joewarkfanclub

Not sure if its just me, but Im not sure what it is about Kevin Thomsons managerial record that makes folk think that he is a future managerial success story? I think the jury is still very much out on that one and, if he hadnt played for one of the big 2, the media wouldnt push him anywhere near as much as they are doing right now. PS thats not a dig at you Spit it Out, but I he does seem to be flavour of the month right now in the media when jobs come up.

Thats my gut reaction right now. I understand why others would prefer him to stay where he is as the first team coach role can be a poisoned chalice and Id hate to see Hammy legacy as a player tarnished. However, sometimes you just have to take that chance and he ticks a lot of boxes for me. The one big gap is experience with first team players. Leaving aside Craigans alleged reasons for departing last time round, he would be my other choice for similar reasons. Lambert is interesting and has managed at a high level, but does that make him a good fit at our level? Simo also seems to be a good fit but he has been passed over at least twice before. Only the board will know whether thats an impedement this time round. Hopefully we will start to see firmer news by the weekend.

Wasnt Fox on the bench on Sunday? It looked like him involved in the warm up with the other keepers.......

Hopefully Hammy will get a bit more chance to put his stamp on the team with a full week of training the players. For me if KVV isnt fully fit then dont play him. His workrate has been very poor and he is a shadow of the player he can be if fit and interested. Lamie will be a big miss. Probably means Bevis coming back in with Sol, unless McGinn is over his head knock and can move inside with SOD keeping his place after a solid showing at St Mirren. Id like to see Cornelius on from the start to get some energy into the midfield and mix it up a bit so St Johnstone dont get the examinatiin they are expecting.

Id much rather have Hammy than Thomson or O'Dea. No more of a risk than they are and has a lot more going for him in other areas. Not sure about Brian Rice. Wasnt universally liked at Accies which in itself will make him a non starter for some of our fans. Be interesting to see who is on the list of 50 cv's but I guess we will only get to know the shortlist once it starts to leak out.

I dont think Kelly is going to make a decision on where he plays his football off the back of criticism from a minority of reactionary idiots who really should know better. He got a standing ovation leaving the pitch yesterday. He knows the majority of fans appreciate him. We may well lose him in Junuary, butnit wil be because another club with more money recognises his talent too.

That is certainly true. The way I look at it though, is that the quality of exeprienced player we are able to bring in now has fallen so low, the risk of playing a young player you have faith in is becoming negligible. Id much rather watch a team of our youngsters have a go an develop than a group of journeyman that are never going to improve. Balancing the two is the trick, and finding a manager brave enough and with the skills to do is the key.

Im more than happy with Spittal and McGinn (albeit you could argue whether we needed McGinn) and I think Morris could have something to offer in a settled side. I thought it signalled a slight change in signing policy. Those are probably the kind of signings I think we need to support the young players coming through. Another Cooper or Phil O'Donnell would be even better, although probably a little fanciful in the current climate.

I think when you have a situation where clubs in the English 5th tier can pay more money than our club for players we need to re-assess the model and ask whether trying to sign players from these leagues is of benefit to us. For every Louis Moult and Cedric Kipre that are unearthed, there are another half dozen who are nothing more than journeyman professionals who are doing nothing to improve the quality of our squad/league. The future for clubs our size has to be developing young local talent. Yes, we may lose many of them to english academys before they play a first team game, but it shouldnt stop us trying. Your Cadden, Turnbull, Campbell, Hastie, Cornelius' are the way ahead for us and the only chance we have to try and challenge and improve because there is no ceiling on the level that talent could pitentially reach. We do of course need a core of experienced players to support and guide them, but these should be handpicked, known quantities rather than just the "total punts" we seem to have favoured over the last few years. In my opinion, our next manager has to fulfill those criteria if we are to halt the current malaise.

These things are not unique to Motherwell. Our support isnt any better or worse than any other in that respect. That being the case our best player and Captain would have been better to keep his counsel on that one. The fact that he is our best player and had a blinder yesterday will allow it to be washed over and forgotten quickly. The relationship between fans, players and manager is a 2 way street. You reap the benefits when things are going well, but you need to be ready for when they are not. Robbo got both sudes of that coin and Im pretty sure he would have told Alexander exactly that.

