joewarkfanclub

With Slatterys injury and Biereth being recalled, I may have to review my comfortable 3-0 prediction! Depending on what SK comes up with re team selection, it could be a very uncomfortable afternoon altogether.....

As others have said, theres not much we can do about Mika being recalled, he is Arsenals player after all, but it is still a bit annoying. You do wonder what the point is of calling it a season long loan when they can be recalled at any time and then moved on for a better offer. Definitely puts more pressure on the management and recruitment team which they could have done without. But lets wait and see what they produce before we start dooming us to relegation already.

That leaves us with some difficulties. More so from the bench. I think the best we can put out is..... KELLY MCGINN MUGABI BUTCHER SOD GENT PATON DAVOR SPITTAL BAIR BIERETH Subs Ox, Montgomery, McGinley, Maguire, Obika and some young boys. Should still be enough to get the job done. But its clear to see why we need more bodies. If SK wants to stick with his 3 up top Id be tempted to see what young Luca Ross could do. Alternatively you are bringing Montgomery in and pushing either him or Gent further up.

Have we replaced Spencer though. Montgomery is supposed to be left sided same as Gent. Or have I missed something?

Slattery getting injured isnt great for us or him in the circumstances. Even with Miller back training and Maguire returning from loan, I felt we were at least 1 midfielder down from where we would like to be. So we are now looking at needing 2 in. From Slattery's perspective, his deal is up in the summer and he clearly isnt going to be getting any gametime to put himself in the shop window for a move. Im sure we will look after him medically but it will be interesting to see what happens now in May. Still cant fathom the chat about Montgomery. Off the back of the Furlong and Penney rumours, it appears we are definitely in the market for another LWB. However, he looks to be a very similar player to Gent (as were Penney and Furlong tbf) so not sure what the thought process is unless McGinley is being moved on again and we need cover. RWB for me is a priority with Spencer away. We just cant be going into the run in playing 3 at the back with SOD or McGinn at RWB. Both can do a job, but neither has the pace to be a serious attacking threat. Depending on how much longer Casey is going to be out, we probably need another CB and with Wilkinson being moved on there should be scope for another striker. That takes SKs initial 1-2 signings up to 5 or 6! Mr Daws is going to be busy!

I think Bobby Bingo has pretty much covered what my response would have been so no point repeating it. I think its fair enough for fans to have had concerns this season about the direction of the club and what the future was going to look like. Budgets were cut, player recruitment was underwhelming, we had a terrible run of results all in a climate of pretty much silence from the board. However, they have clearly been stung by that and come out fighting. For me if the content of the 2 interviews by Derek Weir and Jim McMahon had been drip fed to the support throughout the season, as we had become used to under Alan Burrows stewardship, then I dont think there would have been anywhere near as much unrest. Having listened carefully to both interviews, it seems to me much of what has occurred this season has been entirely understandable. Just not communicated to us. The decision to cut the media/comms budget quite so drastically might ve something they would wish to review in the future. Its such a big part of modern day sports. The fact that the Chairman and CEO have gone to such lengths to try and right that wrong and people are still doubling down on their original position does mystify me though. Im not sure what kind of action it would take to make people happy.

Can you provide any evidence of the club being run in an amateurish way, other than just your opinion? It seems to have become a trope on here and has been accepted as fact. Ive never run my own business. But Jim McMahon and Derek Weir both have and been relatively successful. McMahon has also been on the board and been chairman during what most would describe as being a fairly successful period with high league finishes, cup finals and European qualifications. We have also broke even during that period which is no mean feat. I get that we are in a period of transition and uncertainty spooks people, and of course we would all prefer to have a permanent CEO and Chairman in place so we can get some stability going forward. But to suggest that we are utterly rudderless when we have someone with pretty decent business acumen in place doing the job on an interim basis doesnt bare scrutiny. People complained about communication, and we got it. People complained about the lack of a strategy and it was explained. I do wonder at what point these guys throw in the towel as they cant seem to win.

Certainly not the way I would have done it. I think you can be funny without being cringey and achieve the same goal. But it is what it is. Certainly not worth getting bent out of shape for.

I dont think anyone is getting giddy about him. Just a few of us stating that he has done better than we thought he would. Its not that hard to do.

I think our fans have totally missed the point here. Im not saying on first viewing I didnt find the ad a bit cringey. I did. But this isnt being trailed as a professional pitch to serious investors. Its a media stunt designed to grab attention and get people talking about the fact that Motherwell are in the market for investment. And to that extent, it is a huge success! The professional pitch should be part of the follow up strategy directed at those individuals who have requested further information. The strategy to secure investment going forward may or may not be a success. But the marketing company and the club will be delighted with the response to the marketing campaign so far.

