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Why don't you send him YOUR list of available strikers with the right pedigree and available within our budget. Either that or learn the differences between excuses an reality. Either that or just stop being a fud and STFU.

Your predictions are getting worse!

Nothing as good as some of the stuff posted above. I have had a soft spot for Motherwell since 1973ish. I am a Sunderland fan - you may have guessed by my nick. Anyway my Dad worked away in Glasgow when I was a kid. I used to go to Roker Park and hear the chants of Celtic/Rangers from the Fulwell end, so I asked my Dad to get me a scarf next time he was in Glasgow. He bought me a Motherwell scarf! (I still have it somewhere safe - just wish I knew where!) It took me fifty years to finally visit Fir Park and see a game. I've now been twice, here's a few shots from my last trip up, family day V Ross County 3-3. My first game was last season the 3-0 win over Livingston. Hope to be up soon, I have a mate who follows St Mirren and we hope to get to the next meet.

Criminology:) am loving it to be fair. My spelling is ok but I've had to work on so many other things... Hopefully Motherwell will kick on and I'll only be crying about my essays going forward:).

Shaw and Wilkinson looked like decent signings and very few, if any, raised questions at the time. Even "those others" you refer to. They were signed based on playing history and the financial market we operate in. Both have moved on as you say, for different reasons. Shaw was nothing like the youngster that featured for Hibs and Wilkinson was unsettled. But were they worth a try? I think they were. Bair and Obika I tend to agree should not have been signed, but each has shown glimpses that not all is lost. I repeat, I would not have taken a risk on either. Biereth is the quality of youngster we just cannot afford to sign on a full contract basis. So, when the opportunity of a Loan placement comes up, are we to decline the offer on the basis we just don't like Loans? For a while Biereth was the Messiah and his loan status was not a factor. Did you raise it as an error back then? Also it is perfectly clear to anyone willing to open their eyes that Arsenal did the dirty on us. How do you plan for that? In case you haven't noticed, the bulk of deals done in the January window are on a loan basis, even involving Clubs with a lot more financial resources than we have. But ok, we can just ignore that market and sign lesser players on longer contracts. Bair mark 2 perhaps. Tierney and McKinstrey were a waste of a much needed wage and had no future at Motherwell. Although they were fan favourites each failed to take any starting opportunities they were given, flattering to deceive in substitute appearances. That's the reality of why they left. Several Managers formed that same opinion, not just Kettlewell. That also applies to others that were moved on. Kettlewell's signings in this window and his set up against Alloa suggest he is aware of the need for better attacking width. Nicholson often played as a winger for Hearts and Elliott is described as a pacy attacking wing back. Montgomery seemed comfortable going forward and Gent certainly benefited from starting in an advanced position. So, for me, that is a manager recognising where improvement is needed. So, for now, I hope we stick with him. Season end is the time for his future to be assessed. And no doubt his recent signings will be a factor one way or another. Not in response to your post alone, but it is clear there are fans out there desperate for Kettlewell to fail and so prove them right..........no matter the implications of that failure. Scrutinising every word to find fault but going quiet when things go well or a signing looks promising. Several players appear to be up against the same barrier. Sad.

In about 16 attempts Shaw didn't score once........a bit like my record in Hamilton Palace in the early nineties!! 😜😜

been there with the essay crying 2 nurses in the hoose

but by feck it was exciting to see 2 yungyins working / playing together, aw well seaside leagues here we co unless derek adams has an other derek adams type of shity meltdown

Do we now recall Ewan Wilson rather than look for another backup left back? Or are O'Donnell and Spittal going to be our backups out there..?

Yer right ....ye Cannae spell......ya duck!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣, just kidding

good on yi hen get right intae it n good luck me a can feckin hardly spell unavursity

True. It's not the fans' job to pick teams or decide on tactics either.

I'm not getting involved in the specific debate about Bair any more because the truth is I'm tired of debating people who think that signing panic buys are okay or 15 game winless runs are acceptable or the eye bleeding football we've seen most of this season is "the best football we've seen in years", but just want to point out this response is very unfair. It's not us fans' job to find January targets, it's the fucking manager's job. We can be upset with the lack of signings or the quality of them without being able to draw up a list of potential targets ourselves.

I'll see you here again in May.

Bair's previous record again? In the here and now, could you list the non Old Firm players signed this summer who have scored more goals than him?

