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One thing you need to bear in mind though is a decent amount of our support consists of absolute roasters at the moment for some reason, and as such their knee-jerk reactions and short-term rage should never come into the decisions being made by the professionals who make up our board. We're booing our own team consistently, throwing bottles onto the pitch, threatening YouTubers, singing questionable songs and generally not painting a very good image of the clubs support at the moment. Which is a shame, as we actually have a club that fans of many other clubs would give their right arm for. We're well-run, we have a CEO who doesn't only give a fuck what the fans think, but is actually out there interacting with them on social media, we're fan-owned which gives us a say and insight into the club that other fans don't get, we have a social media team that produces some really cool content that provides us with a window into the club and the players, and despite the rattle-throwing and constant fear of impending relegation we've actually done really well over the past five to ten years. Since 2012/13 we enjoyed the following: Finished 2nd twice Finished 3rd Finished top six five times in the past ten seasons European football of some kind in five seasons of the past ten Reached two cup finals Finished 11th once, and even then it gave us the play-off games against Rangers I know this might not be popular, but in all honesty our fans have absolutely nothing to be complaining about. Even if we do have a bad season this year and finish in the bottom six. I honestly think much of our fanbase at the moment is spoiled.

The reality is that he has no credit in the bank with the fans after last season, rightly or wrongly. He did achieve a fair bit but thats now history and the team is now his and his alone. If we lose next week he won't get sacked but he will be under great pressure from the support. If we start the season badly, or even with mediocrity, and by that I mean late September, after a relatively easy start to the season, then the support will force the Board's hand, if that is indeed required. He angered a lot of fans on Thursday for a number of reasons: poor preparation; underestimating Sligo; failure to change much from last season; and his post match comments. I agree he won't get sacked on the back of next week's result but it will result in ramped up fan unrest and could herald the beginning of the end for him.

Quite honestly I could not care less about those three teams. And I'm not sure any other Motherwell fan cares about them either. My concern is only about Motherwell and the performances under Alexander. Are you suggesting we should stick with the wrong man simply because other Clubs did not see an immediate benefit from change, even if it continues to harm us ? Or are you saying Alexander is the correct man for the job? If so, say so. I might disagree but I will respect your view. If you believe he should be given more time, then how long and how bad does it have to get? Perhaps you could clarify. If last night had been a one off, then fair enough. Painful but fair enough. Benefit of the doubt and all that. But it wasn't a one off. Far from it. Fans have been suffering performances like that since January, and before if folk care to be honest. When you are winning it is easy to turn a blind eye to the direction that is being taken, but when you lose in the pathetic manner we lost last night then it is impossible to ignore. And please don't confuse a lack of surprise at the result with a desire for wanting Motherwell to lose just to prove a point. I don't for a minute believe any Motherwell fan thinks like that. I had hoped that the different approach to the last few games of last season, which ultimately secured a creditable fifth place and Europe, was an indication that Alexander had had a rethink and was prepared to amend his set up. But last night and his moves so far in the transfer market/coaching recruitment do little to support that hope for change. Neither did his post match analysis. Also his game management last night was simply a rerun of last season. How long into the game was it before he made a substitution having watched us struggle? What options has he actually given himself tactics wise? What did he do to affect the way the game was heading? I could just about live with him being given leeway on the basis of of the achievements last season, but only as there was a hint of change. Well I suppose there is a hint of change. We are even poorer, with even less leadership. I read in another thread a theory that folk had an irrational dislike for Alexander because he came across as arrogant and wore nice clothes. Seriously? To me that's deflection tactics by the lessening number that are still behind him. The only reasons folk don't take to Alexander are the product he is putting on the field and the outcomes on a game by game basis since January. If we were performing on the pitch nobody would care if he wore a Tutu and spoke Morningside. Success, entertainment and avoiding embarrassment are what fans hope for. And they could not really care less who delivers it. I might be wrong but I think it is inevitable that Alexander will not last the season, even if we do win in Ireland. For the sake of the Club and the fans I would rather it was sooner rather than later, even if it does cost us financially. Surely the positives about making a change are what should be the deciding factors, not the negatives. especially if those potential negatives are based on other Club's experiences.

Well done boys maybe this team should go to Sligo on Thursday

It was not humour to laugh at, banter or anything like that it was sectarian shite that has no place at Fir Park, or anywhere else for that matter. The club should have called them out for it. And its a sure thing that UEFA will fine the club for whatever dickhead threw the water bottle at the linesman, again the club should have called that out as well, I hope the culprit is identified and banned from Fir Park.

