David

In case anyone hasn't seen it, this was his general response to last nights game; Now, it may just be me, but those don't sound like the words of a man who's either quitting or who believes he's due to get bumped.

I'm thinking that Craggs may be the only guy who can get the players who seem to have downed tools to actually try a wee bit, as I figure he's quite friendly with some of them.

I've been saying this for a while now. Whilst the manager certainly doesn't seem to have what it takes, when you see how these players have performed under McCall and now Baraclough you have to question if there are certain poisonous elements within the dressing room?

Possibly the best solution to be honest.

Unfortunately we're pretty much back in the same position we were when McCall left, aren't we? The seasons underway, the players have been signed and whoever comes in will have to negotiate the rest of the season with a load of players he probably doesn't want. I may just fall back to my opinion last November, which is to bring in an experienced head until the summer and then look to bring in a long-term solution as soon as the season finishes.

I honestly believe that the board will give him time if he wants it, but I reckon he may decide to walk.

That's a point I've raised previously, but it's how it goes it football unfortunately. The players never take the fall, the manager does.

Who do you suggest? Not that it'll matter, of course, because you'll be shitting all over whoever ends up in the job.

You may want to step down off that soapbox until you know exactly what happened.

There's been times this season that the signing policy has left me both dazed and confused.

Ridiculous patter.

90 minutes every week? Nope, but he should be involved in more first team games than not, be it from the bench or getting 60 minutes from the start. I honestly believe he's now at the point where he's past the under 20's by and needs to step it up a level.

You'd rather we lost and were eliminated from the cup because it may result in the manager being sacked?

Who gives a toss about actual facts? Blame it on Baraclough if it means we can pile on with more stick and abuse.

I was under the impression that guys like Cadden were going to be drafted in? Remember all the cutting of cloth and focusing on youth patter? I seriously doubt that Cadden could do much worse than some of the impostors we have playing on a weekly basis.

I don't see many changes. Baraclough must know he's running low on chances to get this right, and a decent cup run could be the difference between him losing or keeping his job. I see us going into this game with an attacking mentality. As for an actual line-up? Who knows at this stage.

Considering the team isn't really playing well at the moment I think he should be hammering that door down with a battering ram.

A goal after 70 odd minutes from Robbie Leitch today saw us beat Thistle under 20's 1-0 at Fir Park. The team was; Morrison, McMillan, Ferguson, Maguire, Hall, Campbell, Watters, Leitch, Mackin, Hastie, Cadden Subs: Potts, Falconer, Livingstone, Watt, Turnbull We weren't really up to much in the first half, with Thistle doing most of the attacking, but we took over in the 2nd I feel. Young Cadden looked to be head & shoulders above the rest from where I was sitting, and Hall & Leitch looked good as well. Perhaps also worth mentioning that the gaffer was there, so he's still in a job (for now, anyway). Good to see Lasley on the park with the youngsters before the game as well.

Aye, one of things that I always took pride in with the Motherwell fan base was that we weren't a side who attracted support based on any one particular religion, set of beliefs or political campaign. You support Motherwell simply because of your love for the team. I understand the forum members sentiment, but the stark reality is that not everyone wants to welcome refugees with open arms, and each person who thinks that way has their own reasons for it. It doesn't make anyone right or wrong, of course, and debates on the matter will be had up and down the country no doubt. Saying that, I've always liked the fact that when you walk through those turnstiles you leave all of that outside and you're essentially a Motherwell fan. Be it Catholic/Protestant, Muslim/Sikh, Unionist/Nationalist, Labour/Tory, black/white or whatever, you don't have to conform to a particular set of beliefs to support Motherwell. It's refreshing, it's something that a lot of our support hold very dear in my opinion (and is the reason why we see a backlash to any suggestions of veering off that path I think), and it's something that separates us from the Glasgow clubs. Anyway, that's my opinion on it. I hope the Well Bois continue as they have done, and that we see many more Motherwell-related banners that everyone who supports the club can stand behind.

I was always one of Baracough's defenders last season, going with the belief that he needed a full summer and the opportunity to bring in his own players and ship out some of the ones he didn't fancy. I said I'd judge him after that. That time is almost upon us, and I have to say that the results don't look promising. It's not just the actual results themselves, but the way in which we've managed to play the games. There's never been a time when I've walked away thinking "we're on the cusp of turning this around, the team looks like it's starting to click" I've found the transfer policy during the summer to be confusing at best. I'm also not sure what happened to the plan that we heard about cutting our cloth and all that? I assumed we'd use the opportunity that we got in the summer to offload a lot of our deadwood and relatively high earners to start bringing down the money being spent in that area? Instead we've seen seemingly stupid signings of players that likely won't be featuring, and loan signings where I believe our own youngsters could have stepped up. For example, do we really need five forwards? Wouldn't we be better served having Craig Moore on the bench rather than David Clarkson? Is Jake Taylor really all that better than what we have already? None of that really made any sense. Anyway, as I said, even for someone who believed the manager deserved time to put together his own side I think the time to judge him is not too far away. and it doesn't look good.

Thing is, he did what a lot of people wanted him to do today. He dropped McDonald (who no one thought he could drop!), yet still we don't get the result. I'm actually beginning to think that the players themselves are the imposters, rather than the manager.

The problem I have is that whilst the manager is certainly responsible for his part in how the season has went thus far, the way in which certain players seem to have just downed tools is pretty galling.

Let's hope that the upcoming generation don't have the same attitude that a lot of the older generation have, who seemingly want to sit and watch their football in silence, frowning upon any kind of excitement or noise.

For the time being, possibly.

The squad at the tail-end of last season provides a skewed example though, because Les had come in and the manager had been given funds to bring in seven extra players in January, which I'm willing to bet would not have been possible had we been relying on funds generated by the actual club rather than the new owner. Look, all I'm saying is that whilst it's certainly all very exciting seeing these guys being brought in from down south, I'm just wondering where the money is coming from. It was made known that before the new owner came in we were walking a financial tightrope already, that if we'd continued as we were and Les hadn't come in we would have been in deep shit basically. I don't see how, even if you're right about the incomings being around the same as the outgoings, that's a good thing? We were supposed to be downsizing, not maintaining or even increasing our wage bill. My main fear is that when Les comes to the end of his time with the club and asks for the Society to step up that he also says "oh, and there's X amount due to be paid back to me on top of the original loan due to me forking out cash for loan signings and decent prospects from down south". The Society is looking like it's already hitting a plateau of sorts already, and the question I have is will the level it's sitting at be enough to finance the club as it is? There was a lot of chat about cutting our cloth accordingly, and thus far I've seen absolutely nothing to suggest we're doing that on the playing side of things.