Black keen on top job
Caretaker boss Kenny Black has asked the Motherwell board to consider him for the manager's job, Press Association Sport understands.
The Lanarkshire club received more than 50 applications for the post vacated by Stuart McCall last month and, while waiting for the issue of new ownership to be finalised, issued a statement this week stating they would "now seek to interview relevant applicants".
Black, who was McCall's assistant, was not one of those who officially applied but he stated his intent in a discussion with general manager Alan Burrows on Thursday.
Speaking at Fir Park ahead of the visit of Premiership leaders Celtic on Saturday, the former Airdrie United manager, though, was coy about his situation.
"I am still here," he said, when asked if his hat was in the ring.
"I had a meeting with Alan yesterday and we discussed various things.
"There was a little grey area there in that the club wasn't sure if I was interested in taking the job.
"The club know exactly what I am capable of doing. I have been here for four years and worked under Stuart and we have been fairly successful.
"Once the position of the ownership of the club gets verified, I think that will go a long way towards getting a bit of clarity one way or the other."
When asked if he will be interviewed for the post, Black replied: "The club will make a statement on that.
"As we are speaking, there is nothing clarified about an interview and I don't know if the club will give me an interview.
"I think it will all depend on how quickly the ownership of the club gets resolved.
"I think what they have done is start the ball rolling with regards finalising a list of who the board think are potential candidates.
"Whether or not they include me in that remains to be seen. But they will certainly have names that they would like to see.
"Whatever happens behind the scenes, all I can do is prepare the players as best I can and hopefully we can see a bit of light in the tunnel with regards points on the board."
With only one win in their last 10 games Motherwell have dropped to 10th place in the table ahead of the latest round of fixtures, only two points clear of St Mirren and Ross County, with the latter having the opportunity to leapfrog Well in their home game against Dundee United on Friday night.
Black, however, insists the 1-1 draw at Celtic Park in September offers encouragement for the visit of the champions.
He said: "We have performed here and there this season and that (Celtic game) showed what we are capable of. I thought we performed very well that day.
"We are out of all the cup competitions so we have to make Motherwell remain a Premiership side come the end of the season."
Ronny Deila is looking for revenge when Celtic travel to struggling Motherwell on Saturday.
The Steelmen deprived the Premiership leaders of two points in a hard-fought 1-1 draw at Parkhead in September and Celtic ended the day five points adrift of leaders Dundee United, with fingers pointing at their Norwegian boss.
The Hoops have slowly battled back and eased three points clear of Inverness with a narrow but deserved 1-0 win over Partick on Wednesday night.
Motherwell, on the other hand, have struggled since their encouraging point at Celtic Park and are facing a relegation battle.
However, the Hoops manager is keen to make sure his side take all the points this time to make it seven successive league wins.
"We go into every game to win and we know we can win every game in the league if we are on top form," said Deila.
"I think it is going to be the same type of game as it was against Thistle.
"We will have a lot of the ball and it will be hard to break them down so we need movement and tempo to open them up.
"The first-half was poor against Motherwell the last time but we were better in the second half.
"However, that we didn't win that game is something to avenge.
"We need to be at another level than we were then to get the three points because it is harder to play away than at home.
"But we are at another level now and enjoying every game."
While midfielder Charlie Mulgrew misses out with a knee injury sustained against Partick in midweek, Deila will have Aleksandar Tonev available after the Bulgarian learned that he has to wait to see if his appeal against his race row ban will be successful.
Source: PA
