dennyc

From the outside it seems like Alexander is punishing SOD and trying to embarrass him into asking away. Making him sit on the bench, watching poor performance after poor performance. There is no rational reason why SOD did not make an appearance in either Conference game. God knows, it's not as if we were coasting along to an easy victory. I cannot believe it is down to injury. If so why was he retained in the Scotland squad and not returned to Club as happened with a good few others? And if Alexander is convinced SOD is not good enough why does he sit him on the bench in the first place? You get shot down on here for expressing such views but Craigen's comments last night certainly pointed fans in that direction as well. It can be an asset having a strong Manager and we all know some players need that. But this has gone on too long and appears to have become personal. Others have suffered similar, but not to this extent. If, as was rumoured, O'Donnell told Alexander his tactics were shite, then I think we can all see now he was correct.

I get your point as well. I think if that happens we will see Clubs limiting liability by just awarding 12 month contracts…perhaps rolling based on targets… which may actually hurt both parties in the long run.I wish we had done that or maybe we did. Bosman was needed to protect players but it also created other unfair situations….hence Training and Development Compensation etc. Now Clubs are finding a way round that , or at least ways to minimise payments. Agents are another story. All because sport is unique. Re your last comment. I’ve been screaming that for a while.

I'm saying Clubs sack Managers all the time and more often than not the two sides come to some sort of mutually acceptable arrangement, avoiding Court action. Football is a fairly unique business and what is the norm elsewhere is not always the norm in football. As examples....... we have seen instances of large one off payments in full settlement, with a claw back effective if the payee secures another job within, for example, 12 months. Or a relatively small up front settlement with ongoing monthly payments for an agreed length of time. There are all sorts of agreements that can be entered into if there is willing. And we will just have to also disagree on that reputational damage. There are plenty of up and coming Managers, ex players with Motherwell at heart, and out of work Managers that will not concern themselves one iota whether their potential employer sacked the previous job holder. To the contrary, that is what is opening the door. Agreed not all will be of the required standard, but enough will be. Bottom line...in my opinion it will do much more damage financially and reputationally to stick with Alexander.

But they tried. No-one will ever know if Ross would have turned things round either. Would they be in any better position now if Ross had stayed.? But the Club and the fans decided enough was enough. It's that old question..."How long do you wait?" Will we be in a better position if Alexander stays for six months/a year? I don't believe we will. He has shown nothing in the past six months to convince me he can change for the better.

1. There are dozens of Managers....unemployed and otherwise....who would jump at the chance of working at Fir Park. Every vacancy at every Club draws lots of applications. Everybody believes it will never happen to them. 2. Managers are sacked all the time. Most result in buy out terms being agreed. Perhaps even by continuing a monthly salary to (mitigate one off costs) unless the displaced Manager secures another job. No reason Motherwell could not do similar. 3. Our reputation is already being damaged every day that Alexander continues. Motherwell are well respected off the pitch and I think it does more damage to that reputation if we do not act, and certainly if we end up adrift at the wrong end of the League. There are times when loyalty is actually seen as a weakness. I think this is one of them.

I think we used it up bringing in more of Alexander's old crew this summer.

All these pals speaking up for Alexander reminds me of the uproar regarding Hibs and Ross. The vast majority of Hibs fans had had enough of Ross....their boards at the time were very similar to this one......but the media were aghast. As were fans of other Clubs, including ours. But in truth the fans are not fools and know what they are witnessing week in week out. They know when it is time to act. As fans of Motherwell, Craigen and Faddy are much more in touch than the likes of Coyle and Nevin.

Until tonight I tended to agree that Alexander would stay, even after last week. Not what I wanted but realistic. But the lack of any sign of a new approach tonight makes me think the Board cannot afford to keep the faith. Our League is unforgiving and unless we pick up early points I fear we could be cut adrift. Again, not just on the past week or so, but our performance since Christmas. Only two teams won less league games in that time. Dundee are gone. The other was Aberdeen.

Exactly this. and we cannot afford to wait any longer. Tactically it cannot be any worse than what Alexander continues to dish up. I really do feel sorry for a good few of those players. They deserve better as well. The Board have a problem.

