bobbybingo

It's not a difficult question at all. They won't actually get to pick the next guy, so they can remove all the possible obstacles and just name someone they want. If you want one guy out, you surely must have some opinion on his replacement.

Probably. But if folk want rid of Kettlewell, I'd like to hear who they want, not who they'll get.

Kettlewell could easily be sacked based on recent results, so it's understandable some folk want him out. I'd be interested to hear their preferred options for his replacement.

You may want to read my comment again.

Statistically, who would our next manager be?

In all seriousness, I think I will never want Motherwell to lose, whatever the reasons or circumstances. And in all seriousness, I don't think you feel the same way.

I'm sorry for your loss.

Alexander was a real manager.

All over the place.

Take the lead and win. First bit done.

Kelly O'Donnell Casey Mugabi Blaney Spencer Butcher Paton Spittal Obika Biereth

You're absolutely right, 11 games, bookended by wins against Celtic and Hearts. I'm hopeful, rather than optimistic, we'll win today, but I always am.

I think discussing the club's transfer policy, past and future, is fair enough in a thread set up to discuss transfers, in and out. Rumour wise, what've we got to talk about? Moult (obviously bollocks) and Van Veen.

As long as we continue to be 'fan owned', we'll continue as is.

Will there be testicles involved?

If David's plan worked we'd be successful, and in football, like any other business, that brings predators. The only way we could hang onto good players would be paying them significantly more money. And the only way we can get significantly more money, without outside investment, is by selling good players. I understand the idea is to buy cheap, sell dear and build up funds over time, enabling us to retain the core of the squad. But the whole plan surely relies on selling your best player/s on a regular basis, and that can have a huge effect on the rest of the team. Ambitious players will always be looking elsewhere.

I can't defend - or understand - him on Bair. Like you said earlier, the guy's a bloody trier, but as much as I believed he deserved a fair crack before being slaughtered, I was as mystified as everyone else when we signed him.

I'm not big on the 'everything used to be better' stuff, but I don't know how any manager could possibly build a decent team at Fir Park (or most other places) these days. They can't go out and buy players now, so it's mostly either cast-offs or kids they're dealing with, and the windows mean they have just 2 goes a season to get it right, if they survive that long. Any promising youngster will be lucky to last 6 months before bigger fish take them and any senior player who has a good season will be looking to cash in on that, as will the board. It is depressing, but we're far from alone.

He might've been better keeping that to himself, but he does like to talk. Kettlewell won't be here that long anyway. The average tenure of managers in Scotland is reducing all the time, and as someone else pointed out on here, our lot are burning out at an alarming rate, irrespective of results. If he's still here in January, I expect we'll be hearing more comments about a lack of funds making the job virtually impossible.

Yeah, the transfer window has removed the chance for managers to correct their mistakes as they go through a season, which makes any mistake that much more costly and no doubt reduced their lifespan at a club. Like you say, it's vital research is done before signing players, but by its very nature, the window causes panic buys like Shaw when other plans fall through.

Fair enough. But can you name one Motherwell manager who hasn't signed at least one useless dud?

The preferred term is journalist.

Does that qualify as parody?

Rice and Slane rejected contracts with us to sign with the Old Firm. I'm not sure how much more the club can do when that happens. McAlear to Norwich, McKinstry to Leeds - again, money talks and there's no way of tying down a player who wants away. Cadden (or his agent) knew exactly what he was doing. Campbell didn't leave for nothing.

Max Johnston is one of them, I suppose. Sorry, but can you tell me who the others are, youngsters we allowed to leave through carelessness and didn't make a profit from, because I can't think of a list.