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For me, that announcement would need to have happened around 1994.

Absolutely this. Someone over on P&B called this "the most interim season ever"; I think that sums things up really well. The fact we've been safe since effectively just before the split, have unearthed a gem in Bair and are looking at a real prospect in Miller, means it's definitely erring more on being a success, despite the turgid mid-season period. There's been a lot of resetting done both on and off the pitch and Kettlewell should take at least some credit for getting rid of players who just weren't good enough; a significant number of them youngsters who our previous manager when he was Head of Youth Development... didn't develop. Granted, he signed Wilkinson and punted him within 6 months, but him not fancying it up here isn't SK's fault. Obika should never have been given another deal based on his injury history, either. We now have a new (and experienced/accomplished) CEO, prospective new investment from someone who at least appears to "get" the club and the fan ownership model and a reinvigorated Well Society. One thing I will say on the WS front; in the next month(s) I'm hoping to see more from there outside social media posts of brainstorming sessions (although as I've said before; I'm not a member so don't receive any e-mails from them, so there may have been other communications sent I'm not aware of). I realise there's been a lot going on with the investment discussions etc. that will no doubt have taken up a bit of time, but there will come a point when I need to start to see something more substantial to believe the reinvigorated messages we've seen thus far to make me commit to taking up membership. Edit: apologies, that strayed quite a bit off topic! 😬

If a manager is under pressure during a 15 game winless run, is it not fair game for him to plead mitigation in terms of budget and request a little more understanding of his situation? I know I certainly wouldnt be lying down meakly and waiting for the bullet! Id be challenging those that set my budget to stand by me after delivering what they asked. In respect of whether this season has been succesful or not, it again depends on whether you wish to make any allowances for those circumstances. I would say keeping us in the league is always the pre-requisite for any Motherwell manager. After that we can start to look up. We are on course for finishing 7th or 8th (9th at worst) which is acceptable in a season when the budget had to be re-structured so drastically on the back of the Alexander/Hammell debacles. As for the cups we navigated the group stages of the league cup fairly comfortably and were rewarded as the seeded team with an away tie to a St Mirren side who have had a relatively good season. That was a game of fine margins so disappointing but not unexpected to lose. The Morton defeat is a sore one as we should have known what to expect and walked right into it and played the game exactly the way Dougie Imrie wanted us to. Definite black mark on our record there. We have played some decent football at times, scored some magnificent goals, handed out a few thrashings and beat Rangers away in the league for the first time in 27 years. We have seen the re-birth of a player in Theo Bair and one of our own come through to claim a regular first team place at the age of 17. Id say all in all, thats not too bad a season. Probably just about pass marks for the manager and the team. It has been incredibly frustrating at times, particularly some of our defending. Many mistakes were made. But there is lots of room for improvement and we have kept faith with a manager who will have learned a helluva lot for the experience. With the re-structuring off the field and the potential for additional investment off it, or at least a re-invigorated Well Society and CEO, Im actually quite excited to see how it all plays out next season.

I dare say you had people in mind with your " sanctimonious pricks" comment...you were out of line , calling any fellow fans that . Strikes me you will try and justify it till the cows come home , so I'll leave you to it.

Like other people have said we don't cash in on goalkeepers as a rule anyway. I just think it's a shame in a way - maybe because I think we might get sold short because we are Motherwell if that makes sense. On the one hand it's great that other clubs recognise the talent we have. I just think too many other clubs think they can get our players on the cheap. Just need to wait and see how it all pans out.

Someone just sent me a message on twitter saying they hope steelboy plays so they can critique him the way he critiques the Motherwell players 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Come on steelboy. You know you want to.

I don't know for sure, but suspect he was brought in on a low cost "trial" basis if you like. A project. I doubt he was brought in as cover.

Seems only fair then that there should also be a topic on here just for the MFC players to use screen names and comment on the folks playing 😀

If we have an offer in/around £1M then we should take it. I can see many championship level clubs being interested and think it's good money for someone we pulled in for free. Also helps attract other players to join us. The club and mgr are doing a great job at getting. XX% more out of players.

I got an email about it a few weeks ago but I agree. 😂. Fatso here broke her nose at the end of January and hasn't set foot in the gym since. I'd be blowing out my arse after five minutes

He was flat sharing with Eddie Nolan.

