MelvinBragg

My understanding is that Reynolds did start a recent game at centre back and got shunted out to left back to see if he could do any better there. Mark Reynolds has a few decent attributes. He's quick and has a decent left foot. His disciplinary record was always decent for us so you could say he times tackles well. But he's physically bullied too often by centre forwards. And turned quite easily, the number of times, I've seen a forward back in to him and spin away and he didn't read it... I always said that Paul Quinn would have a better career in England than Mark Reynolds. And Quinn is now doing very well for Cardiff. The reason? Mentality. Quinn would kick his own granny if he thought it would get his team a result. Ruthless in the nicest possible sense... Mark Reynolds always struck me as too nice on the field to be a footballer...

While Goram had a few spectacular moments in a Motherwell jersey, he was a shadow of his former self when we saw him. For guys my age (mid 30s), it comes down to Randolph or Dykstra. For me Randolph just shades it. Although as Yabbas points out, like a lot of people I still have a lot of man love for big Sieb...

Housewives' Favourite For real leadership in a captain and playing the whole second half on a tight rope after that big baldy Celtic clown tried to get the ref to send him off before half time...

Looking around the SPL, I can't see any other chairman I'd rather have had than Boyle. He's made mistakes like all of them, but over a long period he's done a decent job...

The thing that most irritated me last night was that, like the Kilmarnock game, we had a lot of possession but I suspect that the opposition keeper had clean gloves as he went off the park. An easier win bonus Paul Gallagher will not get. We need to stop trying to walk the ball into the net. St Mirren had a lot of bodies behind the ball. Lasley and Jennings are going to have to start blootering the ball from distance and tell our forwards to stand next to their centre backs and hope that if/when the shot comes off one of them, be ready to react to the second ball. Poor tactics? Possibly but without any other way of breaking down teams who come and put 9 bodies behind the ball, it's worth a go. Perversely we'll get more chances on Sunday as Celtic won't come to sit in. Not saying we'll take them...

Motherwell Rochdale Liverpool Scotland don't even feature for me. Discussing a Scotland game in JDs one day, I got funny looks for referring to Scotland as "they" as in "They might get a point". As disillusioned as I sometimes get with the Well, it's always "we"...

If as Tweed's mate suggests, we were carrying Lasley and Craigan yesterday then mcCall made a rod for his own back. Particularly as he knew yesterday morning that the St Johnstone-Aberdeen game was off. He could have chosen to declare Lasley and Craigan unfit and gone with Randolph Hateley Page Hutchinson Gunning Humphrey Jennings Meechan Forbes Jones Sutton Another 6-0 defeat might have been the result but might not have been if the players were all fully fit and playing in a familiar shape. And if the 6-0 defeat did happen, there may not have been the same (over?) reaction from the fans as it would been seen as a learning curve for the likes of Meechan and Page. But at least Page would have been playing in a shape he was familiar with (as would have the rest of the team) so we might not have had the disjointed performance many are reporting.. It would have also increased the chance of a fully fit Craigan and Lasley for the more winnable/drawable game at Pittodrie... Just a thought, Stuart...

Watching him with the ball at his feet is like watching a wean crossing the road themselves for the first time...

I asked a mate who'd seen Gunning play what his assessment would be. "A bit casual but a great left foot" was the description. Certainly saw the great left foot last night...

Jennings will leave big shoes to fill. Tom Hateley is not that man...

Tend to agree that the hype/nonsense* (delete as applicable) that greeted his signing is counting against Casagolda right now. If his name was Steven Goldcastle and we'd signed him from Partick Thistle or Shrewsbury in the summer then his performance last night would have got a "Not too bad, but not great. Needs more games to see if he can cut it". Not the worst player on the park by a long chalk. Not if you consider Stephen "weans crossing the road" Craigan was playing...

Webster is an interesting one. Played a full season at Dundee United hardly missing a game. Went back to Rangers and couldn't stay fit. Either Rangers' medical staff are atrocious or there is something that Dundee United were doing something to keep him fit that Rangers weren't doing. I find that hard to believe as Webster himself must have been aware of how he had been kept fit while at Tannadice. The fact that he has struggled to stay fit at Ibrox might put some off. Still suspect we might see him sign for Dundee United or Hearts...

