Stephen Frail hopes Motherwell can reconnect with fans after Kettlewell’s exit

Motherwell caretaker manager Stephen Frail is looking to reconnect club and supporters after a difficult week.

The club cited “personal abuse” against Stuart Kettlewell as the reason for the manager walking out on Monday, with his team fifth in the William Hill Premiership, after criticism began to affect his family at games.

Some fans have expressed sympathy for Kettlewell while others feel the support base has been unfairly tarnished, and Frail was keen to stress that it was a “very small minority” that had brought the issue to bear.

The departure came after criticism in the wake of consecutive defeats by St Johnstone and came as a shock to Frail, who admitted Kettlewell had kept the stresses “well hidden” but was not himself.

“When you look at it, it was a very small minority,” said Frail, who will take charge of Sunday’s home clash with Celtic. “We’ve got a really strong fan base, it’s a community-led club.

“I spoke earlier in the week about a game we lost last season. We lost 1-0 to St Mirren and we were excellent on the day. I can still see the players walking around the pitch getting a standing ovation.

“You don’t get that from a bad fan base. We’ve got a good fan base. It was one or two of the elements that have taken that a little bit too far.

“It shouldn’t be accepted in any walk of society, but unfortunately Stuart’s made that decision for the welfare of himself and also his family. It’s too much because he’s got a young family, three young boys and a young daughter. They love coming to the game.

“All our families love coming to the game. My two girls and wife come and they’re sheltered because I’m the assistant.”

Frail spoke to Kettlewell again on Thursday night.

“He’s doing well,” he said. “We saw banners outside supporting him. We’ve seen quite a lot on social media supporting him as well. I’ve seen emails that have been sent in the club in support of Stuart.

“We’ve got thousands of fans who don’t do that on a Saturday, who come and watch the game. That’s who we’re hoping for, along with the other guys who might look and think, ‘you know what, I did go too far there, let’s get behind the team’.

“We don’t go out to lose games. We don’t go out to play poorly. We don’t sit as a staff after a game and say, ‘that was okay’. We go over it, we analyse it to strive to be better for the football club. And it helps we’ve got everyone behind us. As I say, nine times out of 10, they usually are.

“We need to try and get this connectivity back, everyone to try and connect the club and make sure that we’re ready for this game on Sunday and for the rest of the season.”

Frail revealed that “one or two” potential transfers were still ongoing despite Kettlewell’s exit.

A third new goalkeeper this month might need to be on the shopping list after loan signing Archie Mair suffered a similar fracture to the thumb injury which ruled out Aston Oxborough for three months.

“Archie’s had surgery, so we’ll just be able to look at how long the prognosis will be for that,” Frail said.

“I’ve never heard of that injury before, your own player kicking the goalkeeper’s hand, and it’s happened twice in as many days.”