Ya Bezzer!

Are we using last year's away kit this up coming season or will there be a new away kit as well?

Last year a friend of mine, the same age as me, late forties, died in a car crash. It knocked me for six. It's a whole different thing from elderly relatives dying, even very close relatives, or people passing away from cancer. The whole here today, gone tomorrow aspect of it is very hard to deal with. You literally can't comprehend it. And I hope it wasn't the case with Graham but the fact that it was also a violent death just adds a whole different level to it too. They say the world is a vale of tears and they aren't wrong. Condolences on your loss.

I never met him but I had some contact with him over ideas for the match programme a while back. Very sad news. Of course it pales into insignificance with regards his family and friends but he will be missed around here too.

The performance was shite. Some people seem to think pinning that on O'Donnell is the right thing to do. Well, Stevie O'Donnell is a Motherwell player, he has an excuse for being shite. What excuse did McTominay, McGinn, Armstrong, Hanley etc have? We keep hearing Scotland have a great midfield but we don't. We have a midfielders playing at bigger clubs. But when Scotland play the midfield is invariable the worst part of the team. Armstrong, good club player. But he has about 4 good performances for Scotland out of 26. And don't get me started on how Christie and McGregor are starting over Turnbull. McGinn and McTominay were fucking useless. I kept hearing O'Donnell didn't offer anything attacking on the right. Well the Czechs 2nd goal came about because O'Donnell was in a great attacking position and Hendry didn't use him. Had a shot from 35 yards out in a nowhere position and we all know how that turned out. Let's be honest though, O'Donnell looked uncomfortable. But he wasn't hiding like plenty other players out there. One of the reasons he looked uncomfortable was the Czechs were pressing high and the midfield millionaire contingent in our team thought 'you know what, I don't wanna get pressed in a dangerous position, I'll not even look for the ball or make myself available, the guys at the back can look uncomfortable as long as it's not me'. Cue a match of long balls cos our cowardly midfielders won't make themselves available for an out ball. I am fucking bealin' about yesterday. I could keep going till Friday but I'm spare you all! O'Donnell was poor but the team as a whole was shite and bigger better players than O'Donnell fucking hid. I'd rather a guy give it his best, even if it's not the standard required than fucking hide in our first finals match in 23 years. The way the 'big name' players in our squad get shielded from criticism makes me sick.

Lamie has more or less been a starter every week since Alexander came in (only missed a few at the very beginning and then played 14 league matches on the trot to the end of the season) so it wouldn't be a shock if he's a starter next term. Donnelly was also more or less a starter every week before his injury, although it was with a different manager, but I think he'll be in too.

Greg Stewart had one good (half) season at Kilmarnock and hasn't done much more recently. Struggled badly at Aberdeen and hasn't really played at Rangers. It's kind of a risky one. He might do a job for us but I don't think you can say that it's nailed on.

If you have an old spine you don't need any more please contact...... Graham Alexander Fir Park Stadium Fir Park Street Motherwell ML1 0NO!

Eddie Forrest bitched long and hard. Maybe he had a point but considering he was absolutely woeful and should have been dumped anyway on a footballing basis, maybe not.

I think we have four goalkeepers contracted at the club right now. Can't see us bringing in a fifth but I might be wrong. I suppose we could send some of the younger lads on loan again but if we are going with a smaller squad I think there are other positions that are more pressing.....provided Carson is fit.

Disappointing Cole won't be here next season but a no brainer from his point of view.

All his league goals were against bottom 6 teams because with the exception of a sub appearance (his debut) against Aberdeen all the teams he played against were bottom 6. Even if you exclude his first spell at Rangers he's still scored 25 goals in 65 appearances. As for his record outside Scotland, he's often played as a left winger rather than a centre forward

Brings him down to a mere 6 in 8 league appearances. Bare in mind Long scored 4 in 19 starts and Watt scored 3 in 28. According to Who Scored.com he was Kilmarnock's best player in 5 out of the 8 matches.

We've played with white shorts for most of our history. White shorts are as traditional as the claret hoop. The strip is a reasonable effort but I agree that there is too much white detail on the top, I especially don't like it on the hoop but it's decent enough.

Roberts was shit and did nothing at Hearts and was 'released' on loan to us. Certainly wasn't the worst player we brought in this season. Think your take is a bit basic. I'd take Lafferty in a heartbeat and Kiltie is decent. Guys like Tshibola and Dicker might have had poor seasons but they have proved themselves in the league previously. I'd be delighted if we were bringing in players much superior to the above but recent transfer windows would suggest otherwise.

