joewarkfanclub

Watching the socials it appears that Oscar and Jordan McGhee are both back in training which is good news. Was also good to hear Alfred talk about intensity and movement in and out of possession. Shows that he has at least identified the problem. Ive felt all season that we just havent been showing for the ball enough and our rotations have been poor. Also Im not sure we have been working as hard off the ball to win it higher up the pitch. Whether he can coach that into the players remains to be seen. I guess we will find out on Sunday!

Its hard to know whether this would be a good idea or not. Ive heard people that know say that Gunn is the better goalkeeper. Ive also heard the same people say that Bain is better with his feet. Given our experience last year, having a keeper thats good with their feet can certainly help with the system Poconogli wants to play. If Bain is better with his feet, can he really be much worse than Gunn at catching it? It always feels like Gunn is a second slow going down to everything and his poppadom wrists are difficult to ignore. That said, if teams keep cutting thru us like a knife thru butter, does it matter who we play in goals? Maybe Lennon could get a shot there? 😆😆😆

Thats the problem......

Dont think anyone not playing at least some minutes for their clubs is currently being selected? Was a big problem under Clarke. But Poconogli seems to be more inclined to pick those on form. Agreed that quality in certain areas is a concern. Particularly goalkeeper.

Fergusons performances in a Scotland shirt have certainly been a little underwhelming. However, he was one of the few who actually came out of the World Cup with any credit in the bank and was probably one of our better performers thru qualification. This camp he has been just ok. Id cut him some slack for the Switzerland game as he was forced to run around putting out fires. Last night though he was absolutely honking. Would Lennon be better playing the 6 currently? Certainly he has the composure on the ball and ability to find a pass. My concern would be whether he is ready for it physically and psycholgically. Id be a lot happier if he had nailed down a starting spot for Udinese and their fans were raving about him the way Bologna fans did with Ferguson. Im not sure he is quite there yet, but this camp will certainly have given Poconogli food for thought. Im not sold on the 3 at the back as I dont think it gets our best players all playing in their best positions. If he solves that, there might be more room for Lennon. Edit: Id add the proviso that we still have McTominay to come back.

There is no Old Firm anymore. The Rangers are dead......

Tonight was an absolute shitshow. Our press and shape were all over the place. Kinda glad Lennon didnt get any minutes tonight. Not sure he would have been able to influence the game at all and might have just ended up denting his confidence.

I get that some Motherwell fans just arent Scotland fans, and thats perfectly fine. But given the extra kudos, not to mention salary and transfer value that being an international player brings, you dont even have to be that bothered about playing for your country to see the benefits of it.

I dont disagree. But he wasnt. I still dont think he should refuse to play for Scotland to concentrate on his club career as was suggested.

Alpologies for the forthright nature of my post! In my defence, I was still in Macedonia, and alcohol had been consumed. However, all that said, I dont think Lennon Miller should be behaving like a petulant child and refuse to play for his country because he is currently finding it difficult to get into the side. Look at the system that the new manager is playing. Where does Lennon fit into that, and who does he replace? Lewis Ferguson, the Italian Cup Winning former Bolgna Captain? Billy Gilmour? First choice pick for Napoli and arguably currently our best midfielder? Or John McGinn, the Europa League winning Aston Villa Captain with over 90 caps? You also need to look at in game changes, who came on and why. More importantly who didnt come on and why. I love Lennon Miller as much as the next Motherwell fan. But there is a reason he isnt a nailed down starter for Udinese and why international managers arent yet ready to trust him as a first pick for the national team. He is only 20. His time will come and he should be ready when it does. To suggest he tells Scotland where to go would suggest no great desire to play for the national team. Thankfully Lennon feels differently.

What a load of utter bollocks. You either want to play for Scotland or you dont. Lennon clearly does. So he will keep attending until he gets his chance.

Whats the carrot part?

Seems like the "adult" way ahead if we want to avoid the situation turning into a negative atmosphere at Fir Park. However, it does need to be more than just words and will require buy in by both sides. Particularly by those that like to push boundaries.

Well yes. But the 3 are the CEO, the Chairman and the Finance director. 2 of whom were recommended by the Well Society Board. Remember Kyrk applied to be member of the Well Society Board before he became Chairman. Our Executive Board is currently very Well Society centric.

Not having a go at you directly SP, but there are one or two innacuracies here that need addressed because they are common misconceptions. The Well Society Board know everything that happens at Executive Board level as we have 2 Society Board members ON the Executive Board who represent all Society Members and feed back to the Society Board. The Executive Board do NOT get access to the rainy day fund whenever they feel like it. They have to apply to the Well Society Board and request funds for a specific purpose, which if granted is in the form of a loan. Ive no idea how much a Motherwell FC share costs. But the whole purpose of the Well Society was to pool resources in order to secure majority shareholding of the club so the club could not be sold out from underneath us. It effectively safeguards our continued existence. This just wouldnt be possible with individual shareholding as it would be impossible to corale individual shareholders into any form of collective unity (just look at this place at times). Re major decision making, I agree to an extent. Ive been quite vocal about plans for the new training ground / stadium feasibility study, and I think more information on this should have been communicated, but in respect of who is driving the club, I would suggest the Society Board drive the Executive Board more than the other way around. You only need to look at the appointment of CEO and Chairman for evidence of that. You might even argue tge lines have been blurred too much the other way with not enough seperation between the two boards to protect all parties. I do think there is much room for improvement however, and taking a stronger position on fan behaviour shouldnt be too much of a difficulty. I do welcome the consultation on Active Investment, which is another step in moving the Society away from being a rainy day fund and more like the "owner" of the football club it actually is.

