star sail

Does anyone else feel that this process seems to take too long? I can understand the theory that the club must take time to get the right man but back in November the process was lengthy and it appears now that we got the wrong man. Dundee Utd have been manager-less for 10 days and could be close, if rumour is to believed in appointing shortly. Liverpool look as though they will take less than 7 days to appointment. It is now 2 weeks since Baraclough was sacked with no real sign that we will hear news any time soon. It took from Wednesday to the following Monday for the board to even meet to decide the way forward. It just all seems a bit slow. I know that in business these appointments can take time for a number of reasons, but they say that in football a week is a long time so it would seem that maybe what is an acceptable timescale in business may not be in football. Maybe I am just getting frustrated by the lack of news but there does seem to be me to be a slight lack of urgency both this time and the last time.

Of the names being mentioned: 'Craggs' - cannot understand why he is even being considered unless it is simply out of courtesy. Up until the summer he had no more experience than I have of managing a football team. Also this 'senior players' chat concerns me. We need one manager not half a dozen and I don't think Craigan is the man to distance himself from all that. 'Jimmy Calderwood'- it is very difficult to argue with his record. His success as Aberdeen manager was impressive and he achieved heights with them in Europe that McIness has yet struggled to match. It just seems like a step back in time though, with potentially old school method, so maybe a little uninspiring. Mark McGhee- 'August to Christmas of his first season was the best football I have ever watched a Well side play, and arguably the best football I have watched any Scottish side play. His handling of the Phil situation will never be forgotten which is why I was really saddened by his treatment by Well fans on future visits to Pittodrie. His second season however was at times torture to watch and he has a 9-0 thumping by Celtic as Aberdeen manager on his CV. A switched on McGhee however I would take back in a second. Simo Valakari- the kind of appointment, I would love to see our club make but it could be Baraclough all over again. Success at a lower level, thorough, professional, hard working, forward thinking but would he have the presence to knock the ego's in the dressing room into shape? Would be very interesting to find out but a risk. So in summary, who would I want based on all this. Jim Gannon of course!!!!!!!!!

I can't understand why Craigan would be considered. Many of the fans were unhappy with Baraclough's appointment because of his sketchy management experience. The reality is that Baraclough had considerably more management experience than Craigan currently has and played at a higher level in terms of club football. Was not good enough then so why should even less be good enough now?

Pressley is one of those guy's that likes to stick the word football in front of every second word. ' The football players at the football club want to win the football match by putting the football football in the football goals' He must be keen to make sure that people don't think he is talking about snooker

Very much agree with your first statement. The conclusions that people draw from these interviews verges on the irrational and is hugely subjective based on an individuals viewpoint. What struck me about that interview was how Baraclough-like the interview was. In fact, I would go as far as to say that Craigan himself may in fact have been influenced in his thinking by some of Baraclough's ideas. The same man that might listen to Baraclough saying these words and think, imposter, car salesman, clown, bluffer etc, etc listens to Craigan and thinks, good interview, I want him to be our next manager. The reality is there is a subtle prejudice at play that has nothing to do with the words spoken. Said in an English accent by a previously unknown manager and it's without substance, said by our previous club captain and loyal servant to the club and it's suddenly the words of a man ready to manage our club. I happen to think it was a good interview but then I always thought Baraclough interviewed very well. What strikes me is how they all (McManus included) are becoming almost politician like in what they don't say.

Or could be a reference to the Old Firm history of McDonald and McManus. McDonald's comment at the time of ,'this is the game I want to play in' and McManus's desire to get his head on the end of Marv's cross for the goal, something that he had not shown previously or since, may back this up. I have a strong feeling that McDonald's influence in any dressing room would not be very positive, if things were not going exactly the way he wanted them to go.

I have been fairly consistent in saying that I did not believe Baraclough to be the problem. I may be wrong in that but that has been my position the whole way through. If you don't think that the key players have downed tools, or at the very least have been severely underperforming, then please list for me the games over the last 18 months where you think they have seriously stood up to be counted. (the play-off games apart which actually to me proves their guilt still further).

Pretty disgusted today. The Motherwell players have a history of downing tools within the last 12 months alone and it seems like they may have been at it again. Something stinks within that dressing room. Very Jim Gannon like in the way it has ended as well. If Baraclough has had a go at one or two then good on him. The word imposter has been used alot on this thread but I believe Baraclough had the interests of the club at heart. I think there are players in that dressing room that could not say the same. Player power wins again. Just think how powerful they would be if they were any good!!

