joewarkfanclub

To be fair to Kelly, he didnt make any real mistakes against Hearts. There were a few nervous moments and his distribution was still poor, but he couldnt do much about the goals in my opinion. He may well play his way out of the poor form he has been in. None of us really no how good Oxborough is so it would be a huge risk to throw him in against Celtic. The centre half issue is a connundrum that we clearly havent solved. Mugabi has been better of late (he tends to be after a run of games) but there is always a mistake in him under pressure and you would think Celtic will exploit that. Butcher has been injured all season and not had any run of games to get any sort of match sharpness back. Not sure this is the game I would bring him back for. Casey, not been much better than Mugabi this season. Does well for the most part then loses concentration and drops his man quite a bit. For me its McGinn and any one from those 3. The reason Ive gone for Blaney is that he is naturally left sided and more confortable with the ball at his feet than the others. He has also made mistakes at times, but he is still quite inexperienced at this level and I fancy he has the most chance of progressing into a sellable asset. All that said, you could make a case for any of the above. McGinn is the most solid and the only one Id say is nailed on.

StAndrew7 thanks for the comprehensive update. Much appreciated.

Wouldnt be against that, but not sure he will be fit. Still recovering from a calf problem.

Sorry, but how does that stack up? What are the club supposed to do about "personal reasons?" Youd need a crystal ball to predict that. The fact that we have let the player return to his parent club without any fuss is surely a positive for the player and the parent club? We have also just had a player so succesful in their loan spell here that the parent club recalled him and farmed him out to a club playing at a higher level. Said player seems to be doing very well at the higher level. Im not saying none of this doesnt impact negatively on the managers ability to put a successful team out on the park or that we shouldnt be re-assessing our recruitment strategy in respect of loans, but I struggle to see how either scenario paints the club and how we do business in a bad light.

Obika isnt very good in the air though. He rarely wins a header. He is much better with the ball into his chest or feet, but Vale can do all of those things and is much quicker. Id love for the big man to he a success, but unless he stays fit enough to get a run of games soon, Im afraid Id be cutting my losses with him.

All fair comment

Kelly (wont be dropped) McGinn Casey Blaney Devine Miller Davor Spittal Gent Vale Bair

Welcome back Jay. In response to Denny C, I agree with a lot of what you say, but I dont agree that we have given fan ownership a good go. I think we have played with it a bit and the intentions were good, but without any real vision as to where it was going or how to get there. Thats no real criticism of those involved as we were pretty much the first to do it so there was no manual and we were pretty much making it up as we went along. For me the fan ownership thing is what has sustained my interest over the last few years which have been pretty grim on the playing front. For me Motherwell as a town and the surrounding area doesnt have anything to bind it together anymore in the way that say, the steelworks did. The club is the last thing standing so, for me, the future of the club and its place in the community is paramount. We can poo poo a lot of the initiatives that have taken place in the past and minimise their impact on the football side of our business, but local buy in from the community is so important to everything that we do. Our youth academy and bringing through young local players is and always has been the best way of us bridging the quality gap. We need to get back to that as well. It feels like since covid we have lost our way and a bit of that identity. If we have fresh voices on the Well Society Board willing to address these things and grow the Society/Club, they have my backing. Thats not to say outside investment isnt important and shouldnt be welcomed. But it shouldnt be at the expense of who/what we are. That might sound like a romantic notion, and maybe it is. But personally I dont see any reason we cant find someone out there with a bit of cash that is a bit of a philanthropist and would be willing to support that ethos. As for where I see us? Ensuring our top flight status, the odd cup run, a few more finals with the possibility of maybe actually winning one and the odd foray into Europe is where we have been my entire life. Anything that maintains that without selling us down the river has my backing.

I do agree that in the past certain managers and squads have pandered to the media narrative that Celtic and Rangers are too strong and its almost impossible for diddy teams to challenge them. Of course some managers will also say that in public and say something totally different to their squad in private. My point really was, that there is no point challenging our managers and players to have a more positive mindset if we as fans have us beat before a ball is kicked.

You missed my point entirely. Maybe I should have posted "If I were to agree with MJC"..........

Regardless of who owns the club we still have to try and live within our means. Otherwise the club just ends up owing money to the investor rather than a bank. Im sure with the correct investment there is maybe more we can do in terms of the academy, facilities etc which make the club a more attractive place to come and play. However, we need to be making better decisions as a whole and not spaffing money against the wall on managers and players that dont move us forward and generate the extra revenue that can move us forward. Otherwise you end up like Dundee United, playing in the Championship, millions in debt to an American owner who might call it a day at any point. Outward investment could be a good thing for us. But it needs to be the right investor with the right intentions and hopefully the business acumen to maje us a more sustainable proposition.

