David

I really hope it doesn't. If we are running the recruitment at the club on a reactionary basis, where we rush out to sign players based on individual match performances then we have bigger problems that I thought. We have a plan in place, and we're looking to fill positions and skillsets identified long before now I hope. Let's stick to the plan and make sure that anyone we bring in adds something that the manager is looking for. McGinn is clearly a replacement for O'Donnell. I think it's clear the manager doesn't really rate him as highly as others do. Spittal is a decent premiership level player, and I think he'll add more than the midfielders we've let go. Morris I still don't know enough about, and we've not seen anywhere near enough of him to judge. I'll cast an opinion on him after ten games or so.

This part comes down to two things, quite simply. Money and availability. It's easy to say that Watt left and we've not replaced him properly, but are we to assume the recruitment team haven't been trying? A club of our size and with our budget needs a few things to fall in our favour to sign a player of Watt's quality. We can't really afford to buy them if they're currently showing the kind of form we'd want. We need to find players who are at a loose end, not favoured by their own club, have talent, are affordable, and most importantly they don't have any other offers on the table that better what we can provide them with. In short, we need to take a gamble. Remember when Watt signed? He'd just left CSKA Sofia in Bulgaria by mutual consent after six months or so. Before that he'd left St Johnstone after scoring three league goals for them all season. The opinion when we signed him was very much split if I recall correctly. He was considered a waster who was still living on a goal for Celtic against Barcelona years ago. Yes, it paid off, but it could so easily have been another waste of money and time. We gambled, and won to a certain degree. So, we need to keep scouring the market until the next potential winning gamble pops up and circumstances work in our favour. In the past we've slagged off the club for just signing any old shite, so we can't get all pissy when they appear to be keeping the powder dry for a player that will fit the bill. The same goes for the other positions you mention. It's not as easy as identifying a position and "fixing it." The right player needs to be available at the right price. Look at other clubs with much more money who still can't get it right. It's not as easy as some people think.

Similar, but not quite the same.

Not that much. To sign players from teams with larger budgets than we have and who we've all heard of, and for a manager who isn't arrogant and who doesn't dress well to have us playing a Liverpool-esque style of football that takes us to regular wins over the Old Firm and into the top six/four every season. So, basically John Lambie with the footballing intelligence and tactical know-how of Pep and Jurgen.

Absolutely. Those who are critical of Alexander's playing style, his results from Christmas to the end of the season etc all have valid points. But there does seem to be a lot of unwarranted anger and dislike based on stupid things as I mentioned above. In saying that, it's a new season. Back to square one. If he doesn't get us off to a good start and we're sitting in 10th or so by November then questions will need to be asked, and rightfully so. I don't think we'll be in that position right enough, but if we are then all bets are off.

It's quite simple. Some people just don't like Alexander. Well, the very small part of him that they see in the media and suchlike. Obviously very few people on here actually know him as a person. But yeah, he's far too confident (interpreted as arrogant) in his own abilities to be a Motherwell manager in the eyes of some. I'm guessing that for some people how he carries himself (with a slight swagger) and the aforementioned confidence doesn't fit with the "wee club, rollercoaster etc" patter that many fans associate with Motherwell. I've also seen it said that he "looks too cool" in some fans eyes. The fact he dresses well seems to irk some people for some reason. Maybe if he wore a tracksuit that was a size too large he'd be more loved? I personally quite like him. He doesn't do much pandering, especially to the old firm. We've had managers who are basically gushing over their teams whenever we played them. Alexander doesn't do that. Criticism of his footballing style can be made for sure, it's been chronic to watch at times, but it's hard to argue with his overall results since he came in.

As much as the temptation is there for people to shout about "something needing done" the truth is, there has to be an element of personal responsibility. If someone is addicted to gambling and throws their wages away, they need to seek help. It's not on some unknown force to ban or restrict anything.

The away game is being shown live on Premier Sports here in the UK. The home fixture I don't know.

