First impressions of new Motherwell boss Jens Barthel Askou

The Herald Scotland

7 hours ago

This week, the press had their first meeting with new Motherwell manager Jens Berthel Askou. And to paraphrase from that famous scene in Jerry Maguire, he had me at 'I scored against Airdrie'.
It wasn't only his willingness to dredge the dark corners of his memory bank to give the papers a colourful wee line about his strike against the dastardly Diamonds that impressed me, though. The Dane was affable, certainly, but he also came across as driven, direct, and a clear communicator.
That will be most important of course in getting his message across to his new players as he looks to implement his style of play.
It was striking just how clued up he already appeared to be not only on his own squad, but the playing styles of the other teams in the division, and it was intriguing to hear how he thinks a more 'modern' style of play could be effective in the Scottish Premiership.
The cherry on top though is that he comes across well on camera and in print.
(Image: GordonTerris/Herald&Times) Sometimes, I think the media can be guilty of overemphasising our importance. At the end of the day, if a manager is getting results on the park, fans probably couldn't care less about how his relations with the press pack might be or even what he is saying in his post-match MFC TV interview.
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And as we all saw when Ange Postecoglou was prowling around press rooms up here, the majority of fans actually love to see a journalist being chopped down to size and their ego being pricked when they put forward a daft question. Not that it ever happened to me. Not at all, mate.
On the other hand, when things aren't going so swimmingly, the ability to convey a compelling narrative and explain what it is you are trying to do can buy managers a fair bit of time, and encourages more patience from the stands.
There is an element of familiarity breeding contempt when a manager is wheeled out in front of the cameras for the umpteenth time in a season, particularly when they are on a poor run of results. Fans start to pick up on mannerisms, and start to get annoyed by them, like Stevie Hammell scratching his head, for instance. Or they get fed up with long answers, such as those preferred by Stuart Kettlewell, particularly in the latter days of his Fir Park reign. Otherwise small - even absurd - things, that become big things in the wrong circumstances.
If Berthel Askou loses his first 10 games, I'm fairly sure he will be rubbing folk up the wrong way in his post-match briefings too, but the first impressions were good.
Scottish football, and I include the media in this, can often be hostile to outsiders when they land one of our top managerial jobs. That doesn't necessarily have to be a foreigner, it could be a coach who hasn't played professionally or as simple as someone who talks a fair bit about xG and low blocks.
That has changed significantly over the last few years, but getting the right balance between relaying your tactical plan to your fanbase while also being a personality that people can warm to is still more important, in my view, than some people might care to believe.
And having impressed the fans and somewhat charmed the press (not just Motherwell media mafia sorts) in his first press outing, it inspires confidence that he will also be able to communicate what he wants clearly to the players.
What he also conveyed, along with a sense that it probably wouldn't be wise to get on the wrong side of him, was a sense of calm. That after the tumult of the last few weeks following the departure of Michael Wimmer, things were back under control and a plan was in place for the new season.
(Image: GordonTerris/Herald&Times) There is much work to be done, as he readily acknowledged. He needs an assistant manager for one, following the delayed departure of Ahmet Koc on Tuesday. Despite the still decent size of the squad, he also stressed the importance of getting some quality players in, and while not giving away any names, he hinted that he is already a good way down the road in identifying his targets.
In short, it was all very reassuring. And more than a little exciting. After the bubble was burst a little following Wimmer's exit, the board seemed to have identified a candidate who inspires the same sort of intrigue around what he may be able to bring to the table and achieve with this team.
The proof will be on the pitch, as it always is, but hopefully Berthel Askou's appointment, and his talk of 'breaking barriers' in Scottish football, will reinvigorate a bit of that optimism that was around at the tail end of last season within the fanbase.
All he has to do now is give us a wee verse of that song I taught him about Section B and he'll be in with the bricks.