wellsince75

My ideal appointment would be someone in the mould of Alex Neil or Eddie Howe, both were outstanding managers who knew the club, cared about the community feel. Despite Stevie not having first team experience he ticked every other box and then some. He wants to see us develop youth and the community aspect of our club. He also has a handle on the current issues with the team/squad. Given we're light years away from having Alex Neil/Eddie Howe I'm enthused that we have given Stevie the opportunity do something like this. I'll be happy to avoid relegation scares and start having something to cheer on and see a future with. This should be a +3 year project with natural progression.

Well done Stevie - you've given your heart and soul to the club since the 1990's. Cant think of anyone more committed to the club to get the job.

I can’t see for one minute NL or us being interested in one another . Perhaps Craggs mentioned it to highlight he wasn’t interested . suspect the 3rd unknown will ether be someone like McManus looking for his first gig or derek Adam’s . Time to make the announcement and start moving forward

Bit weird of Craggs to speculate . He did a very good job for Hibs would be hard to like him - I remember having a similar view of Micky Weir and then we signed him back in the day never felt right cheering him on

Think Derek Adam’s . He’s under contract and likely we’d get compensation from morcombe

I think it’s worth a whirl . in all honesty we could move hammel into assistant mgr and bring in Valakari . I think Simo would need someone with local knowledge and have Hammell learn the ropes.

I think you could be right with this . thompson not ruled himself out and to be fair Darren Ferguson has proven at a decent level plus not club hopped too often . What maybe stands against him is coming up from England , similar to GA and others . full respect to the club as much as I want to be I’m the know I respect how tight lipped they are with such things . Be good to confirm soon through

I don’t have inside knowledge . Best guess is the other 2 would be Stephen McManus and Paul lambert .

Very similar in many ways to Jim Gannons time . we have a long term reputation for being a great club to be around , treat people from the tea lady to the ceo well. Former players speak fondly . one watch out is during his time he lost a fair amount of backroom staff . I hope we still have plenty of good folk around to help us move forward . equally i hope we announce the new manager tomorrow. The longer this goes on , the longer without signings all that’s happening is fans are arguing with one another as we’re lost at sea and need to get on with building the future

Re SOD my take on it is SOD said and did something that annoyed GA that he dropped him . GAs way or the highway and suspect Watt , SOD, Slattery all felt the pain of this . of course a manager can drop a player for not playing well . Given SOD played all through the euros and straight into the season without a break - at some point he’d need rested . Yes SOD made a few howlers and could have been dropped for a game or 2 . The point being this wasn’t consistent , just look at others who was ever present ,that didn’t get dropped putting everything about ability to one side be always found SOD a decent bloke , who makes sense , who’s balanced in his view and accepts criticism bottom line is a club like Motherwell can’t afford to drop international players for sustained period of time .

Trolling the internet and Darren Ferguson came up. he was with Peterborough for a good few years in both d1 and championship with a +40% win record A Scot who played with Man Utd and wolves . Peterborough are a bigger club than us (sad to say) prob the level we would aim for if looking for an experienced mgr who’s without a club .

I hope not. he’s had a couple of assistant mgr roles in 2nd tier German league , the longest lasting led to relegation . a short stint at Cowdenbeath . Suspect he’d be further down the pecking order than say Valakari - who would also be a punt - (unless he comes over with a mini bus full of very decent finish stars who we can test out in a bounce game )

Personal view is we’ve signed far too many very ordinary players. At their best they work hard but they offer v little else . Ordinary players at best will be very ordinary teams . we managed results due to having some flair/guile with Watt and KVV. i don’t expect a turnbull to arrive every year but it wasn’t long ago with similar budgets we had people of the quality of ainsworth and others like him . Not world beaters but had some skill and craft . Even likes of Jim Obrien were far better than the dross we’ve had in recent years from seedorf , amaluzor. Now we have guys like Morris, spittal , shields , efford - it’s simply not good enough . I’m not impressed with the recruitment team at FP. The manager rightly took flack but what is everyone else accountable for .

We do need to bring in some decent quality - ideally players who can create and score , a solid centre half who reads the game and talks players through games would be great . for now I’d like to see us trying some formations that suit the players we have available . plenty of teams set up 3-4-2-1 or similar as they only have one out and out striker . we could easily set up in this formation and get much better use out of tierney , goss and others

I would have Hammell in front of many of the merry go round managers . Someone who cares deeply and well educated on the club and coaching . Alex Neil had ways less experience when he took the reigns at Hamilton and now we can only dream of landing such an appointment . He may lack first team experience but everything he’s been calling out as issues resonates . He needs some budget to move get some of the journeymen out our club and bring in some decent talent - which may need to be premiership loanee types

Completely with you , brilliant post . good luck in the final 4 Mintymac , you make a lot of sense

We all see the game differently . Mugabi for me was never good enough. Granted games where he was big and strong and won lots of balls but most games I watched his general lack of awareness either of where he was or where the opposition was caused all sorts of issues . a big unit of a man who gives his all but lacks footballing intelligence . I don’t believe many if any SPL sides would sign him and from what I can see most other clubs have far better players in central defence

Overall we have 9-10 ok players. one very good player in Kelly . we need to sign/have someone who can create and also someone who can score. we need to operate without players who are likely to cause goals/ ones we get away with fianlly we need to operate and play as a team , better than the sum of all parts . personally believe 4 decent signings together with a good manager will achieve these things and end up being a decent mid table team

Craggs would be my number 1 choice . The issue stopping that is he doesnt went to be a first team mgr . honestly it’s not easy. Ideally we want to find the next Alex Neil who can move us forward over 3-4 years and move on. Easier said than done . if Valakari can bring some other European talent whilst bleeding youngsters into the team im good with that . equally I’m not against hammell - he can see the issues and is currently hampered with suspensions , injuries and need to sign more players . I don’t believe Malky is the answer - why come to Motherwell , we’re similar to county in terms of fan base etc , it’s not a step up for him

We have several first team regulars who belong at a lower level. the positive is we have some decent players. As it stands id keep Kelly , McGinn, S’OD, Lamie, slattery , goss , Cornelius , Tierney and KVV Sadly that means less than half our squad should be retained - the rest should be off loaded asap (not easy to do) we need to get out there and bring in quality and or trust in some of the developing youngsters . Appreciate and agree GA deserves a lot of stick - equally we have a head of recruitment - who’s not doing a great job either . Less in the limelight but not been that many great signings since he arrived

Longer term I can’t see either maguire or Morris being in our preferred starting 11 .

Although getting order I thought we should have signed Murphy - better than most of our forwards

For now suspect we’re playing those closest to match sharpness than our best 11 . some decent players on the bench . 3-4 quality signings would make a huge difference to the team . No matter who takes charge will need to add a bit of quality

McKinnon was excellent . To be fair we had about 20 years of consecutively good left backs . McKinnon , McMillan and Hammell.

Crags would be a great fit , I don’t think he wants the job , thats what I’ve always heard from his interviews . he said the same when he was the interim mgr a few years ago . He didn’t want to be a first green mgr . On many ways can’t blame him . He gets paid well as a pundit and will have a better life balance than one of a mgr . shame as I’m sure he’d be great . The danger for any former player like hammel for example is what happens 2 years down the line when we want to change mgr . Likely they need to move on from the club .