joewarkfanclub

For me this is exactly it. The reason our hands are tied financially right now is because we keep sacking managers. It has to stop somewhere. Folk need to accept that no manager Motherwell FC can attract will ever be perfect. They will all make mistakes, even within the limited parameters set for them. The only thing I ask is that they learn from them and improve over time. This season was always going to be a bit of a reset and staying in the division whilst we do that is the be all and end all. At the moment we are still on course to do that, albeit not comfortably. Once we get rid of the millstone round our neck we might be able to swim more freely......

Possibly. I probably wouldnt have signed both Elliot AND Devine, but Ive not seen either of them play so not sure what the plan is for them. I dont think that would have made the difference with KVV but it might have got one of our other targets through the door. The problem with that is we will never know. It also brings us back to the board. Neither Devine or Elliot will be on big money. Are we really saying that amount over the last 3 months of the season isnt worth a league placing or even worse, our SPL status?

Not gonna disagree with that. My response was more in relation to letting strikers go before we got replacements in. I clouded it a little by making reference to Obika, because he is still with us. You are correct. He should never have been given 2 years. 6 months like Souare would have been fine given Mandron apparently knocked us back (not that I wanted to keep him anyway). If we go into the second half of the season with the strikers we have, then absolutely, its a failure. But it grinds my gears when you get post after post calling the manager clueless, out out his depth etc. Pretty sure SK knows what we have isnt enough. Pretty sure he knows we need at least 1 more striker in and that he has been trying like fuck to get one, because Im pretty sure he knows his job depends on it. The thought that he has been sitting on his arse watching all this unfold and doing nothing is for the birds. We are where we are due to other clubs being able to outbid us for players and the boards reluctance to break our wage structure. You can argue all day long about the rights and wrongs of that, but its not down to Kettlewell. Similarly with the barbed comments about full backs. SK has been getting slaughtered for playing SOD at RWB and for having a lack of width in the team and no cover for Gent. It looks like he has addressed these issues, but because we havent got a striker in, suddenly we have too many full backs. Its not an either or. You can recognise both weaknesses in the team and try to address both. FWIW, I do agree with your recent posts about this board needing a range of opinions, both negative and positive and I am aware of the fact that I am regarded as being firmly in the "Happy Clapper" brigade. Thats not to say, I dont see anything wrong with the club, some of the decisions taken, performances etc, but when you are swimming in a sea of negativity someone has to provide the ying to the yang.

I have some sympathy with this. However, Mika was recalled and Shaw injured so not much we could do about those. Wilkinson is the one we had a choice on, but I think at the time of his move he was so far out of the picture that you can understand why he wanted away and we didnt want to stand in his way. I guess it would have been prudent to have someone else lined up / signed before we let him go, but I guess the club werent expecting Biereth to be recalled or Shaw to get injured almost immediately. The one big criticism that the manager/club cant avoid is the signing of Obika. I like the big guy but he is no use to us if he is never fit and even if he was now, I dont see him and Bair playing together. Hopefully there is one still in the pipeline or we can pick up a free. To bolster what we have.

We got 1 in. Jack Vale.

And consistency of stool. His failure to eat more greens is a disgrace......

Are we though? Montgomery was brought in as cover/ to allow us to push Gent further forward. Due to his injury we have gone out and got Bubayu. We all know SOD and McGinns deficiencies at RWB so we have gone out and got Elliot and Devine as cover or perhaps to push one further forward to replicate the partnership on the right. I would guess with SOD, McGinn, Mugabi, Casey, Blaney and Butcher all able to play CB then there. Probably one or two too many there, but they are are all currently on the books. I think midfield wise we look not too bad now with Davor, Miller, Halliday, Paton, Nicholson, Spittal. Undoubtedly we are short up top though. Need another one in sharpish!

So far we have added Midfield - Halliday Midfield - Nicholson LWB - Montgomery (injured) RWB - Elliot RWB - Devine LWB - Bubayu FWD - Vale I agree we need one more striker. But I think thats a pretty decent attempt at addressing the weaknesses in the squad. We can argue all day whether we should have pushed the boat out for KVV or not. Personally, I feel it would have been a boost for the team and support to get him. But I wouldnt have been paying silly money for the privelege. There are no guarantees in football, so everything is a risk. Brophy would be a good signing in the Halliday mould. Experienced, knows the league and could hit the ground running. He or someone similar would complete the set.

If Forrest is playing regular football anywhere he has a chance of making the squad. He is 34 and a known quantity for Clarke. The squad currently has no wide players available and you would think he would take at least 1. If Harvey Barnes ever gets fit and declares for Scotland he might get the call, but at the moment it would be Forrest or Ryan Fraser who might still be on the naughty step. Re Forrest to Motherwell, would certainly offer something different and allow us to mix things up a bit. Although we could also solve that problem by getting in another left back and playing Gent in advanced role.

Wiki has him as a right back. Is that accurate? Would have thought a left back was the priority given we have Callan Elliot in.

