Why was there fan unrest at Motherwell?

Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell has handed in his resignation after nearly two years in charge of Fir Park following fan unrest that led to "personal abuse" the boss could no longer tolerate.

Since his arrival, the 40-year-old has managed 92 games overall with a win percentage of 41.3% - the highest of any Motherwell manager since Stuart McCall.

Despite the club sitting fifth in the Scottish Premiership and having reached a League Cup semi-final this term, unrest has been growing among some members of the support.

One issue of concern among Motherwell fans had been the performances.

Although results weren't necessarily poor, a lot of fans weren't happy with the style of football that Kettlewell opted to play - minimal possession with a heavy reliance on counter-attacking - a style that led to back-to-back defeats to bottom-of-the-table St Johnstone in the manager's last two games in charge.

In fact, Motherwell have the lowest possession of any team in the top flight, an average of 37.7%, and the fewest shots. In terms of touches in the opposition box, only St Johnstone and Ross County have had fewer.

The boss has also continually changed the personnel in his starting XI whilst sticking to the same back five. In fact, since their last victory (a 2-0 win over Aberdeen on 5 January) Kettlewell changed at least one member of the defence in each game.

The manager didn't shy away from fan criticism and his recent comments, after their Scottish Cup defeat to St Johnstone, upset a large section of the support when he said he'll "never be influenced by people that have never done the job and never dedicated their life to this game".

Not all bad at Fir Park

With that being said, since Kettlewell's appointment in February 2023, Motherwell sit fifth in an overall Premiership table - only Celtic, Rangers, Aberdeen and Hearts have scored more points in that period.

Moreover, only Celtic and Rangers have scored more goals than the Steelmen.

A large reason for Motherwell's struggles this season has been down to injuries - although let's not forget they're still very much in the fight for top six (and even a European spot).

Not only have they had to sign two new goalkeepers, due to Aston Oxborough's injury and with backup keeper Krisztian Hegyi recalled from his loan by parent club West Ham, outfield players Paul McGinn, Lennon Miller, Zach Robinson, Ross Callahan, Apostolos Stamatelopoulos, Liam Gordon, Harry Paton and Jair Tavares have all suffered injuries this season.

But that hasn't done much in the way of quelling supporters' anger who are fearful of a lengthy winless run in the vein of last season's 15-game streak without a victory. Even though Motherwell are 13 points clear of St Johnstone at the bottom of the table.