How Motherwell became Scotland's best team to watch: The youngest chairman in the country reveals why he demanded attacking football, the secrets of Jens Berthel Askou, a data revolution... and why they can get into Europe

Scottish football’s style mile is now located in a Lanarkshire postcode.

The product on the pitch is aesthetically pleasing. As well as turning heads throughout the land and putting posteriors on seats, it also has substance. It stems from careful design rather than an accident. And it should come as little surprise.

Chairman of Motherwell from last November, Kyrk Macmillan knows the pain of supporters who are forced to watch their team play in a manner which would make the eyes bleed. He’s been that very man.

A fan from birth, he made regular pilgrimages to Fir Park from East Kilbride. Having attained a Masters degree in International Fashion Management, business took him to Germany, then Denmark, in his 20s.

A long separation from Scotland meant claret and amber clashes were viewed from a distance. This was not always a source of joy.

‘I’d been watching Motherwell from afar and screaming at my television about us camping out on the edge of our own box,’ said the 34-year-old. ‘That’s not going to win fans back. We wanted to address that.’

The ‘we’ in question is the board at the fan-owned club. His place on it can be traced back to some evening browsing after he returned to these shores.

‘The Well Society were running an open forum night discussing different topics,’ he recalled. ‘My wife was still in Denmark at the time so, to be totally honest, I’d nothing else to do so I went along.’

This was around the time when Erik Barmack had tabled a divisive proposal to become a minority shareholder. The ex-Netflix vice-president eventually stepped away. Having made a striking impression with those present, Macmillan was asked to stick around.

‘I was asked if I was interested on taking the chair role,’ he recalled of a conversation which led to him becoming Scottish football’s youngest in the role. ‘I think I laughed and said: “No thanks”.

‘We had a couple of conversations afterwards and they were impressed with what I was hoping to do, and we agreed on the phone when I was in Germany for work. It’s been a whirlwind.’

It’s not hard to see why he would have been viewed as a good fit as chairman. For one so young, he has extraordinary experience of the world and commerce.

Explaining his exile from Scotland after graduating, Macmillan said: ‘I moved to Paris with my then girlfriend, now wife (Svenja).

‘There was an opportunity to go to Berlin, so we went there and then spent 10 years in Denmark. It’s not been just fashion, to be honest. Fashion’s probably been kind of dotted in and out of it.

‘I worked for a private equity company in Denmark which focused on the travel industry, cruise liners in the Nordics.’

His talent was recognised by the Danes when he was named No3 in the country’s top business talents aged under 36 in 2022.

‘I came back home and my wife had done up our flat with balloons and stuff,’ he recalled. ‘She pulled out the newspaper and my photograph was on the front page.

‘When I came back to Scotland, the family office was across construction and manufacturing, 14 businesses in total. For me, it’s about growth journeys with business and trying to get them moving. That’s what I enjoy.’

Aside from Motherwell, his most conspicuous current post is that of chief executive of Bee Inspired, the streetwear firm launched by former footballers Steven Robb and Mark Corcoran.

‘That’s the day job,’ said Macmillan. ‘We had a few loss-making years, but we’ve managed to get it back into the black. I’m not good at sitting on my hands.’

Stuart Kettlewell’s abrupt departure from the club at the start of this year left Macmillan and his fellow directors with urgent work to do in the search for a new manager.

The hiring of Michael Wimmer, a boss committed to playing front-foot football, had the team on the right path until the German’s sudden resignation.

‘It was a real shock, if I’m totally honest with you,’ Macmillan recalled. ‘Michael seemed to be settling in really well to life in Scotland.

‘We knew there were one or two things going on in Germany, but there was effectively a fresh health incident which came up with one of the family members.

'It quickly became apparent that the issue was more serious than he realised. Ultimately, we had a duty of care as an employer (to let him go).’

With all due respect to many managers of the past, Wimmer had opened the eyes of supporters to a brand of football that was both entertaining and effective. Those tasked with sourcing his replacement didn’t immediately know who they wanted - but they know what they wanted.

‘We went back to the type of football we wanted to play. It took precedent over everything else,’ Macmillan explained.

‘How do we address an operation revenue gap that we’ve got? The number one way of doing that is to get bums back on seats.

‘Probably with my background, I know that the product needs to be right. So, what fans are seeing and experiencing is as good as it can be.

‘We wanted a high-possession type game where we were on the front foot and aggressive.’

In time, the name of Jens Berthel Askou, the former Gothenburg manager, was passed to the three-person recruitment team. It immediately felt like he could be the one.

‘We had a FaceTime call an hour and a half after he’d won the Danish Cup with FC Copenhagen (as assistant coach),’ recalled Macmillan. ‘He was standing on the pitch with confetti behind him. It just clicked.’

It took a little longer for the Dane’s ideas on the park to come to fruition. They drew their first five games, but had held the likes of Rangers and league leaders Hearts in that run.

‘The League Cup group was tricky, but the Rangers game on the opening day was an eye-opener in terms of it having the potential to work against top-level opponents,’ said Macmillan. ‘It’s got progressively better since then.’

Berthel Askou’s impact is manifest in the fact his side have lost just two league games this season, a Premiership table showing them sitting fifth and their League Cup semi-final date with St Mirren at Hampden on Saturday. Arguably more impressive, though, has been the buy-in from the town.

‘Ballpark, I would say, we’re probably sitting at about a 10-15 per cent increase in our gate size versus this time last year,’ Macmillan estimated.

‘It’s been a lot of good away crowds as well. We sold out the away end at Celtic Park for the first time in years.’

Players such as Tawanda Maswanhise and Stephen O’Donnell, who were already at the club, have been complemented by talents such as Emmanuel Longelo and Lukas Fadinger.

‘We’ve got a data partnership which has been really good for us,’ said Macmillan. ‘We applied it to the managerial process - a lot of metrics which we looked at. We do that with players as well. The data tells us one side of it. But it needs to be a good person. Someone who has values that make sense for us.’

Motherwell’s rebranding has captured the imagination. The team are bold and at times they have been brilliant. You begin to wonder what’s possible for the Steelmen if they continue putting on the style.

‘Jens and I actually sat in my house last week watching the Champions League and eating pizza on the sofa,’ MacMillan said. ‘We were just kind of chatting about what would success look like and how ambitious can we be.

‘Listen, we would love to win a trophy and qualify for Europe, but it’s a process. If we could finish in the top six this season, I’d be delighted. We want to be as ambitious as we can.’