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It’s small world, as they say. Michael Wimmer may have been an unknown name to the majority of Lanarkshire natives this time last week, but as it turns out, his former right-hand man - and close friend to this day - hails from Wishaw, of all places.

Mark McCormick, now co-trainer at TSV Hartberg, was Wimmer’s assistant manager at Austria Vienna, making the Bellshill-born former Livingston and Berwick Rangers midfielder the ideal man to give football fans back home an insight into the new Motherwell manager and his methods.

And if McCormick’s testimony is anything to go by, then Fir Park fans may have plenty of reason to be excited by what the Wimmer era may hold.

Wimmer’s only other stint as a head coach in his own right wasn’t an unqualified success, mind, as McCormick acknowledges. But the way he handled the difficult circumstances that met him there has McCormick convinced he will take to the task of reviving the Steelmen’s fortunes – and just as importantly, unifying the club once more – with relish.

(Image: Gordon Terris) “It’s not exactly the same, but there are a few comparisons I think with the situation he is walking into at Motherwell in terms of bringing the fans back together with the club,” McCormick said.

“At Austria Vienna, he was replacing a club legend, and he wanted to change the style of football. The squad wasn’t really built for the style that he wanted to implement.

“I’m not sure he got the backing of the club that he needed in terms of bringing in his own players to suit the style he wanted to play.

Read more:

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“But he won the fans over because he’s approachable, he’s honest, and he makes it very clear what he expects from everyone. He represented the club really well, and I think that will come across.

“Coming from the area, I know that people in the west of Scotland can see through bulls***. Those sorts of guys aren’t long in being found out, and what you’ll find with Michi is that he is really authentic and honest.

“Scottish football in general can be a bit wary of new things and outsiders coming in, so that is definitely going to be a challenge for him.

“There might be people there just waiting for him to fail, but I think he’s got the experience to cope with that. At Austria Vienna, if we were playing away to Rapid Vienna in the derby for instance there would be 25,000 there, so he won’t be fazed by anything like that.

“He’ll meet that challenge head on.”

McCormick has also told Motherwell fans to expect a team in Wimmer’s image that will meet the opposition head on. Mostly, in fact, in their own territory.

Whether he can take the team with the lowest possession and pressure stats in the Premiership and flip that on its head in time for the trip to Tannadice on Saturday remains to be seen, but McCormick says that in time, the fans will come to love his brand of aggressive, high intensity football.

“That is exactly what his teams are about,” he said.

“He is going to be super active against the ball, he is going to want to regain the ball high in the opposition half, try to get lots of turnovers and try to score off turnovers.

“He loves to do that, because as everyone knows, the higher you can win the ball, the less organised the opposition is going to be, and the more chance you have of getting a goal from that situation.

“He’s also going to want to try to control the game if he can, and if he has got the players there to let him do that.

(Image: Gordon Terris) "He’s smart enough to do a bit of both, but he’s also smart enough to know what his players can do.

“He likes his teams to be dynamic. I’ve been away for a while, but I think his style will be suited to Scottish football. I am sure he will be wanting to control the game with the ball, but what you’ll see is a lot of high intensity pressing without it, and I’m sure that will work well in Scotland.

“He will demand hard work from his players, and they will have to be able to be proactive against the ball if they want to play under him.”

That combination of honesty and his demanding nature will allow him, in McCormick’s view, to quickly win the respect of a Motherwell changing room that is rather bursting at the seams in terms of numbers, as highlighted rather comically by how long it took new assistant Ahmet Koc to shake the hands of the players in a video released by the club this week.

“He’s one of these managers who has clear principles,” he said.

“He isn’t wishy washy in getting his message across to his players, he is direct in his messaging and it will be clear to them what they need to do if they want to play.

“But coupled with that, he is approachable and open to his players and staff, and he gets respect from them in that way.

“I think he’ll do well.”