OK, but he's the best right back prospect in the country by miles and we aren't exactly flush with right backs, hence O'Donnell getting a game. I probably wouldn't have picked him just yet but the boy is a talent so I'm not losing the rag over it. In fact I think it's quite refreshing for us to pick Gilmour, Patterson, Turnbull etc in the squad. Seems to me there is an opportunity right now with the exciting young players coming through to go from being a dutiful but slightly turgid international team to something better on the eye. Your point about Hendry doesn't make much sense. He's had more caps at Oostende than Celtic and do other countries pick players from teams at the bottom of their leagues? Don't think there is going to be many Elche and Huesca players in the Spain squad.

Just need to get rid of Grimshaw and I can put that whole dark period of my life behind me.

Dykstra would be my number 2 pick after Randolph. Ruddy is slightly over rated I think, his 2nd loan spell wasn't as good as the first, and for me I'd pick Gilliespie over Carson every week. But hey, just my opinion!

Never saw the 70's team as I started coming to Fir Park in 1982. The 93/94 team was the best in my time. Pretty much ever player in that team was a candidate for a best Motherwell side of the last 40 years. Our best chance of actually winning the cup again was the McFadden era team that lost in the semi final to Rangers despite being 2-1 at half time. We were unlucky that day and got punished for a few mistakes (and that Dutch donkey Konterman hitting a once in a lifetime wonder shot). A poor Dunfermline team awaited in the Final and I'm certain a Faddy inspired Motherwell would have won it. I think the big disappointment is the 4 finals we've been in since we've hardly kicked a ball in any of them. (1-12 on agg)

Lafferty scored 12 goals in a third of a season for a team that got relegated. Yeah, not good enough for Motherwell! Not with the high quality strikers our scouting network brings in! Billy Fluffelwaite incoming, trained at Cardiff once, 3 career goals in Isthmian League, two of them penalties. 6'7 so should be a great hoofball option provided he doesn't do his cruciate being tackled by a blade of grass.

Kilmarnock were terrible at the back but I don't think they really had a much worse squad. If you'd swapped Kelly for diddy keepers Doyle and Rogers and gave them Gallagher for Medley/Rossi/Broadfoot they'd have been fine. They probably had a better midfield and width that us (Power, Dicker, Kiltie, Burke, Pinnock etc.) and they had Lafferty up front of course. In 2021 they kept 3 clean sheets and conceded 30+ goals. That was their problem.

The most worrying thing about the squad cull is how much dross is still left at the club. We have four contracted full backs and one is shit and two have big question marks over them. We have five contracted midfielders and you'd have to worry a bit if that's what we are choosing from next season cos they are all pretty average at best and there doesn't look like there is much creativity or anything different there. Dunne getting approached about a new contract is mind boggling. Getting Cole in is going to be huge for us and Alexander is going to have to pull out a magic wand in the summer in terms of recruitment. Two teams just got promoted that will beat our wages.

When they came up there was still terraces behind both goals. The first match at Fir Park was a 2-2 draw. I can't even remember who scored for us but remember Ian Porteous scoring for them.

Who we bring in will depend on what sort of system Alexander wants to play next season. Obviously we mostly played 4-3-3 this season but we also tried a few different things out towards the end of the season so it's hard to really know what is in Alexander's mind. In terms of dependable types we are down to O'Donnell, Watt and possibly Cole. There are other players who can come in O'Hara, Lamie, Donnelly etc but really how we flesh the squad out is going to be dependent on how Alexander envisions our system next term.

I actually think it's quite a tough choice because there are a lot of different types of goals there. O'Donnell rocket, Campbell solo goal, O'hara team goal, Mugabi as good a header as you'll see, Cole, great technique. I'd go for Campbell against St Johnstone cos I think that's the hardest of the goals to score.

Motherwell starting 11 form over the league season (according to Who Scored.com). Based on an algorithm of all the in game data they collect. Sometimes these things don't tell the full story and I'd always prefer to judge a player by eye than on game data but I still think it's kind of interesting to look at, especially as we all have our own bias for and against various players. Basically goes Dark Green - very good, Green - good, Yellow - Average, Orange - below average, Red - poor, Dark Red - very poor.