I think it's sensible to budget for the worst case scenario financially which is tenth. Personally as a supporter I want to see Motherwell avoid relegation every year. Of course I'd love to see us top six every year but we don't do things the easy way - so safety first and anything else is a bonus. I don't think budgeting for tenth needs to turn into a lack of ambition because surely that's been our budget position for some time now.

Like I said crack on justifying it. I'll leave you to it .

Financial/budgetary and playing targets are fundamentally not the same thing though. A football club is a business first and foremost and has to be run properly and prudently by its board, otherwise we'd be in the shitter debt wise. We're not, because the club has been run well over the last 10 years. It's been said on the investment options thread we're attractive for investors as a direct result of the profits and sustainability that we've delivered consistently. The seasons we've made those good profits, we've then invested in the squad by signing the likes of Kelly, Slattery etc. There are bonuses tied to player's own and squad performances. The accounts for the last few seasons show higher payouts because of the collective bonuses for the squad finishing top-6, in Europe etc. Good cup runs and better results on the pitch result in higher money for the players. So we do provide incentives for players to do well in the cups and the league. To suggest that a race-to-the-bottom mentality equates to good financial planning and business acumen, when there's performance based incentives in place for the entire squad just doesn't wash. Edit: also, just did a quick check and this is the first season where we've not reached the quarter finals of one of the cups since 2019/2020.

OK then what do you see as a realistic good season for us and what should we aim for? Oh and how do we achieve it on our current financial level. We'd all like the club to sign better players, win trophies, qualify and progress in Europe etc, but in the real world that takes a much bigger financial Input for players and everything else that goes with it, which we don't have, so how do we achieve it?

The Motherwell manager’s annual performance review: Bottom six CHECK Zero cup runs CHECK Dismal winless run CHECK Good guy CHECK Tenth place or better CHECK Congratulations, you've helped the club achieve its annual target of racing to the bottom. Well done, highly effective, now do the same again next season and you have a job for life. - - - And for those who cannot detect the sarcasm in the above, yes, a manager who keeps us at 10th place at best every season has done well to a degree and shouldn't be automatically binned. You can't blame a manager for a club setting shit standards. However, any club with such a race-to-the-bottom mentality as its minimum target for its manager will continue to tread water and achieve nothing other than an annual shit fight for 10th. It's grim that the club budgets for (and seemingly tolerates) pathetic early exits from domestic cups on an annual basis, for example. Such a mentality puts zero pressure on anyone to achieve anything optimistic and is tantamount to rewarding failure. It's a results-driven business, not a job for the boys and good guys club.

Sorry to be that guy, but from what was said at the AGM we budget for exiting the cups at the earliest stage we can each season. It was essentially explained that anything above that is a bonus to be added to the pot for the following season, or January window that season etc.

Hollis played the majority of his games in 2013/14 when we finished 2nd. We conceded 60 goals that season - so far, we've lost 54 this year.

He was in ‘back to haunt his old team’ mode. On Wednesday he will be ‘Hibs v Hearts’. These guys have too many hats to wear.

Not sure there is much different there to what I was getting at. Kellys performances this season certainly havent been anywhere near as good as they were in his first season, so I agree, over the piece he has been average. Strangely though, as others have said, having Hollis in goals didnt stop us getting top 6. But he had much better defenders in front of him. Regardless. We need better value for money when it comes to recruitment. Given Kelly is on above average money for us Im comfortable with him moving on.

Re Kelly Honestly think be careful what you wish for. Most players we've replaced in recent years have been downgraded to a poorer version. This could easily happen (probable even) assuming Kelly moves on. Understandably we recall keepers over recent times like Gillespie, Carson, Randolph Ruddy. When Kelly first appeared on the scene it was because we had Archer and Chapman and he was an immediate upgrade. Add to that he had Hartley and Gallagher in central defence who gave superior protection to what we have now. I looked through the recent list of keepers: Carson, Chapman, Archer, Gillespie, Ferguson, Ox, Griffiths, Samson,Ripley, Twardzick, Long and quickly came to the conclusion that Kelly has been one of our better goal keepers in the last +10 years. The bigger issue over recent seasons for me isn't Kelly, it's the lack of protection and allowing oppositions to easily penetrate his weaknesses. He for me is one of the good guys, with lots of quality and clearly cares about the club. Not someone we should assume is replaceable , particularly given how poor our recruitment team have been with perm signings since Dawes has come on board.