Lamie was great up until his red card. SOD looked better than I have seen him in claret & amber. But there can be only one today. 2 absolute worldys from Kelly and a host of other very good saves, won us the match, no doubt.

Be interested to see who is interested in the job before we make a decision, however, I wouldnt rule Hammell out immediately. Today is only one game and you cant judge anyone on that, but he has a lot things going for him. He knows the club, he knows the players. He will he aware of our deficiences and what needs fixed. He knows our academy talent and has a vested interest in trying to develop it for the benefit of the club. He is also a club legend who will get more patience to get things right than anyone else is likely to be afforded. Whether he has the man management skills and the tactical acumen to succeed remains to be seen, but for most of our appointments Id suggest that is always a bit of a punt. It might feel like a lazy appointment. But I wouldnt be distraught by it.

Great 3 points today. Wasnt the best performance, but considering where we have been and everything thats happened in the last week, its a great feeling to get the win and start the league season on a positive, especially considering we havent won our first league game since 2016! Not sure we can read too much into Hammells influence on the team given he only had 24 hours to work with them. But I did feel that some of the players looked like they had a bit of weight off their shoulders. He definitely made a statement by getting some young players on the bench and giving young Spiers a start so maybe a sign that he is showing the direction he feels the club should be headed. Like others, I thought Lamie was having a great game right up until his red card. I will need to see it again on tv as it was a long way from where we were, but initial reaction was that he couldnt have any complaints. KVV continues to frustrate. I get that the service to him isnt great but he doesnt work hard enough for me out of possession. He is a bit like a spoiled child throwing his arms around every time he doesnt get the ball where he wants it. The guy is a senior pro. He should be trying to improve those around him, not crying about how bad their service to him is. Kelly, as others have already said was absolutely outstanding. 2 match winning saves (one in each half) and several others that were top drawer. Thought it was quite noticeable how much the players looked to give appreciation to the fans today. Clearly aware of how bad things have been and how much reparation was required. Also reinforced.by Hammy post match. Just a small step today, but an important one. Hopefully the worst is behjnd us and we can look onwards and upwards for the rest of the season.

Bringing Robinson back would be a ridiculous decision. The board have bought themselves some time getting rid of Alexander, but they would heap all that pressure straight back onto themselves with such a lazy decision. Weneed a fresh figure that can unite the support and get the best out of the players that we have.

Ferguson has no track record other than his interim manager spells at Everton. He has left Everton however, to pursue a career as a no.1.

It still doesnt hurt to ask again.

I wouldnt be averse to Craigan and McFadden. Whether they would take it or not is another matter. Both know the club inside out and have its best interests in their heart. Both speak intelligently about the game in their tv roles and are very measured in their approach. Craigan was very successful coaching our U21s and has a great understanding of what it takes to develop that side of the business, which personally I feel is the future for a club like ours. I get way more pleasure in seing the likes of Turnbull, Campbell, Hastie, Cadden, Cornelius, Maguire etc develop and come into our first team than the majority of journeyman professiknals we have seen come through our revolving door in recent years. We just cant compete financially for decent established professionals, so rearing as many of our own as we can just makes sense.

Really glad this has been done quickly. Its bad enough that we went out of Europe without laying a glove on a very average team, but to let it fester into the start of the league season would have done us no good. Not sure who will take the team Sunday, but at least the toxicity has been taken out of the fixture and ironically heaps the pressure back on St Mirren and Stephen Robinson. Sunday is pretty much a free shot now. Here is hoping the players can go out and express themselves

Being fan owned forces us to live within our means. Given our history and that of other clubs in Scottish Football who failed to do that is no bad thing. The Well Society is just our lender of last resort because the banks will no longer give us money and we dont have a rich benefactor to borrow from. The idea that rich benefactors spend their money on a football club with no expectation of a return or at the very least (if they are genuine fans) getting their money back is for the birds. Rich people dont get rich by giving their money away. The fact that both Kilmarnock and St Mirren are both going down that route speaks volumes (albeit Kilmarnock currently have Billy Bowie as their Les Hutchison). These are the clubs we need to compete with to stay in the SPL. That starts Sunday.

