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It's clear that the club is, and has been for some time, in an almost rudderless holding pattern, haemorrhaging money and goals throughout. It's beyond disappointing, and I would expect better from a professional football club, but the lack of clear leadership and strategy explains why we're in the mess we are, both on and off the park. It's a worrying time to be a Well fan.

They certainly do and no nail brush and Dettol

Agree with that l, except weighted balls over the top for him to run onto are fine but yes, we do have to ditch the hit and hope long balls we have been seeing far too often.

thanks for the update @wellfan. Not impressed with the club at the moment, radio silence leaving it up to SK to speak to press re the future of his role , not sorting out the CEO role for well over a year. Appreciate lots of well intended folk but frustrated at lack of communication , drive and vision.

Goalies are in a very difficult position. They make a mistake and it is often a goal. On Saturday Blaney got absolutely skint and fell over. The STJ player was clean through but who bailed Blaney out the goalie, Kelly. I don't know anything about Ox but only three weeks ago at Celtic Kelly was the hero so for me stick with who you know unless the coaches see something at training.

I don't think he needs to be protected. He's a 27-year-old professional goalkeeper who has represented his country and played over 230 senior games, almost 100 of them for Motherwell. It's on him to work his way out of this. The manager backs him. His teammates back him. Also, he's not playing to his usual level, but he's not been terrible. He's in the same boat as the rest of the team, he's not playing very well. He's being exposed by a terrible defence, and a non-existent midfield on occasion. He's made some right howlers this season, but he's also saved us on numerous occasions.

Will taking the captaincy off him help him though? And more to the point, is the upside of doing that far higher than any potential downside? Let's have a look. Take the captaincy off Kelly - Basically, kick the guy when he's down. He's lost form just now and needs to rebuild some focus and confidence. Is stripping him of the captaincy going to assist in that? I don't think so. Also, regardless of how we feel about him, he's seemingly well-liked and very respected in the dressing room. He goes out of his way to welcome new signings and basically does everything you'd want a captain to do. Will walking into the dressing room and taking the armband from him affect the rest of the squad? Could that kind of move be the very thing that quickly changes a squad that's working for each other and the manager to an unhappy squad? Is it worth the risk for Kettlewell? I'm not sure it is. Leave the captaincy on Kelly - I get what you're saying about the likes of Butcher, but we're not seeing the whole picture. While we may look at Butcher and think "he's a defender/midfielder, he looks like a captain, and he shouts a lot. That'll do for me!" it's also worth remembering that we don't even know if he'd want to be the captain. Again, if stripping Kelly leads to a disgruntled squad, would you want to be the guy who takes over when your teammates are pissed off that their captain has basically had his baws cut off in front of everyone? I know it's a cliche, but regardless of O'Donnell, Butcher, Casey, or whoever else people think should be captain actually having the armband, I expect them to all be captains. They don't need an armband to encourage and drive their teammates on. They can do that regardless. Once they cross the line onto the park they can all influence the game as captains in their own right. It all depends. If we had a Mark Gillespie on the bench then there's definitely a discussion to be had. If we'd seen Oxborough brought in for cup games, and even the odd league game and he'd looked very good, again, a discussion to be had. But he hasn't. He's looked relatively poor when I've seen him, and the manager and coaching team see him every day and have never really looked like picking him. I'm not in favour of dropping our first-choice goalkeeper and captain just to be seen to be doing something. Especially when Kelly is still winning points for us. Aye, he's making the odd error here and there, which is to be expected when the defence in front of him is as leaky as a council tap, but he's also saving penalties at Celtic Park, and stopping one on one shots that end in us snatching a point rather than nothing. He's definitely not in top form, but even in middling form, Kelly is still a good keeper.

I was a bit of a goalie in my youth , and I was the rubbish bit. Goalie gloves were not a thing then but playing on ash pitches and mould master balls were . Goalies have it easy nowadays.

This season agreed. But he did a good job last season. His will to win lifted us on numerous occasions. But like a good few others he has disappointed this season.

I've just seen a stat that Mika has scored 6 goals from 9 shots. The service we are giving him is horrific and it's something that Kettlewell doesn't seem to have a clue how to fix. Hopefully the next manager plays more to his strengths instead of letting Slattery and Spittal be the focal point of the team.

You could say this about several players, and we all know who's fault that is.

Goalie gloves are so much better now to enable them to catch the ball better. I suppose it makes a difference who is wearing them though.

