wellfan

Or the other scenario is that we qualify for the World Cup, like the Euros, and shite the bed again, but on a global stage this time. As others have suggested, my view is that qualification should now be the bare minimum expected and not the main measure of success for a Scotland manager.

I mentioned that on this thread a year or two ago. The disconnect between the U21s and A squad is vast and epitomises one of the major issues we have with enabling better pathways for progression. To me it suggests, and it’s what I’ve said before, that each squad is managed as its own little fiefdom, which is complete madness for international football. We have zero strategic approach to bettering ourselves as a footballing nation on the international stage.

If you go back through this topic, you’ll see that the majority of us have been making the same comments about Clarke, Gemmill and the SFA for the past couple of years. And they’re not uncommon comments amongst fans of Scottish football. It’s utterly infuriating. It’s a situation that will likely take a vast protest at Hampden led by the Tartan Army before the jobs-for-the-boys cabal are finally ousted.

Gemmill and Clarke only retain their jobs because those who run the SFA are too insular and too stupid to see beyond their own four walls.

It seems an appropriate time to mention the excellent ‘Super Cooper - Davie Cooper Story’ on VHS. I recall it being one my favourite videos to watch as a young ‘Well fan.

Your optimism is admirable.

I hope the young and ambitious Lechia Gdańsk players are ready to have their wings clipped by the bitter old gammon.

Carver saying what he said about Miller makes him nothing less than a total wanker. Regardless of what a young and obviously excited 18 year old said to the media, Carver is more than 3x his age and absolutely should know better than to say what he’s since said about Miller. It was entirely unnecessary and bordering on spiteful.

Throwing away 2 points on Saturday at home against a direct rival has probably costs us our chances of a top six spot. However, the majority of the damage to our chances was done before Wimmer took charge. That said, the next 3 games are going to be exciting.

Slattery was excellent yesterday and is definitely worthy of a new contract. It’s so pleasing to see him come back from his injuries and perform so well. On the other hand, Plange was totally dominated by Gogic and Lacovitti. He offered nothing, unfortunately, and Watt should’ve been on sooner. Special mention to Balcombe for having utterly honking distribution. I expect to see Ox given a chance back between the sticks soon.

Robbo isn’t the first (former) Motherwell manager to talk shit about the Motherwell fans.

Robbo and his players are thugs and that referee was utterly pathetic. There is lots more to say about the game but I can't be arsed.

Easy. Slattery. Wimmer is going to have fun with him, apparently.

Without knowing the finer details of his wrist injury, and when you read his instagram post, he seems to have just written himself off this season. It’s a very disappointing situation for all concerned. If he recovers, gets a full pre-season under his belt, and breaks again at the start of next season, we should be offloading him by any means possible for the sake of the club and him. I’d empty him now, however, as previously said.

Fair enough. I stand corrected. But both leg muscle injuries are a concern. I said at the time of his first injury that is was because Kettlewell lobbed him into the Rangers game before he was fully fit, and it’s generally been downhill for him since then in terms of fitness.

The return on our investment so far has been minimal, so I would suggest my approach here is more of pragmatism than doom and gloom.

His first injury with us was his hamstring, as was his second. His third is his wrist.

It may be a case of writing off a bad debt as, should things go sour again next season for him, the situation is likely to cost us more as we scramble to sign more cover, again. My view is that it just hasn’t worked for him and us, unfortunately. We should look to rehab him and see if we can reach a reasonable agreement with another club to protect ourselves and get his career back on track. Or we keep him and he becomes an even more costly crock. That’s the risk.

As it stands, and before his wrist injury, Stama has only featured in 18 of 34 games. His stats by the end of his first full season will likely be 18 from 43 games, no full 90 mins, 5 goals, and 3 medium term injuries. It’s not a great return on our investment, and the chances for it to go a similar way for him next season are now greater given the loads placed on his body appear to keep breaking him. Suffice to say, I don’t think he’s a player we should be relying on for next season.

Putting the finer details of the wrist injury aside and the point that he wasn’t injury prone before we signed him, the reality now is that he has become very injury prone since we signed him. We apparently paid a large fee for him and he’ll likely be on equally large wages. I don’t want to get into the conspiracies currently being bandied around social media and P&B about him. Therefore, I only question whether this is a loss we can sustain or should we cut it? I suggest the latter.

I’d be more sympathetic if it was his ankle, but he plays football not handball, so I’ve no idea why he won’t be fit to play for at least 8 weeks. Even with a proper run, as you suggest, there are no signs so far to suggest that he wouldn’t continually breakdown during that either. His run of no less than 3 not insignificant injuries since arriving is very bad luck indeed, but also indicative of someone who’s perhaps not robust enough for his role.

It’s pretty clear that Stama is made of tissue paper, so it’s time to cut our losses at the end of the season and find someone else willing to pay his wages.

Patterson isn’t in the squad, but I agree that Ralston will probably be picked ahead of of Max because Steve Clarke…

Yes, I am referring to full Scottish international players. It's also great to have some foreign international players in the Motherwell squad, but I think it's more enjoyable to follow when you've got players turning out for the national team of your own country.

If Clarke gives him minutes and he impresses, and he continues to flourish for Motherwell this season, I see no reason why we can't expect his value to creep towards £10m in this market. The only downside for us is that, if he's sold at the end of this season, he'll no longer be our player when he's (likely) called up again for the international friendlies in June. So, let's hope he gets those minutes against Greece, as I can't see any other Motherwell player on the horizon likely to get full international minutes anytime soon.