Is Mcall Now A Great ?

[sbcmfc]

And that is not even taking into consideration the totally inept performance in Valencia (compare that to the team performance in Dortmund).

 

Would say that's extremely unfair. I was really proud of the performance in Valencia, especially given the players we were missing and the youngsters we threw in. We'll never know what would have happened had higdons early goal stood? (it may be they'd have upped their game and hammered us???)

 

Our home performance was poor, a few of our better players had an off night.

 

I was amazed he didn't use the subs he had left to slow the game down and take the momentum from Aberdeen though. It's a pet hate of mine when teams do it.

[steelboy]

. And that is not even taking into consideration the totally inept performance in Valencia (compare that to the team performance in Dortmund).

 

 

the team were superb in valencia. every player that started done us proud and considering their inexperience it was a good result. if humphrey had stuck away the sitter at the end we would have got a well deserved draw.

 

randolph

kerr

page

cummins

angol

carswell

lasley

hetherington

murphy

ojamma

higdon

 

up against a solid la liga team.

[gilmour]

Some people getting a hang up over legend and great. Tommy is in history so will be a great, Butcher helped us through our worst time ever so is to a degree a legend, but as for great well i think that's on form and McCall is a great to me but not a legend yet.

 

His record is exceptional so far CL for the first time in our history (ok by default) but they still had to get there. Scottish cup runners up 2011 we now take Europe for granted rather than relegation battles, this shows how far we have come on since the days of malpace and Gannon. Legend not but a great maybe without doubt a potential. As for signing on read the bbc interview id be very very surprised if he doesnt sign on agan unlike that judas cun* brown.

 

21 September 2012 Last updated at 15:04

 

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Manager Stuart McCall open to extending Motherwell stay

Motherwell manager Stuart McCall is open to extending his contract with the Scottish Premier League leaders.

 

The 48-year-old former Scotland star has impressed in his first 18 months at Fir Park, reaching the Scottish Cup final and Champions League qualifiers.

 

"I'm more than happy with the job I'm doing and the squad of players and staff I'm working with," said McCall

 

"I think people who know me know I'm fairly loyal. if I'm happy somewhere, I'm happy. It's not lack of ambition."

 

Continue reading the main story

“If you enjoy what you're doing, is it worth an extra 250 quid to move?”

 

Stuart McCall Motherwell manager McCall, who played for Everton and Rangers, signed a two-and-a-half-year deal in late December 2010 after a spell in charge at Bradford City.

 

The Lanarkshire side finished third in the SPL last term and currently sit top of the pile following an unbeaten start to the campaign.

 

McCall said that contract negotiations were likely to begin in the "next few weeks".

 

And he added: "Even as a player, if I was happy and enjoying coming into work, which I certainly am here, I don't have aspirations, I don't look higher, higher, higher.

 

"I'm in the SPL, at a terrific club like Motherwell, and I enjoy coming into work every day.

 

"I have nothing against thinking I will look to extend my contract."

 

 

Stuart McCall factfile

• Born: 10 June 1964 in Leeds, England
• International honours: 40 caps and 1 goal for Scotland
• Managerial career: Bradford City, Motherwell
• Playing career: Bradford City (two spells), Everton, Rangers, Sheffield United

McCall's contract situation mirrors most of his players and he admitted last week that he could lose a full team next summer.

 

But while he is realistic about the possibility of losing the likes of goalkeeper Darren Randolph and midfielder Nicky Law, he hopes the job satisfaction he enjoys could persuade some players to stay.

 

"Apparently I have taken a little bit of criticism about answering a question, but I think everyone knows loads are out of contract," McCall said.

 

"We have got players who have come up from down south and maybe wanting to come up for a couple of seasons, but again the grass isn't always greener.

 

"If you enjoy what you're doing, is it worth an extra 250 quid to move?"

 

Captain Keith Lasley and Stevie Hammell both extended their contracts after last season ended and McCall hopes they might be able to tie some players down quicker this time round.

 

"The budget had to be slashed by £200,000, that's why the Keith Lasley and Stevie Hammell saga took a bit longer, because other clubs in the SPL were willing to give them more money," he added.

 

"But thankfully their loyalty to Motherwell kept them here.

 

"It's a long way down the line but I'm sure there will be talks between now and Christmas.

 

"We have to be realistic, some players will move back down south, but this is where we have to bring in players who can hopefully do just as good a job."

 

 

[Special aka]

And now ???????

