Steven Hammell knows every nook and cranny of Fir Park having painted the stands, cleaned the terraces and covered every blade of grass as a player.
But now he’s Motherwell manager? His next job is to transform the ground into a fortress. There’s few better qualified than the 40-year-old who, having spent all but two of the last 25 years employed by the club, has guided the Steelmen into third spot in the Premiership with three wins from his first four games in charge.
The latest, a 1-0 victory over Livingston, ended the wait for a first home victory of the campaign. And Hammell said: “We have to make Fir Park a fortress again. A good season is usually based on a good home record. We lost to St Johnstone which wasn’t the plan, so when we are here teams need to understand it will be tough. We need to be making most of our points this season from here.”
Hammell spent two years in the Well academy as a teenager before going on to make 583 appearances for the club across two spells. Latterly he was head of the academy after hanging up his boots before moving into the hot seat after the departure of Graham Alexander last month.
He said: “It’s crazy to think of everything I’ve done here over the years but it’s something I am proud of. I cleaned the stand, painted the stands, picked up rubbish after games, put the covers on the pitch.
“Every team from Under-8s to the first-team I have coached and taken charge of in matches. I think that puts me in a good place for the job I have now. I’m relaxed about being the Motherwell manager.
“I know the enormity of the job here, we want to do well and progress the club. I know how privileged I am to be the manager of this club.
“But I am confident in what we are doing, and with the staff we have here can help me achieve what we want. Days turn into weeks quickly, I have noticed that and weeks fly in.
“A lot of aspects of the job need a lot of detail and decisions need to be finalised and we need to make sure that everyone is on board. The stress and everything I can handle because my old job was stressful and full on as well.
“The difference I have now is if a player isn’t playing then I don’t have their parents wanting a meeting about why not! I am enjoying it so far.”
With just nine days left of the transfer window Hammell is still looking to add to his squad. A wide man, a full back and another striker are on the wishlist and the club is waiting to hear back from Robert Snodgrass after making the former Scotland star an offer.
Hammell said: “We have a fair few internationals here already which is a good thing for any team. I have said from the start we have good players in the building.
“We are trying to recruit new players but the improvement we have seen from the players who are already here is great. It has given me food for thought in terms of recruiting. We won’t spend the club’s money for the sake of it.
“We have one or two areas we would like to improve but if we feel we have better in the building we won’t bring in others. We have had a positive reaction since coming in.
“There was maybe a confidence issue which we are improving day by day and hopefully that continues. We are working around the clock to try to get some people in but if they don’t happen and we have to go with what we have here that’s fine.”
READ NEXT
