MO: I DODGED WEE JIM'S BULLETS FOR YEARS SO I'M USED TO SNIPERS

MAURICE MALPAS insists the fierce criticism he's come in for is nothing compared to being on the end of Jim McLean's famous rollickings.

And the Motherwell boss reckons working under the legendary Dundee United disciplinarian will stand him in good stead during turbulent times at Fir Park.

Malpas has won just one of his first six SPL games in charge with the other five ending in defeat.

The Steelmen today entertain Hearts - also struggling with just one win in their last seven in all competitions - looking for three points to kickstart their season.

But Malpas shrugged off the flak he's taken and cast his mind back to his days under McLean at Tannadice.

Mo said: "It was character building being there, you had to be able to handle him and his criticism.

"I've been criticised and the club's been criticised in the last few weeks.

"But I can assure you that's KIDS' stuff compared to getting Wee Jim up at you shouting during a game, after a game and in between games.

"You couldn't play unless you were thick skinned, a strong character, and I'm a great believer that hard work will get me success.

"I'll work hard, I don't have any doubts about my ability or that of the players. Nor about what's happening at the club - the only downside just now is we can't get a result."

Malpas laughed off the idea that he's under pressure, claiming real pressure came when he was breaking through at Dundee United and didn't know if he'd get a WAGE at the end of the week.

Mo said: "Your pay depended on whether you were playing or not.

"We were on a small basic wage with a big bonus and if you went a few weeks without playing you felt it in your pocket.

"You were playing for your wage, your livelihood, every week and there wasn't any guarantee you had a big basic and a couple of bucks for appearance money.

"Put in a couple of bad games and you would find yourself in the reserves. And if the first team was successful you were in trouble - Jim rarely changed a winning side.

"You could be out of the picture and it affected your family too. That was hard because I was quite young, married and with kids.

"You panicked in case you couldn't get a game. Even an international wasn't guaranteed to play.

"If you had a couple of stinkers you were told about it and you were out.

It was spam for dinner those weeks!"

Despite a horrendous run of results since taking over from Terry Butcher in the Well hotseat Malpas insists he's LOVING life in management.

And he is confident his team can get back on track if they cut out the individual errors that have plagued them - like in last week's 4-1 home drubbing by Inverness Caley Thistle.

Mo said: "I haven't encountered anything I didn't expect to encounter.

"I've actually quite enjoyed the job - thoroughly enjoyed it in fact.

"I'd love to say it was easier than I thought it would be but results haven't helped that.

"I'd be far more concerned if we were getting thumped every week because we weren't good enough.

We're getting beaten because we're making too many mistakes. If we can eradicate those I'm sure we'll pick up points.

"At the moment we seem to be making errors that cost us a goal and cost us games. And it's not just one mistake in matches at times - it's two and three.

"We can train, we can coach but we can't legislate for that.

"We've been on at the players this week about the concentration factor, we've highlighted the individual errors and if we're going to mak mistakes now they have to be further up the pitch.

"Some of the errors have been from trying to play from the back so maybe we'll just have to start being a bit more direct.

"We watched a video of last week's game, I highlighted the things I thought were wrong and the players spoke back after it.

"I don't particularly like doing that.

As a player I never liked watching videos of games - especially the full 90 minutes - and as a coach I don't think it's necessarily the best thing.

"But last Monday I was trying to prove a point that the ranting and raving after the game was justified.

"I've had plenty blips in my career and this is what I consider a blip. The place isn't on a downer.

"Yes we're bottom of the league and disappointed with the number of points we've picked up.

"But there's a long way to go."

Taken from the Sunday Mail