Again with the "two European Games" nonsense. Have you not seen us at all in 2022? To those who have, the result tonight and last week was no real surprise. Even Alexander's two staunchest supporters are noticeably quiet tonight. So on that basis you appear to be fighting a lone battle, Don't think you will get much support either from the lucky 300 who were there tonight. Or the fans watching in Sligo pubs. Is that majority enough for you?

As for Mugabi, when your Manager hangs you out to dry at right back, repeatedly, and it costs the Club as it has, there is no surprise his confidence and decision making is shot to pieces. He is now a liability but it is not all down to him. Same thing will and is happening to others played out of position. Spittal, Morris, Tierney. The whole situation needs rescued now, and that rescue must not be trusted to Alexander. Enough.

All the facts are there since December, if you care to acknowledge our performances since then. None of this "It's only two games" deflection. What have you seen that suggests Alexander has the ability to turn things round? How bad does it have to get before you will support change? That bad that any new Manager is inheriting a lost cause? Change now and give the new man a chance. I do actually think we have the basis of a decent squad. But not under this charlatan and his blinkered, stifling approach.

Yeah, we were very successful for a while. But then after the break in December we won three league games until season end. Only Aberdeen and relegated Dundee won less games, with two apiece. With Dundee gone and Aberdeen almost certainly better than last year that suggests to me we are in for a tough season unless recruitment and performance improves considerably. Still time to turn it round I guess. At the moment anything above bottom two would be a relief. I guess the first half dozen games or so will tell us whether we in pre or post Christmas mode. As for every other team, I don't really care as long as two are worse than us.

Did Robinson mention that the PL side is seeded within the Group in that they always get a home tie against the second best ranked team? So that should be an advantage I would think. Unless they changed that rule this season? Not being involved, I have not checked. Lol. Also I remember several lower league managers saying they had sometimes only four or five signed players a fortnight before their first game. That must help with training and tactical prep. Dumbarton for one I think although that was in CoVid times perhaps. There is no excuse for the PL side failing to qualify. It does happen but it is certainly not unfair. And that’s not taken into account Budget, size of squad and the fact many lower league clubs are part time. Robinson is just trying to cover his arse.

Did you bring Tony Straker up with you? LOL

Put plainly, all the peripheral stuff....interviews, post match comments, clothes..... is bullshit and does not really matter. It is only being used by some to deflect from what matters. And it is easier to defend those things than the on field situation. What matters is the performance and results on the pitch. On that measurement Alexander has been woeful for six months although he deserved some leeway/credit based purely on the results pre Christmas and our position in the League which we thankfully managed to hold on to. Based solely on the outcomes this year and in the absence of any improvement over that time I fear for what the future holds if Alexander is allowed to continue (which I think he will be). I emphasise, my concern is not based on a one off game against Sligo. It is based on what I witness game in game out coupled with a refusal by Alexander to acknowledge a change of approach is required. Going back as far as Bobby Howitt, I have seen numerous managers come and go. Alexander is not the worst. By quite a distance. In trying to compare him to those others I think he is a bit like Stuart McCall in that he started well and carried fan support. Then it started to go wrong and his stubbornness and determination to be proven correct got in the way of what was good for the Club....... Fraser Kerr wide right to head long punts from the goalkeeper infield in the blind hope of linking up with a striker as an obvious example. How often was that resorted to as Plan B, and sometimes Plan A? I hope I am wrong but I have seen nothing to suggest Alexander can reverse the trend we have witnessed for 6 months. But I live in hope of an Alex Ferguson type resurrection.

I agree the solution could be to play play both and I agree the left is a worry. Carroll…and rightly so at times…does get flack but against Sligo I thought it was revealing how few pass options he was given. Nobody running wide for him and a tiring/limited midfield inside of him. So all too often he had to turn back or punt a hopeful cross into the box. In truth, it was similar when McGinlay played so I think the issue is as much about the options our left back has in front of him. Again against Sligo, who actually covered if Carroll pushed forward similar to McGinn in the first half? Slattery did that job on the right.

