David
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Posts posted by David
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3 minutes ago, joewarkfanclub said:
Surely that comes down to the remit during application or preferably headhunting process?
I honestly believe we dont need too many players in January to avoid the drop.
We mostly just need to get the best out of the ones we do have.
Id love SK to be the guy that does that but he is showing no signs of it at this point.
We need to get back to basics. Get hard to beat. Play players in their preferred positions. Kinda like he did against Celtic and then immediately forgot that had happened.
We could do with another midfielder although if he would play Davor that might not be quite so urgent.
But what gave us and SK success last season was dynamic wingbacks and a guy in the middle that could score.
Get Spencer and Gent in their proper positions and give Biereth something to feed off. The 3 of them are being ruined in our current set up.
You could be right. It could even be the case that someone like a Stevie Frail could keep us up, but the issue I have there is that it's just a rinse and repeat of what we've done so far.
If Frail, for example, kept us up, would he then get the job full-time? Beginning another cycle of where we got with Hammell and Kettlewell?
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2 minutes ago, joewarkfanclub said:
However, as someone who heavily criticised his summer signings, do you think its wise to give him another window?
Honestly? I don't think whoever comes in next will fare much better. If we remove the ridiculous signing of Bair, the rest are pretty much what we've come to expect the past few years.
Unless we make some serious changes in the recruitment process and personnel I don't know if changing managers will make much of a difference in that regard.
What we do know is that this squad as it is has been partly shaped by Kettlewell and how he wants to play. Another manager may come in and decide he wants to use wingers and change things up, and I'm not sure we can really do that from a financial standpoint this winter.
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3 minutes ago, Kmcalpin said:
Is that not censorship David? I get that offensive posts ie foul language, sectarian or racial abuse etc are not acceptable but posters should be able to discuss what they like whether or not you or I approve.
It's not censorship. It's basically the same discussion at this point. He's still in the job.
If and when he is relieved of his duties the discussion changes direction and he's longer a factor in it.
When I say I don't think it's quite right, I don't mean from a personal perspective as far as my own feelings, I mean from the viewpoint that it's the same discussion.
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2 minutes ago, weeyin said:
I must be getting old, but I can do without the "apologising to the fans" being rolled out. We're all (mostly) grown up Motherwell fans here, and been through it more times than the current squad.
You're on a bad run of playing a game, not being accused of war crimes. There are no victims here.
Just buckle down and sort it out by picking up a few points.
You have modern "media training" to thank for all that. The club likely employs people who have raised alarm over what they've seen on social media (and even on here) and believe that pushing the captain in front of a camera to look solemn and offer empty words is going to help matters.
It doesn't.
As you say, they're not being accused of something heinous. They're footballers who aren't playing very well.
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I think before we sack another manager we need to ask ourselves a few questions.
1. Are we realistically going to get someone else in before the end of the month? And by someone else, I mean an actual, proper candidate. Not Stevie Frail or David Clarkson.
2. Will another manager find himself in a position to make wholesale changes in January? Because the chances are that a new manager is going to want to change things up quite a bit, and this current squad is very much built to Kettlewell's specification, including no natural wingers, and very light on actual midfielders.
3. Is sacking yet another manager actually the answer? Is it the correct message to send out to the players, that whenever they find themselves in a situation where they underperform, they won't be held accountable? And that they'll be given a clean slate with a new manager?
I think we need to take all of the above into account. For me, unless we have an outstanding candidate who is ready and willing to jump in straight away, there's no point in sacking Kettlewell.
One thing we do know is that he's capable of getting something from this group of players. He did it before. Maybe he can do it again? I don't know if a fresh face for the sake of "something must be done!!!!" is the answer.
EDIT: Also, I've merged the "new manager" thread with this one. I don't think it's quite right to be discussing a new manager as if it's a foregone conclusion when we still have a gaffer in the dugout.
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There's every chance he might be given the January window to make things right. As incredible as that may sound to some people.
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1 hour ago, grizzlyg said:
Kelly's confidence rock bottom just now which is sad to see. I honestly don't think he will go to Euros which would be rotten for him but in all honesty Laidlaw at County would be better shout as playing better
Nah, I think he'll be there. He won't play, of course, but he'll be there. Clarke is quite loyal to the players and squad that actually qualify.
