All Activity

Watching Dundee, with 3 minutes to go and needing to hang on, and the keeper kicks it long for Celtic to immediately win it back. I'm thinking, "play it short and keep possession!"

I don’t know. Celtic don’t look like getting back in this game, Hearts and Hibs are already out, you wouldn’t back Rangers to go all the way given their tendency to choke in domestic games. And us? I don’t see us beating Aberdeen and I certainly don’t see them winning it two years in a row. Sometimes being a good ‘Cup team’ is enough to get you over the line and St.Mirren have already shown that they are a good Cup team this season.

No chance.

I’m calling this right now. St.Mirren are going to win the Scottish Cup and complete the double this season.

So far, so good.

C’mon Dundee. Would be nice to see them get a shock result today.

Probably too late, can't mess fans about again

I’d prefer 5-0

5-2 to us

I'd imagine they could but they probably won't

Can the clubs agree to move it back to the Saturday?

That is also true but I think if you look at his overall tenure as Motherwell manager he was probably a success. His recruitment however wasn't great. Players brought in under Kettlewell 22/23 Harry Paton - Was a decent enough player for us served a purpose, Decent signing. 23/24 Summer Window Johnathan Obika - Injured constantly barley played poor signing. Connor Wilkinson - Poor Striker can't remember if we mutualled him or sold him in January but another poor signing. Pape Souare - another guy who barley played another poor signing. Davor Zdravkovski - Was decent in his first season barley played in his second decent enough signing Theo Bair - Signing got a lot of negative reaction but proved us wrong. Ended up being sold for 1.5M and turned out a great signing. Mika Beireth - What a player we only had him 6 months but he was a fantasatic footballer and great signing. Brodie Spencer - Another really good loan signing could play both sides and was a really solid player for us. Decent signing. Oli Shaw - Probably the most frustrating St we have had at Motherwell in recent years his movement was really good but could not finish at all, poor signing. Georgie Gent - Another decent loan signing didn't really play first half of the season but when he got in the team was a really solid player and had excellent delivery from that left side, decent signing January 23/24 Adam Montgommery - Looked decent enough in the 2 games he played but got injured and returned to Celtic before the window closed so I guess it was a poor signing but more due to circumstance. Andy Halliday - Been a really solid player over his time at Motherwell so was a good signing despite his lack of minutes this season. Callan Elliot - Don't think he ever played for us so was a complete waste of money and a poor signing. Sam Nicholson - Really talented player but considering he's been at the club since Jan 24 and made 9 appearances to date has to go down as a poor signing. Jack Vale Loan V1 - Decent signing had a postitive contribution second half of that season. Jill Buyabu - Turned up played 1 game fell out with the manager was sent back to Sheff Utd, Poor signing. Adam Devine - Was really average to be honest got caught ball watching to put Airdrie out the cup last night and never really impressed for us, poor signing. Moses Ebiye - Absolute Chaos caused when he was on the pitch but it never really clicked for him was probably worth the punt for his physical attributes alone tho. Summer 24/25 Zach Robinson - Signed on the back of a decent loan spell at Dundee, was a decent ST for us without really standing out did score the winner against Dundee Utd to get us in to the cup semi final but has been out for a signinificant period of time. Poor signing. Johnny Koutrombis - Wasn't used at all by Kettlewell but has been very good for us under JBA. Decent signing. Kofi Balmer - Had a giant throw in and other than that was quite poor. Poor signing. Tom Sparrow - Thought he was a weird signing at the time but was 1 of our best players last season. Good signing. Fillip Stuperavic - Scored in the league cup group stages fell out with the manager was playing well on loan at Morton but done his ACL. Poor Signing. Ross Callahan - Played about 2 games was perma crocked massive waste of money. Poor signing. Liam Gordon - Been a very solid pro since signing and seems a proper leader when he plays. Decent Signing. Kyristian Hegyi - Think most thought he'd start the season as N1 don't think he made a competitive appearance after the League Cup group stages, Poor Signing. Steve Seddon - I liked him thought he was decent whenever he played but had some troubles with injury. Decent Signing. Marvin Kaleta - Started really well then his form fell of a cliff could probably pass as a decent loan signing. Apostolous Stamatelopolous - The fact we paid a significant fee probably counts against him scored basically 1 in 3 in his games last season but has been poor this season and struggled with injury. Poor signing. Tony Watt - Was decent enough for us had some really good games for us but wasn't in the same form he was during Alexander's reign. Decent Signing. Twanda Maswanhise - What a player he's turned out to be for us. Great signing. Jair Taveres - Wasn't very good was he, Poor signing. Jack Vale V2 - This time he was just crocked the whole time and we really didn't need another St. Poor signing. Jan 24/25 Kai Andrews - Thought he was decent under Wimmer and was a decent loan signing. Archie Mair - Played 1 game broke his hand returned to Norwich. Poor signing. Ellery Balcombe - Another poor goalkeeper who probably cost us top 6 last season. Poor signing. Luke Armstrong - Had a couple of decent games and was something different to our other attackers. Decent signing. Dom Thompson - Came with some decent perdigree having been at Arsenal U21 but wasn;y very good for us. Poor signing Based on that SK made 38 signings during his time as manager : 3 were very good - Biereth, Maswanhise, Bair. 2 were good - Sparrow, Halliday. 12 were decent - Paton, Davor, Spencer, Gent, Vale V1, Koutrombis, Gordon, Seddon, Kaleta, Watt, Andrews, Armstrong 21 were poor - Obika, Wilkinson, Souare, Shaw, Montgommery, Elliot, Nicholson, Buyabu, Devine, Ebiye, Robinson, Balmer, Stuperavic, Callahan, Hegyi, Stama, Taveres, Vale V2, Mair, Balcombe, Thompson I'd say overall it was below average. The majority of his first choice Xi were already at the club and he signed a lot of poor players. Doing this also made me remember just how much shite he signed for us, he's done the same at Killie tbf I'd only really want John-Jules and Kiltie at Motherwell of the guys he signed in the summer.

