AS his players will agree, it takes quite the pipes to outdo David Martindale, his roar rather apt for that of a man managing the Lions. But even he found himself glancing sheepishly towards Liam Kelly at times on Saturday.
The Motherwell goalkeeper was a commanding presence for his side, nipping away at anyone who would listen, and right from the start demanding his teammates "f***ing do it".
Thankfully, for their sakes you feel, they did just that, seeing off Livingston in a convincing 3-1 win to take another stride towards Premiership safety.
While never overly troubled – a fine save from Matej Poplatnik aside – the Queens Park Rangers loanee was impressive and admits, with his future still uncertain, he is open to a move away from his parent club.
"All I know is I want to be playing," the former Rangers goalkeeper said. "I love it here at Motherwell. [A move to Motherwell] is something I wouldn't say no to.
"I've still got two and a half years left [on his contract at QPR], so the power is not in my hands but I'll be pushing to play.
"I'm their player, but I'm loving my time at Motherwell. Don't get me wrong, first and foremost I'm a QPR player and I need to respect that.
"Whatever they say will probably go, but If I’m not going to be playing at QPR, I'll try to go somewhere and wouldn't say no to Motherwell."
If Kelly, who has previous experience of Scotland squads, does make a switch to North Lanarkshire for the start of next season, he's in no doubt he'll be a better goalkeeper than the one who left for London in 2019.
“I've improved by being down south, in terms of my game management and I’m more relaxed," the 25-year-old said. "Nothing is that much of a drama, I'm more chilled out. As much as I talk all the time I don't talk for the sake of it.
"I've always been vocal and spoke a lot, maybe when I was younger I spoke a lot of rubbish for the sake of it now I just speak to help the players get into the best position."
He added: "We can't get top six now, it’s important for our own pride and the rest of the season that we perform. We’ve got a lot of fans watching us so everyone has something to play for
“When we play Kilmarnock in a few weeks they'll be fighting for their lives."
While the atmosphere around Motherwell – who said goodbye to the legendary Ian St John with a minute's applause before kick off – is suddenly febrile, it's a different story entirely at Livingston.
Saturday's loss was a sixth one in succession and, while unlikely, there is a chance they could miss out on the top six after being in such a certain position just weeks ago.
For defender Jack Fitzwater, whose header briefly threatened to haul Livingston back into the game before Christopher Long added a third to Devante Cole's brace, that simply can't be allowed to happen.
"We don’t want to throw it away," the Englishman said. "We have got ourselves into a great position and at the moment that’s what we are doing.
"It feels like we are a little bit low on confidence, especially with the cup final loss thrown in.
"We have to get back to basics, as simple as that. We have to try and grind a result out next Saturday. It’s up to us as players.
"We are all good players, everyone knows that. You don’t go on an unbeaten run like we had for nothing.
"Everyone has sit down, reflect, have a chat and, ultimately, put it right next Saturday."
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