A BRAVE NEW WORLD AT WELL

Courage under fire is the mantra of manager Askou

- By Michael Gannon

NEW Motherwell manager Jens Berthel Askou has lifted the lid on his “uncompromising” philosophy for progress - and revealed his managerial inspiration is a Fir Park legend.

The 42-year-old has already clocked up the miles in a coaching career that’s taken him from his native Denmark to the Faroe Islands, Sweden, Czech Republic and now Scotland.

And Askou will soon be crossing swords with Rangers counterpart Russell Martin, an old team-mate from their playing days at Norwich City.

Ironically, it was a trial game for the Canaries in 2009 against Motherwell’s local rivals Airdrie that earned him his big move to England, where he’d eventually come under the wing of Well legend Paul Lambert.

And Askou acknowledged it’s funny how things work out.

He recalled: “Yeah, I scored against Airdrie, so I’ve got a good head-start here!

“I’d been on trial. Brian Gunn was the manager, so we were doing a training camp up here.

“We had some sessions and we played a training game against Airdrie, and luckily someone hit me straight in my face and it went in!

“I succeeded in convincing them that I was worth keeping.