Motherwell Manager Kettlewell Reports Collum’s Agreement on Penalty Decision

Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell has expressed his view that the club has been negatively impacted by recent refereeing decisions. Kettlewell further indicated that Willie Collum, the Scottish FA’s head of referees, concurs that Motherwell was wrongly denied a penalty during their 4-3 victory against Dundee United on Saturday. The incident in question occurred at Fir Park when the score stood at 3-1 in favour of the home team, involving Dundee United’s Luca Stephenson and Motherwell’s Steve Seddon, who appeared to be fouled in the penalty area. Kettlewell characterized the challenge as “as clear a penalty as you’ll see” and stated that he and Collum shared a common perspective on several occurrences during the game. Earlier in the match, Dundee United was granted a penalty, which leveled the score at 1-1, following a VAR review that determined Liam Gordon had fouled former Motherwell striker Louis Moult. Additionally, there were claims that Apostolos Stamatelopoulos utilized his arm in the build-up to the hosts’ fourth goal. While Kettlewell concurred with both of those previous decisions, he expressed bewilderment regarding the failure to award his team a penalty for the incident involving Seddon. He stated, “The conversation [between Collum and I] stays in house, but we saw the incidents the same way.” He further added, “I felt it was as clear a penalty as you’ll see. It’s one we’ve missed. I will be stunned if it doesn’t come out with five votes to zero in favour of a penalty kick [in this week’s Key Match Incidents report].” Kettlewell also mentioned, “We were told we should have had [a penalty] against Ross County at 0-0 and the game should have been stopped against Dundee [for a head injury just before they made it 2-1].” He concluded this point by saying, “As the season goes on, you hope those decisions go in your favour.” Separately, a contentious decision not to award Rangers a penalty for a foul by Liam Scales on Vaclav Cerny during Sunday’s League Cup final has been a prominent news item this week. Regarding the implementation of VAR in Scotland, Kettlewell commented, “We started really, really well [this season]. A large number of decisions were correct. We were making real strides.” He continued, “But from a personal point of view, I don’t think it’s been great of late. But the transparency and communication has dramatically improved.”