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Bradford City manager Graham Alexander admits he has ‘massive empathy’ with his fellow former Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell after also suffering personal abuse in his own reign at Fir Park.
Kettlewell, who is now manager at Kilmarnock, quit Motherwell after two years in charge in January citing the criticism he had received from supporters during a downturn in results.
Kettlewell said quitting was the right decision for his family, because it was ‘getting to the point where my wife has to take the children away from a game because you physically can’t sit there anymore’.
Former Motherwell boss Graham Alexander is now in charge at Bradford City
Stuart Kettlewell left Motherwell after suffering personal abuse from supporters
Alexander admits he was startled to read about Kettlewell’s exit from Motherwell, as it chimed with his own experience – and the knock on effect on his loved ones – at Fir Park.
He explained: ‘When Stuart came out and said why he left; I shook my head.
‘I’d thought it was personal to me. But obviously not. It’s not a nice experience and it’s unjust – whether you’re doing a good or a bad job.
‘But I know for a fact that me and (assistant) Chris (Lucketti) did a good job and I can see Stuart did a fantastic job.
‘I had massive empathy with him because I’d experienced it and know how horrible it is.’
Alexander helped Well qualify for Europe in season 2020-21 but quit after they were knocked out of Europa Conference League qualifying following home and away defeats by Sligo Rovers in July 29.
Graham Alexander took charge of Motherwell in January 2021 but left a year later
Graham Alexander and Bradford captain Richard Smallwood celebrate promotion to League One
He added: ‘For me, abuse after the first leg directed as myself and Chris got the ball rolling. That’s okay. I can live with that.
‘But when I got home that night my wife, Karen, told me she couldn’t come to games any more.
‘She’d committed to the job as much as me by leaving our family home of 20 years to live in a completely different city with no friends.
‘Managers can be quite a selfish bunch. But the sacrifices family make for you are big.
“So if they’re getting no joy coming to see your team play or don’t feel they can go to your workplace, that’s not healthy.
‘That brought it home and made me stop and think. I just wanted to plan for the second leg, get through it.
‘But we lost in Ireland and the stuff directed not just towards me, but to the players, was bad.
‘I sat up all night, spoke to chairman Jim McMahon in the morning and said I thought it was time for us to stop there.
‘It was, genuinely, mutual thing. For a while, I regretted it because I’d never walked away from anything.
‘But it genuinely felt like if I left, it would go away for everybody. And I think Stuart felt the same.’
