Motherwell v Celtic – O’Donnell ready for ‘massive challenge’

The Celtic Star

·2. Februar 2025

Motherwell v Celtic – O’Donnell ready for ‘massive challenge’

Stephen O’Donnell ready for ‘massive challenge’ ahead of Motherwell’s Scottish Premiership encounter with Celtic this afternoon…

Stuart Kettlewell Motherwell manager, photo by Vagelis Georgariou

Stuart Kettlewell’s surprising departure

It has been a crazy week for the Steelmen following Stuart Kettlewell’s surprising departure on Monday afternoon. The 40 year-old cited personal abuse from his own support as the key motivator behind resigning after two years in charge.

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Kettlewell left Motherwell in fifth place, but after Hibs’ 2-0 victory over Aberdeen at Easter Road yesterday, David Gray’s side have leapfrogged the Fir Park club in the league table for the first time this season.

A defeat for interim boss Stephen Friel would leave Motherwell only five points adrift of Ross County who languish in the relegation playoffs spot.

From third to eleventh, the Scottish Premiership is incredibly tight – thus, teams are working week to week and three points most certainly goes a long way considering the inconsistencies of majority of clubs in the league.

Motherwell have only won one of their last nine competitive matches yet for a long period of time sustained a fifth-place position. Meanwhile, Brendan Rodgers’ side will aim to make it three wins from three against their opposition this campaign to maintain a significant gap between themselves and theRangers at the foot of the table.

Motherwell defender Stephen O’Donnell gave his assessment of Kettlewell’s shock resignation whilst looking ahead to the visit of the Scottish champions on Motherwell’s official website.

“The start of the week was filled with a mixture of emotions – shock and obviously disappointment in how everything unfolded,” O’Donnell explained. “But we’ve got an exciting game against a top opposition and hopefully looking to get a positive result.”

“I think we’re all experienced enough, most players now have experienced managers moving on, albeit the circumstances around it are a wee bit different. But we’re a professional bunch, we work hard and as I say, hopefully be ready for Sunday.”

Fir Park, photo by Vagelis Georgariou

The former Scotland internationalist said: “It’s a massive challenge. I watched the game the other night, Celtic showing their quality, going toe-to-toe with a top Premier League side in Aston Villa, with all their riches, and we want to do that.”

“We want to go toe-to-toe with the best two teams in Scotland in Celtic and Rangers, to compete, and hopefully that’s something we can do. We’ve been working hard, we’ve got the full group together after there was a [bounce]game on Tuesday, so hopefully a hard session today [Friday] and we’ll be ready for Sunday.”

“I know they’ve got a few doubts and a few injuries from the game the other night. I’m excited for the game and hopefully it will be a positive result and one that everyone can get behind.”

Conor Spence

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