I’m not going to come on here and pretend that I knew who the Motherwell manager was going to be. Or, in fairness, that I even knew who he was once the club had confirmed his appointment.
However, I am glad that they clearly read my newsletter of a couple of weeks back and decided to once again look outside the box in plumping for Jens Berthel Askou.
The news caught us all a bit off guard. Especially one or two Scottish former pros it seems who were keen on the gig. But after the disappointment of Michael Wimmer’s departure, this was exactly the type of appointment the club needed to make to get the juices flowing again ahead of the new campaign.
Now, I am not just saying this because he is a foreign coach with a slightly exotic sounding name. But rather because the board have clearly followed the same process that landed on Wimmer’s name last time around, which inspires faith that they aren’t swayed by factors such as a past history in the Scottish game.
Equally, I’m sure that had the best available candidate been a Scot, they would have been appointed. But for clubs in Motherwell’s situation, where they have been stuck in a sort of mid-lower table limbo for a few years, I think the era of opting for a ‘safe pair of hands’ is over. Just look at the reaction to, well, just about every other managerial choice in Scotland this summer.
Yes, like any appointment, it could all go horribly wrong, Motherwell could be dragged into a relegation dogfight next season, and there could be an element of being careful what we wished for. But I would rather take the chance of breaking out of the morass of mediocrity by striving to move up the table and perhaps create something special, than be ruled by fear that it may go the other way.
A decent enough playing career as a centre back included a stint at Norwich City, but his coaching journey has taken him to the Faroe Islands (where he won a double with HB Torshavn), his native Denmark (where he managed Horsens and was most recently assistant manager at FC Copenhagen), Czechia (where he was assistant at Sparta Prague) and Sweden (where he managed IFK Gothenburg, no less).
He has had some ups and downs along the way, but there are clubs of real European pedigree on that list, and he has tasted a fair bit of success too.
Given how tight-lipped they are this weather, I might well be the only journalist in Scotland praising chairman Kyrk McMillan and his board today, but fair play to them for another bold choice.
AND ANOTHER THING…
As much as I have always believed that club allegiances should be left at the Hampden turnstiles when you’re going there to watch the national side, I can’t deny there is an extra surge of pride whenever you see a Motherwell player (past, or present) pulling on the dark blue.
And actually, it isn’t even confined to just Scotland. I well remember the ovation that the great Tommy Coyne got upon his return to Fir Park following the 1994 World Cup where he represented Ireland with such distinction, when the Steelmen took on (tenuous link coming up…) Jens Berthoul Askou’s former club, HB Torshavn.
Anyway, so it was this week that I was delighted to see Lennon Miller not only represent his country but do so with distinction as he ran the show against Liechtenstein. Now, before all the snidey snipers jump in, I know the level of the opposition. I am not saying that Miller is better than Zinedine Zidane because he caught the eye against the team ranked 205th in the world.
That didn’t stop an army of these ‘reply guys’ on social media responding to any post praising the performance of Miller by sneering at the level of Liechtenstein, insisting he is worth only £3m or thereabouts (which is, at least, a good couple of million more than where Maurice Ross recently valued him), and their favourite phrase of course, that ‘they just don’t see it’ with the youngster.
This wasn’t only fans of the larger clubs either, who you might expect at least to hold a snooty attitude towards a player from Motherwell, and who are perhaps emotionally preparing themselves to cope with the fact that he may have moved now beyond their clutches.
No, this was coming too from fans of teams of a similar size. Is it jealousy that Motherwell have reared such a talent while their own club has not? That there is about to be a huge cash injection to one of their rivals? Or is it simply that peculiarly Scottish trait of not wanting anyone to get too far above their station?
I just don’t understand why any Scottish football fan would feel the need to try and tear such a young talent down, or bring him down a peg or two. Particularly when the one person who absolutely isn’t getting carried away with the hype is young Lennon himself, who showed remarkable maturity beyond his years once again in his post-match interview.
It’s all just a bit weird.
It was nice though to see many other fans of all sizes of clubs shout these types down, and there were even more Celtic and Rangers fans beseeching their clubs to go out and spend whatever it takes to land him.
Miller has done himself proud this week. And he may well have ensured Motherwell are about to hit the jackpot.
