wellsince75

I thought he was back at his home club being assessed post op but with no obvious way forward.

Appreciate we rode our luck a few times but given we've been in the league since the 80s it's not ridiculous to expect us to stay there. Although crowds are at 4k when you compare us to Ross County, Livingstone, StMirren, St Johnstone then I think it's reasonable to expect us to be performing better than them. I do think we've been rudderless for a while in terms of not having a long term plan that continues to focus heavily on youth. A decent amount of players came through our ranks since the 80s , many very decent pro's and a few exceptional ones. We need decent pros to come through , sadly we've struggled in last couple of seasons and made some of the most horrendous signings I can recall. This cocktail has led to very average players , lack of leadership and lack of fight for the club. Hence why relegation is now looking a strong possibility. Its poor stewardship and the club need to dig deep, find the cash and the players to sort this out.

I'm happy to back Hammell and don't particularly lay the blame for current results with him. I agree about the signing 1 or 2 being terrifying. There's a time for people to show their teeth, as you say we need multiple signings and be far more confident to hear SH talking about expecting several new faces. Shame on Burrows et all - they should be getting stuck in here and ensuring we make plenty of signings , give a bit of backing to their man.

I agree that GA's 2021 was very decent for results. He had earned his extension, albeit performance were poor, clearly we'd bite anyones hand off for the results. For all of 2022 we''re the worst performing SPL team. Thats with both GA and SH at the helm. Points and record wise both has c18 games each and SH has marginally better performance with a point per game. It's not quite the same duds though. We've not been the same since Watt left and personally I believe we miss Donnelly/O'Hara in midfield. Both did the hard defensive work and since they've moved on we've shipped goals galore. In essence I believe we had better players in Watt, O'Hara and Donnelly, who have been replaced by Efford, Spittal and Morris. Unless we sign quality players the data stacks up that we're likely to be relegated.

because we keep playing the same duffers. Appreciate many will blame the coaching but some of our players likes of Sol have proven not to be good enough. Frustrating that Blaney didn't come straight into the team

completely agree - I'd rather we played Tierney deeper/McKinstry or just about any other player. 2 goals in 42 games - back to the championship. I'd happily try a swap deal for a hold midfielder from the championship team.

I'm stunned /disapointed that Sol walked back in the team. He's poor , slow and has cost us dearly. Blaney should go straight into the team, otherwise why sign him. He must be thought to be better than what we have other wise why sign him ?

There's only one Joe McLeod ... Fan

completely agree - need lots of new faces. Given the amount of signings Celtic have made I'd be reaching out for some of their fringe players.

Pettigrew and a few others were just ahead of my time , albeit it’s clear we had many a talent . the most talented player I’ve ever seen in a well shirt was Davie Cooper. what a talent he was . Every time he got the ball the energy in the crowd changed . Faddy was similar but I’d give the nod to cooper

3 points served up in any way shape or form would be excellent. Need something to inject a bit of confidence

we sadly miss any leadership and ownership on the park. Miss the days when the likes of Craigan, Hammell, Lasley, Leitch would all get stuck in. I think that's the issue with our current squad -players hide and very little fight.

Whats been an issue all season is we need to protect the defence. Have a holding midfielder to offer some protection to our reasonably weak centre halves. I like Slattery, Goss, Cornelius and to a degree spittle but none of them defend well. We need to play Maguire (far from my favourite player) for this type of job until we upgrade, otherwise we continue to make life difficult. Kelly gets lots of stick for not coming out - simple fact is the ball shouldn't be in the 6 yard box as regularly as it does. We need to defend as a team and not expect heroics each week from our keeper.

yip - we're getting dragged into it. We need a run of 2-3 games picking up wins. Not often I've cheered on Hearts but very glad to see the 94th minute equaliser today.

any player earning that kind of cash with us should be a first team starter. Unless we intend for Kelly to move on, that seems a waste. Just noticed he's 6ft 4. For 2..5k per week get him stripped and play him centre half next week

be interesting to see if any of our players are wanted by other clubs. S'OD for example is a very decent player that doesn't seem to be our first choice. Letting a few of the fringe players move to other clubs could free up wages. To your point, whether those we can bring in will improve us is the real challenge. I don't recall many decent players saving us at this time of year, other than youngsters like Tunrbull and Hastie's purple patch.

It's easy to blame the manager, with better game mgt perhaps we have won. Equally this is the same manager who got the team 2-0 in front so can't be all bad. Irrespective of tactics, formations and subs we have a bang average group of players. We lack any ability to control a game. The harsh reality is in football momentum is everything. As soon as Killie got a goal, momentum swung hugely in their favour. It happens all the time and to far better teams than Motherwell, (just look at the World Cup final). The other harsh reality is we're 9th in the league, this is inline with the budget we spend and the players we've signed over the last 2-3 years. It will take time and several windows before we can assemble a better squad. Perhaps some incredibly talented manager would get more from this bang average squad but none applied for the job. Hammell is a rookie manager performing at a level we'd expect. He needs time. This season was always going to be tough, we're better than when we kicked off against Sligo but it's another long hard season. Hope we can unearth some decent loan signings.

We have a fragile defence and our current midfield offers little protection. not a new issue , been like this for over 12 months . I know we need centre halves but also believe we need to find a very decent holding midfield player who can help protect the defence and also help us hold onto the ball when we need to. hopefully we’ve got some decent signings lined up

Stevie needs to learn a bit of game mgt in these situations . This is the type of outcome that could really hurt us in what’s proving to be a tough season

I think so. Suspect McGinn is a better CH than either Mugabi or Sol.

I'm with you. We're a better team with Cornelius. If we play with both Slattery and Goss we need to play 4-5 man midfield, ideally with a holding midfielder. The defence needs some form of protection and other than Maguire (who I don't particularly rate) we have few options. How we miss the likes of wee Al in this role.

It feels like a few years since we signed a decent centre half . I’m hoping he can follow in the footsteps of the likes of craigen

without question. Griffiths would have been chased out at pace . Not too many would have welcomed him. Moult's previous relationship was a reason we got him. Im sure he had other options as well but nostalgia works for both the club and the player. Similarly I have lots of patience for Hammell. I'm willing to give him 2+ seasons as long as we avoid relegation because of his history with the club + Im tired of us chasing the unicorn and expecting every manager to work wonders. I'll happily wait a few years to see small improvements , youngsters coming through etc.

I don't disagree that he's likely to be done, equally I don't believe we're pinning our hopes on him. Having him on the books costs us some investment in coaching etc but he's not holding anyone else back. We signed Moult because he was the best we could get at that point in the window. Any player who could bang in goals and was fit was singed well ahead of Hammell being appointed. We took a chance because we had nothing to lose. In the transfer window in Jan (when players are in contract) I have little hope of unearthing a striker who can bang in goals , why would any club let them go. The hope is to bring in some youngsters on loan. What I'd rather happen is we play a formation that doesn't need 3 front players rotating. We have a couple who are out and out strikers and some other decent midfield options. I think we need to change the system. Have a decent holding midfielder to protect the defence and bring in better defenders. It's far more likely to bring in decent quality from back to front that manage to unearth a striker

Nothing to gain by terminating it now. He's back at his home club due to having the surgery and needing to be assessed. He won't return unless given the all clear. which may or may not happen. If he can't return , the loan will end. If he can and fit then we get him back. I don't know the financials but doubt we're breaking the bank and don't believe it's prevented us from signing other top talent. Unless he get's the all clear sounds likely to come to a natural end.