Ross County co-boss Stuart Kettlewell says relegation hurts but promises club will be back

STUART KETTLEWELL last night pledged Ross County will come back fighting following relegation to the Championship.

Though their demotion had looked likely for much of the season, the Staggies co-boss was still left crestfallen by its final-day confirmation.

“It goes without saying that everybody’s head is down and nobody is feeling good about themselves,” said Kettlewell.

“The emotions are a bit raw. It isn’t the scenario we wanted but we knew it was a possibility.

“Nothing will ever prepare you for it, though. Nothing will ever make you feel better, no matter what anyone says.

“We have to take what has happened today and we need to go away and regroup and decide how we move forward as a football club.

“Things will change a lot in the coming months.

“It is what happens over the entire league campaign that counts and that has not been good enough from our point of view.

“We have won six league games and that is not good enough. You are always going to be in this position.

“From myself and Steven’s (his fellow co-boss Ferguson) point of view, we take full responsibility for the 10 games we have been in charge and we don’t start to point fingers, we don’t point fingers at individuals, it was what we did as a football club.

“That is what builds success and we have to now assess that and see how we can move forward as a club.”

As a former County player himself, Kettlewell has experienced the highs as well as yesterday’s lows and was keen that they should not be forgotten.

“We have not won enough games of football so we have to go away and look at the finer details of that and see where we have been successful,” he said.

“We have been trying to find a formula to win games of football but this scenario is exceptionally hard to take because the whole journey has been a bit of a fairytale.

“Everybody would accept that, for a club of our size and a club coming from Dingwall to have been in this league for so long. I have been a part of that and Steven has been a part of that as a player, a coach, a manager so it hits you hard.

“But we are fighters and we will come out fighting.

“I think it has been so well documented as a story and now we have to write our own chapter in that.

“It will be difficult, there will be twists and turns and changes along the way, but it is something we are willing to step up to.”