To address both posts, I don’t know how many times I and others have to say this, but here it is again: We're in this position because he made an arse of the summer window in terms of strikers. He's the manager and it's on him. That's my view and others can have their view, but if some people want to call me a fud then they've lost the debate. He resigned Obika knowing fine well that we was an injury risk. Poor recruitment. He signed Wilkinson, who contributed little and is now gone. Poor recruitment He signed Shaw, who contributed nothing and is now gone. Poor recruitment. He signed Biereth, which is his only good bit of business, but it's risky business to end up in the position of having to rely on loanees, and he's now gone. He signed Bair, who everyone knew had a poor record in front of goal. Poor recruitment. He put Tierney out on loan and released McKinstry, and didn't replace them, effectively meaning we could only play one style as he settled on having no number 10s or wingers. This may have been a budget decision, however. I could go on, but there's no point. The outcome of all of this is that we're 2 days away from our first league game after the window and we currently only have one recognised first-team striker, and that player was signed as a long-term project, who was likely set to be 3rd or 4th choice at that time. We're in the Premiership FFS; this is a ridiculous position to be in. Yes, he's been good at moving players on, but he wouldn't have to move players on if he didn't make errors of judgement in signing them in the first place. Yes, he's been stung by injuries to Obika, but he should've known that would happen and not signed him again. All told, perhaps some holding his hands up instead of making the usual excuses wouldn't go amiss. That would be the honesty and ownership that I want. Such behaviour draws respect and suggests an individual is capable of learning from their experiences and mistakes.

Surely you mean he asisted in 2 goals David? He didn't score at all.

I'm flying for the Superbowl on the 10th, glad the BBC read my email to get it moved to a sensible time

I know you weren't and thank you

Jeez guys we have done this one to death. But here goes again. Oli Shaw was a last minute panic buy after Biereth had got injured and we needed someone in sharpish. The management / recruitment team would not have had a huge pool of talent to pick from at that point but needed to get someone in to help out until Biereth was fit again. He has now been moved back to his parent club after 6 months at no loss to Motherwell. How that can in anyway be assessed as a failure or an albatross to hang around Kettlewell / Daws neck beggers belief. Not saying our recruitment couldnt be improved. Of course it could. But please let this one go!

Re: Gannon, it never ceases to amaze me that he still has Motherwell fans talking him up and saying they wish he had stuck around. Even now that we’re now what? fourteen years on from his departure after his SIX month spell in charge?! It was fairly obvious from around late October/early November of his tenure that he was working his ticket and didn’t want to be here and he’s done nothing in his career since to suggest that he would have worked wonders for us. And that’s before you take into account what several of the players who worked under him here said about him in the aftermath of his departure.

And there is the heart of the problem 🙂 Since 2019, Wilkinson's scoring record is miles better than Scott's. Strikers are always a gamble. Fletcher/Moult is a great example and there are dozens of others. Sometimes strikers wouk out in certain teams and others just don't and a lot of the time, track record doesn't reflect outcome. You can go back decades with this. Willie Pettigrew had been on the books with Alloa and Hibs I think, couldn't get a look in and then became a goal machine for us. Another mid 70's example, Mike Larnach set the heather on fire for Clydebank, went down south and faild, came back to us and failed again, went back to clydebank and started battering them in for fun again. (sorry, im an old c**t so my recollection of 70's transfers is immense 🙂 ).Tommy McLean signed Ally Graham from Ayr when he was the top goalscorer in the 2nd tier, but did nowt for us and got moved on. Not having a go at you here mate, but when I see posters constantly carp about our clubs faiures in the signing department, it pisses me off, for a multitude of reasons. Most of them probably couldn't organise a Subbuteo team and have no idea about contracts, budgets etc and can't see the bigger picture. You canny just go on 'playmaker' and type in 'top league, proven 25 goal a season striker at under £2K per week, multiple assists welcome'. 🙂

You've obviously taken that quite personally. You are normally one of the more sensible posters on here so my comment certainly wasnt directed at you. However on this point I happen to disagree with you. Some of what you say is true. But you need to add the context of the circumstances and what SK has been asked to do by the board and what he has had to face. There is much mitigation to be found if anyone cares to look. You also have to add in, what is the chance of getting someone better in at this stage of the season. In response to your specific points, he never threw Gent under the bus at all. Sure you can take his comments out of context and make it sound that way if you like, but it would be disingenuous. Gent clearly hasnt taken the huff and probably had his best game in a Motherwell jersey yesterday in a position he is more suited to. Wilkinson has been moved on, Obika may or may not be shortly, and where would we have been without Theo Bair in the last few weeks? SK did very well last season. This season he has been asked to do the same job with one hand tied behind his back. Yes he has made mistakes and for a long time results and performances werent great. However, he has steadied the ship and our record in the last 8 games isnt actually that bad. He deserves this window to add to the squad and see where we go from here. If he fucks it up and we end up in a relegation battle then his position is back up for discussion.

Yep, all doing well, If Nicholson, Halliday and Monty show up well and every chance they could as they have decent pedigree , then it's been a pretty good season for recruitment team considering the restraints...well done ketts and nick daws