joewarkfanclub

I like Ox. He has made a few mistakes in the past, but he is a big unit that generally commands his box and very good shotstopper. The only thing Im unsure of is how good he is with the ball at his feet. His distribution was better than Kelly's, but thays a really low bar and what JBA wants from his keeper is way beyond that. Be interesting to see what happens.

Tickets are on sale. However, no mention of how many we got and no map to select your seat, so pot luck if you are open to the elements or not. Really fancy the game, but not sure Im gonna pay £25 to drive all that way for a potential soaking!

He did. But he was back at Milwall until last night. Hence why they have been struggling to score goals as they only had Yengi and Sockler.....

Aye that would certainly make sense.

Will wait to see how he looks in a Motherwell jesrsey, but cant say I was ever overly impressed when he played against us for Celtic. All relative though. If he is better than we have in the building, he will do fine.

It would be churlish to suggest we have had anything else other than a successful window, but I am a little disappointed we let Wilson go out on loan without a replacement. He may have his deficiencies, ,but in my eyes at least he was a decent enough back up, in the same way Halliday is for the midfield spots. I guess if JBA doesnt rate him and the boy wants to play, fair enough. He might yet develop with more first team football at Raith. Just not convinced that we have adequate cover if anything happens to Longelo as we would be looking at SOD, McGinn or Halliday in there. As for the rest of the squad. Midfield is excellent. Wide areas look good. Up front remains to be seen but at least Maswanhise is scoring for now. GK needs to settle down with either Ox being given a shot to see if he can do any better or just standing by Ward in the hope he can iron out the mistakes. Good first window for JBA. Still some weaknesses to address, but we are gonna be fun to watch and hopefulky we ecan get enough wins to allow him time to build.

Welsh will be decent with the ball at his feet which is potentially why we have gone for him. But my impression, and backed up by a Celtic supporting mate, is that he is a bit on the soft side physically and prone to injuries. In the absence of a better option, I guess he will need to do, but not one I will be getting delirious about. A left back is still required. So hopefully we have one more incoming.

Had he actually played any minutes for us yet? I cant think of any.....

McGhee WAS back in training and available last week. If he has broken down again, that would be a concern. He arrived injured. Got fit. Got injured again and was only just back. Starting to think the Kettlewell curse lives on!

Dundee looked pretty toothless against United yesterday. But they did defend very well at Ibrox, so could be another 70% possession game with the onus on us to break them down. Wouldnt expect us to lose this one, but a lot will depend on whether we can create more clear cut chances and take enough of them to make sure we can cover any more mistakes at the back. Hopefully Slattery hasnt been sold / isnt badly injured and can be available and Hendry/Said/Osong/RCC are another 2 weeks along the road to full fitness. Id put Ox back in goals.

Kettlewells last hurrah! He was fit and back in training last week. If he has broken down again thats a concern. We havent missed him thus far, but he was a guy, I was hoping could cover a number of positions, so would have been good to have as a squad player as the season progressed.

Would be sad to see Slattery go as we are just getting to see his full potential in a team that plays football. That said, we are a selling club so if the offer is a good one, we cant really afford to turn it down. Hoping it is just a minor injury and not a cover story for a sale, but if we are moving him on lets hope its a 7 figure fee. We might end up being busier in the next 24 hours than I thought!

I think its accepted he is currently our first choice right back though. Id be surprised if JBA thinks that is sufficient cover.....

Oh totally. Boy needs games to see if he can develop past this current plateau that he is on. Not currently what we need at left back, but who knows, he could be in the future. We definitely do need cover for Longelo though. Dynamic fullbacks are integral to how we are playing.

I presume we must have signed another left back who is still to be announced. Otherwise we are pretty short there, with only SOD or Halliday ever having played there before? Neither have the legs to do what Longelo does.....

Chunked up, as in lifting too many weights, or not eating properly?

