MelvinBragg

Given Devlin's track record with Motherwell stories, does this mean we can halt speculation? I await with interest the appointment of his assistant...

If the final four (as published in the media) is accurate, my one concern is that none of the individuals has any first hand experience of Scottish football. Could this indicate that we're going to appoint an assistant with said knowledge or will the new man bring his own number two with him? Things seem to be moving on a pace now, and I reckon we could see a lot happening in the next seven days. And that's without thinking about the European game...

Someone on here (can't remember who, sorry) and someone in a PM suggested to me that the manager was already in place and wasn't being announced as yet in order that he didn't take any of the flak for the selling of popular players. The talk of players auch as Bryson arriving would certainly suggest that's the case. Either that or there is an understanding with the candidates that certain player have been identified by scouts/the previous manager. Particularly given the fact that if the list given in the paper is correct, none of the candidates have any experience of Scottish football, surely some assistance would be required...

The thought had occured to me as well. Still haven't made up my mind one way or another...

You're thinking of Rogers, the guy that followed him at Watford. Boothroyd prior to Watford was involved with the Leeds coaching set-up I'm sure...

Think you're misreading that. It's Reynolds that has two years left... EDIT Beaten to the punch...

From the BBC website Cardiff and Hearts eye up Quinn Cardiff City and Hearts are hopeful of signing Motherwell's Paul Quinn, while fellow defender Mark Reynolds is also attracting interest from English clubs. Both clubs have made offers for the 23-year-old Quinn but have yet to meet the Fir Park outfit's valuation. However, it is believed that the two suitors are not far away from agreeing a fee for the right-back. Reynolds is also on the radar of clubs in the English Championship, although no firm offer has been made. Unlike Quinn, the 22-year-old has two years left on his contract and previous suitors Rangers have not renewed their interest in the current economic climate. Motherwell appear willing to sell their prize assets despite being a matter of days away from facing Llanelli in their opening Europa League qualifying tie. The Scottish Premier League club are also without a manager after Mark McGhee's departure to Aberdeen. Lawrie Sanchez, Steve Staunton, Jim Gannon and Aidy Boothroyd are on a four-man shortlist. And Motherwell hope to announce their new boss early next week before Thursday's opening fixture of the season in Wales. It is the economic downturn and the loss of television broadcasting funds following the collapse of Setanta that has led Motherwell to consider selling their top players.

I think whether they're unveiled on Monday or not, we've got more chance of seeing you play up front for Motherwell on Thursday than David Clarkson...

And risk injuries? That's fine if it's a pre-contract as these clubs would not then be wasting a transfer fee, but I suspect it would be unworkable in a cash deal...

You're forgetting that before the games against Llanelli and in between the two ties, we can sign players who would eligible for the game against the Albanians in the off chance we get there...

Easy solution, sell one of the wingers...

Aye, Reynolds would go with my best wishes, but it does mean that the team for next week is starting to look like... Fraser Saunders Craigan Hutchison Hammell McGarry/DL Smith Lasley Fitzpatrick O'Brien Murphy Sutton with the only recognised first team subbie being whichever of DL Smith or McGarry doesn't start...

...is the reason I can't really get excited about next week's game. At this rate, it'll be the first Motherwell U19s game I've attended. Either we've decided that Europe's not worth bothering with or we're being very dismissive of Llanelli's chances...

Aye, it's a different four names every day. It's like they phone JB and say "Is it this four?" "Naw" "Well, how many are wrong?" "Two" "OK" and then they come back the next day and try a different combination. You don't need to buy a paper, everything is repeated on here buck shee...

Just to clarify, when I mentioned Michael Jackson, it's when I thought you'd need to be stone mad to take the job not stone deid. Clearly the pressure of waiting to hear of he got the job got to him...

A Premiership club, well done to the guy. Coyle will do well for him. I remember thinking when he took the young guy from Dundee (McDonald??), that he would disappear without a trace down there, but he hasn't. Would certainly be a steep learning curve for Reynolds. As with the proposed sales of Clarkson and Quinn, the real questions are going to be: what are the fees involved? And how much will any new manager get to rebuild what will be a depleted squad? I expect JB to be playing down the answer to the second one, we don't want other clubs thinking we have money burning a hole in our pocket. Our moves in the transfer market are going to have to be quick and discreet in order to avoid bidding wars with other clubs. After the way he has dealt with the management appointment, I have faith in JB to be discreet not so sure about quick. Not a criticism, as the management appointment is a crucial one. Just hope that our moves to bolster the squad are done quite quickly, as we will hopefully have a few new players to try and knit together...

