New Motherwell boss can get a good look at us in packed pre-season, says star
Stephen O'Donnell reckons their programme is a good one
Stephen O'Donnell hopes a packed pre-season schedule can give Motherwell's next manager a good idea of what he has to work with next season.
The Fir Park club are yet to appoint a successor to Michael Wimmer, who unexpectedly returned to Germany for personal reasons.
But Motherwell return for training on Wednesday, June 18, and they're booked in to return to Delden in the Netherlands for their pre-season camp seven days later.
The Premier Sports Cup group stages kick off on July 12, with games at Clyde on the opening day, and at Stenhousemuir on July 19, with midweek home matches against Peterhead (July 15) and Morton (July 22).
Motherwell last week announced they will round off their summer preparations with a friendly at home to German giants Hertha Berlin on Friday, July 25.
O'Donnell reckons that's plenty to get stuck into, and can't wait.
He said: 'I just saw the schedule the other day and I think [the Hertha Berlin friendly] is on the Friday after the last Tuesday game [in the Premier Sports Cup], so lots of games for a new manager to get to see his players and see what suits best.
'Hertha Berlin, I don't think you'll get much bigger challenges than that, so that will be a good one.
'More importantly there are cup games, and certainly if we get off to a flier and do well in that, it's a nice end to the pre-season, and hopefully it's off the back of a successful campaign.
'It's always a tough one for managers, when you're the Premiership team, and the others are right up for it, while you're trying to tweak things and adjust, so it becomes a strange position.
'It's good to get the games, you need the games anyway, and we approach them pretty seriously, so we should be in a good position, again.
'I would have been really keen to see how we did under the old manager, because he had started implementing his things, and hopefully bringing in one or two of his own players, but now that's not the case.
'The new manager has these games to get to know his players, in a system that suits him and the players, so it will be exciting.
'Hopefully we can be successful. We have a draw that has been kind to us, there are no big, long journeys.
'We can't complain, hopefully they're good games, good performances, and something to build on for the new season.'
Fans won't have to wait long to learn the club's Premiership fixtures, with the schedule for that released on Friday, June 20.
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