Stevie Hammell admits he would love it if Motherwell gave him the manager’s job on a permanent basis, but insists the focus is just on beating St Johnstone at Fir Park tomorrow.
Academy director Hammell was thrust into the interim manager’s job last week after Graham Alexander and Chris Lucketti stepped down, with he and under-18 coach Brian Kerr given 48 hours to prepare the side for a 1-0 win at St Mirren in their Premiership opener on Sunday, courtesy of Kevin van Veen's first-half penalty.
Having had an association with Motherwell that goes back to 1997, Hammell would love it if he got the nod from the board to continue, but says he’ll look at that next week.
Hammell said: “I’m in a position at the club that is a senior football position, and I’m grateful and privileged to be in the position I am just now, and I’m grateful every day for that.
“If that is then to progress into the first-team manager then fantastic, if that’s what the club want and they feel it’s the best.
“It’s something I’m prepared to do.
“But if they feel like that is the best thing for the club then great, we’ll see how that plays out.
“I’m in a good role within the club at the minute, but if they feel this is the right decision to make, and they see enough just now, then fantastic.”
Hammell revealed after the win in Paisley that he was to speak to chairman Jim McMahon and chief executive Alan Burrows, and revealed: “It was mostly about Saturday and how we see things, and I don’t want it to be anything other than that.
“I want it to be ‘Saturday’. We need to perform on Saturday. Anything after that we can discuss it after the game, or Sunday, Monday or whenever next week.
“Right now, absolutely every thought in my head is how we perform on Saturday.
“We had a right good chat yesterday, myself, the chairman and Alan Burrows about how we see things, going forward, and what we can do as a club to improve.
“It was a positive meeting.
“The whole focus this week has just been the game. We’ll get through this game tomorrow, hopefully positively, and then we’ll take it from there.
“My whole focus this week has just been this game, and that’s genuine.
“Absolutely everything I’ve done this week, and that we’ve done as a group, has been so that we can peak at 3pm tomorrow.”
Hammell says while management wasn’t necessarily on the horizon for him, he’s well prepared for it.
He said: “I’ve been retired four and a half or five years now and I’ve been working.
“I’ve not been sitting in the house, trying to network, be on the press or try to get on the radio or the TV, I’ve been working every single day.
“I’ve got every coaching badge you can get. I’ve got them at an early age and I’m improving myself every single day and I have been for years.
“I’ve been in charge of the academy in this time, which is a massive responsibility at this club.
“As much as being a first-team manager is new, the experience is nothing foreign to me.”
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