I thought that moment was going to be last night and it never came, so I have absolutely no confidence for Sunday. Im going to the game but only because my nephew has come all the way from Leeds for the first game of a new season, and I cant let him down. However, I have no expectation whatsoever. Having read you posts on here today and I presume its you on FB also, I know you are also at the end of your tether with the manager. Do you not think a damaging defeat on Sunday will force the issue? How do you see next Saturday playing out. Im generally with you and Yorkyred when it comes to patience and realism about where we are as a club, but this is a fairly alarming low.

I was the same until last night. But such was the scale of our failure and the depth of the anger felt at the nature of it, I think the scales have tipped the balance. Sunday is a must win, or at least a must not lose and see some sort of reaction / performance, otherwise the first home game will be a hate fest, particualrly given the level of opposition (direct competitors) and the personal connection between our club and theirs. That shouldnt matter as 3 points are 3 points, but we Ll know football doesnt work like that.

Not for me. Outclassed is when the other team have all the ball and rip you a new one are better than you in every department and there is nothing you can do about it. Im not saying Sligo werent organised, worked hard and didnt deserve to win both games and the tie overall. Im just saying they didnt even have to be that good to achieve it. Thats an even more damning indictment on our performance.

As one of the more respected posters on here, Im a bit disappointed with a lot of the content of your post. Sure there are some fans who have irrational expectations and sure there are fans who have never liked Alexander, but thats not where we are at here. Last Thursday and last night we have a situation where the vast majority of fans have turned on the manager. That didnt happen overnight, it was a slow war of attrition as gruelling as watching Alexanders brand of football for 18 months. I normally base things on where my thoughts are. Im a pretty loyal guy and one of the last to turn on any manager. So when it gets to the stage that Im at the end of my tether things are pretty bad. I fully supported Alexanders appointment, I thought it was brave out of the box thinking keeping us away from the usual "jobs for the boys" merrygoround that is Scottish Football. I havent been a big fan of his brand of football, but in the first 12 months I saw teamwork, organisation, togetherness and spirit that made us the highest points accumulating team in the top flight behind the big two. In the last 7 months, that has all gone. The boo boys will always be there. Every club has them. But when you lose the majority of the support, its because something is seriously wrong and it rarely ends well. I dont think most fans do disrespect the league of Ireland. I think most understand it has improved significantly, whilst ours has, in the main, regressed. But no one looking at that game last night can come away thinking Sligo are world beaters. You can talk about standards slipping and you would be correct. You can talk about them being half way through their season and yes, that does make a difference. But you know what, Alexander knew all of those things before we broke up for the summer. He knew the dates of the games and he picked the pre season programme and schedule. Despite our dwindling resources we still have a bigger budget than Sligo, we still have better facilities and infrastructure. One of our outfield players WAS a stand out in the League of Ireland, thats why we signed him, but because we wont play to a system that suits our players, he was invisible last night. So Im sorry, any failure to be ready for these games falls on Alexander, and its just one failure too many for me. He has lost the support, he looks like he has lost the players and shows no sign of accepting this and doing anything about it. Thats what will get him the sack.

Hapless and deservedly dumped, no doubt, but outclassed? Thats just nonsesne. As I posted elsewhere, Sligo were organised, hard working, defended well and waited for our mistakes which duly came. They didnt outclass us. If they had it wouldnhave been 5 or 6 on that perdormance.

Absolutely. No hunger, no desire, no hurt or anger at last weeks defeat. Whether thats feeding off the managers comments and attitude, whether they simply dont have it in them, or whether they have downed tools on him, I dont know. But as professional footballers you would think their own pride would have stirred something in them. Simply unacceptable.......