I know we won't have much chance of going through, but we don't try every year to qualify for Europe so we can get papped out by some team in Israel or Kazakhstan or wherever, do we? Surely if we're going to get eliminated we'd rather play a team that we at least recognise? Sparta Prague have a decent European calibre, having beaten Rangers and also hammered Celtic a few times. I'd rather we played teams like Dortmund, Nancy, Steaua Bucharest, Panathinaikos and Prague than some no-name outfit from a corner of the world it's near impossible to get to. Both of the sides we can get provide a fairly easy journey for fans to attend the away game, which is what it's all about. That's where the memories are made.

Players can respond and play differently in different teams though, remember. Look at Declan Gallagher with us and Aberdeen. Spittal could very well fit right into Alexander's approach and do really well here. The manager knows more about him than any of us do, he's worked with him previously. Let's wait and see him at least play in a competitive game before writing them off.

Written off two of our new players before they've even kicked a competitive ball, eh? Got to love it.

Surprised they didn't try to sign our social media team going by that effort. Zany video indeed.

I see this reaction for 99% of the signings we make, and it makes me ask, what exactly are fans expecting? Household names that we all recognise? Prolific strikers who have been banging them in the season or two before? It doesn't work that way. There has been maybe one or two signings in recent times that we've made where I haven't reacted by saying "never heard of him, let's see what he has to offer."

As has been said before, most teams had to inflate their squads last season due to potential Covid suspensions and issues. That led to a lot of players being brought in who were nothing more than emergency backup in case we were hit with a Covid run. As such, I'm looking at this window as the first time we're really seeing Alexander operating as he would have wanted to, and I'm actually glad we're not just bringing in a raft of new players, many of whom wouldn't fit the bill.

It's a catch 22 situation really. We can say that it's best for a player to stay at Motherwell and look to progress to the first team, but what if that doesn't happen for whatever reason? Injury, loss of form, simply not being good enough. The example a lot of fans use is Jake Hastie, claiming his move to Rangers wasn't a good move for him. I think his level of performance after that short purple patch for us shows he absolutely made the correct decision. If he'd stayed at Motherwell he'd likely have shown the kind of form he did when he returned, which would have seen him slide down the pecking order and eventually get released. I don't think him not signing for Rangers would have seen him suddenly become a quality player who then won a big move a few years later. As things stand, he's playing in League Two. The only difference is he's doing so with a relatively healthy bank balance from his Rangers deal, so he's come out a winner in that regard.

He's got over 1,000 posts on this forum and has never done that yet, so I wouldn't hold your breath.

I know the fans tend to believe O'Donnell is shit and nothing more than an imposter, but if we are in a position to offload a Scottish international for no fee despite him being contracted to the club until the end of May next year then the manager must have a hell of a lot of faith in Johnston. Personally, I don't rate McGinn as being better than O'Donnell, so let's hope Alexander knows what he's doing. One thing I'm fairly certain of is if we offer up O'Donnell for nothing there'll be no shortage of teams willing to jump all over that.

The window has only been open for two weeks, and we don't kick our first competitive ball for another month or so.

Maybe this means the end of the road for young Max at Motherwell? Couldn't we see O'Donnell and McGinn as our two players for that full-back position instead of one or the other backed up by Johnston?

Unless the manager doesn't rate Johnston?

What Aberdeen, Hibs, Kilmarnock or Dundee United do doesn't really matter, as we can't influence that. We'll approach the season in the same way we always do, which is to first of all avoid relegation, then when we're fairly sure that's not on the cards we'll be pushing for top six.

It's different rules down south. Found this snippet of info below:

I'm fairly sure if we find ourselves in the basement come November or December there will be questions asked.

Unfortunately, if they're under contract we can't get rid unless they agree to leave or another club wants to take them.

You're not the only one. I think both Carroll and McGinley are decent back-ups, but not what I'd call first-choice. I don't see anyone else coming through the youth setup who will be challenging them either, so I think it's one of two for next season unless we sign someone. All things considered, if we can get a decent run with a defence consisting of McGinley, Lamie, Mugabi, and O'Donnell I think we should be okay. There's absolutely room for improvement though, and I hope we see the likes of young Johnston and O'Connor pushing our regular starters all the way.