Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell says a lot of football ‘experts’ have a lot to say – but he’ll take counsel from those he respects in the game.

Kettlewell uses former Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou as an example, who is under fire for a string of poor results with Tottenham Hotspur in the English Premier League.

The Australian is a gaffer Kettlewell rates highly, and having come under fire from a section of supporters following the 1-0 Scottish Cup defeat at St Johnstone last weekend, he fired back.

Kettlewell said: “I always talk about football being knee-jerk, and I don’t laugh to disrespect anybody, but we talk about style of play in relation to what – who are you playing against, what pitch are you playing on, what’s the level of opposition.

“I know there are a lot of experts out there who know better than the folk that have walked in the shoes and experienced the trials and tribulations of it. You get things right, you get things wrong.

“I refer you back to last season. We had so many plaudits for how we were playing, the style of football, the brand of football, keeping possession of the ball, creating chances – but we went 15 games when we never won a game.

“You’re trying to find that balance between trying to entertain and win games, and I’ll refer you back to a lot of times for the so-called experts on Scottish football, who think you’ve played well when you win, and you’ve played poorly when you lose.”

Kettlewell added: “I’m looking down south at one of the best managers that I’ve come across and pitched my wits against in Ange Postecoglou. There seems to be an awful lot of people telling him how he should and shouldn’t play football. I know it’s a different league and a different level, but I can only give you my take on it.

“I’ve heard every opinion on what the guy does, pretty much every person that’s spoken about it hasn’t a tenth or a hundredth of his experience, and that walking in the shoes element, so I think you have to blank out a lot of that noise.

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“There are a lot of people I respect in the game who have that experience, a lot of people that I would listen to the opinion of. I’m not disregarding or disrespecting anyone, everybody’s got their opinion, we hear it a lot in Scottish football and throughout the world.

“But I think it’s safe to say I’ll not be influenced by any noise or opinions from people who have never done the job, or dedicated a life to this sport and to this game.

“But I think that’s the case for all managers, I don’t just think that’s the case for me at Motherwell.”

Motherwell are nine points better off than this time last season, reached the Premier Sports Cup semi-final, and could be due a large payout when midfielder Lennon Miller inevitably moves on to bigger and better things.

Kettlewell reckons they’re doing OK at a club the size of Motherwell.

He said: “We’re nine points better off than this stage last season, and trying to entertain, and a huge remit at this club is to try and develop your own players, try and make sure you bring players through from your academy and loan deals.

“Sometimes with that there are inconsistencies, but what I’m not prepared to do is become ridiculously emotional, because someone says they don’t like the style of football or are not happy with a particular game.

“You’ll forgive me for saying that; if I was in that mind-set then we’d be ripping things up every single week and we wouldn’t be sticking to the plan that we set out.

“It has actually been pretty fruitful for us, in terms of player sales, points gained, overall records and all the different things that come with it.”