Sir Alex Ferguson. He could come in and wrestle the title off of Aberdeen in the last game of the season, with a 1 yard screamer from Craig Reid providing the winning goal.

I have fought the good fight on here, trying to provide positivity amongst all the negativity but I think sadly the writing is on the wall. I always thought that the turnaround would come but for whatever reason it simply has not worked. For the second time (Gannon being the first) what seems good in theory does not convert to practice. Really disappointing but a change is needed now. I can't help but feel that some of the players at our club have a lot to answer to however.

I seem to find myself quoting and replying to you a lot Ya Bezzer. I think it is because, I often find that much of what you say is well reasoned and I agree with, but there is often something within that, that shows the irrational way in which Baraclough is being treated at the moment. The idea that Rangers were performing like a team at the bottom of the Championship makes no sense. The fact that they were in the play-off is testament to the fact that they were best of the rest in the Championship. They had just beaten, QoS and Hibs to prove it. Had we beaten QoS or Hibs in the playoff's 6-2, it would have been an equally impressive result, particularly given the horrendous season that we had all endured. I do agree with you however, that many of the senior players gave their best performance in the play-off's having not performed like that, prior to or since the play-off's. McDonald and McManus are the perfect examples of that for me. If these players were playing ever week with the same commitment and energy that they showed in these games then we would not have a problem as a team. Going back to yesterday's game. Motherwell do not have a divine right to go to New Douglas Park and get a result. Hearts and Dundee Utd have already shown what a difficult place that will be to go to this season. I think we need to get away from the idea, that we have any rights to even be in the top 6, never mind finishing 2nd or 3rd in the Premiership. People on these very boards have talked about how we are a selling club and that we should be bringing on young players to sell in the future. The word 'future' is key. That they will be sellable assets in the future, suggest that they are not sellable assets now and that we should not be expecting the level of consistency of a player who is. Laing, Fletcher, Moult, Chalmers, Thomas, Johnston all fall into this category and yet suddenly we want them to be the finished article. For this model to work however, the senior players have to perform and guide. I don't think that is happening at the moment. Somebody made a comment that should be beat Morton and Thistle, we are only delaying the inevitable as the next poor result is just around the corner. I say, with the model we are trying to promote, why should we expect anything else at this moment in time? Seems to me that we like the idea but we don't like the reality. As Jim Morrison sang, it seems to me that 'we want the world and we want it NOW!!!!!'

I agree with almost everything you say. The only one thing to remember is that McIntyre and Dodd's have had a few months more in the job to get there house in order so should be a few months further ahead in their plans for the their team. I was very interested in yesterday's game because I believe Ross County to be the benchmark for us this season. They had similar problems to our own last season with management change and a fight against relegation. Furthermore as I have said, McIntyre and Dodd's are widely recognised as doing a great job so to match that much represent success surely. (unfortunately I think for a section of our support that will not represent success). I don't think that the gulf between the teams is as wide as some would have us believe. Consistency is key and I think that will be the next piece in the jig-zaw for our slowly developing side. Mouth watering performances may take a bit longer. As always time will tell

I don't really understand the logic in what you say. You are using Ross County as an example of a team who, thanks to a good management team have improved considerably having quickly brought together the new signings into a cohesive unit. Motherwell matched them yesterday. This is a team that is on a good run (3 victories in a row before yesterday) and everybody is happy (and rightly so) to give the Ross County team and management praise and plaudits. We matched them yesterday suggesting that we have improved and there is next to nothing in the way of positivity and praise. I do not understand why our own fans are using all kinds of reasons to have a go at our team and management. Here in one big positive. For the last 18-24 months, I have watched Motherwell teams lose goal after goal in the last 10 mins of games to lose or draw matches from winning positions due to fading badly in the second half of matches. Yesterday we scored in injury time to salvage a point against a fit, strong RC side. That's good. That for me is progress.

Of the teams we were fighting against when Baraclough took over, Ross County, Kilmarnock, Partick Thistle and St Mirren, one has since been relegated and two currently sit below us in the SPFL. We matched Ross County today, a team that have a highly rated management team in Jim McIntyre and Billy Dodds and by all accounts have made big strides forward since they took over in September 2014. I would say, putting opinion to one side for a minute, that those facts would suggest that progress has been made. Certainly under no circumstances could you agree that we are witnessing 'a terminal decline' based on those facts.