Incidentally, Andy Webster has just been released by Rangers. A new partner for Hutchinson or too ambitious...?

Aye, well, we were in a worse situation when Gannon took over. This summer will be the real test for McCall. Still not convinced we won't see Jennings (betting story might put some off) and Sutton (seems happy here) in the team next season. If we don't, someone else will come in. As I said, I remember when McGhee left, we lost Graeme Smith, Stephen Hughes, David Clarkson, Paul Quinn and had lost Porter in the January. A lot of the young guys that had to step up then will have to do so again next season. Difference is, they've got a good few games under their belt. One of the major jobs for McCall this summer aside from bringing players in, will be to try and figure out how to get the best of out the likes of Murphy (trying to turn him into a more natural striker who will play more narrow), Forbes (try and get out of him what Gannon got from him) and Saunders (is he a centre back or a full back)... It won't be dull...

I tend to agree but that's another reason for us to not dip into the transfer market this window. Again unless it's a free agent we can tie up beyond the summer. Jennings, you could argue is an example of short term thinking as he has only signed one year deals the past two summers. Getting Jennings on a two year deal and getting Sutton on a new contract would make a lot of Motherwell fans a bit more relaxed about next season. Lasley probably has at least another season in him, going by his performances this year. I think we need to think in terms of a back four minus Craigan for next season though. Whether that means two from Hutchinson, Page and Saunders or bringing in someone more experienced, I don't know. Bearing in mind how many games Saunders and Hutchinson will have under their belts by the end of the season, maybe it's time to give them a go. Problem with looking for players who'll make a commitment to the club is that most footballers who play at the level we operate tend not to sign deals for longer than two seasons unless they come through the youth system and these deals are signed when these players are very young. Randolph, Humphrey and Hateley are very much the exceptions to the rule...

Having thought about it, not that worried by the lack of transfer activity. As others have said, we should be seeing what some of the young guys have to offer ahead of next season. May save ourselves a signing or two in the summer. A lot of people seem irritated by the fact that we are "wasting" wages on Casagolda and Charambolous. Maybe this is a sign of us not wanting to repeat such mistakes. There's no point in bringing in someone for the sake of it. If we bring in a free agent over the next couple of days, let's just hope whoever it is that it's a signing for beyond the end of the season. A bit more long term thinking. As others have pointed out, why bring in a Premiership youth player just to stunt the progress of our own players with no real long term benefit for ourselves. I know the likes of Ruddy and Jutkiewicz did a job for us but at least if a player joins at the start of the season, you have a chance to bed them into the team and you're not disrupting a settled line up simply for a guy to get some game time for six months then go and sign for a championship team. No short term signings like Gow, Malcolm or McGlichey please...

Aye, 11 o'clock is the deadline for paperwork to be lodged with the relevant FAs, but quite often deals are announced after the deadline has passed. Particularly for the smaller clubs that don't have a Sky Sports guy parked outside their training ground. Not suggesting that'll happen with us, just something to bear in mind. I won't be crushed if we don't sign anyone else in this window. As Welldaft says, keep money in the bank for the summer when there will be more free agents available...

Winger apparently..

I gather we do our medicals at Wishaw General so not impossible we could be finalising stuff there...

According to Wiki, born in April 1981. That makes him 30 in a couple of months. You hear a fee of £20k?

I'm still of the opinion that there's no way we'll spend £200k on a player let alone a 29yo with very little sell on value...

11 o'clock apparently. Only midnight for the lower leagues. Don't ask me why, I read it on the Beeb...

So, anyone getting the feeling we're not going to see any new faces today? We normally have all our business done by five o'clock on deadline day. Someone told me it's because Flow likes to be home in time for his dinner...

As others have suggested, £200k on a 29 year old?? On any player?? Yer havin a laff... He may end up here but we won't be paying £200,000 for him..

Nah, they have Jelavic, Lafferty, Healy and Naismith. Replace James Beattie? Why would they want to pay someone else to sit in the stand wearing a club blazer and tie...?