Although our views are polar opposites regarding Alexander, I found myself agreeing with your post until I got to the two sentences quoted above. How insulting to those who pay good money following Motherwell home and away and have the best interest of Motherwell at heart . Even the majority of the fans who are backing Alexander have expressed legitimate concerns regards performance (you included). And many of them are now voicing them more vehemently. The difference is a number are prepared to bear with him in the hope of improvement. And I don't quite get how MUCH of our fanbase are spoiled. Surely they are ALL either spoiled or not. And if I am being spoiled, god knows how down I would feel if I was actually being hard done to. Do you also stand by your reasoning as to why many Motherwell fans are anti Alexander? ie his dress sense and his manner as opposed to his style of football.

It’s Motherwell we are talking about not any other club

Too many happy clappers here trying to defend the indefensible. We’ve been absolutely brutal since December, and Alexander would’ve likely been fired had we not scraped into the top 6 and European qualification. He, therefore, rightly got the summer to turn things around. However, after going to the Partick and Sligo games, I’d suggest we’re worse than last season. He needs to be shown the door now. His arrogance and cluelessness will see us in a relegation battle.

Spoke to him, the imposter doesn’t want him in the team, think he was sold on a different brand of football to which we are now experiencing, it’s a shame decent player but not played to potential or allowed to.

Kelly Mcginn, Lamie, either Sondre or Oyala, SOD ? , Spittal, Slattery. Morris Tierney, Van Veen Think this is the best team I can think of, any ideas about right wing, really struggling who to put in, both Efford and Shields are guff. Think Big Bevis needs left out looked very nervy first leg. Have left Carroll out as awareness of what is going on around him is shocking. Sondre and Oyala not great but no one else to pitch in.

I thought the new signings all showed enough to suggest they might improve our team with time. McGinn looked decent, Spittal and Morris looked like they could develop an understanding and were looking to play positive passes. I went for Morris. He kept at it despite a lot of his work not coming off, mostly because he was zipping passes into the feet of teamates who seemed unable to control the ball.

Certainly not the point I was making. On 4-3-3 or variations of - we have the players to play that way. Just some so blind they maybe cannot see. Team is the sum of all parts - Alexander just not using that to best advantage. Back to basics? 4-4-2? You do realise football has evolved? It’s dinosaur stuff and totally ineffective in modern day - even St Johnstone don’t favour it!

PS if fans arent happy, why shouldnt they complain? We are a fan owned club after all....

Yes, we could, absolutely. But I've been a Motherwell fan for far too long to be that optimistic.

Questionable… and the input of our Head of Recruitment to now doesn’t look to be value for money at any rate. Whilst merit in what you say, key areas not addressed for me either - Leadership and the bonus of pace in defence, experienced midfielder & viable attacking option my preferences. Safe to suggest another keeper was likely though with the introduction of new goalkeeper coach fully expecting Matty Connolly to leave on loan as injury curtailed that plan last season. I don’t buy a lack of preparation as much as those who’ve seen only two results and one friendly they most likely could attend. We played St Mirren 2 days into pre-season for example. if I hear we lack pace or mobility in midfield again I think I’ll scream. Said before, retaining a shape over retaining the ball is the major problem. Balance required also, take Slattery on the right hand side, it’s folly. Pace? Hardly a major requirement in that area of the park, a capable engine wins over everytime. There’s stats that’ll back theory up of that I’m sure. An outlook to go beyond our forward line? We have personnel who can do just that rather than to shoehorn them into number 6 roles. We need to add energy & set the tempo where we never the other night. Take the shackles off…

Yes, but the issue is how many mistakes can we tolerate? One or two a season - ok, but if they become the norm or a regulalrity, which they are, then thats not good enough even for us.

Dunn another example.

This of course is the reality of the situation. Talk of sacking someone who has just been given the summer before a ball has even been kicked in a league game is crazy, he’s going to get at least a dozen games. The cup games always see shock results and Sligo are way ahead of us when looking at actual player match fitness, very obvious on the night. Even then we missed a stack of good chances which would have seen a totally different result and less of the total over reactions on here. I wonder at times if some posters are just on a wind up when they talk of us been doomed/ relegation certainties given it’s repeated every season and we often end up top half. I always hope for top half but have no idea at this point where we will finish. If the form continues he should of course be replaced, he’s had plenty of time now so no excuses but it needs to be remembered he picked up more points as manager in a 12 month period than any other team outside the old firm at one point, that was not down to being lucky. I’m personally not a huge fan of his football or post match analysis but he’s not the worst manager I’ve seen at Motherwell, the home games with McGee in charge were absolute cluster f@@ks.