Kelly's been around the squad, he knows the players, the management, the processes, and all that. It could be argued that's more important than bringing someone brand new who isn't going to play either.
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10 minutes ago, twistandshout1983 said:
See the Scottish Sun already talking about Lennon for the job when of course Kettlewell is still in the job
Take anything they say with a pinch of salt , Lambert and McCall two others mentioned
The Sun and The Record will just be punting the usual names. It's lazy journalism at its very best.
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7 minutes ago, MJC said:
The only other possibility that we might try is going for an ‘appease the fans’ approach like McFadden which would be absolutely horrendous but the happy Clappies in our support would lap that up.
You're talking nonsense right there. Don't make the naive error of believing that because someone is a supporter of the club, isn't overly negative, and tries to see the positives that they're absolute morons.
No one I have spoken to would want Faddy to get the job. At all. If he did get it, would they support him? Absolutely. Big difference there though.
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4 minutes ago, couttsy said:
Ive defended Kettlewell on here and being honest I thought he would turn it around, however last nights team selection after what we watched on Saturday was crazy, if anything we should have been looking at how we get more bodies in the middle of the park, not less! To start with only Spittal & Slattery as proper midfield players playing away from home was mad!
The problem is, we've gone from having nine midfielders in the squad last season, to having five. One of which is out injured for a fairly lengthy amount of time, and another who seemingly can't buy himself a game despite being signed in the summer.
Kettlewell and the recruitment team have painted themselves into a corner in that regard. We can't get more bodies in the middle of the park because we don't really have any.
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This is where Kettlewell needs to prove he's got what it takes as a top level manager in Scotland, and where the players need to prove they have what it takes to turn things around.
Defeat here, or even a draw depending on the performance, could be the end of the road for the manager.
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Just now, wellfan said:
No, I was pissed off, although I wish I was pished instead.
Ah, okay. I just didn't know why you'd addressed a quote I made before the game where I said that a draw away to a team like Ross County isn't the worst result.
By that point we'd lost, and the point was null and void.
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Seeing all the usual suspects being chucked about as potential contenders for the manager's job, I have to say that I'm completely underwhelmed by most of them.
It seems the approach is to copy & paste what we've done lately and continue as is. We appoint someone new, they get a bit of a bounce out of the players and we stay up, they then get the gig for the following season, and tear up the squad in the summer because they don't have the same philosophy as the previous manager, which results in players at the club who aren't being utilised properly, contracts being ended, "punts" on players being taken, and a patchwork quilt of a squad for the following season.
We may or may not start quite well, but inevitably the wheels come off and we're back to square one.
As boring and painful as it may be, we need to actually look at the processes that got us into the position we find ourselves in recent times. If we don't address those, we'll just keep doing the same thing over and over.
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If there is a positive, it's that the club didn't listen to the shouts for Kettlewell to be given a new contract not that long ago. If we do decide to part ways, he's only contracted to the end of this season, so we're talking less than six months.
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11 hours ago, wellfan said:
No, we won't. We're now 9th and four points off the bottom, and the three teams below us have a combined seven games in hand. We are plummeting.
Why are you posting a reply after the game to a comment I made about us getting a draw? You on the drink or something?
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1 hour ago, Yodo said:
So SK thinks we will miss Paton tonight can somebody tell me what exactly we will miss . He. Floats about the park like Wayne Sleep doing SFA let the wee Dundee number 10 have the freedom of Fir park on Saturday
It wasn't that long ago people were waxing lyrical about how good he was.
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2 hours ago, wellfan said:
If we can't beat the teams below/around us - with most of them having games in hand - then we won't be 8th for long.
Yes, we will. A draw tonight will see us split the first two fixtures against County after our draw with them at Fir Park. In the position we're in, what we don't want to be doing is losing. That's the bare minimum.
A win is preferable obviously, but drawing away to Ross County (or any of the teams around us for that matter) isn't a disaster. It's just not the results of a team pushing for top six is all.
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A draw tonight, while not the result we'd like, is perfectly acceptable. It keeps County on 14 points, and keeps us in 8th.
A loss, however, isn't what we want to see.
