Stuart Kettlewell has come out swinging as he rubbished the criticism Andy Halliday received for not celebrating his goal for Motherwell against Rangers.
The Fir Park boss addressed the fallout to Halliday’s reaction after the midfielder scored to put Motherwell 1-0 up in the Premier Sports Cup semi-final on Sunday.
Former Rangers player Halliday netted then raised both hands out of respect for his former team and the club he has supported all his life.
Unfortunately, Motherwell would end up losing the game and missing the chance to play Celtic in the December finale.
Speaking ahead of the Steelmen’s game against St Johnstone at the weekend, Kettlewell blasted back regarding the Halliday drama with a powerful retort.
Kettlewell stoutly defends Motherwell’s Halliday
Asked about the whole situation, Kettlewell said: “For anybody that questions Andy Halliday’s commitment, I have to laugh at it, to be honest.
“To make that run inside the box, to get on the end of that cross. If Andy Halliday didn’t care about this club and take his job seriously and wasn’t concerned about Motherwell and what we can achieve, then quite simply he would be standing outside the 18-yard box.
“I understand people will always question celebrations, but he’s 33-years-old and he covered 12-and-a-half kilometres in the game.
“If you think he’s not committed to get to that number at 33, then I have to laugh at that.
“Andy served Rangers very well, it’s well documented that he’s been a Rangers supporter growing up, and all the rest of it. But he is fully committed to this club.
“I think all he was doing was showing a little bit of respect towards Rangers. I certainly don’t question his commitment towards this club.
“I haven’t for one second since he has been here, and I didn’t when he was trying to get on the end of that cross.”
Kettlewell makes Louis Moult comparison
Kettlewell admitted he is confused as to why the ‘narrative’ surrounding the Halliday goal was different to when Louis Moult didn’t celebrate after scoring against his old club Motherwell in the Premier Sports Cup quarter-final for Dundee United.
The Motherwell boss noted: “The last point probably on it is we had a situation here some weeks ago in the quarter-final when Louis Moult scored one of the goals of the season, to my mind. An absolute piece of brilliance against us, an equalising goal.
“From what I’m led to believe, and I don’t look at social media, but there was a lot of respect shown for his reaction, because he appreciated the club that he had done so well for.
“I start to become a wee bit perplexed as to why that narrative starts to change.”