fizoxy

Is there a way to have frear and Thomas in the team? Or is Thomas on the outs too?

This doesn't really fit in the other threads, but I'm interested in figuring out what kind of squad we could have come the end of the season, and what holes we will need to fill, and how we may approach that if we go down. As far as I'm aware the following are all out of contract, not including the u20s: Lasley, Kennedy, Moore, Ainsworth, Pearson, Faddy, Lucas, Samson, McDonald, sub goalie, Jules, chalmers - Would we bring any of these back? 1 more year - clay? Blyth? bowman, Moult, Hammel, McManus? Thomas - any extension possibilities? Don't know - cadden, frear, heneghan, mchugh, tait With the likelihood that our front two won't see next season at fir park, it looks like we will have bowman and someone. Will Mackin be an option? In midfield we have mchugh and clay, with maybe cadden if he isn't sold, then add Campbell, hastie and Mclean from the u20s. Defense looks worst though, with Hammel still under contract and as injury prone as he is now, we need a viable lb option. My assumption is that if we go down we will push the u20s into the team, but maybe we should do that anyway?

We play each of the teams we need to finish above twice, right? Our biggest concern right now is what the other teams do the week we play rangers. If we can get anything from that game, or the other shite teams also lose, we have control of our destiny. Any ideas as to how the post split fixtures are likely to shape up for home and away?

First sub - McMillan for hammell at half time.

Motherwell: Samson, Hammell, McHugh, Moult, Cadden, Frear, Clay, Jules, Ferguson, McDonald, Pearson #MFCvSJFC

Ok, how are we going to shape up with our injury woes? I think we'll probably see McDonald and Jules as the line was that their injuries just need rest, so we'll risk them with the break coming up. I assume the following will all be in the lineup due to previous selections, but I'm at a loss as to who we will play on the flanks. Samson Ferguson McHugh Jules (Someone) Cadden Pearson Clay (chalmers/frear/Hammel) Moult Skippy I'd be surprised if we see McMillan or chalmers based on recent u20 performances, but we may have to use both.

These leaks could also be total bollocks. They sound bollocks, so I'll go with that. Also, we rationalized that coyle would be shite pages ago.

The first guy we did this with was sold for a reasonable fee, has a sell on clause, and is being chased by championship clubs. The second guy we paid for is sure to go in the summer, for money, so can't really say it has failed. As with all clubs, we will never be 100% with our signings, but at least the shite ones have been free.

That's what will be interesting, all of the senior players are out of contract in the summer, other than McManus. We're losing: Samson, Hammell, lasley, Lucas, Pearson, ainsworth, skippy, faddy, Jules Realistically the only one who can still do a job is McDonald, but he seems to want to go back to Australia. Then there's the chance that we'll lose moult and cadden. So we're trusting Robinson to do a full rebuild, after keeping us up, so he'll be tested.

Interesting reactions. just looking back at our previous appointments (in my time), I'd be interested in knowing what ones were deemed positive at the time? Maybe McGhee first time around? Mclean was already there when I started going, what was he reception to him? Who was the last appointment we were generally excited about? Mclean - had been a manager for about a year before joining us. How manager times would he have been sacked in the current climate? McLeish - no experience, didn't do well when it came to building his team. Kampmann - did well in Finland, not so well here. Davies - no experience, wasn't terrible but a more experienced manager would surely have made more out of the money available at that time. Black - no experience, not that good Butcher - was terrible in previous jobs, was great for us Malpas - good assistant, but...... McGhee - lots of experience and did a great job Gannon - decent experience, was ultimately shite Brown - quick appointment, did ok McCall - not the best with Bradford, but experienced and was great for us. Seem to remember folk being underwhelmed when he joined. Bara - won trophies, was shite. McGhee - never go back

You don't have interviews then hire the shitest one. Whether he's an outstanding manager and whether he was the outstanding candidate from a group of 5 based on whatever our criteria is is two different things. I am not particularly excited about this appointment, just because he's not new and we all like new things, but the fans criteria of someone different who's not an unknown , and knows our game without being a usual suspect, and has been successful but we can afford him, is always going to be difficult to match.

Cadden, Thomas, and Jules all called up to the Scotland u21s

We took applications last week, drew up a shortlist, and have been holding interviews since Monday, hardly sounds like we're scrambling.

I don't think it says he was interviewed, just that 3 had been interviewed and yogi was the bookies favorite now, with 2 more interviews to go. I'm guessing the club gave him the numbers and a bookies website gave him the names.

Or he wears a hat, Dick Campbell maybe

And according to the motherwell times online we have 2 more interviews tomorrow.

Since we're being made to wait, can we just pre-emptively complain about a presumed candidate each day? Is John Hughes much better than Stephen Presley? I group them in the same category. Both strike me as guys who talk a load of shite and give themselves the impression that their teams play good football, despite their teams being generally shite. By all accounts ICT's relative success under yogi was due to Russell Latapy. Why is he in the list of names if he already has a club? Would we pay money for Hughes?

Betting odds are great, John Hughes now favorite and simo down to 14-1 on skybet. Are 10 quid bets swinging this thing?

From our fearless leader on the twitter: "Still going through the process, ... Making sure we get 'under the bonnet' with all candidates."

There's a week off between the st j and rangers games, that's what I was thinking of, followed by 3 games in a week. If nothing else, if we can negotiate the st Johnstone game, we have a couple of weeks to get injuries sorted and get acquainted to the new manager.

Having games against Partick, ict, and accies pre-split, with the latter two at home gives us a great chance to ensure our own safety early. Is there a break in between these fixtures? Dundee have the worst of the fixtures, and I think Partick will sneak 6th, although a win for us this week could make it interesting. Getting at least a point though would take the pressure off a little for the trip to ibrox, where a result isn't totally out of the question.

Maybe he said that after the interviews were done?

I think that for the job of trying to keep us up, Robinson is probably the best fit. He has organized us a little better, and has the backing of the players. Bringing in someone with new ideas, and who wants to make a name for themselves, at this stage of the season could backfire if they are unable to get the players on board. I'm not sure that Robinson is the best fit for the annual rebuilding job though, but I don't know who is. I assume simo probably won't apply for a third time.

It's also possible that we never considered Presley, and he just ruled himself out so that people know he's around and we didn't knock him back. Or the sun just made it up.

if Lennon is what we're looking at, then I'd rather just keep Robinson. He didn't do a particularly good job at Alloa. As for Presley, I'm happy that I now know it won't be him.