[MJC_MKI]

Tonight was an example of why McCall will never be a 'Motherwell great' and to mention him in the same breath as Tommy McLean is, frankly, insulting.

[Lobey_Dosser]

Tonight was an example of why McCall will never be a 'Motherwell great' and to mention him in the same breath as Tommy McLean is, frankly, insulting.

 

+1.

[Sdt]

If he goes on to win the Scottish Cup tonight will be forgotten so simmer down.

[Dosser30]

McCall a great? Yes, a rangers one.

[Frazzie]

He'll only manage that if Forres do the business on Saturday.

[numpty]

Tonight was an example of why McCall will never be a 'Motherwell great' and to mention him in the same breath as Tommy McLean is, frankly, insulting.

At roughly this stage in Tommy McLean's Motherwell managerial career, crowds were gathering outside Fir Park shouting for his resignation.

[TheLip69]

Reading post on great players for Motherwell and was wondering if MCall is now classed as a great in the line with managers along with the likes of tommy mc.Tommy had a geat team and delivered us our firrst cup I'm many yea ears but MCalls record with us is excellent. Champions league forthefirst time euro now seems a given every year and a cup final. Are we underestimating just how good he has been for this club?

Thoughts please.

 

 

As he proved once again tonight McCall is and always will be "A Rangers great"

[Sdt]

At roughly this stage in Tommy McLean's Motherwell managerial career, crowds were gathering outside Fir Park shouting for his resignation.

 

LOGIC AND REASON HAS NO PLACE IN THIS THREAD NUMPTY!

[Well Well]

Gilmour must be publicly stoned for making such a shite thread...funny though how a few extremely shite results turn things on its head.

[Finlay]

A good manager with great moments.

 

His record sgainst the Old Firm, Rangers in particular is likely going to stop his 'legend status'. Unless we win a Cup when we will have to do a 'Killie' circa 1997(?) and have other teams dump out the ugly sisters for us.

[steelboy]

it's mental to be hung up on mccall's record against rangers when we hadn't beat them at ibrox for 14 years before he turned up or at fir park for 8 years.

 

his signings and tactics are a different matter though. not signing a replacement for jenno is his capital crime imo. jobs for the boys in the form of rambo and omar means we are going to be struggling in the middle of the park all season.

 

we've got the well society meeting coming up soon so all grievances can be aired there.

[GazzyB]

Outrageous some of the comments in this thread about McCall & Rangers tonight. We haven't beaten Rangers since 2002 for fuck sake! Does that make Gannon, McGhee, Brown etc all Rangers greats too? No it fucking doesn't. Yes it's hard to take, and yes we're shite against Rangers but to imply that it has anything to do with McCall's previous affiliations with Rangers is ridiculous!

[David]

As someone mentioned, McCall will be judged when his time with us comes to an end. If he manages to steer us to another cup final for example, and maintain a high league position every season then he will go down as a Motherwell great.

 

Only a cup win will see him become a legend though. That kind of status is rare and hard to attain.

[underboyleheating]

He couldn’t lace Wee Tams boots.

[CoF]

 

his signings and tactics are a different matter though. not signing a replacement for jenno is his capital crime imo. jobs for the boys in the form of rambo and omar means we are going to be struggling in the middle of the park all season.

 

 

The point about Jenno is fair enough.

 

Don't know if the 'jobs for the boys' comment is tongue in cheek, but if not it's a pretty hefty accusation to throw it him. Whether or not they are good signings is one thing, but to question his integrity and professionalism by signing them is another.

[sbcmfc]

The point about Jenno is fair enough.

 

Don't know if the 'jobs for the boys' comment is tongue in cheek, but if not it's a pretty hefty accusation to throw it him. Whether or not they are good signings is one thing, but to question his integrity and professionalism by signing them is another.

Agree with that, managers always like players they know.

 

Ramsden hasn't played much, but looked ok when he did.

 

Daley gets an awful hard time on here, but I think he showed a bit of willingness and fight last night that was lacking from others.

[Finlay]

'Jobs for the boys' statement is utterly laughable.

[Gaag]

10x better than Humphrey in the 20mins he was on.

[MJC_MKI]

Outrageous some of the comments in this thread about McCall & Rangers tonight. We haven't beaten Rangers since 2002 for fuck sake! Does that make Gannon, McGhee, Brown etc all Rangers greats too? No it fucking doesn't. Yes it's hard to take, and yes we're shite against Rangers but to imply that it has anything to do with McCall's previous affiliations with Rangers is ridiculous!