My viewpoint on this is that he'll be given until around November or so. If we're not playing well and we're sitting in a relegation position or close to the bottom two then I'd expect we'll see a new man in January. Anyone thinking he's going to get sacked after he's been given the summer to spend money but before a league ball is kicked is absolutely mental. Even if we go over to Ireland and draw and still go out? He's not going to get sacked off the back of that result. Europe is a bonus. And we're not the first club to get caught early in our season by a smaller team who's already further into their season than we are. It happens virtually every season to one of the Scottish sides.

Thank you Kat and Spud. I thought we would be in the 60s with possession stat. 58% of the ball, 14 shots on goal, 8 corners and a 1-0 defeat tells us two things we already knew: 1) we are seriously lacking in creativity/effectiveness with the ball, and 2) we are prone to a complete fuck up at the back to result in losing games we shouldn’t be losing. Alexander has 6 days to fix both.

You can order the programme on Curtis Sport's website, they're generally rapid at getting them out as well. https://www.curtis-sport.com/online-store/Motherwell-v-Sligo-Rovers-21-07-22-p478710365

A massive factor was match fitness, play that half a dozen competitive games later and you get a totally different result.

Spot on dennyc

That's the strategy that worked so well for Aberdeen, Dundee and Hibs last season.

I would accept ‘not prepared enough’ and ‘not played enough games’ if I hadn’t seen that exact same performance for the last 6 months.

But we're still in the league cup, aren't we? It isn't a choice between playing in the league cup or in European competition. So we still have that slim chance of progressing far into that tournament that you mentioned. It all matters though, doesn't it? Getting a better-than-average crowd will help the club financially, that's for sure. And obviously every single fan has the option of doing that. They pay their money and can (within reason) hurl abuse at the team they supposedly support if they wish. One thing that's for sure is that it does absolutely zero good. Giving pelters and dogs abuse to the players and manager won't improve anything. I take little positive from the actual game itself. The atmosphere, the fan display, the number of people in attendance is something we can look at from a positive slant. And it's something we wouldn't get in the League Cup group stages. I wasn't impressed at all with the team, and didn't leave the stadium happy. I just don't see the point in hurling abuse at anyone in general, much less the team I'm supposed to support. I personally think it says more about the person who's making a bit of an arse of themselves by acting up than it does anything else. First of all, I'd probably rather be a "happy clapper" than a miserable, moaning sod like many of our support seems to be. After all, it's better to be happy than not, right? In all seriousness, there was no "happy clappers" last night. Absolutely zero people in the crowd would have been happy with the result. I don't understand why it has to be one or the other. It seems like you either approve of and join in the embarrassing abuse of our manager and players, or you're someone who is stupid and doesn't recognise a terrible display by the team. Personally, I know we played badly. I wasn't happy. In fact, I was as unhappy as anyone else in the crowd. As soon as that final whistle went I was offski. I wasn't applauding the players, or the manager. They didn't deserve it. The only difference is that I don't see the point in losing the rag in front of women and children and acting like a mentalist. You're right, he does deserve the summer window to add to the team, and he did get us into Europe and the top six last season. This season is ground zero. None of what he did last season matters now. And if we hit October or so in bad form and looking like we're in danger of falling into a relegation battle there will be questions asked and most likely a change made. But he's not going to be sacked now. After a friendly and European game in July? No chance.

A bit of a side issue, but why is Burrows always on the trackside during matches? I get that he can go where he wants but it just seems abnormal for a Chief Exec to be down there. Perhaps he will appoint himself as next manager when GA leaves, let’s face it he couldn’t do any worse.

Utterly embarrassing in the cold/warm light of day. Loosing to largely weaker sides early on in European competition isn’t the issue - it has happened to nearly all Scottish teams. The core issue is the management and board. We have been staring at a weak frontline since January and Watt’s departure and done nothing to address it. We have known we needed a centre half but allowed Lamie back into the fold (fair enough but if he was deemed surplus to requirements, why is he the best we have to offer now?). We have known left full back is an issue but have done nothing to fix it. We have know the formation didn’t work for 5 months at the start of the year but have done nothing to fix it. We have known that the style of football didn’t work for 5 months but have done nothing to fix it. The result isn’t a surprise and neither is the utter stubbornness shown by the manager. Get him out. Win next week or not - we’re a fan owned club and the fans are being short changed by all invovled.

The Well boys need to have a look at themseleves. Shite plastic flags we have had at game before. Get them to fuck, no one wants a shitey flag. i assume most of the donations went up their nose