If the BBC has the names right (I say if because JB has pulled a blinder in terms of misdirection on this one), then Gannon or Boothroyd please. As others have stated, Staunton must have given a hell of an interview given he's the only man on that list with zero experience of being a club manager. I'm kind of disappointed that McAllister and Nijholt aren't on that list. McAllister represents, like Boothroyd, good contacts down in England, with the added advantage of a knowledge, however our of date, of Scottish football. Nijholt represents the fresh thinking, new start approach that we appear to be going with by slashing away at the squad. As others have said, we seem to have attracted a very high calibre of candidate to the job. Perhaps just as well given the size of rebuilding job that the guy is going to have to perform in a short space of time...

I take your point, Al, that invariably it would be the key players that would be sold. I don't imagine clubs are queueing up to pay £800,000 for Steven McGarry or £600,000 for Darren Smith. And you're right in that some of the players at Fir Park had become too comfortable in their roles. But I think you need to be wary of throwing the baby out with the bathwater here. As Malky says, evolution not revolution might have been a way to go. One or two of the players who are leaving (McLean, Hughes, Reynolds, Klimpl) were either not good enough or had gone stale. But Clarkson in particular had come on leaps and bounds in the last two years. We would have lost him for nothing next summer, sure. But it would have bought Muprhy and McHugh a year, and it would have meant losing him at a time when we weren't losing 5 or 6 other players. There has to be some degree of continuity. I feel there is something to be said for having people around the club who have a fondness for the club and know the club and the fans. Listening to Craigan earlier in the week state how he'd do anything to help out, clean boots whatever, reinforced that view. One of the most moving things in the aftermath of Phil O'Donnell's death was the way that the club and fans were almost as one. I don't know if you would get that with players with no feel for the club history and it's place in the community. I do hope you're right, I'm pinning my hopes on Gary McAllister bringing passing football to our lovely new turf or Juan Kerse's vision of a Nijholt inspired total football team. They'd be hard as nails like him obviously too. One thing's for sure. This is not a dull close season, even by Motherwell standards...

Have to say I haven't actually voted in my own poll. I'm caught on the horns. I know the new guy will want to fashion his own team, and as far as Quinn and particularly Reynolds are concerned, I can see them getting relatively simply replaced. My concern is Clarkson, or rather how we are going to find someone who can be our link man and score as many goals as he did the last two years...

I do take your point, Al, about a new guy having a blank canvas to work with. But I s'ppse my concern is that it's a hypothetical question, and we're going to have smaller squad and no increase to the budget...

Then you misunderstand my question. If you were sitting waiting on hearing about the job at the minute, would you be like "That's good, Clarkson, Quinn and Reynolds are being sold. More cash to spend..." or would you be thinking "Aye, all well and good giving me money, JB, but I need to replace these three as well now..." See what I'm saying...?

I touched upon this in the Reynolds thread. General consensus seems to be that JB is trying to generate a budget for the new guy to work with. But surely a bigger budget is one thing but the sales (alleged and proposed) of Clarkson, Quinn and Reynolds, leave him with three more shirts to fill eating into said budget. So do we think the new manager (whoever he may be) has specified he wants a blank canvas to work with or would he rather have more of a team to work with. If it were you, what would your thoughs be...? Just cos we've not had a poll in a while...

Thing is, if you're the new guy, do you want nothing of a squad and a bigger budget or do you want a budget that's slightly smaller but you've got more of a squad to start with...?

Aye, but McFadden and Clarkson are players of a different level. I was just trying to suggest that Cardiff already have Chopra, Bothroyd and McCormack and I don't really know what Bristol City's striking options are. So I was hazarding a guess as to why Clarkson might favour BCFC over Cardiff. Not looking for a fight. For a change...

He may, however, have learned the lesson of McFadden and has decided that he has more chance of first team football at Bristol City...