This is an excerpt from this week's McGarry on Motherwell, a free Motherwell newsletter written by Graeme McGarry that goes out every Thursday at 6pm. To sign up, click here.
I had the opportunity this week to have a one-to-one sit-down with Michael Wimmer, as the Motherwell manager gave me a fascinating insight into his own background, the sacrifices he is making to be here, what is driving him to be a success in Scotland and his short and long-term plans for the club.
The interview will be a long read in this weekend’s Herald on Sunday, but I thought I would give a little teaser of our conversation here, because when we met on Tuesday the defeat to Aberdeen – and in particular, the last 15 minutes, which he cited in his post-match interview – was clearly still eating away at him.
He revealed that he had addressed what he perceived was a lack of effort from his players after going 3-1 behind, and that the squad seemed to have heeded his message that it cannot happen again.
Read more:
While still relatively new to the club, Wimmer seems to understand its culture, and indeed, the culture of the town. And he has stressed to his men that while he can accept defeat, he will never accept a lack of effort while they are representing Motherwell.
“Before I came here, I got information and informed myself about the club,” Wimmer said.
(Image: Craig Williamson - SNS Group) “What does the club stand for? What are the spectators expecting from the team or from the players? What are the people in the town like? Is this a working people?
“I think this is important to understand and then you have to ask does it fit to me, or does it not fit to me?
“I think the working guy, the people who like to work, honest work, I like it. This fits to me. The people here are passionate, working people. The fans give everything for the club, the whole 90 minutes. And this is also what I expect from me. To give everything, 24 hours, seven days for the club.
“I'm here to work for the club and I give everything. And the same, I expect from the players, to do everything for the team.
“So, we spoke on Tuesday morning about the last 15 minutes at Aberdeen. I showed them the clips and it is never against one person, it's always about the topic, and my topic is to give everything 90 minutes.
“It doesn't matter if you're 3-0 in front or if you're 1-4 or 1-3 behind. But you have to give everything for 90 minutes. You have to work. We are responsible for the fans, for our club. We have to do this. And this is something, it is very clear from me, I expect it from the players.
“So, we talked about this and hopefully they agree. So many heads were nodding, so they agree with this. And hopefully we don't see it again.
“You can make mistakes, you can lose games. We are a small club, we are not certain to win each game. And nobody expects that we win each game. But I think everybody expects, also like me, that we give everything. And for giving everything you don't need a talent.
“It's only an attitude. And if you lose 5-1 but you give everything, then you have to say congratulations to the opponent, you deserved it. It was a better, stronger team that day, perhaps.
“But if you look in the mirror after the game and you're not sweating and you're not dirty, I don't know if it is an honest result.”
The top six race is still very much on for Motherwell despite the disappointment of the heavy defeat at Pittodrie, with the Steelmen heading to Rugby Park on Saturday to face a struggling Kilmarnock outfit who themselves lost heavily at St Mirren last time out.
With Hearts hosting Dundee United on Sunday, a win could really ramp the pressure up on the Jambos ahead of their own visit to Lanarkshire next weekend for the final match before the split.
If Motherwell can keep their hopes alive – and a vastly improved performance from the one last weekend will be required – then we could be in for a brilliant occasion at Fir Park next Saturday.
The least we can expect is that the players heed their manager’s call to give everything for the cause at Killie.
AND ANOTHER THING…
There was only going to be one winner of the Motherwell player of the month award for March, so well done to Callum Slattery after a fine recent run of form.
(Image: Craig Foy - SNS Group) He is one who, along with Tom Sparrow, seems to really be blossoming under his new manager, and it was great business from the club to get both to extend their contracts over the last couple of weeks.
And what do you know? The topic of the development of players such as Slattery and Sparrow just happened to come up when I spoke to Wimmer this week.
“One guy who at the moment is in brilliant shape is Slats,” he said.
“I think you see that he likes the style, he likes the position, he likes to get into many situations where he can show his skills, but I also have to say he works like a crazy guy in each training session.
“And now you see in the first game against Dundee United, he comes from the bench, then Dundee, he has power for 60 minutes, then 65, 70, now he can play 80 minutes. And this is also a development.
“I see many players with great potential here. Tom Sparrow, for example, Lennon Miller, Kai Andrews. But even guys like Dan Casey can improve, and also Andy Halliday, who is a very important part of the team and who is playing very well, in my opinion.”
Did I mention you can read my entire interview with the manager on Sunday in The Herald? Or at heraldscotland.com? Just making sure…