I agree with the comments made by yourself and The African. I think what has been lost and forgotten about however within this thread is the fact that the club and squad are going through a fairly major transition. I have said this several times before but I don't think we can really understate the rudderless, directionless nature of the club a year ago. Add to that an ageing, unbalanced squad and by November when McCall decided to call it quits it really was a club in crisis. What this thread has taught me is that as a support we don't have the stomach for rebuilding and long term projects. We talk a good game about giving the young players a chance, bringing in players that will have re-sale value in a few years and yet when these players don't perform instantly and the new squad of players find it difficult to gel this thread grows by 5 pages over a single week. We should have aspirations to be a top six club but we have no right to be there and certainly the end of August is far to early to be guessing as to how this season might actually pan out. Maybe we should go back to the 'proven Scottish manager' idea, a guy (eg Jimmy Calderwood) who knows the Scottish game with journeymen players of similar ilk where every point is a prisoner at the expense of any long term strategy. If that does happen however lets drop the pretense that we have any interest in the long term and the future of our young players.

Is this a parody on the newly born clichés of the Baraclough out thread or a genuine comment?

In a week when an away league cup victory and the bringing in of a Championship standard forward has brought about a baffling amount of angst and anxiety, maybe a win today will just be to much for some people to take. For me it's all good news. We get to look forward to a cup tie at Cappielow, a place that has fond memories for many of us, we finally have the prospect of a strong competitive bench each week (Fletcher, Thomas, Moult, Clarkson, Leitch for example) all desperate to come on and show what they can do, as opposed to the seasons when you look to the bench and hope that the manager does not need to make any substitutions. Motherwell are favourites today. They have had a more consistent start to the season and I believe that they have a stronger squad so all the signs are that we should have taken a big step forward from the thumping we received at Rugby Park in late August last season. I am confident of a narrow victory today. If things start to click into place it could be reasonably convincing. If we don't win or get beat, should Baraclough go? My opinion is definitely not but I can see that for some they will begin to ask some serious questions. 2-1 Well.

Sorry predictive txt. How does arithmetic come from raith?

Yes but if we had lost to Dunfermline, arithmetic rovers or Falkirk tonight then the knives would be out, so for that reason the comparison is valid. The point I am trying to make is that those who want to back the manager will see the positives, those who don't will see the negatives. Even facts are open to interpretation depending on what you want to get out of them.

Yes ya bezzer and won 3-1 away from home. That's a result in anyone's book surely?

We get it. Your gutted with tonight's result. Maybe you will get the result you want on Saturday, maybe you wont. For tonight I am just happy that we are in the next round of the Cup when others have failed this evening and we have struggled in the recent past.

Dundee are out, Accies are out, Thistle are out, Hearts are struggling away from home. It's a typical league cup evening. Motherwell have struggled through on nights like this many times before. Hartley must go. Imposter!!!!

Love it when this chat starts. We watch plays week in week out make the same mistakes. Poor decision making in good areas, allowing wingers and midfield players to ghost past them, misplaced passes over 10 yards etc, etc then we discover that it's all because the players don't like the manager and they are 'downing tools'. Think how good these players would be if they liked the manager. Maybe just as good as they were at the start of last season, after all they all loved Stuart McCall.

The loss of Pearson is proving to be telling. My feeling is that were Fletcher and Pearson playing in our first five games things would be looking much brighter. Added to that, McDonald has had a poor start to the season, probably due to a lack of pre-season. Very similar to the McFadden situation a few years ago. It is fine lines between success and failure in this league and I believe that the misfortunes of these three players are really costing us. Baraclough can't be blamed for the injuries or McDonald's lack of form (unless people believe that McDonald would be playing well under a different manager). Again there is a real old firm feel about this board at the moment with calls for the managers head and a real lack of patience. Martin Canning was a dud a few weeks back according to many and suddenly after a couple of good results, Accies are riding high again. Paul Hartely was in line for the World Manager of the year award after the Kilmarnock game and now Dundee are sitting mid table having had a mediocre start to the season. Things could all look very different in a months time. More time needed for the manager and the team. Also the young lad Taylor is not nearly as bad as some are making him out to be. I seem to remember this chat early doors with Long, Laing and Johnston.

Hammell cost us the second goal I felt. A terrible free kick that was floated in short of the 18 yard box thereby taking every Motherwell player out the game and allowing Aberdeen the perfect platform to break and get the free kick that led to the goal. He knew it to and let his head go down for the remainder of the game. Those suggesting that the four performances at the start of this season are as poor as the start of last season either have very poor memories or are just not prepared to give our current management and team any breathing space at all. Aberdeen will have much easier wins this year and with just a little bit more fortune we could have been sitting on 5 pts this evening with two home draws. I think we have played three of what could be the top four teams this year. It's what happens now that will make or break our season.