Ross County interim manager Don Cowie expects no favours from former boss and ‘winner’ Stuart Kettlewell when Motherwell visit Dingwall in the Scottish Premiership this weekend
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Don Cowie is grateful to Stuart Kettlewell for giving him a platform to launch his coaching career – but Ross County’s interim manager is not expecting any favours from his former boss this weekend.
Cowie was brought back to Dingwall by Kettlewell and Steven Ferguson when they were co-managers at County.
Upon the former Scotland international’s retirement in 2020, he then joined Kettlewell’s coaching staff as Ferguson moved upstairs into the chief executive’s role.
This weekend will be the first time, then, that Cowie and Kettlewell pit their wits against each other when the Staggies host Motherwell in Dingwall.
“It’s not something I’ve thought about it too much, but Stuart is someone I’ve got an awful lot of respect for,” Cowie said.
“He’s a winner – I’ve seen that at close hand. No matter what you’re playing against him, he wants to win and that will be no different this week so we’re going to have to be prepared for that.
“Stuart is a manager who is very hands-on. You get managers who prefer to take a step back and observe what is happening on a day-to-day basis.
“He was a young manager (at County) and you could see he wanted to be on the grass, coaching the players.
“He is very passionate and you get that real sense for him no matter what he is doing.
“He was great for me – he gave me the opportunity to become first team coach here and I’m very grateful for that.”
County will be going up against a side high on confidence after defeating Livingston 4-1 last time out.
Theo Bair has been Motherwell’s star man this season, leading the club’s scoring charts with 15 league goals and scoring twice in their win last Saturday.
He will not be the Steelmen’s only threat, as Cowie is well aware of, but he is also confident that County can pose some problems of their own this weekend.
“Motherwell have pace on the break and can attack very quickly,” Cowie reasoned.
“Bair’s confidence is sky-high and he is very physical, but mobile as well – a real threat – and we all know at this club what Blair Spittal can do.
“It is similar to a Hibs team who have the pace of Martin Boyle running in behind and Myziane Maolida. Last week gives us that confidence that we can deal with those kind of threats, but it is different personnel so we will need to be ready.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m speaking on the opposition, but I’m fully aware of what I’ve got at this club as well.
“Everyone can see we have players playing at their top level right now. Simon Murray has had a lot of headlines because he has been scoring a lot of goals and he’s been extremely consistent throughout the season.
“He’s been a real pest to the opposition and it is about him maintaining that and doing it in the last three games.
“Last Saturday, Eamonn Brophy never got the goal or headlines, but I thought he worked extremely hard alongside Simon which allows Simon to do what he does. It is about the collective.”
That group mentality has been one of Cowie’s key messages since taking interim charge of the side in February.
His team selections have backed up his words, too, as he has only retained the same starting 11 in back-to-back matches once.
The depth of options at his disposal has been helped by some key players returning from injury over the past couple of months, and he feels that is a valuable thing to have in a relegation fight.
“It’s massive, because when I first took this role we maybe had seven subs,” Cowie recalled.
“We were pretty thin, but now it’s the opposite. There are two or three players who are not making the matchday squad, so I have difficult decisions to make.
“It’s about the group, we are all together. We want to make sure everyone feels part of it, and realises it’s nothing personal if they are left out.
“It’s just about us as a football club trying to achieve what we want. As a group, they understand that.
“Three games in a week is going to be challenging. I spoke to the group on Monday and my words were that this is not about 11 players – it was about what was in the room there.
“We are going into three massive games for this football club, and everybody needs to be ready for those games.”
