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Sorry, but I'm not giving Robinson the budget as an excuse. If we're running with a tight budget then why do we have so many centre midfielders? Rose, Grimshaw, McHugh, Bigirimana, Gorrin, Campbell, Garden, Donnelly, Turnbull can all play there. Do we have one proper right winger at the club? People are suggesting playing 433, how do you do that without a right winger? Our budget may be small but a bigger question is how it is being used. Hartley, Dunne, Aldred, Mbulu, McHugh, Donnelly, McGuire can all play centre back. People complain about a lack of width in the team. Most of our budget, you could argue, has been spent on centre midfielders and centre halfs...

Without trying to compare too much or heaping additional pressure on the lad, he's very much in the Andy Robertson type mould. As fit as a fiddle, a great engine that lets him bomb forward as well as defend, good on the ball, excellent quality crosses and a decent eye for goal.

I don’t think lack of information has stifled many contributors on here previously :-)

Aye, you are right. Robinson has been guilty of misusing the funds he has at his disposal. There have been numerous examples of this, even last season bringing in guys like Demi who had less ability than the youth players in the same position. I totally agree there. My point regards budget is probably off-topic in regards to the Robinson discussion to be honest with you. I just feel like the level of investment in the team could be better and may be something we need to review if we are to comfortably stay in the division. Yes, Robinson should be recruiting better and more intelligently but I have serious reservations about the current club model if Hamilton Accies are paying basically the same money on wages as us: Motherwell - £42,662 per week v Hamilton £41,488 (last year) This ofcourse could have changed over the summer but I doubt it. Regardless of manager we can't continue to invest at this level and expect to be challenging for top 6. Yes, most clubs in the SPFL have some sort of single benefactor but it is the job of the fan model to present and implement a model which is realistic and in-line with fan expectations.

I think this is the main area where the finger can be pointed fairly and squarely at the manager. A club of our size is never going to have a lot of cash to throw around. Even after a relatively successful season. Its obviously very important then, that there is a structured signing policy targetted at improving the week areas of the team and improving quality/competition. That doesnt appear to have happened and from the the outside, some of the signings appear baffling. I get that in the market we operate, not all signings will work. I also get that some signings will be made for development purposes with a view to finding another Moult or Kipre. However, none of our signings can be argued to have improved our squad at this stage and that leaves the manager in a bind of his own making.

I maybe wasn't quite as happy as others were when we resigned Aldred. He looked decent, but very limited playing alongside Kipre/Dunne/McHugh. This season there's been no Kipre and he's looked pretty horrendous in most matches. I'd be looking to bin either him or Hartley asap from the starting XI. Maguire, McHugh and Dunne would be my shout as we persist with 3 at the back. Livingstone into left wingback and Tait on the right.

Disagree. We've been crap now for months. The players look fed up. The fans certainly are. Our up and at em style of hoofball isn't working. He's ruining our better players by this nonsense 3-5-2. Tait on the left Cadden on the right of midfield. NO FECKIN LEFT BACK. We create hee haw up front and getting beat at home to teams like Accies and St. Johnstone is unnaceptable. Im gutted he hasn't been punted this morning as we've 10 days to get a replacement.

Andrew Scott joins Sparra, Busta and Jay to look back on the defeat to St Johnstone, discuss Stephen Robinson’s future at the club, Motherwell Colts’ success over Sligo Rovers, Colin O’Neill’s comments on the current situation at Fir Park and much more. https://www.mfc1886.com/mfc-podcast-2018-19-episode-14/

I don't often agree with Ya Bezzer either but I always like reading what he has to say and to be fair to him he has been flagging up the poor league performance for some time now. I was actually coming on tonight to make the point you have made about Cooper, Russell etc (you could add Tommy Coyne to that list). I think the days of attracting big names in the twilight of their careers is all but over. I fall into to the happy clapper camp when it comes to retaining football managers. I think the term happy clapper is misused however in the sense that the happy clappers I believe are actually the realists who know how difficult the job of a football manger is and don't go pretending that there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow with the next new man that roles into town. A turn around time of about 2 years at Motherwell for a manager over the last decade shows how tough the gig is. For me the manager has to be given the support of the board and the fans. He has brought a professionalism to the club that has at times been missing in recent years. Those in the know say that he has taken the quality of the training sessions to a new level and it is clear that the players are fit and motivated even if things are not clicking at the moment. I think we must be careful not to confuse a lack of confidence with a lack of effort. Robinson's biggest crime has been the inability to replace Kipre and Moult but let's face it that was always going to be a very tough task. You can see the thinking behind bringing Johnson to the club. It has not worked out (yet) but that is the risk that every football manager takes. I enjoyed reading Weeyin's comments about McLean's time because it highlighted very well the lean times under McLean. Sadly I think the days of giving managers the time McLean had are long gone but it would be nice to think that Motherwell could still retain some of the spirit of the Chapman days. For every good spell with a manager I could highlight poor spells that people tend to forget about. McGhee's first six months at Motherwell brought some of the best football I have ever seen at Firpark. His second season (not his second spell) was poor and there was many a game of hoof ball and head tennis in that season. I think Robinson can ride this out and I would like to see him be given the chance.

Something needs to change, it doesn't have to be the manager but perhaps the attitude and approach. Who is going to make that happen though?

We have a very tough fixture list coming up after the next two against Dundee and St. Mirren. As is well known I'm not particularly a fan of Robinson but I don't see what kind of improvement is likely from firing him given the upcoming matches. There is no point changing the manager over the next couple of months. Right now the change needs to come from the manager and his philosophy rather than a change of manager. If nothing improves when we get into December then will be the time to make the change and give the incoming manager a better chance to pick up points and bring in new faces. Bringing in a new manager to face off against Celtic twice, Aberdeen, Rangers, Hearts etc is basically chopping off the new guys legs straight from the start. I'm afraid you wanted Robinson and now you need to take your medicine.