I remember a time when goalies actually caught the ball - wonder if that will ever catch back on.

Aye let’s see what happens with the Ox in goal.

PS our squad is not utter shite, pish or any other adjective folk want to label it. The St Mirren, Rangers and Celtic performances only a few weeks ago showed they can play in the right system and when their confidence hasnt been eroded to almost zero. Of course we lost all of those games and without going over old ground re summer signings, we were playing with our 5th choice striker at that point. This CAN be turned around, but it will take some good decision making from the manager interms of team selection and tactics, better decision making on the field by the players, and dare I say a wee bit of luck We've contributed to our own downfall on this run no doubt, but we havent been able to catch a break either.

The Kelly situation is a tricky one. I get the he shouldn't be dropped as captain and not good for squad but at same time if you had a striker that played 20 games and hadnt scored would you keep playing him? What really grinds me is the booing of players. I ain't an Oli Shaw fan but fact a few booed him when he came on yesterday just beggars belief

Shocked me also....the game was yesterday!! 🤣🤣🤣, sorry pal.. couldn't resist it

I think maybe taking captaincy off Liam might help him and allow him to concentrate on just his goalkeeping. Give captaincy to Butcher or back to SOD. Cue folk saying WTF but SOD experienced pro and not as bad as he is made out. Makes mistakes like everyone else. I genuinely feel the players are united and behind SK but results need to improve and quickly

Yes, to show that if one of the greatest players to ever play the game (and team captain) can be dropped in a world cup, then we can certainly drop Liam Kelly

Its quite simple. If Oxborough is not good enough to slot in for a badly underfiring Kelly then we need a new GK signing in January

Complete pish. In a team, everyone has to pull their weight. If they don't, they get replaced. Thats the way it works. Kelly continues to make mistakes. A spell on the bench is what is required, even if it is only a couple of games. That is the point of competition for places. He shouldnt get a free pass just because he is captain. Again, Ronaldo was dropped during the world cup! We can certainly take Kelly out of the headlights for a few SPFL games. As an experienced player he knows full well that is an option and should be able to take it on the chin. If he cant accept it, and decided to throw the toys out the pram & fracture the dressing room, then we would be better off without him.

No. I like Paton, he does a lot of breaking up play and moving the ball on quickly but I think we have seen his weakness now. Defensively he seems to lose his man too often and it has cost the team goals. Davor did well, no defensive lapses yet and I think that he deserves to keep his place.

I like this new positivity from you.

The only problem I have with that is that we're constantly chopping and changing our forward pairings. One week we all want Obika back fit so he can play up front with Mika, then after one or two games we don't get what we want from that partnership so now we want Bair instead of Obika, then if that fails we'll want something else. Striking partnerships need time to gel. I think if we're going with Obika and Mika then we need to give them a run of games.

I really feel sorry for Kelly just now as his confidence totally gone and David actually makes a good case of why he shouldn't be dropped. What I will say and it's maybe been missed by folk is that he made a vital save at 0-1 when Saints player was clean through

Is it not the COO's job to run the day to day? That's why, for example, St Mirren employed Las in that role. Lots of clubs don't even use the CEO model, so it's not a necessity for running a football team - or running a business for that matter. It's just one approach of many. Anyway, as far as the communication we've seen goes, we hired a head hunting firm and we haven't found anybody qualified that wants to do the job. That's not that surprising, at least to me, as a good CEO would likely need to take a pay cut to join us. So the only incentive would be if they were a Motherwell fan. Derek Weir would be a good option, but while he's a Motherwell fan he falls inside the "would need to take a big pay cut" category. Although it's good he is acting CEO for now. Alternatively, we can take a risk on someone that's never been a CEO before and hope they can step up. I'm still available for that option - just a phone call away.

For me the club is being run by well meeting amateurs with no idea how to run a football club, these are the people who signed off on Nick Daws advice on what players to sign, 30 in total with only 7 still at the club, how is he still employed given the shite we've seen come and go. No CEO appointed, the directors are not at the club all day thats the CEO's job so who's running things day to day, the women's team is apparently financed solely from the club and not a stand alone entity, how much money that could be spent on 1st team players are spent on that, we also have no reserve team any more. The whole set up seems amateurish for me you can't run a football club on that basis. For me its time for a complete reboot of how the club is run before we end up relegated.

Sorry you're unhappy we didn't get beat.

Mika to the rescue again says Goggsy99