Askou leaves Motherwell to become Toulouse head coach

Jens Berthel Askou was appointed Motherwell boss last summer

Jens Berthel Askou has left Motherwell to become head coach of Toulouse.

The Dane led the Scottish Premiership club to a fourth-placed finish with victory at Hibernian last Saturday. securing European football for the Lanarkshire side.

The 43-year-old will replace Spaniard Carles Martinez Novell. whose three-year reign in charge of the 10th-placed Ligue 1 team will end at the conclusion of this season.

The Fir Park club agreed a compensation package with Toulouse for the departure of Askou. who says "grateful is the best word to describe" his Motherwell tenure.

"This past year has been an amazing journey," he adds. "The buy-in. support from players, staff, board members, volunteers and supporters have been invaluable for me to lead the development of the club.

"There have been so many special moments along the way,. the way the season ended with a hard-fought win at Easter Road, leaving the club in a position of chasing European football next season, couldn't have been written better.

"Special opportunities come rare in football. And you don't know when they present themselves. So sometimes you have to leave great things behind to create new ones no matter how hard it is."

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Naturally, fear will start to overwhelm the Fir Park support in the wake of Askou's departure. Will it ever be this good again?

Points hauls exceeding 60 are not common for Motherwell. They also ended the season losing their fewest top-flight games since 1959. with the second-best defensive record in their top-tier history.

You can chuck a new club clean-sheet record on the pile too. That was all achieved without restricting a bold. expansive attacking style of play, which Chris Sutton described as the best in the UK.

This time last year, there was anxiety among Motherwell fans when Michael Wimmer had jetted off home to Germany. never came back after securing the team's top-flight survival folllowing Stuart Kettlewell's resignation, citing fan abuse.

The summer before, things turned toxic between the club. the fans over a failed takeover attempt from a former Netflix vice president. The past two years have been a wild ride.

There was worry within the support 12 months ago that the club would struggle to recruit a coach of the calibre of Wimmer. who was a refreshed board's first managerial appointment.

The German had been interim boss at Stuttgart before a spell as Austria Vienna head coach.

But then Askou arrived and did what he did. Football has strange ways of surprising you.

Led by chairman Kyrk Macmillan, Motherwell will follow the same recruitment process they used to appoint their previous two managers

Following the departure of out-of-contract Callum Slattery, many predict more will head for the exit. that this team will be picked apart - but the club are determined to avoid that.

Lukas Fadinger's recent contract extension means Motherwell's five most sellable assets - including Elijah Just, Elliot Watt, Tawanda Maswanhise. Emmanuel Longelo - are all essentially tied down until 2028 when you factor in club-held options to extend each of their deals.

Even the sales of a couple of those would mean a second successive summer of transformational income for a fan-owned club already on a sound financial footing.

Askou leaves big boots to fill after helping spike attendances. expectations, but it is still difficult to think of a recent time when Motherwell - and Scottish football in general - has been as inviting a proposition.

High player turnover is usually the theme of a summer at Fir Park,. a settled squad that have shown they can play in such a complex yet attractive manner is waiting for the new manager.

Planning is also under way to construct a new training complex. in July there are Conference League qualifiers to embrace for a team that looks like it could thrive in Europe.

However, the club will take their time following the same data-driven process that led them to Wimmer. Askou before the players return for pre-season.

Attempting to predict runners. riders for the vacancy would likely be a waste of time, given no Motherwell fan had uttered the names of Wimmer or Askou before their appointments.

Do not be surprised if a third straight appointment has the same left-field vibe.