THE only sightings of great expectations around Fir Park over the last year have been nestled away in the classics section at Motherwell library somewhere between War and Peace and A Christmas Carol. Now a new chapter of positivity looks as if it is about to be written, the man behind it is keen to stay in control of those desperate to see a season-long story with a happy ending.

Of course, last campaign’s Premiership play-off victory over Rangers was a highlight for the Motherwell fans who witnessed it, but by then every last one of them had been put through the emotional wringer by a team that for much of the year was drawn towards the foot of the table like the Millennium Falcon being tractor beamed towards the Death Star. What little enjoyment that could be garnered from such an occasion was surely washed away in a flood of relief.

The outlook nowadays is much different, however. A change of regime has helped blow the cobwebs away and address a worrying slide of results that ultimately cost Ian Baraclough his job less than 24 hours after September’s League Cup exit to Greenock Morton. Under Mark McGhee, a sequence of results have seen a defeat to Celtic, a draw away at Aberdeen before Saturday’s 1-0 victory at Rugby Park. Given McGhee’s appointment came just a few days prior to that 1-0 Fir Park loss to the champions, Motherwell fans will be eager to see what improvements have been made and keen to see their team exert their dominance on their own patch at last. However, McGhee is out to temper those building expectations.

“One of the things I’ve got to be determined to do is control the expectations, and not let the fans control it,” said the Motherwell manager. “The modern game has changed. There are far, far more good results away from home than there used to be. In the past going away from home was a disadvantage, nowadays it’s not.

“Teams are so well set up and prepared that when they sit in against you, a lot of us don’t have enough to unpick it and you end up getting countered or suckered and you lose the game or points at home. I’m determined not to fall in that trap. I will play the game to win the game, I want to please the fans but I’m not doing it to appease them. What I’m doing is preparing the team to win the game, and whatever that takes, like we did at Kilmarnock, that is what we are going to do.

“Hopefully over time the fans will realise it is the right thing and will see better results.”

Following tomorrow’s game against Inverness, McGhee will travel to Barbados to meet up with majority shareholder Les Hutchison for the first time in the flesh. While back home his players may finally get a day off, their manager is looking forward to not just updating the Lanarkshire-born businessman at the progress of the squad, but to find out how he himself fits into Hutchison’s long-term plan.

“It’s more than looking towards January or a get together with Les. I want to hear what Les’ thinking is with the club is in general over the short term, medium term and long term to try and see how I can help or what bit I can be a part of,” said McGhee.

“I will learn a lot and I’ll come back with a defined mission. First and foremost when I came in I said to the board at the interview that my first job was about the Celtic game.

“There wasn’t any grand schemes to do this or that, and that’s still the case. My priority is to win on Saturday against Inverness and then maybe next week in Barbados will be the start of thinking about greater things.”