WALTER SMITH is expecting a warm welcome at Fir Park tomorrow night - but only off the pitch.

Smith will go head to head with Craig Brown and Archie Knox after the pair were placed in charge of reviving Motherwell's fortunes after the departure of Jim Gannon.

And with two such familiar faces in the opposing dugout, Smith is looking forward to pitting his wits against the pair, but expects his side to get a less than welcoming reception on the park from Motherwell.

The Steelmen are on a fine run of form and Smith knows that his side face a real battle as they return to SPL action following a week of cup ties.

He said: "Archie and Craig are both football people and when they are out of work you feel for them in that respect because both have had terrific careers.

"Of course I worked with Archie at Rangers and at Everton. We had great success with Rangers and I always like to think we did a decent job at Everton in difficult circumstances.

"So it's great to see them back in and especially at a stage where you might have thought people might have discarded them.

"To see them both back is nice, with Craig at a remarkable 69 I think. The fact he was asked is bad enough but that he accepted is great I think!

"It speaks volumes for him that he has done that and with Archie he'll have no better person to work beside him.

"The pair of them have gone in and quickly changed the whole attitude of the place I think and everybody seems to be responding really well to their management.

"I know we'll get a tough match there - we'll get an extremely warm welcome, but we'll have a tough match tomorrow."

Smith, at 61, may well be glad to have Brown back in the SPL to claim the title as the division's oldest gaffer, but can he see himself still in a manager's job at 69?

"In football there are many strange things and if you look at Craig he was out of the game for some time and came back in," said Smith

"You can never say no, but if you were to ask I would say I can never imagine myself doing it at 69 but we'll just need to wait and see."