STEPHEN CRAIGAN, the Motherwell caretaker manager, insists he has not given any consideration to whether he wishes to hold on to the post on a permanent basis beyond this weekend’s match against Dundee.
The Northern Irishman will take the Fir Park club to Tayside tomorrow in what will be his second game in charge since Ian Baraclough was sacked last week. For his first managerial moment in senior football on Saturday, Craigan, who normally coaches the club’s Under-20s, helped guide the first team to a 2-1 win over Partick Thistle, leading owner Les Hutchison to ask him to take the side once more this week.
Motherwell have now received over 85 applications from coaches seeking to become Baraclough’s permanent replacement, including former player Simo Valakari. While Craigan isn’t yet one of them, the former club captain refused to be drawn on his future or desire to remain in the job after Saturday, insisting he and Hutchison had not discussed the matter.
Craigan said: “Myself and the owner made contact last Saturday night and I spoke to him on Monday when he asked me to take the team. He didn’t ask my to do anything beyond this week, he just said ‘Take the team this week, I don’t want to ask any more questions, I don’t want you to give me more information on what your thoughts are, just continue what you are doing.’
“He also told me that naturally there are things in the public domain regarding speculation about managers but he said ‘put that to the back of your mind, get this weekend out of the way’.
“I wasn’t sure if it was a one game thing or two game thing, but he said ‘don’t have any distractions, don’t worry about anything else. When the time comes for something to be announced or someone to ask me the question, that’s fine we well do that’. I said ‘That’s fine I’ll move on with it’.”
He added: “I’m not too sure if it’s something I’d want to be doing regularly, but until the question is asked or until something moves itself forward then there isn’t really a question to answer.”
While Craigan is content to focus on the here and now at Motherwell, the man he replaced believes the future is claret and amber following a nine-month spell in charge. In a statement released through his management company, Baraclough stood by his football philosophy at the club, and insisted that the Lanarkshire side will be better placed going forward thanks to his influence.
"I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone connected with Motherwell Football Club during my year at Fir Park,” said the former Sligo Rovers manager.
"Understandably, I am disappointed to have departed, but I am equally proud of my time at the club. We worked extremely hard in the summer to put an infrastructure in place to allow the club to flourish in the long term. These foundations will benefit the club for years to come, I am sure.”
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