El Grew

Another winnable home game - another defeat. Groundhog day! I do not doubt that the players have been trying their level best but that's the really sad thing because that's as good as they are. They simply can't play any better. They don't have it in them. Again today plenty of industry and grafting but very few real chances created. Ross County were well organised but no world beaters but just had to keep it 0-0 and wait for us to blunder which we duly did. Don't know what Jules was thinking about but two points about him (1) If Hammell wasn't injured why was he brought on to replace him? (2) Yes the lad cocked up but he's hardly had any game time so I blame Robinson for putting him into a pressure situation in the first place. I thought our best players were McHugh, Lasley (up to the hour mark) and Ainsworth. Couldn't fathom Robinson subbing Ainsworth with 15 minutes to go with Bowman. When Ainsworth was on he was the only foward player that showed appetite and his movement when in the middle kept the Ross County defenders on their toes and he had our only two shots on target! I've watched Robinson in all of games since he took over after McGhee and to me its quite obvious that he is way out of his depth. Even allowing for having a poor squad of players he can't organise them, get his tactics right nor read the game. Dundee had lost 7 on the trot but just look at how well organised Neil McCann had them last week - playing as a unit. Robinson has us playing as if the players don't know what his game plan is! And why if McFadden is stripped on the bench and fit was he not brought on for the last 25 minutes instead of Bowman and Clay? Surely worth the gamble in the circumstances. Sorry but for me he needs to be binned whether we manage to stay up or not. Does anyone know if we have the option to get shot of him at the end of the season?

Kyle Lafferty? Hope this is a jest.

Poor result at home again - a pattern developing? Yes, we dominated possession in the first half but that was as much due to Dundee being content to sit-in as our football ability. Never created anything worthwhile and then concede a bad goal in last minute of first half - McCann must have thought it was his birthday! Don't know what Barley Water said in half-time pep talk but it worked wonders as 3 minutes into second half its 0-2! McCann had clearly worked out that we were very weak on our right hand side because Dundee started to probe and push there and it paid off as their two second half goals came as a result of this and yet Barley Water failed to address the problem even after the loss of two goals. We had 11 corners in the game - most squandered by Frear which failed to trouble Dundee back four or 'keeper. After he'd f*cked up the 10th one in the second half, wee Lionel grabs ball from him, crosses a brilliant balll which caused utter mayhem in the Dundee defence and Heneghen put ball in the net. Simples! We were right behind the goal in the Cooper and believe me the ball was at least a yard over the line. Also when we dropped the useless, aimless punts forward and actually played football on the grass during the last 10 minutes we looked half decent and showed that their defence was piss poor - pity we hadn't started this much earlier. Don't understand Barley Water's tactics (were there any?) with 3 at the back and asking young Cadden to double up at right back. People getting on his case is ridiculous as he is out there trying his best but playing a role for which he is not suited. Need to get back to an orthodox back four asap or we have had it. Don't think we deserved to win the game but I dodn't think we deserved to lose it either. But have been here before and its losing games by the odd goal like this that gets teams relegated.

Steven Naismith?

The title of this topic should be amended to "The Great Clear Out 2017".

Pearson shouldn't even be considered for a place on the bench nver mind a starting place. Since his second return he's contributed the square root of f*ck all and should be booted out asap.

Same pish as Wednesday. Certainly we have as poor a group of players has bee seen at FP in a long time but the manager is clueless:- (1) Same starting 11 as against Accies with exception of Jules in for Hammell; (2) Same set-up/formation as against Accies; (3) Same awful first half as against Accies; (4) Same players substituted as against Accies; and (5) Same awful second half performance as against Accies. Our manager comes out and states that the game was lost because of our poor first 30 minutes!!?? Well, that's just absolute f*cking twaddle. We were only a goal behind and with a full 2/3 of the match left to try and remedy things. However, it was really only in the last 10 minutes that we exerted any pressure and even then it was really only wind and piss. Prepare for a future in the Championship.

Well that's rich!! If that is the case then why sack McGhee, who had to work with exactly the same limited resources??? Seems to me like one step forward and umpteen backwards.