Thought Welsh played well yesterday. Well, second half at least. Most of the team were honking first half. The second half had a fair whiff of nostalgia about it. The utter domination of the ball and the opposition was like watching a Jens team. The failure to convert so many good chances only added to the allure!

I appreciate you are "thinking out loud" here @David and you clearly have more expertise/knowledge in these things than I do given the questions you have presented above. Some of the points you raise were covered last night, but I didnt want to go into too much detail for fear of misrepresentation. I think many of the points you raise are absolutely fair. Are you planning on going to the "in person event"? I think there would be value in it for the wider membership. I know that publication of an Active Investment framework in advance of any vote was discussed, and it would certainly benefit from the right people asking the right questions during the consultation process.

Attended the online meeting tonight re the Active Investment proposals. Came away feeling re-assured that the proposals have been well thought through and form part of the Society's longer term strategy for fan ownership. Highlights...... As part of the "growing the Well Society" project there has been feedback from some potential members to suggest they may join if they could see tangible benefits to the club rather than just being a "rainy day fund". Hence the "why now". The reserve fund currently sits at £1.3m so even if changes are voted through, the reserve of £1.5m will be reached within the next 2 years at current subscription levels. Plan is that monies will only be given towards specific infrastucture projects in the form of loans. It is envisaged that at some point these might be realised in the form of greater shareholding, but there would have to be a process in place to ensure fairness to existing shareholders. Monies loaned WILL NOT just disappear into the day to day running of the club. The club must balance its books and any Society monies will only be used to improve the clubs finances by investment in specific projects. As part of the consultation process, fans are invited to put forward suggestions for projects to be considered by the club. Re the feasibility study. Work has been ongoing re this for several months with multiple options being explored and further questions asked. It is anticipated this work will continue for some time with any decision on where the club plays its football being a longer term issue. The Society Board were pretty open during the meeting and there is a lot of work going on behind the scenes in terms of the various workstreams that maybe cant be shared right now, but left me feeling that things are heading in the right direction.

I totally get that our game needs a tv deal and we need to try and maximise that as much as possible to stop our league falling further and further behind, but some of these ko times are getting beyond a joke. Who really wants to go to a game of football at 8pm on a Saturday? Who even wants to watch it on tv at that time? Is it any worse than 12pm on a Saturday or Sunday though? I really dont know. Bottom line though is that we arent going to get the good tv slots as they are reserved for the English Premiership and even if we were to switch broadcaster, they are unlikely to want to go head to head with that. Not sure what the answer is, but I agree its just another turn off for the game here.

Given that its nearly 3 weeks to the Celtic game, its pretty hard to predict what version of either side will show up, so predicting how the game is gonna go is pretty pointless. The players are getting a few days off this week to go see their families, so I would have thought that with that and a couple of weeks on the training pitch, then there should be some clearer heads and a greater sense of purpose within the squad. However, it doesnt always turn out that way and we will still have 1 or 2 away on international duty. Certainly JT and Paulsen are away, not sure if Ive missed anyone else? As for Celtic, will MON even be their manager by then? I kinda hope he is because there definitely seems to be a malaise in the East End of Glasgow, and I selfishly wouldnt want them having a new manager bounce against us! I note the game is a 12 noon Sunday ko, which will undoubtedly also have an impact. Lets see what happens between now and then. Just please, no more training ground injuries to key players!

I do think we lack leadership on the pitch. A voice to coach the players through what the manager wants implementing. Last year we had McGinn, SOD & Watt all dictating things and driving standards. I had hoped Fadinger might be that guy this year as the continuity player, but he doesnt appear to be overly vocal, so maybe not his bag. McGinn is supposed to be back training soon, but having SOD in there meantime would help, probably at RCB, rather than RB, albeit you would either have to put Jake or JKL out there.

Said. Ran his arse off. Never lost the ball and mostly found a team mate with his passes. Dribbled out of some hopless looking positions after being given hospital passes by said team mates. Did his fair share tracking back too. I wouldnt have taken him off.

Way to early to be making any judgements on Alfred. However, its not unreasonable to be concerned. We started the season very well and the new players looked up to the task. However, the last 3 games havent gone well. We just dont have the same control over games like we did last year and our rotations have disappeared. I dont expect us to play exactly the same way. But I keep hearing our priciples havent changed. If that IS the case then the players arent wirking hard enough and arent following the gameplan. If they are, then the coaching is rhe problem. Either way Alfred has a problem to fix. He has 3 weeks to fix it (albeit he seems to have given them a week off if Fadinger is to be believed). Celtic up next. No hiding place. We need to look more compact as a team. Less open on the transition and be visibly running harder for each other. No excuses.

He cost the second goal, but he made at least 3 great saves to stop us being even further behind. Do we really think Matty Connolly will do better?

What to say? Its not awful. But its not great either. We play nice enough football, but its all too slow and predictable. Nothing incisive about it at all. My main frustration is that our rotations have disappeared and we no longer appear to have 3 options for a pass like we did last year. Lucky to have 1 at times. Is that lack of coaching? I would hope not given that we retained the same coaching staff as last year. They should know how to communicate the gameplan to the players. Lack of running? Could be. We certainly dont press the same. We dont win the ball back quickly and we get caught on the transition repeatedly. Lack of understanding from the players? We havent had a lot of time on the training pitch. But guys like Said, Maswanhise, Cookie, Fadinger, Longelo, Sparrow, all know how we played last year. They know whats required. Its all very frustrating because some of what we do looks similar, but its not the same. It doesnt have to be of course, but its not effective either. Glad we have 3 weeks until the next game. We are gonna need it to sort this mess out.