I sway back and forth on the issue. I do hate what UEFA and FIFA are doing to football as its a reflection generally of society, with the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. That said, its the world that we live in, so, short of giving football up altogether, we as fans just thave to roll with it. Re the specific point on co-efficient? I dont get overly exercised about it. It would be nice if we didnt have to play so many qualifiers to reach a group stage when we do actually qualify, but you ultimately still have to beat better teams to get there. That being the case I just go with how I feel. I generally like to see the Scottish teams do well as I think it reflects better on the country and our league. A bit of pride / self respect if you like. And there is the solidarity payments which cant be ignored. I quite enjoyed the Hibs game last night (they are comfortably the best Scottish team Ive seen this season) and I would have liked to have seen Aberdeen progress. Even if it is just for the selfish reason of making it harder for them to balance upcoming league games! Rangers and Celtic not so much. Its quite amusing to see Rangers eat themselves alive and Celtic blow the chance to remain streets ahead of their rivals for years to come by maintaining their biscuit tin mentality. But generally? Not gonna lose any sleep over it. Its all about what we do thats most important for me, so a win and 3 points tomorrow is my priority!

Mmmmmm..... Maybe! 😍😍😍 I think if he hadnt left the way he did most fans wouldnt be overly fussed about the way it played out or his return. But he did that. Nobody else. So whilst I agree with your point in principle (particularly as it was me that called Dougie Imrie our pantomime villain) it is still football, it is still tribal, and most of us are utter hypocrites! My main point about this not getting too heated and personal before the game is that I think it might actually impact negatively on the team ifnit gets too toxic, and I wouldnt want the "feel good factor" that we are experiencing just now to be diminished because of fit. However, ultimately its football. The fans will do what they want to do and theres not a blind bit if difference anyone on here can make of it. Fingers crossed for a great game, a grwat atmosphere and a Motherwell win. Stuart who? 😍😍😍

We can do that without targetting Kettlewell. He wasnt the manager of Rangers and the atmosphere was great at that game....... Edit: I have no issues with us giving him it tight at the end of the game if we have won. He has certainly earned it......

Of course he deserves criticism. But its got nothing to do with Motherwell fans showing themselves up. Its got everything to do with providing a distraction from what is important. Ignore him. Win the game. Gloat later.

Im another one who didnt mind Kettlewell too much whilst he was here. He did work bloody hard and did his best whilst here. The results and performances initially were very good. But his last 6 months were horrendous. His stubbornous to change, his downfall. And the way he left unforgiveable. Letting Saturday be about him though would be a distraction from what is really important, getting our first 3 points of the season. Once thats in the bag he becomes fair game and should get both barrells! Until then, just back the team like we did against the dead club and we will be fine.

Sounds like the players got worked hard on Monday morning! 🤪🤪🤪

What a cracking night that was! Probably the last really enjoyable game under Kettlewell.

A year on from the big board room coup, I think a lot of things have become evident. 1. Getting "real control" of the club was paramount to everything that has happened in the last year! 2. We now have a young, innovative chairman in place and a much younger board with fresh modern ideas. We also have a CEO who is aligned to these principles. 3. Many fans talked about the need for investement, and that may still come. But the chairman talked about some "easy wins" whereby we could actually grow the club and make it more attractive to investors. 4. Getting in a young modern manager who wants to play attractive attacking football has already seen attendances rise. If that continues to improve, so will stadium revenue. 5. Signing policy is much more forward thinking. Younger, fitter players who are able to play an expansive game and tied down on contracts that give them a residual value. This should see us grow our transfer revenue as players move on to bigger and better things. This in itself will make us more attractive for future signings as they will see us as a good club to facilitate their development. 6. Improvements to communication and in other areas of the club and around the stadium give the impression of a club that knows its identity and is constantly looking to improve. This and the continuing emphasis on community work will make us more attractive to sponsors and in theory should also allow us to grow that revenue stream as well. There is still a lot of room for improvement, and some mistakes have been made along the way. But I dont think Ive been this excited and genuinely delighted to be a Motherwell fan in a very long time. Erik Barmack anyone?