brian started here on Tuesday, and then starts to become a conversation for the likes of Brian Caldwell and the board members and the Well Society at this football club to make sure that whatever happens next is the right thing for the club.

“I’ll probably take a step back and continue to concentrate on football, but again, just referencing back, it is one small step and I don’t think anyone should be massively reading into it that there’s going to be wholesale changes here at the football club in the coming days or weeks.

“The club have been good in terms of keeping me up to date, I love to think that I am a pretty vigilant person that likes to know everything that is going on as much as I possibly can, but you’ll understand also that there is only so many aspects that I can control as well.

“But what I do need to know is what the plan is moving forward and where we sit in terms of a plan for the summer, in my mind yesterday doesn’t change anything within that, certainly not at this stage but again just indicating that these things can take a significant period of time if that is what’s going to happen, because I don’t think there is anything legal and binding at this moment in time, all it is, is a sort of proposal and one more step forward, a decision is still to be made, and as always I think there is a lot of people here at this football club working for the greater good.

“It’s never ever a situation or a signal of intent for making anything worse or trying to drag anything down, it’s always about seeing if we are able to evolve.

“We’ll wait and see what happens, I’ll keep in contact with everyone at the football club and we will just continue to keep everyone updated as and when there is information to be heard.”

With two games to go until the split, Motherwell will need to win back-to-back games over Dundee and Hibs, while also relying on both those teams to drop points elsewhere to sneak into the top-half.

Following the game between the pair at Dens Park this weekend, Dundee then host Rangers before travelling to Aberdeen with Hibs playing St Johnstone on Saturday before travelling to Fir Park next week.