Poor, poor stuff. It wasn't hard to see why these two are where they are in the league. Kick and rush football from us. I was fed-up seeing Heneghen (obviously under managerial instructions?) lumping aimless long high punts to a target man who never won a header all night. This is the worst squad of players I've ever seen at FP and based on tonight's performance they are heading for the Championship. The only football ability in our team was shown by young Cadden and wee Skippy who both played their hearts out and tried to make something happen. As for the remainder, well you would be pushed to get a balloon for them. I couldn't for the life of me work out our shape or our tactics and if this is the best the manager can come up with - route one football then we are f*cked.

I think the criticism of the young lad Ferguson is grossly unfair and way off the mark. Sure his clearing header at the second goal was poor BUT all of the damage had already been done with his 3 other defensive teammates being culpable in allowing two St. Johnstone players to far too easily create a position where they could get an easy cross into our penalty box. Oh, and apart from Samson, he was the only home player in the box trying to defend. Time will obviously tell if he's got what it takes to make it at SPFL level but for any sake cut him a wee bit slack - its not his fault we are where we are.

How anyone can blame Samson for us losing today is beyond me. He had no chance with either goal. The four guys playing in front of him, and I use the word playing, advisedly, were totally inept. Some of the worst defending I ever seen at FP. They were totally shapeless, never played as a unit and were continually caught ball watching. If we are depending on this lot of players to keep us in the SPFL, then I'm sorry to say we've had it.

Stu that's exactly my point but I think you have made it more succinctly than me.

I always take what any newspaper says with large pinches of salt, but the Daily Rancid is carrying a story which they say came from a source at the club which if it was true might indicate that Robinson was in fact third choice after Coyle and Hughes both pulled out at the eleventh hour. Incidentally, a few posters on this board have hinted at the Coyle situation. I'm not suggesting for one minute that there is any truth in any of this but I still believe the entire affair has been handled very poorly and at a time when our SPFL survival is at stake. It seems to me that they have turned what on the face of it should have been a fairly straightforward routine process (after all they have had plenty of previous practice) into a three ring circus. It smacks of management by committee which never works in any sphere and I believe this was confirmed when I read the statement from the club chairman, which said that the Executive Board, the Supervisory Board and the 'Well Society had all had their hands on the tiller. So not management by one committee but three! For me, it begs the question, just exactly who is running the club? Please don't misunderstand me on this, I love Motherwell FC and will always be there supporting them but I really do fear that the fan ownership model, however laudable and well-intentioned will turn out to be the catalyst to our downfall. Hope I'm wrong. C'mon the Dossers.

Gadgey please don't think for one minute that I'm suggesting that there was anything underhand or illegal in the way the club dealt with the managerial situation. I was merely expressing my opinion (for what it's worth) that my impression was that both the sacking of Mark McGhee and the appointment of a new manager was not well managed. Firstly, in my view, the timing of McGhee's dismissal smacked of panic and submission to the noise being made by a very small number of a few younger fans the majority of whom weren't brave enough to show their faces while protesting. The club should have totally ignored this but didn't. I can fully understand them going into panic mode given our financial position and faced with the possibility of a gargantuan drop in revenues which would occur if we were relegated however I still think that being the most experienced person at the club, McGhee should have been left in charge until the end of the season. Secondly, having gone into panic mode and given in to a very small number of protesters by sacking McGhee it quickly became obvious that it was a knee-jerk reaction with no plan in place for a replacement. Having sacked McGhee, it's my view that the obvious thing to do was to ask Robinson to take charge until the end of the season subject to retaining the right to either appoint him permanently or advertise the job. Why go through some sort of pseudo-recruitment-interview charade (needlessly dragging a guy down from Finland in the process) which ends up with Robinson being appointed manager anyway - I thought it was only the public sector that did this sort of thing. The bigger question in all of this, might be, who invited Robinson back to FP and for what purpose - after all McGhee had already appointed McFadden to be his assistant. Or was there a sub-plot going on with the aim of trying to oust McGhee and appoint Robinson as his replacement? Personally I don't think that was the case but it was clumsily dealt with and the logic behind it was not well-explained, if at all. I hope I have answered your questions as to the thinking behind my my previous post albeit only my opinions based on pure conjecture on my part as a fellow FP traveller of long standing.