 

 

I agree the talk of McCall deliberately lying down to Rangers is nonsensical given that this dreadful record against them existed long before he came and will no doubt exist long after he's left the club.

 

However our record in 'big' games, ie at Ibrox or Celtic Park, Cup Finals, Europe over the past few years has been deploreable and our performances in these games have, in my opinion, got worse since McCall became our manager. I'm fully aware that we weren't dominating Celtic or Rangers regularly and winning Cups under McGhee, Gannon or Brown, but it's the manner in which we lose these games that is so galling for me. We are beaten before we step out onto the park and seem to have a mentality that anything less than a 3-0 defeat is somehow acceptable. Then on top of all that, I've yet to see us get our tactics right in games like these under McCall and that is infuriating to say the least because you'd think, or at least hope that we'd learn our lessons at some point.

 

Stuart McCall is not a 'Motherwell great' as the original poster asked, and won't be unless he finishes 2nd or 3rd for the next two or three years back to back, which let's face it, is a completely unrealistic target, or he oversees a Cup win, which just isn't going to happen as we don't have it in us to get the better of the 'big' teams, ie Celtic or Rangers.

[Andy_P]

The point about Jenno is fair enough.

 

Don't know if the 'jobs for the boys' comment is tongue in cheek, but if not it's a pretty hefty accusation to throw it him. Whether or not they are good signings is one thing, but to question his integrity and professionalism by signing them is another.

 

I'm sure steelboy is entirely serious with the remark, he said along similar lines on a couple of occasions now although without justification in my mind.

 

Steve Jones: Came on loan when we had just "lost" both Alan Gow and Nick Blackman. Hardly earth shattering in his time here but offered cover both on the left midfield and up front. Soon moved on at the end of his deal.

 

Nicky Law: Perhaps a fortuitous signing given the supposed bumping into one another on holiday but a feather in McCall's cap to have got him to Fir Park however the means. One of the most creative members of the team, can play left midfield and in the middle. Chipped in with several goals. It seems to rile steelboy that he's one of the first picks but I would say by and large his performances merit such inclusion. A clear success.

 

Omar Daley: Another capable of offering versatility again signed at a time when the squad was considered light in number. Has shown ability on occasion but the desire to produce that on a semi-consistant basis has regularly been found to be wanting. A poor decision in retrospect to sign him on the length of contract he got but will surely go at the end of this season.

 

Simon Ramsden: Once again a player capable of turning out in two or three roles. Signed when the club had lost two central defenders, had a third go on a long term injury against a backdrop of financial uncertainty. A player McCall had made captain at Bradford and was highly regarded in England's lower league before suffering injury problems at Bradford.

 

After signing everyone will have their own views on the success or otherwise of the players but as regards their actual signing I think there is a decent case to justify each of them particularly when the context of their versatility and our budget is taken into account.

[Ya Bezzer!]

Obviously, overall McCall's record is good but I think about the story about a French officer being on the verge of being promoted to general and Napoleon asking 'Is he lucky?'

 

I think McCall has been pretty lucky over the course of his tenure. He was lucky to take over a team doing well in the league. He was lucky to take over one of the best squads in the league. He has been lucky that the squad has basically been kept together - can any one believe Darren Randolph, the best goalkeeper we've had in the 25 years I've been going, is still here? He's been lucky most other clubs are downsizing especially Top Six clubs like Dundee Utd, Aberdeen, Hearts, Hibs, basically the teams you've expect to out perform us over a season. He's been lucky with injuries as well. He was even lucky last season Dundee Utd started so poorly or they would surely have overtaken us for 3rd.

 

I'm not trying to take anything away from what McCall has achieved but he has never really had a crisis to deal with. He's never really been under any pressure. Of course you could argue a lot of that is down to his relative success. But I think we've just kind of muddled along in a league rift with inconsistency. I sometimes wonder what he would do if we lost key players or the squad breaks up and we have to start again (as looks likely next season).

 

It's also disappointing that for all the good league form I have no real belief we can win a trophy under McCall. As a Motherwell fan that is your one big hope each season.

 

I've said it before McCall is a steady Eddie. No great football, decent football. No great wins, decent wins. No great league positions, decent league positions. It's not that exciting but it's still a long way from the dark days under McLeish or the years of perennial struggle under McLean. At the same time, despite his generally good record, I have a kind of lingering feeling that we should have done better than we actually have, as if we've missed a rare opportunity.

 

I'd say McCall is a good manager, not a great one.