Regardless of your thoughts on the advert, it got Jim McMahon on Sky News (not just Sky Sports News) last night talking about the initiative. It has also generated very positive articles on the BBC website and various other news feeds. Motherwell FC hasnt received that much attention in the media for a very long time. Obviously we need the publicity to result in significant investment, but the first part of the strategy seems to be working. Maybe, just maybe, the amateurs at the helm of the rudderless ship know what they are doing?

As someone who was similarly critical of Bairs signing (more so the length of contract than the actual taking a punt on him) Im more than happy to put my hands up and say he has proved me wrong already. Is he the level of striker we should be looking at as a first team pick? Probably not. Is he a decent squad level player who will chip in a number of goals and assists off the bench or during an injury crisis? Absolutely. He has 5 goals and a number of assists in half a season, where he has had limited game time in a team that couldnt buy a win in 3 months. If we can strengthen the squad and get some consistency of performance/results and confidence within the squad grows, he will do ok. If we are seriously interested in Main though, he would be behind him so we should be looking to move on Obika and Shaw. Edit: Whether you rate Bair or not, he has proven he is clearly better than Canadian semi-pro level. So a little credit shouldnt be too hard to offer his way.

Get the video sent to Will Smith. Tell him Ryan Reynolds thinks he is a dick and is gonna win the Champions League before him!

As long as some of our injured players are back and Biereth hasnt actually been recalled to Arsenal, we should win this comfortably. 3-0 Motherwell.

Thats kind of where Im at with it. Its incredibly cheesy. But some folk like cheese. And some bits were funny...... Edit - and it seems to have worked!

Finally got round to watching the full interview. A few thoughts..... Firstly, quite refreshing to hear many of the points raised on here being addressed. Clearly someone within the club keeps abreast of things, so the individuals in charge are aware of the feelings within the support. Many of the answers given were quite re-assuring and I certainly left feeling more confident that the club isnt the "rudderless ship" "run by amateurs" that some on here have claimed. What is clear though is that, going forward, we do need the permanent CEO in place and a new governence structure agreed which reflects the ownership/investment in the club. For me, if the Well Society owns 70% of the club, it should have 70% representation on the board. If we have to give some of that away to encourage investment (anything up to 19% would be acceptable to me) then that should be reflected in the representation. Finally, I agree with the general point around the Media team. However, if the cuts hadnt been quite so stringent, maybe levels of communication with the fanbase could have been maintained (albeit in a different format) and the need for a 48 minute interview wouldnt have been necessary.

I liked Curtis Main. Hard working no nonsense front man, but not a goalscorer. For me there's no doubt he would be an upgrade on Obika, Bair & Shaw. But not so much so that we should be looking to bring him back. Unless we were moving one of the others on of course. We need to target our resources at the weak areas of the team which is clearly Midfield, RWB and potentially LWB and CB depending on other ins an outs.

Some Hibs fan on Pie & Bovril as far as I can make out.....

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How is that possible if we have signed a contract for a season long loan? I guess Arsenal are more than entitled to recall him, but would be surprised if its to loan him straight back out again. Unless Hibs are offering a fee to sign him permanently?

Our financial circumstances were very different last time she was at the club and I recall a few who were supposedly ITK not being too complimentary about some areas of her performance. That all said, she presided over some pretty successful times and was integral in the transformation to fan ownership. She clearly loves football and has an affinity with the club. We could do a lot worse and the fact we really need to fill the vacancy sooner rather than later makes the prospect interesting at least.

Dont worry bud. I saw what you did there! 😉

I think what we have is serviceable if we give them some protection from midfield. Davor is helping in that area but he cant do it on his own. Unfortunately Spittal, Slattery and Paton are very similar players. Tidy going forward but not great defensively. Will be good to get Miller back, but he is still young and has a lot to learn. A prime Peter Hartley / Tom Aldred type would be good, but Im not sure we are still able to shop in that market. I did also forget to say I agree re a quality RWB with pace. Max back on loan would be awesome.

Spittal has been our most productive midfielder this season and probably last season too. Id cut him him some slack for yesterday. Id be pissed off getting played out of position, chasing my tail for 90 plus minutes only to lose an injury time equaliser. Id also take him off set pieces though. So.........😆😆😆

The vilification going the way of referees, the SFA, SPFL and every other league club from Rangers fans since their club died has been off the scale. To suggest that only Celtic do this is preposterous nonsense.