If you dont dare to dream then you are always going to be stuck in a self fulfilling prophecy. I agree with MJC that the club, manager and players need to change their mentality if they are to reverse the trend of our results against the big two. You wont ever win a game if you dont think you can. However, that also applies to us as fans.....

Personally prefer that the Well Society keep a majority share of 51%. Happy with any outward investment up to that point. That way we can, in theory, stop any decisions we dont feel are in the best interests of the club. Whether any investor would accept that or not is another matter.

How do you suggest we change our negative mentality then if the odds are so cruelly stacked against us?

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/yYU5bAonFgK2xJRN/

Regardless of how poorly Celtic are playing compared to last season, they are still way out in front of all the other teams bar Rangers and have better players than everyone else. Stands to reason it will be a tough game. But we played very well for the most part yesterday at a tough venue against a team with better players and more resources. The same level of application will be required and we will of course require to eliminate any unforced and self inflicted errors. However, our performances against Celtic this season have been decent, so not that unreasonable to think we can produce another one and at least sneak a point. I think we will need Spittal and Gent fit to make that a reality and possibly Butcher, although his absence would concern me the least out the three. That said, Celtic could come out with all guns blazing and knock 4 past us. Just need to wait and see!

Having watched the highlights back, I need to review my opinions at least a little. First goal Casey is marking no one and has no idea where Shankland is. He definitely has to shoulder some of the blame. I originally thought it was all on Mugabi, and he at least can see Shankland and should react, but if he goes too quickly and the ball is delivered to the man behind him for a free header he gets it in the neck for that as well. I get the whole zonal marking thing but unless your communication is a helluva lot better than ours appears to be, Id much rather see a defender man to man on their most dangerous player. Its a collective shambles. At the game, second goal, I though SODs was fouled. He clearly isnt. He needs to be stronger there, so that ones on him.

I think the SOD sub was more to do with Vargas coming on that side. He would have torn Devine a new one. For all SOD has his detractors he did marshall him reasonably well and better than Devine would have.

Thats a tough call. Mugabi is in for headers as Kelly wont come off his line. But that didnt work out for us today. Butcher looks broken, so I think reluctantly I would go McGinn Casey Blaney or SOD McGinn Casey

Agreed. Casey was back to last seasons level instead of the mistake ridden version of this season. Much better player when he keeps it simple and just defends. Was actually very unlucky with his speculative shot in the first half. Keeper did well as it was swerving all over the place! Id have Mugabi as a back up but we cant keep him, Butcher, SOD and McGinn as they cant all play and we need some upgrades. Personally Id let him and Butcher go and keep SOD & McGinn as they can play more than one position.

Jack Vale for me. Put in a great shift and looks a handfull with the ball at his feet. Knows the importance of holding the ball up and keeping possession. Needed some team mates to get closer and help him out at times. Not sure he is the perfect replacement for Mika, but he will soften the pain until the end of the season if he stays fit.

We are such a frustrating team to watch. We do so many good things in a game and then feck it up by doing some really stupid shit. We defended well as a team today for tge most part. Hearts have some gifted players and we kept our discipline well and made them play round about us. The only save Kelly had to make in the first half was McGinns header which he was trying to deflect over the bar. Second half we started really smartly on the front foot and put them under a fair bit of pressure. There were a fair few chances to get the ball in the net but we couldnt take any of them. Ultimately we paid for that. Hearts made some positive changes. Vargas being the pick of the bunch. He looks a dangerous player. That said the first goal is typical of our season. Straightforward free kick and we let the best striker in the league get a free header at it. I like Mugabi, but his one job in the team is to win headers and he let Shankland get the better if him. The second goal is a sucker punch in injury time. We were throwing everyone (even Mugabi) forward. Thought SODs was pushed in the back in the run up. Maybe he should be stronger, but Decine got given a foul against seconds earlier for literally nothing. There is no consistency with these things and it makes a mockery of VAR. Overall, decent performance at a difficult venue. Spittal would have made a difference. Hope whatever his issue is it isnt serious and we see him next week. We will need him. Not sure what more SK can do about our defending. Team were clearly well drilled today on their gameplan but individual errors keep costing us. Just need to tough it out until the summer until we can change personnel.

We will win! 😉

Scotland Forever! 😉

😆😆😆 Bloody hope not!