Jonatan Johansson lands Motherwell youth coaching role

Johansson, below, who also had spells with Hibernian and St Johnstone, has officially signed on at Fir Park but has been around the club for several weeks. The 37-year-old spent the summer coaching 17-year-olds at TPS in Finland and is looking to build on that experience at Motherwell.

Five teenagers played for Motherwell during their 1-0 Europa League defeat by Levante in Spain on Thursday night and with Stevie Hammell (hamstring) and Michael Higdon (Achilles) nursing injuries, manager Stuart McCall could have to field another youthful team when Inverness visit Fir Park this afternoon.

Johansson is the man charged with preparing the under-20s for the rigours of the SPL and he appreciates the task requires an all-encompassing approach.

“It’s a great challenge for me as a new coach to come to a club like this, which plays in Europe and is one of the best teams in Scotland,” Johansson told MFCTV. “There is some great talent coming through. It’s very important years when you’re 17 and 18 and being so close to the first team but that last step needs to be taken. It’s all about taking that chance and hopefully I can help them.”

McCall hopes to have at least one of Tom Hateley, Simon Ramsden and Nicky Law back after they missed the trip to Valencia through injury but Shaun Hutchinson is suspended and also has an ankle injury.

Inverness manager Terry Butcher, right, is happy with the creative side of his team’s game as they head for Motherwell. Caley Thistle got their first win of the season at Arbroath in the Scottish Communities League Cup on Wednesday but they have been involved in three score draws and even managed two goals in a poor display against Celtic.

Butcher lost main striker Gregory Tade   and inspirational winger Jonny Hayes   in the summer but playmaker Andrew Shinnie and Aaron Doran, have started off well after missing large chunks of last season through injury.

Butcher said: “We have mixed memories of Fir Park last season. We lost 3-0 down there although we played some good football. And we won 1-0 when Jonny Hayes captained the team. Gregory Tade scored that day. We have lost   our two top goalscorers from last season but we are   still scoring goals so I’m happy with that.”

Shinnie has already netted four goals, half of his total from last season. “He has done very well for us in every game. He’s a quality player, and now he is fit and strong,” said Butcher. “It’s the same with Aaron Doran. Aaron’s a key player if we can keep him on a good level of fitness. If he keeps himself nice and sharp then we’ve got one hell of a player there too.

“People talk about Motherwell having good young players, but so have we.”