New Motherwell boss Jens Berthel Askou confident ahead of tough opening clash with Rangers | OneFootball

The Scottish Premier League (SPL) season gets underway this weekend.

Celtic will be hoping to win a fifth title on the spin, and their fifth in total under Brendan Rodgers, while Rangers are aiming to end their rivals’ dominance under new boss Russell Martin.

But another intriguing storyline will be how Motherwell fare under new boss Jens Berthel Askou. The former Norwich City defender was appointed as the club’s new head coach in June.

Askou was most recently assistant manager at FC Copenhagen in his native Denmark, but has also had spells in charge of other clubs.

He won promotion to the Danish top flight with both Vendsyssel and Horsens and also won a league and cup double in the Faroe Islands with HB Torshavn. The 42-year-old also spent time in charge at Swedish club IFK Göteborg.

The Well endured a disappointing last season, finishing in the bottom half of the SPL. Michael Wimmer was appointed in February, replacing Stuart Kettlewell after his resignation, but left shortly after for what he said were “personal reasons”.

Now Askou has arrived aiming to bring some stability to the club, and with the desire of getting them into contention for the top spots.

“Having spoken extensively with members of the club board, it was clear from the outset that our ideas, ambitions and morals align,” Askou said after arriving.

“We are all ambitious people, and we’re all hungry for success.”

The club’s chairman, Kyrk Macmillan, meanwhile, pointed to Askou’s success at working with young players as a key reason for his appointment.

“We had a high number of impressive applicants, but we were really drawn to Jens,” he said.

“His track record of working with big clubs, delivering success and developing young players matches up with all our philosophies here at Motherwell Football Club. He has handed 26 teenagers debuts in five-and-a-half seasons, which I think is evidence of Jens implementing his ideas and morals.”

The new Motherwell boss may have to do without one of those young players, Lennon Miller, who continues to attract interest from other clubs.

But they have been busy bringing players in too. Defenders Emmanuel Longelo and Jordan McGhee, midfielders Elliot Watt, Lukas Fadinger, Olly White, wingers Ibrahim Said, Elijah Just and striker Eseosa Sule have all arrived at Fir Park this summer.

Askou says that business has not been concluded yet, however. “We need to add some more width, quality and competition in the squad,” he said. “I think we’ve been quite open about that since I started, that we are not done.”

He is, however, confident his side can prove a point against title hopefuls Rangers on the opening day: “The group has been quite harmonic, I would say, and it’s good enough and big enough to take on the first opponent here in the league.

“We will have to be sharp. This is the first week for a while where we could work a little bit more thoroughly on the training pitch, and we needed that, so that has been good.”