joewarkfanclub

Every transfer is a gamble. We got £1.7m last year for a striker that cost us nothing. Kettlewell gets a lot of credit for that, but he also signed Ross Callachan, Stuparevic and Nicholson. Given that Jens didnt sign Stama and he has had a pretty big rebuild job on his hands, I think he and the club need to be given a little bit of slack on the £800k thing. Its all well and good to say we shoulda took the money, but you still need to replace him. We tried with Hendry, Sule and Osong and right now Stama is the only one even half fit for purpose, and thats before we even work out how much of the £800k was coming to us as profit. Also, the player has to want to move as well......

Are we really jumping on BBC reporting to re-inforce a point? He spurned 2 chances. Neither of which were actual sitters. He may turn out not to be the striker we are looking for, but lets at least stay objective about it.

Absolutely fantastic presentation. Just reinforces that we have the right people in charge now and are heading in the right direction. Its a really good time to be a Motherwell fan right now!

I totally agree that Stama should have scored more goals than he has this season. The header in the second half yesterday, the one he just failed to connect with (which was similar to the one at Dundee last week where he hurt himself) are all good examples. But he is doing a lot right and has also been a bit unlucky with some of his chances (the header in the first half yesterday which was cleared of the line). His run and pass to RCC yesterday was also excellent and should have resulted in a goal. Im not aiming this at you specifically, but there is a desire in modern society to want things immediately and there is very little patience shown for anything, particularly in the footballing world (see The Rainjurs). We saw it with Higdon and Sutton when they arrived, more recently with Bair and now Stama. I get that he has been with us for over a year now, but he had a lot to contend with last season and this is the first real run at the team he has had. He is working hard, his hold up play is good and he is getting into good areas. I agree he should be doing that more and probably a bit earlier than he has been, but like a lot of our other players yesterday, mistakes will be made and I wouldnt expect to see the best version of us for a few months yet (which is why this is all pretty exciting). Like you say, there is nothing we can do about it now until January, so we need to hope that Stama does indeed develop or that Hendry can get fit and challenge him for his place and maybe push him on. The good thing is that regardless of how many he scores we still have goals in the team. By January we should know whether he is gonna be another Moult or just a Connor Shields......

Peter Leven cant really be considered a new manager! 😉

Its 10 minutes more than he had last week. Next week he might get 30. The week after he might get a start. Willing to bet thats the most minutes any 19 year old Scot has had in Serie A. Having watched their game against Inter, they have some seriously good midfielders. Its not Harry Paton keeping him out the team.....

Jeez! I forgot about that! Absolutely! Great chance. If Stama misses that he gets slaughtered!

I didnt think we could win both games, and we might not still. But I was greatly enthused with how we were able to control the game second half today despite Aberdeen throwing the kitchen sink at us and us not having that strong a bench. Hopefully we will have McGinn and Hendry back next week. Just would be a bonus. We need a league win and now have the muscle memory to know it can be done.

Some really good performances today. Welsh was very good, as was Longelo. Stama put in a power of work again but really needs to get the monkey of his back and convert a chance or two. RCC had a really good game and would have been easy to give it to him for his goal alone. However, went for Watt. Another absolutely outstanding performance from him, all the more impressive because he makes sit look so effortless. He is my surprise package of the season as he came in with pretty much zero expectation.

Thought we started slowly today. Probably the poorest Ive seen us this season. However, we were solid defensively and grew into the game. Despite it being a fairly even first half, I felt we had the best of the chances and shoulda gone in at the break in the lead. JT was unlucky to hit the woodwork and Stama had a very good effort cleared of the line. Said and Fadinger should have both done better with their chances. Second half we were in control of the game, scored a great goal and shoulda put the game to bed. Stama has 2 very good chances and shoulda done better with the header in particular. Really pleased to get the win and a pretty good performance considering our injuries. We now have another big game to look forward to and some more cash in the bank. The JBA train is still coming down the tracks!

Do you think we have a chance in rhe semi final?

True.....

https://www.facebook.com/share/17HY69tVFz/

Mmmm. Not feeling so confident now. Just is a miss. Surprised Koutroumbis on bench. But JBA does like SOD. Hopefully Said and RCC are fitter, sharper than last week.

Agree with this. Id probably go RCC but wouldnt be surprised if it was Said as JBA has more history with the player. One will replace the other at some point for sure.

I believe it is on MFC TV for international supporters.....

So the battle of the ex Motherwell managers / players goes to extra time! Not sure who I would prefer to win. Given any semi final would be at Hampden, Im not sure it matters. One thing is for sure though, I wouldnt swap JBA for either of our former gaffers!

Cup win. No question. We cant win the League, but we have a chance in the cup. Also getting to Hampden is always a good day out.

Following on from the duscussion over injuries yesterday, Nick McPheat just posted this..... https://x.com/nmcpht/status/1968664920972480718?t=zeZWtozC1KGKFd3UzzCWhQ&s=19

If it was an illness, I would very much agree. That said, by divulging injuries and keeping illness confidential, you would effectively highlight a player with an illness, so it brings you back to the same place......

Ive had a look on the club website and I dont see anywhere that this information is listed. Its been a frustration for sometime and not something we have been very good at since Flow left. I get that some of it is private medical information and thats down to the player themselves, but I dont think it would be breaching any confidences to state the basic nature of the injury and timeframe for return. Of course it could be down to managers not wanting to give opponents too much information in a bid to keep them guessing. From what little I know or can glean from other sources the list looks like this.... Robinson - Achilles - October Stuparevic - Knee - Long term Nicholson - knee - unknown Sule - unknown - unknown Sparrow - muscle - unknown McGhee - thigh - unknown McGinn - unknown - unknown Stamatelopoulos - shoulder - unknown Slattery - unknown - 5/6 weeks Hendry - unknown - unknown For a club our size, thats a lot to contend with......

Looking at the Premier Sports Cup payments and both clubs get £30k for a televised quater final on top of £100k prize money. Not to be sniffed at. And thats before our share of the gate money. Cup runs ARE important for clubs our size.

Seems to be a late add on. Read elsewhere it was gonna be on Premier Sports 2. https://www.motherwellfc.co.uk/2025/09/16/quarter-final-tie-to-be-shown-live-on-premier-sports/

Presumably Premier Sports requested it in their contract and they got what they wanted. Certainly games from previous rounds were on simultaneously, albeit they were being streamed rather than broadcast live. Not gonna lie. It made my decision not to go to Pittodrie much easier after the shit experience we had up there last time in the league.

I think its just load. The game is getting quicker and the close season is getting shorter. Our teams used to finish mid May and start back mid August. Now they finish the end of May and are back playing League Cup mid July. I know players live very different lifestyles now, but their bodies must still need some rest and recuperation. Im sure JBA said as much in a recent presser.