Kmac

To be honest, I don’t even need a marquee signing, though it would be nice. I would just like to see us sign 6/7 players that have proven ability at our level/an equivalent of ... the standard of the league might not be world class but I’ll almost guarantee that it’s a far cry better than the national league south. We’ve all seen that it’s hit and miss signing players from far down the English pyramid system, some come good, some remain abjectly shite, what most of them do have in common however is that it takes them a significant amount of time to adjust to the step up, If they ever do. In a smaller squad, we won’t have the ability to rotate those players out/ rest when needed

True. I’m just wondering that now we’ve got a full complement on the bench that we might start to sign players to compete in the top 6.

I’m a bit puzzled by this signing. Firstly, we acknowledged that we were keeping playing budgets at the same level whilst Alexander also said that he’s planning to only bring in half of the amount of bodies which we let go. Those two things hand in hand suggests that our average salary will Increase and that we’re investing or planning to invest in starters. With the best will in the world to Maidstone, I cannot imagine that this will be anything like a top earner at Motherwell and therefore it begs the question of where the money is being spent or will be spent, if this is the route we are going down?

In reality, we are in the same place with Cole leaving as before. Realistically, we need 9 bodies in, 6 of which need to be nailed on starters of quality. With Cole leaving, I cannot help but feel that we must have about 25 grand per week in playing budget to allocate, therefore it should easily be possible to piece together the required squad to compete in the top 6 with that kind of cash to allocate. At the moment, we’re still looking at a team/squad of: ———————————GK O’Donnell——CD—CD—Mcginley/Carroll —————————-CM ————--—-CM—————O’Hara/A.N. Other ——-Shields———CF———-Watt SUBS: Fox Carson Mugabe Lamie Carroll Donnelly lawleff Maguire Winger Crawford ST ST

Can I ask why we wouldn’t? I’m not a particular fan of signing Lafferty btw however we surely must have room in the budget for that level of spending? Alexander has gone public in saying that we will be bringing in between 7 and 10 players after having released 24. I’ve got no inside knowledge however looking at the public accounts, some deduction would suggest we’ve just removed about 20-25k in weekly wages from released players therefore the money should be there if we are maintaining playing budgets as we have said we will.

Absolute baseless speculation here, founded in no reality whatsoever but that’s what close seasons are for. I’m imagining that the outgoing players (including Dunne) must be freeing up close to 20k a Week in salaries which is a huge chunk. If Alexander is correct that he is running with a smaller squad and we are maintaining playing budgets, then we must be looking at almost doubling our weekly average wage I’m guessing.

Fingers crossed we've managed to eject whatever disease infested the club, mutating it into Livi 2017/18

Correct. 6/7 first team starters are essential for next season. To that end, I'm not quite sure how that will fit into our overall budgeting plans? We simply don't have good enough players in and around the team to carry boys who need to get up to speed which means bringing in at least 4/5 players already performing at our level or the level we want to be competing at. I assume the process has already begun...

This season has been utterly dreadful. Too many players simply not good enough.

I hope I never have to see Magloire in a Motherwell jersey ever again - hopeless

Lawless isn’t good enough at this level

Robbie Crawford is a poor mans Mark Fitzpatrick. Dugmeat

Interesting that we’ve decided not have a central midfield today

It’s early in the season. Plenty of time to fix these technical issues

Potentially the most bland offering ever for a Motherwell Goal of the season compilation?

Don’t disagree regarding Donnelly but he and O’Hara as a midfield pairing would be murder polis. Carson is/was an excellent keeper however given his recent injury problems, I don’t believe we can rely on him as a number 1 sadly.

Campbell is probably the most 'painful' one to loose in the summer, together with Kelly (although we knew it was a loan). As expected, we are going to need 6 first team players brought in over the summer (and 2 more forwards for the squad). Feel free to swap in any of the subs for an existing name but taking a sub for a 'missing role' will see us playing the same forgettable shite that has been served all season (with the exception of Carson, whom as mentioned previous, I believe will be a back-up moving forward). ------------------Goalkeeper O’Donnell———-Mugabe——Centre Half—-Carroll RM————-O’Hara——-CM———-LM ————-Watt—— Striker Subs: Carson Mcginley Lamie Grimshaw Donnelly Crawford Lawless Maguire

Quite poor second half but a good win. For me, the biggest stand out was foley. It was nice to see a midfielder who is actually on the right side of the ball and can read a game. Mr. Crawford should take note as we looked much less rushed and panicked as a result.

Final ball has been awful

Donnelly has talent, no doubt, but his injury record in recent seasons is awful, I don’t think we can rely on him sadly. I also don’t believe Mugabi should be an auto start but You can feel free to put in Lamie instead of him. IMO, neither are good enough but there isn’t a chance we’ll go out and sign two centre halves with the quality we actually need. Sadly, I fully agree with you. I’m not fearing relegation yet however the squad as it stands, is at bare bones. If we were left with Kelly, Campbell, Gallagher and Cole, you might be thinking, okay, we’ve got a decent core to build around. The reality is, we have no core squad which can be built upon and that will need to be completely remade over the summer. Even in the Gannon and Barraclough days, we had few quality bodies In the squad that you knew could drag us through games at our level. Watt aside, we have a terrifyingly shite squad on our hands that would struggle to compete for a championship playoff.

Now that this season is ‘over’, other than aiming to finish as high up the league as possible and securing prize money that will not be reinvested in the first team squad, the task ahead becomes ever clearer. As suggested by others, I don’t believe that Carson will be number 1 next season. His recent injury worries and goalkeeper coaching suggest that whilst he can be an extremely capable back-up, we will need a number 1. Other than that, we go into Matchday 1 of 21/22 with a squad of ————————-Goalkeeper O’Donnell———-Mugabe——Centre Half—-Carroll RM————-O’Hara——-CM———-LM ————-Watt—— Striker Subs: Carson Mcginley Lamie Grimshaw Donnelly Crawford Lawless Maguire Realistically, we need 6 first team starters signed over the summer. Additionally, IMO, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Grimshaw, Mcginley or Donnelly leave the club, whilst I would be actively looking to offload Lawleff. For the sake of the squad, we probably need a minimum of 2 strikers brought in and if we can offload any of the afformentioned 4, an additional Centre half and central midfielder. I make it minimum 7 and maximum 9 in over the summer and running with a squad of around 22/23 including some youngsters down from the current 33. I would imagine/hope/expect that trimming the squad by 30% should see a significant uptick in quality but time will tell

Don’t be sorry. It’s true

Cmon the well

I’ll say it again, we’re absolutely shite

Games a bogey