Premiership's latest manager wowed by Hearts as Tynecastle watching brief sparks impressive verdict
He’s only just arrived in Scotland but the new Motherwell boss has been left ‘surprised’ after watching Hearts.
New Motherwell manager Michael Wimmer says he’s been left excited for what Scottish football holds for him - after Hearts and Jambos supporters helped hand him an introductory taste.
The German coach has replaced Stuart Kettlewell in the Fir Park dugout. One of the clubs in the mix with the Jambos for a top six place, he has coached at clubs like Augsburg and Stuttgart in the Bundesliga and was most recently Austria Wien manager.
His first game as Motherwell boss will be at Dundee United this weekend. It won’t be his maiden watching experience of a Scottish game though after tuning into Hearts vs Rangers at the weekend.
It was a 3-1 victory for the away side at Tynecastle but Hearts put on an impressive display where they were left to rue missed chances. The game left Wimmer surprised and pleased by fans who live and breathe football. He said: “I know things about the UK football. Because many coaches from the championships I know very well. For example, Tim Walter. So I followed UK football, but I also followed Scottish football, and I like it.
“I like the intensity. The honesty from the football, and I like the passion. I like also the fans. They are passionate. This is crazy. I like it. Also on Sunday, I watched the game, Hearts against Rangers. I was also surprised by the energy and the power in this game. I'm looking forward to the first game.
“I like it to work in the traditional club because, in my opinion, the fans and also the club have this passion, and I like it. If you see that, for example, on Sunday, if you saw the fans, in my opinion, they live for football. I don't know, in Germany you would say this is perfect, but I like this. I like this, and this is honest football, and I think we should give the fans, with our performance on the pitch, this passion back to confirm this passion.
“To confirm this passion with giving everything, giving everything on the pitch to let the heart on the pitch, to go into each duel, to play intensively. The result, I don't know, in football everything can happen, but you can always bring the best performance, you can always bring the best effort in the 90 minutes.”
Wimmer has also declared that Motherwell are striving for that top six rather than mere survival. He added: “I think it's important now to get my playing style, my ideas into the club, and also to find the balance because it's the end before the table is split. So it's also very important that we are successful, that we get points. And so, yeah, I want to achieve, and I want to reach the top six, yes.
“I want that we play proactive football, try to play with our principles, try to be dominant also and have high ball wins. And my building blocks are from control, dynamic, to be goal-oriented, and this I want to say, and bring energy into the club, have many duels and, energy and atmosphere also to the fans. I think it's a traditional club, and a traditional club needs intensity.”