Casey no regret over Motherwell move despite Hammell exit

Dan Casey never had any second thoughts about his Motherwell move despite the man who signed him being sacked moments after his debut.

The Irish defender was fast-tracked into the starting line-up for the Scottish Cup tie against Raith Rovers on February 11 and Steven Hammell lost his job as manager immediately after Motherwell’s 3-1 defeat in Kirkcaldy.

Casey was among the last of nine signings Hammell made since the turn of the year, but the pair had little over a week working together.

Things have since looked up for the Irishman, who has taken seven points from his first three cinch Premiership games under Stuart Kettlewell.

And speaking ahead of Saturday’s trip to face Ross County, the 25-year-old insists he had no initial regrets over his transfer from Sacramento Republic.

“Never,” Casey said. “I don’t think you can judge something so quickly. You have to work on things. Things aren’t going to be perfect at the start anyway.

“I’m not saying they are perfect now but we just need to keep going, and hopefully, come the end of the season, I will look back and say it was a good move.

“It’s been tough. I am very grateful to Steven for bringing me in. It’s football, things happen and changes occur.

“We were all sad to see him go but Stuart is in and it’s going well so far and we just need to keep working hard.

“Obviously it was a tough start, we were going through a tough phase, but we are coming out the other end and hopefully that continues for a while.

“You go through a tough spell and something clicks, so hopefully we can push on for the rest of the year.”

Casey had not played since late October when he lined up for his Motherwell debut, but an injury crisis in central defence saw him propelled into the starting line-up.

The former Bohemians and Cork player said: “It’s been tough, but in the off season I did a lot of running and kept myself ticking over because I knew if a situation occurred where I had to go straight in, I’d be ready.

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s still different. You can run as much as you like but playing games is different. It’s been tough but I have played a lot of games in the last few years so I was ready to step in and, luckily enough, it’s gone all right.”

The former Republic of Ireland Under-19 international spent two seasons in the United States, the highlight of which was second-tier Sacramento’s run to the 2022 US Open Cup final, beating three Major League Soccer teams along the way.

The former Sunderland academy player said: “It was different all right but I had a great time over there. I was in England before, but when you go away that far you are on our own so you have to grow pretty quickly.

“You experience different parts of life. I really enjoyed the everyday part of life and the football was quite good. I think the standard of football over there is overrated.

“I wanted to come closer to home and the opportunity was there to come to Motherwell. It was a challenge I wanted.”