How about SOD as a wing back in front of McGinn on the right of a back three? Utilising his assets and offsetting the weaker part of his game. That’s how O’Donnell was deployed successfully at Kilmarnock and how he was deployed successfully for Scotland. I don’t see the point of signing a player based on performance and then playing him in a different role. Perhaps explains why it was always frustrating comparing his Scotland performances to his contribution at Motherwell.

I think fortunate rather than spoiled is a more accurate decision. But the thing that matters is the current performance under the current Manager. Whilst we were gathering points fans were prepared to set aside a lot of what we were watching. For six months that has not been the case. How long do we give him to turn it round? I don’t believe he is capable of change and unless he does, or goes, I think those spoiled/fortunate younger fans will soon experience the pain we have experienced in the past. And we will just have to disagree on the last point. I believe fans have had enough of Alexander because of what he is subjecting us to on the pitch and the results that are resulting from that, rather than his dress sense and condescending speech.

Not that I recall. SOD has been a target for some from the moment he signed but I do accept he has had some poor performances. Every player has. He has also had some good ones but his detractors are noticeably quiet then. Playing him in his natural position might help and might just provide us with some attacking threat down the right. It certainly seems to have worked out that way at both his previous club and for Scotland. As for Mugabi, everybody could see right away that he was a fish out of water at right back. The Hibs fiasco proved it and eventually Alexander appears to have accepted that. It took a while though. Fans did like Mugabi, yes, and wanted him to play . But as a central defender when questions were being asked of the other centre backs and when it was not clear who made the best pairing. Alexander playing him out wide was a gamble that failed. And repeatedly exposing Mugabi has certainly dented his confidence to this day. To link the two things and say that fans wanted Mugabi to play at right back ahead of O’Donnell is pushing it.

Ask Slattery. At least he is back in favour for a wee while though.

I think that on Thursday we arrived "at a pinch". Still no O'Donnell. So he is not on the bench for emergencies. He is also fit enough to be in Scotland squads. And bringing him on would not really have been like for like. The formation could have been adjusted to accommodate him and McGinn. With Spittal moving to his natural position as another possibility. Nobody is showing any attacking end product, mainly because we create very few decent chances. I think playing in his proper position, with McGinn behind him, SOD might provide a few more of those opportunities. And maybe if that were the case Van Veen could get on with what he is good at. As it is we are stuck with the likes of Carroll. McGinn or numerous central players pushed out wide attempting to play decent passes into our strikers. Given that the situation has been dire since January I think SOD is worth a try. Alexander clearly thinks otherwise so I suppose we just carry as has become the norm. What a sad prospect. If he is not going to play him I just wish Alexander would just leave O'Donnell sitting in the stand.

SOD is on the Bench game after game. On that basis he must be fit enough...unless of course Alexander is playing games. If he is not fit, why is he on the bench in the first place? If he is fit, why is he ignored in games that are going against us? Games where we have no width and our midfield is being bypassed. If he is not considered good enough he should not be on the bench in the first place . Whichever applies, that should make you question the decisions our Manager is making. No matter what, it appears Alexander sees SOD as less than a last resort. No appearance on Thursday despite a shocking team effort with no attacking threat out wide. Central players shunted out wide looks more irrational to me than actually bringing on someone who has performed well at International level in that position. Especially given the financial opportunity that is slipping away. Last season Alexander chose to play a centre back at RB rather than turn to O'Donnell. We only need to look at the Hibs cup tie to see how that worked out. And the knock on effect of that lunacy is a Centre Back whose confidence has been shattered and whose indecision is now causing us even more problems. So as far as I can see there is no reason why O'Donnell could not play in front of McGinn in a position he has excelled in for Scotland. Or at least be given the opportunity. In the absence of any wingers at the Club, you never know he might even provide that attacking threat you are looking for. And McGinn played on the right of a back three at Hibs so he should be comfortable in that role also. For me, Alexander has made it personal regards SOD. O'Donnell is certainly not the best player on the planet but he surely has more to offer than a kick about at half time. Alexander's blinkered approach is damaging our Club and I wonder who the next player will be to fall out of favour. SOD is not the first and I don't think he will be the last

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.

LOL. Not sure it is a word likely to be accepted in Scrabble..........but it should be.