I really do wish our new manager all the very best and I pray that he can keep us in the top flight this season. However, I feel that he may just have been tasked with the equivalent of trying to roll a snowball up a hill in a heatwave. For me, a couple of things have now crystalised: . 1. Motherwell FC is no longer an attractive club to manage in the eyes of the football fraternity. Could the new ownership model have something to do with this? For me, yes it does. Our precarious financial position has been well exposed for some time and the wider football community now knows the club is being run on a shoestring. As I've said before, fan ownership is highly laudable, maybe in an ideal world desirable, but as we simply do not have the fanbase to support it, then it was doomed from the outset. A lot of well-intentioned people have chosen this path for the club but I personally believe it will lead to financial oblivion. I fully expect to get pelters from what I'm about to say next but IMHO, we should start immediate discreet enquiries to try and ascertain if there is a business person or group of business persons that would be interested in becoming involved with the club and put us back on a more "traditional" financial model. 2. Our lack of finance perhaps explains why Mark McGhee was having to trawl deeper and deeper into the nether regions and hinterlands of English football for players. Who knows, he may have had to be using some sort of barter system involving Irn Bru bottles. I was not a fan of bringing Mark McGhee back to the club but I think the manner of his departure was handled with disgraceful ineptitude as has the manner in which we have gone about getting his replacement. To believe that Stephen Robinson will fare any better than Mark McGhee given the circumstances, for me is just further proof of the naivety of those at the helm of the club, no matter how well-intentioned and passionate they are.☹️

Well, the well-meaning folks in charge have made their managerial choice. It's now time for the manager to begin earning his corn. This game and our remaining two home games pre-split (Acas and ICT, both currently below us) are must win games if we are to retain our top league status, because after the split, it's extremely likely we will have to play both of them away from home.

Club Chairman Jim McMahon “We are extremely pleased Stephen has taken the role of manager and we look forward to working with him in the future. The Executive Board, together with representatives from both the Supervisory Board and the ‘Well Society, identified a shortlist of five candidates from over fifty applicants and as well as doing a extensive amount of background work, took its time to conclude an rigorous interview process. “It was clear that Stephen was the outstanding candidate. He has a real vision of what the club needed in the short, medium and long-term and a plan of how he would implement it. His values, skills and attributes matched exactly with the criteria we developed to be the manager of this football club and we wish him every success. I would ask our fantastic supporters to get behind Stephen and the players as we aim to finish the campaign strongly.” . And so we gave him a 12 month contract!! . Hardly a ringing endorsement of the guy. . If all that was on offer was a 12 month contract then there was no chance of any of the other interviewed candidates accepting it. Ergo Robinson sole candidate??

Totally agree. Remember this guy wasn't even on our radar up unil a few weeks ago when he was asked to come back as "assistant" to Mark McGhee. So, either he was viewed by the powers that be at the club as an assistant or, all this was part of some masterplan. Make-up your own minds.

Agreed weeyin. IMHO he would be a really good fit for us. I believe he'd be able to galvanise the club for the battle ahead - and don't be kidded otherwise, because it will be a battle and the players will have to learn fast how to scrap and might be able to cure some of the heart problems in our dressing room.

Hate to say it but it looks as though unless we win our 3 home games against St Johnstone, ICT and Accies we'll be for the drop.

Well, Well, Well!

Well, Well, Well!

I pray we don't suffer the dreaded drop into the Championship because as other clubs that have trodden that path have shown, its no certainty we'd get out at the first time of asking. Having said that, I honestly think the club really do need to be planning ahead (call it Plan B) for at least one season in the Championship and all that that entails, in terms of manager, players, budgets etc. Dare I say that it might give the club a chance to re-group and try to return refreshed. And, if I'm honest, I don't think we'd be getting relegated out of turn as we have flirted dangerously close in a number of past seasons.

I was under the impression that Carl McHugh was a centre-back when he played for Bradford and Plymouth.

Haven't posted for a wee while but absolutely stunned by this result!! As others have said its really had to see how Mark McGhee can survive this. On a par with Maurice Malpas season. I think you have to be honest and admit that the players he has brought in have been of a poor quality. Allied to the fact that he has failed since he came back to get the defence sorted out and even with McManus and Hammell in the side, it's probably one of the poorest defences we have had in a long time. Hard to see how we can avoid the drop now. Even if we managed to finish second bottom (and that's no certainty) we likely be up against Dundee Utd or Morton both of whom would fancy us.