Motherwell stars forced to cut back on Christmas as hectic schedule hits

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell says his stars will have to cut back on Christmas this year – but only because of a hectic schedule.A Christmas Eve clash at home to Rangers, followed by a trip to Aberdeen on Wednesday and a visit by Livingston on December 30 means there isn’t much time for festivities.Kettlewell says being landed with a Christmas Eve clash against Philippe Clement’s side wasn’t ideal – it was moved from the Saturday to suit Sky Sports, which angered both sides – they just have to get on with it.He said: “This time of year, for us, inevitably just becomes a string of playing games and preparing to play games.

It is that simple for us.“Whether we play on Christmas Eve we can’t control that, it was something that was thrown out there pretty late on for us.“There was no conversation of that’s what it was going to be, but very quickly myself, the staff and the players, our minds switched to that’s what it is and that’s what we’re going to do – I know Rangers will have to be the same, they’ve had a really hectic schedule.“Not to try and gain any brownie points, but we’ll be in on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, game on the 27th, and that’s what it is for us now – get the head down and concentrate on what’s in front of us.“There’s not going to be that time to celebrate Christmas and everything that comes along with that.“For us to start thinking about what Christmas Eve and Christmas Day looks like, it’s very much football and it’s very much a focus on trying to get ourselves in a position where we can pick up points.”Follow Lanarkshire Live Sport onX via@LanLiveSport, like us onFacebookor find us onInstagramfor the latest sports news, pictures and video.