MARK McGHEE has asked Motherwell supporters for forgiveness over the manner in which he left the club in 2009 after taking the reins at Fir Park for the second time.

McGhee insists that the fans were not aware of the full circumstances surrounding his departure from the Lanarkshire club and subsequent appointment at rivals Aberdeen, and hopes that memories of the way he transformed the fortunes of the squad left to him by then predecessor Maurice Malpas will afford him the time to perform a similar job on the struggling side left behind by Ian Baraclough.

He said: “I remember when I came here the first time it was the exact same, there was those that said ‘why are they getting him? Who wants him?’

“There were those that were encouraged and those that were excited to have me as their manager, and it’ll be no different now.

“There will be those that see it one way and those that see it another, but what I then did was that I felt I proved myself to them.

“I improved the team drastically over the first year, we were decent and we played football at times - particularly during that first year - that was off the scale.

“Someone described a performance we had at Easter Road as ‘footballing pyrotechnics’. It was round about Guy Fawkes and I thought that was just great.

“My quote was that it was like watching Brazil, so the football we played was really exciting and I think I proved myself to the fans here that I could do that with a team.

“I’ll have to prove that again and I’m up for that, otherwise I wouldn’t be here.

“I don’t expect anything I did then to count for anything now, other than giving me an opportunity.

“That’s all I ask, is that they give me an opportunity, and we’ll see if I can create some fireworks again.

“I go back to the circumstances in which I left. It was a huge help for Motherwell that I did leave. John Boyle and I remain great friends.

“I didn’t leave because I was unhappy, I could have left a year earlier for Hearts but I felt loyalty to John and the people at the club and the fans who had been tremendous in what had been a terrible year because Phil O’Donnell had died.

“It’s the same club but different circumstances and different people from executive to player level so it’s a completely different challenge.”

A major factor in McGhee’s decision to return to Fir Park was the plans put in place for the club by owner Les Hutchison, the Barbados-based billionaire who famously savaged the Motherwell players for their attitude following the sacking of Ian Baraclough, saying that ‘they should hang their heads in shame.’

McGhee has no concerns about the mind-set of the players he is inheriting, however he warned that if they don’t shape up, they will be shipped out of the club.

“What their attitude has been is history. It’s what their attitude is from now,” he said.

“If they have an attitude that says they should hang their heads in shame then they’ll not be here.

“So I wouldn’t expect to see any performance in terms of attitude that would cause anyone to say that. That would be the first thing I would expect.

“I know it’s the first thing supporters would expect – attitude. They’ll forgive a bad pass or a missed shot but they won’t forgive a bad attitude and neither will I.

“I hope I can bring a freshness and give them new ideas which will stimulate them and put them in a shape that will get the best out of them,

“I have met them briefly – I have not given them any fancy speech. I have told them there is not any shortcut. I’m not coming in with a magic formula or magic powder but II will come in with a stopwatch and a whistle and I will be using them.

“One of the main reasons I’m here is because I got the impression that the owner has very established, traditional principles – hard work being one of them, honesty as well.

“That he talked about the players having to hang their heads in shame I think reflects that he expects people to be honest and hardworking and I think that’s the least that any of us would expect from the team.

“The way that he talks about it shows that he’s very passionate about it, he’s very ambitious about it.

“He wants it to be done prudently, and that’s fine, I understand that, and the way to do that best in these circumstances is with hard work, so I know where he’s coming from and I respect his attitude.”