MAN OF STEEL

NOW we know why Jim Jefferies and Billy Brown, who must have a combined age of around 150, have survived so long in a business which is increasingly dismissive of managerial types.

In fact, managers and coaches are tossed aside with the same lack of respect shown by all those dirty, rotten scoundrels who drop their rubbish on our pavements.

Incidentally, why are these basket cases not arrested, forced to wear overalls declaring "I am scum. I am a litter lout" and ordered to clean up the very streets they are ruining?

But that's a rant for another part of the paper and I won't clutter your minds with it here. So, where were we? Yes, the Rugby Park pair and their impressive longevity, which is all down to one person. Me.

Hold up, and stop sniggering at the back there. Just let me explain.

The other day I read in this very parish that Jefferies and Brown listen to Your Call on BBC Radio Scotland - incidentally, that's my programme - and so now you know where they get all their good ideas from.

Their secret is revealed. Jefferies and Brown listen to everything I say and then do the exact opposite. You are very welcome lads, and there's really no need to thank me. But since it seems to work for you two, perhaps Maurice Malpas should start tuning in. Then again, maybe not.

Results, including yesterday's 1-0 defeat by Hearts that leaves Well at the foot of the table, might suggest the manager needs help, but I'm willing to wager with Fir Park regulars that Malpas will get on top of any problems which he might be wrestling with and prove himself as a boss.

In fact, if he doesn't I'll change my allegiance. I'll turn my back on Airdrie and become a Motherwell fan.

Now, real Diamonds don't care much for the team who play out of Steel Town - for those of you unfamiliar with the Republic of Lanarkshire, that's Motherwell - so that's how confident I am that, given time, Malpas will emerge triumphant.

Okay, Motherwell won't win the league, but if the players start doing what Malpas tells them they'll find their best form and make everyone sit up and take notice of them again. It shouldn't be too difficult because very little has changed at Fir Park even if they did lose their manager.

As assistant to Terry Butcher, who is probably now all cut-offs and barbies Down Under, Malpas didn't have too many problems getting his instructions across to the players. Yet they seem to be having difficulties following orders now he is the manager.

They have been making too many mistakes and that's been turning the focus of attention on the new manager rather than the players themselves. If it's the case that some of them are failing to respond to Malpas because he doesn't shout and bawl then that probably says more about them than it does about him.

Fair enough, he's had a miserable time since taking over. But, while a different type altogether from Butch, it would be wrong to look on Malpas as a soft touch just because he won't often be found ranting and raving.

Neither will you see him poking fingers into the chests of players or pinning them against walls. And any players who have started to relax and perhaps even switch off will be given a rude awakening.

Although Malpas is more of a slow burn as opposed to Butcher, who had a much shorter fuse, players will perform or they will be dumped.

He has his own ways and if Motherwell and their fans can stick with him they will all enjoy the benefits once the players have been fully tuned in to his ways.

It is more psychology than psychopathy with Malpas, although he may have to adapt his style slightly to get through to one or two players who might be thinking they can take liberties. But no one should believe Motherwell's poor start to their campaign has left him feeling vulnerable or lacking in confidence.

Even so, he has to put up with headlines like one the other week which screamed "My Nerves Are Shattered" when the opposite is true. Malpas is not at breaking point. He isn't even close. He's a Fifer for God's sake and won't fold easily.

He's also a bright spark and not just because he has a BSc in electrical engineering and having learned, suffered and grown as a football man under the tutelage of Jim McLean at Tannadice there is very little Malpas hasn't experienced.

He doesn't want to bark like some of the old dogs in tracksuits, but he's battle-hardened and even a short conversation with him leaves you convinced he knows his business.

He is, though, a thoroughly decent individual with a strong sense of right and wrong and if he feels he or his players have been unfairly criticised sooner or later there will be a reckoning. He won't come charging out of his office foaming at the mouth with eyes bulging from their sockets, but he will make a point of seeking you out.

And, having criticised him, you had better make sure your own defence is rock solid. You won't be faced with a semi-coherent opponent spluttering profanities in your face because that is just not the Malpas way.

Logic is his weapon and he uses it to good effect, but as always in this coarse game which is run by impatient, unforgiving men who demand more for less, intelligence, decency and honesty are too often dismissed.

Hopefully, Malpas won't be and Motherwell must be strong enough to stand by a good man.

Taken from the Daily Record