Another good example. Did Craig Brown not take him to Aberdeen? Only out of courtesy you understand! 😆

I think its worth highlighting Lukas Jutkiewicz figures before he signed for Motherwell. He had done nothing of note prior to that, in fact had played way more games than Jack Vale with a statistically poorer return. Now Im not saying Jack Vale will be that level of player, but no one had ever heard of Lukas and he turned out pretty well. So lets see what Jack has got eh? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lukas_Jutkiewicz

He has played 14 games. But he has only started 5. Lincoln fans also seem to think he was played out of position. So lets see what he does for Motherwell.

I will wait until Ive seen him play a few games before I make any judgement on the young man. I think thats fair, dont you?

We certainly came closer to winning the league under Wee Tommy than we did with McLeish regardless of the final positions. Probably the closest we will ever come in my lifetime. But some of the football we played under McLeish that first season was exceptional. Dortmund away was different class. Crazy to see how trajectories have changed since then. He was a good coach / man manager but by god he wasted a shit load of money tearing up a very good team. Not the worst manager, but nowhere near the best.

I get your point. And to a large extent I agree. With the direction the modern game has gone there has at least been something "honest" about watching Motherwell over the last few years, regardless of how far we think the standard has fallen. We have survived, and at times done well, as a result of our own endeavours and no outside influences, in increasingly difficult times. This would change all that. But, what is the alternative? If all the other clubs follow that model it would most likely mean a drop down the leagues and operating at a more modest level, or worse signing a deal with the devil that could put our future at risk the minute a new owner got fed up with their play thing. It does all feel a bit depressing and if allowed to continue, just another nail in the coffin of the beautiful game.

The Kelly connundrum is an interesting one. Regardless of how much he is earning, he is clearly one of our top earners and most likely THE top earner. You'd like to think we would be able to get another decent keeper for the money we are paying him, but I dont actually know what the going rate is, so it might not be that easy. I thought we missed a chance by not trying to get Carson back when he left St Mirren as I think he is a better overall keeper, but given Kelly was still under contract at the time it probably wasnt plausible. We also dont know how good Oxborough is, or otherwise, it would be nice to find out before we have to head out into the market again. I wouldnt be against offering Kelly an extension, but I certainly wouldnt be improving terms. If he gets better offers elsewhere he may not want to stick around anyway and it will force our hand. Its going to be another busy summer.

At the point you posted only 6 people had given an opinion including the original poster. Not one said we couldnt win or it didnt matter whether we did or not. The fact that those posters felt a draw was the most likely result is probably more down to Kilmarnock's current run of form/league position, our current injury crisis and the uncertainty over whether we will have any new signings in by the time the window closes. I know I shouldnt bite, but there is absolutely no chance Kettlewell gets binned if we lose on Saturday, far less draw. The board have backed him up until now and given him the window to help dig us / himself out of this situation. Until it looks helpless or we suffer an absolute hammering, he isnt going anywhere. Now where did I put that pint thats still half full?

😆😆😆 That might have worked if Gents hadnt been equally poor at the weekend!

Are you just making things up now? Who has said it doesnt matter if we get beat against Kilmarnock? Who has said we are unlikely to win? We have won our last 2 home games and it would be a big boost in confidence for the team if we could win this one as well.

Re Spittal. We really need to try and do everything to encourage him to stay. Moving club is always a risk as you never know how things are going to work out. But if we can improve his deal and show him he is important to us, he might be encouraged to stick around given that he is a guaranteed starter and playing well for a manager that clearly trusts and has faith in him.

Two strikers would be ideal. Any other business would be nice and support the team in our bid to climb the table. However, with Miller coming back and Halliday and Nicolson coming in, we probably have enough in midfield to get by. Defence wise I dont see us bringing in anyone at centre back. As others have said we have enough cover there, regardless of what you think about the quality. The money saved can be used to push the boat out and get the best quality striker(s) available. Left back would be nice if Monty is gonna be out for 3 months, but even then I think the previous point stands.

Just got around to watching the highlights. For all Colin Steven is undoubtedly a poor referee it does look like he and the VAR got the offside decision on their goal correct. The frustrating thing is it takes so long and the camera angles we appear to be using are so poor, it lends little confidence to the process. Good finish from Bair again for his goal anf unlucky with his other chance as its point blank range and the keeper spreads himself well. I see Paton is getting a hard time on social media and I obviously didnt see his whole performance, and whilst he should hit the target with the first one, the keeper does very well to deny him a shooting opportunity with the second. Cant help feeling that folk are using him as a stick to beat SK with due to their Ross County connection. I find him to be quite a tidy footballer for the most part who tries to do the right things and is sometimes put under pressure by having no out ball. He looked a much better player in the first part of the season when we were playing well, so I think as we strengthen the squad and try to climb the table he will start to look much better. Overall, I think it was a decent point, could have had all 3. Need to strengthen up top by the weekend and then we are on to Kilmarock.

That would be a sore one to take. For all he has some detractors on here, he is easily our most important creative player right now and we should be doing everything we can to keep him. I suppose being offered a PCA doesnt mean he will accept it, so we have to at least match the St Mirren offer. It cant be miles away from what we can afford.

There ye are now! Feels good doesnt it! 😆