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4 hours ago, wellfan said:
Is anyone else getting bored with these pre-match interviews in which he continually states the obvious and, worryingly, never seems to express one bit of genuine anger about the 11 games without a win? It feels like he's going through the motions and padding them out with his usual word soup, which doesn't exactly fill me with the confidence that he's got the passionate fire in his belly needed to get him out of the mess he's created.
If there's one thing Kettlewell knows how to do, it's play the media game. He's obligated to speak to the media, but he's not obligated to say or do anything that could give the opposition an insight into his planning, make it look like he's panicking or losing the plot, or say anything that could upset the players and cause an issue in the dressing room.
I guarantee what he says publicly and privately are two different things.
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Just now, texanwellfan said:
Not being funny or sarchastic, I just don’t know much about him but why is he not working now?
Davies hasn't held a management position in almost ten years now. I'd imagine that at least part of the reason for that is his antics in his last job.
The secret filming of journalists at Forest press conferences, blanket media bans, long-serving club staff sacked without explanation, his cousin and agent joining the club in a senior role after being suspended as a solicitor, arguing with photographers during games, and a five-game touchline ban imposed for using abusive language to a match official.
He's pretty much not been considered for many jobs outside the Hearts one over five years ago I think.
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2 minutes ago, bobbybingo said:
It's not a difficult question at all. They won't actually get to pick the next guy, so they can remove all the possible obstacles and just name someone they want. If you want one guy out, you surely must have some opinion on his replacement.
Fair enough.
I'd go for someone like Enrico Maaßen.
Done well at FC Drochtersen, SV Rodinghausen, and with Borussia Dortmund II. He fell short when given his first Bundesliga job with Augsburg and was sacked in October, so I think he'd be a realistic choice considering where he is in his career.
39 years old, winning percentages with his previous clubs of 48.28%, 64.38%, and 53.95% before Augsburg.
Speaks fluent English, plays an expansive, attacking brand of football, and is well suited to working on a small budget and bringing through youth players in the German lower leagues, plus he has contacts at Dortmund which could be useful if we're looking for loan talent.
He'd perhaps see us as a window to a job down south in the English Championship if he did well.
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Just now, bobbybingo said:
Kettlewell could easily be sacked based on recent results, so it's understandable some folk want him out. I'd be interested to hear their preferred options for his replacement.
That's a difficult question to answer. How much money is he earning? What bonuses are tied to his contract? Who's available that would accept those salary and bonus terms? What aims have been set by the board?
We'd need more information to answer. Unless you're meaning for those who want him out to just throw a name out there?
One thing I'm fairly certain of, considering who we've hired in the past, is that there will be candidates with more experience and know-how willing to take the job. Who they are? Again, the information above will dictate that.
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1 minute ago, texanwellfan said:
To use your own line of questioning, what are you basing your confidence in us getting a new manager that will be any better? Either way, get a new manager or persevere with SK, it’s a gamble. I’d rather work with the manager we have.
I'm basing my confidence in us hopefully appointing someone who has a better track record than Kettlewell. He's really done nothing in management to warrant any confidence in his abilities.
Granted, he's a terrific talker and he sounds good when a camera is on him, which is why he is probably better suited to radio or Sportscene.
You're right, it is a gamble. But there are levels of potential success in gambling.
The way I see it, he's not going to succeed at Motherwell. The only real question is, will he be let go before he gets another transfer window? Or after it? I'd be extremely surprised if he's in the dugout at the end of the season.
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Just now, wunderwell said:
Personally I think it's two windows to shape a team considering what we lost.
I admit some bad signings - what irks me is the length of deals on players we have to bin.
I'll judge where we are in February - some tweaks and we should be ok. Fail and we are down. That is why I state this period is key.I agree. Sadly, I have zero faith in our current recruitment team or manager to get it right in January. I really hope I'm wrong, but I think we're going to head into January doing what we always do. Panic buying.
1 minute ago, bobbybingo said:Statistically, who would our next manager be?
Some snappy dresser from the Norwegian 3rd tier.
Ross County v Motherwell 05/12/23
in Club Chat
Posted
It won't matter. One keeper will be playing all the games anyway. Maybe two if there's an injury or suspension. Kelly will be the third keeper and won't play, much like he's done for his previous 3 million call-ups.
Chances are Clarke sticks him in the squad for the reasons I mentioned above. There's no point in wasting time integrating someone new into the group when they aren't going to play anyway.