Temur Ketsbaia breaks silence over potential Motherwell manager appointment

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Temur Ketsbaia says he is awaiting a decision over whether he will be appointed the new Motherwell manager.

Stuart Kettlewell resigned as the Fir Park club’s manager in January and since then, Motherwell have been searching for a replacement.

It was revealed they whittled their final shortlist down to two candidates this week with Ketsbaia one of those options.

Ketsbaia was said to have ‘impressed’ Motherwell chiefs after submitting his application and CV for the Lanarkshire vacancy.

And now for the first time, the former Georgian international has directly addressed the current situation regarding him and Motherwell.

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Ketsbaia directly addresses Motherwell manager vacancy

Ketsbaia has revealed a decision over Motherwell’s next manager choice will be made clear soon, before declaring he did not want to manage in Georgia or Greece again.

The 56-year-old former Dundee man then went on to claim he deserved a shot at managing in a major European league but wasn’t given the chance.

He thinks his nationality played a factor in that and believes if he came from Spain or Portugal, it would have been easier for him to progress as a coach.

As quoted by freelance journalist Mark Walker, Ketsbaia revealed: “It will soon be clear whether I will go to Scotland as manager at Motherwell.

“I am waiting to see what will happen. After leaving the national team of Cyprus, I said no to offers from Georgia and Greece.

“I said I would never go back to managing a team in Greece. The truth is I wasn’t given the opportunity in a major league in Europe that I believe I deserved with what we achieved in Cyprus.

“I think that abroad they don’t give as much importance to Cypriot football and that plays a role. When it comes to coaches, it matters a lot what passport you have.

“The Spanish and Portuguese passports are different. If I were Spanish, I could be the manager of a very big team.”

What Ketsbaia’s first five Motherwell fixtures could be

It appears Ketsbaia is the frontrunner for the Motherwell job with the second mystery candidate still unknown at this point.

It was reported by The Scottish Sun that the Steelmen could have their new man in place for next weekend’s trip to face Dundee United.

Ketsbaia could face the Tannadice encounter for his debut before a fairly kind fixture run that includes Dundee and St Mirren at home, as well as away clashes against struggling Rangers and Aberdeen.

Stephen Frail is currently in interim charge of Motherwell and it is expected today’s Premiership game versus Ross County will be his last.