Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell is keeping targets in-house ahead of Premiership kick-off

Kevin van Veen declaring he’ll score 30 goals is ‘fine’ but you’ll never hear Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell shouting from the rooftops about what he’s going to achieve.

Kettlewell says the Fir Park club have high aspirations as they near the Premiership kick-off at Dundee on Saturday but they’re going to keep those in-house.

Setting themselves up for a fall is something the Well boss is keen to avoid, but he says there’s a sense of optimism about the Lanarkshire club and they’re looking forward to the “chaos” that is Scottish football..

He said: “I’m very clear that I want to keep this in-house, and that’s not to shy away from anything – I’ve seen situations where people start shouting their mouth off and start telling people what they’re going to get, and what they’re going to do.

“I suppose there’s a bit of admiration from me within that, but it doesn’t really concern me who else believes what we’re going to do, about telling everybody what we’re going to do as a group, or what we’re striving to achieve.

“The one thing I can tell you is the goals from myself, the staff and the players are high, we believe that we can push boundaries, but I think you set yourself up for a fall.

“If you listen to things I’ve said over a number of years as a manager, I’ve been very consistent in that as well, so that’s how I work.

“I touched on Kevin van Veen last year when he was telling you guys how many goals he would score, and I think that’s OK on an individual basis, I think collectively we have to keep our thoughts in-house and make sure we’re doing the right things in here, and hopefully people start to see that as time goes on.”

Kettlewell added: “I’m always optimistic in everything I do. I’m really looking forward to it,