IT is a measure of Stuart McCall that his last duty as Motherwell manager was to travel to Greenock to watch a youth match.

It was there that he reached the decision he had been pondering for weeks. After the match ended, he met Motherwell officials and announced he was quitting. Five successive league losses had convinced him that someone else had to bid to restore Motherwell to form.
He could not be convinced to stay, persuaded that the run of poor results 
was a blip in what has been an extraordinarily successful spell at the Lanarkshire club he joined in 2010.
With minimal resources, McCall embedded Motherwell as a leading 
SPFL Premier League club and took them into a Champions League qualifying campaign. Motherwell, too, reached 
a Scottish Cup final under the manager. Heady stuff, but recent months have been sobering. Motherwell have struggled, losing regularly and sometimes heavily.
McCall has refused to point fingers at players and was never inclined to blame the restricted budget that is the necessity at Fir Park. His attitude was that 
he recognised the realities at the club 
and was prepared to work under them.
His acceptance of responsibility is no surprise to those who play for him and those who worked with him. McCall will be missed firstly as an excellent coach and manager who insisted on a pleasing style of play that utilised pace on the wings and the deployment of a centre-forward of strength in the substantial shape of a Michael Higdon or John Sutton. There was a purpose to Motherwell and it came
from the manager who instilled a game plan and encouraged a spirit that infused the club. Players were devastated at the news last night.
The majority of supporters, too, had no appetite for loud protests against McCall. There were some who voiced concern but most appreciated not only what McCall had done for their club but how he had done it. They applauded his professional expertise in the good times but admired greatly his honesty and his lack of griping against the financial realities that meant he had to rummage through the bargain bins in terms of footballers. He consistently came up with players of merit but this, again, was only part of the reason he was valued by the board.
McCall immersed himself in Motherwell, took on duties that were both draining and normally outside the remit of a manager. He was also dedicated in travelling to youth matches to divine precisely how the future of the club lay. 
It is this dedication that has almost certainly contributed to his decision. There was a growing suspicion in recent weeks that McCall's normally ebullient spirit had diminished. Regular defeat induces a fatigue in managers that only a run of victories can dispel. 
An unfortunate defeat by St Johnstone on Friday night was marked by the loss of a farcical goal and the missing of a host of chances. The manager, only besieged by his own sense of responsibility, must have beli  eved then that the fates were conspiring against him and that the sporting gods had decreed that he was to suffer indefinitely.
He then made the fateful decision yesterday afternoon to end a tenure at Motherwell that has been simply outstanding in professional terms and privately inspiring to those closest to him. 
As a midfielder, McCall won 40 caps for Scotland and played for, among others, Everton and Rangers. However, he was constitutionally unable to adopt an attitude of superiority and his humility won him great respect in the game. He turned down Sheffield United as his star rose with Motherwell but now at 50 will prepare for another challenge.
He will almost certainly continue to work with the Scotland national team which faces a crucial match with the Republic of Ireland later this month.
There was both sadness and tiredness in McCall's decision last night. But he has much to offer the game and it is hoped his departure from the front line is temporary.