Inside the Motherwell dressing room after Stuart Kettlewell's surprise departure as 'bad run' narrative binned

Harry Paton found out gaffer Stuart Kettlewell had quit while he was making the dinner at home.

And the Motherwell midfielder is still trying to swallow the news. Kettlewell wasn’t just the Canadian’s boss. Having worked with him at Ross County and Fir Park, he was one of Paton’s mentors. A manager who trusted him on the pitch and gave him an opportunity to shine in Scotland. That’s why the 26-year-old has found it difficult to digest Kettlewell’s resignation in the face of fan abuse that was affecting his family.

Somehow, Paton and his team-mates have to recover to try and get a result against champions Celtic on Sunday. But just days after Kettlewell walked, the Motherwell man admits he hopes to work with him again in the future. Paton is convinced his now ex-gaffer would have been the best guy to get them out of their current slump. Ahead of the Premiership clash with the league leaders, he said: “It came as a big shock. Everyone in the dressing-room was surprised – no-one saw it coming.

“I didn’t find out until later in the day as I don’t go on my phone too often. I actually saw it when I was making dinner. Stuart has been a really big influence on me personally. I’ve worked with him for countless years now and he’s always been a big advocate of me. He’s helped me a lot in my career so I’m disappointed to see him move on.

“Obviously, I wish him the best for the future – and maybe down the road I’ll work with him again sometime. January has been a bad month for us as a team but we’re working hard to try and fix what’s not working. We’ve had bad runs before and the manager got us out of it. He was always able to get us through tough times.”

Like most of the Well players, Paton has had to field flak from the stands this