Fairly or unfairly, the manager is going to get the credit/blame for signings from Scandinavian football. So Daws is not likely to get credit for Said or Just. Fadinger, Wimmer will probably get credit for. But identifying and convincing the likes of Sparrow, Longelo and Priestman is to be commended. I'll admit that given the Danzaki experience and Stamatelopolous not setting the scoring charts on fire, I was sceptical of signing Priestman but he's been excellent (and Koutroumbis has been mostly solid). Number of players we were signing from the A League was making me think Daws had a house in Australia. But Priestman looks a find.. Generally positive just now about Daws and our recruitment. In his defence, previous failures we don't know if these players were our first choice targets (bear in mind how many keepers we had to sign last season?). So if we're signing maybe the third or fourth name striker on our wishlist, maybe the success rate will take a hit. Maybe having a manager with a strong personality and clear plan has convinced more of our first choice targets this season...?

The things you stumble across when the Well aren't playing. Graham Alexander's Bradford losing to Luton Town who have Devante Cole up front...

I mentioned a few weeks back about Daws, got loads of pelters shen things going bad but hasnt been mentioned during this season and done of the great signings. As for SK, I said plenty times. He done a lot of good but the way he engineered his move from the club and way he threw support under bus was shocking ( plus YouTube interview day wimmer was appointed was total lack of class) We now have an absolute brilliant manager who i am enjoying while we have him

Was thinking that suddenly moving the league game to Sunday 15th not ideal as we now only have 3 days between that and cup tie, same applies to Aberdeen though

I've given Daws a hard time previously, but over the piece, he’s probably earned some credit. Given the numbers and types recruited under JBA, it’s starting to look like he was left carrying the can for some of Kettlewell’s scattergun recruitment.

I think what maybe has become apparent is that, a Head of Recruitment is only as good as the brief he is given. If the manager requests a particular type of player, and a board puts significant financial or other contraints on the identification process, then you are likely to get predictibly poor results......

Sorry - absolutely no idea.

We've given Nick Daws some brickbats in the past, so its only right that he and his team earn some credit here too. Recruitment successes weren't all down to SK.

Being somewhat cynical, how much does that earn us?

Developing and signing players isn’t done in isolation, and it doesn’t wipe out what we were watching every week or how it unravelled. Player development is part of the job, not some bonus achievement, and it’s not a one-man show either. Yes, there were a couple of good assets, and he got a tune out of Bair and gave Miller a platform to develop. But there was also a pile of shite signings, an appalling winless run, poor football, and a messy exit where he blamed the fans. Suggesting he somehow solely bankrolled JBA is a ridiculous take, ignoring all the wider context. His time as Motherwell manager was, overall, a complete failure. His exit, and what followed at Killie, only confirmed that, and it will likely be the same elsewhere unless he actually changes, which he has shown no sign of doing throughout his managerial career so far. He’s an incompetent clown who believes his own hype. But even they get lucky every now and then.

Yes - 7.45 KO

Kettlewells stubborn attachment to a system that he himself proclaimed he had "never played before" was his downfall. Even if he had wanted to continue with the 5-4-1, he should have signed players to allow him to do that. Or at the very least, when he realised his signings couldnt play 5-4-1, he should have changed it. He gets some kudos for his first 18 months, but the way it unravelled so quickly was entirely on him. Remember he also signed Johnny K and then refused to play him when we were struggling for a right back! I dont normally turn on Motherwell managers and am usually the last shouting for their heads, but the way he manufactured his exit will always be a sore point for me, so any of the good stuff that went before, for me, is tarnished.