2024/25 Ins & Outs Discussion

[grizzlyg]

Can we all just calm doon.  It's only a game of football 

[Spiderpig]

2 hours ago, wellfan said:

Halliday is an empty jersey. 

Aye he was a bit pish today, contributed feck all, surprised SK left him on the park so long tbh.

[smiddy]

1 hour ago, Kmcalpin said:

Not a game on which to judge Halliday. He looked nowhere near fit and it was unfair to leave him on the park for so long. 

whats he been doing these last 2 weeks if he wasnt  em    getting fit ?

[bobbybingo]

9 minutes ago, smiddy said:

whats he been doing these last 2 weeks if he wasnt  em    getting fit ?

Eating crusts.

[thewelllfan]

I'm not against signing older players. I just think we sign older players with injury issues far too often. Ideally we sign a couple younger players and move them on for a free

[Kmcalpin]

22 minutes ago, smiddy said:

whats he been doing these last 2 weeks if he wasnt  em    getting fit ?

Sorry, I should have been more explicit. It looked as though he was carrying an injury. He should have been taken off at half time. 

[texanwellfan]

I Like Halliday but he had a bad game today.  Normally a composed player but today was just a slow player. Hopefully he has more good games than bad games. 

[wellsince75]

When signing players in their 30's they need to be of a quality that we wouldn't have been able to afford in their prime. 

The issue for Halliday, Nicholson (who's 29) I think is the Jan window. Players who are kicking on a bit, not played much football , carrying niggling injuries take time to get up to speed and unlikely to be at their best until next season.  

When we run as tight as squad size as we have, having several players in their twilight is risky and if we continue with a small squad we need to balance the quality/quantity/risk better than we have this season.  

[Kmcalpin]

If, as Wee Dougie suggests on another thread, Bevis Mugabi will leave at the end of the season then the central defence will require major surgery.  Rightly so in my view. Its been our achilles heel this season and cost us a shedload of points. So:

Mugabi - leaves

Lamie - off to Dundee

Casey - one more year

McGinn?

Blaney - one more year but maybe out of favour?

Butcher - time is up.

In my view we need a dominant centre half and a leader.

 

[wellsince75]

6 minutes ago, Kmcalpin said:

If, as Wee Dougie suggests on another thread, Bevis Mugabi will leave at the end of the season then the central defence will require major surgery.  Rightly so in my view. Its been our achilles heel this season and cost us a shedload of points. So:

Mugabi - leaves

Lamie - off to Dundee

Casey - one more year

McGinn?

Blaney - one more year but maybe out of favour?

Butcher - time is up.

In my view we need a dominant centre half and a leader.

 

McGinn and Casey I'd keep.  Completely agree we need someone as a leader in the middle of those 2. 

Similarly we need to replace both wingbacks - unless we can keep both Gent and Divine. 

Defence has been an issue this season - I honestly feel the midfield is our weak link for a few years.  But then attack also needs some improvement.

Overall we need quality throughout the spine of the team.  

 

[Kmcalpin]

11 minutes ago, wellsince75 said:

Defence has been an issue this season - I honestly feel the midfield is our weak link for a few years.

Yes, we need a bit of a midfield destroyer to protect the defence. Someone similar to Davor, but with a bit more physical presence.

[grizzlyg]

33 minutes ago, Kmcalpin said:

Yes, we need a bit of a midfield destroyer to protect the defence. Someone similar to Davor, but with a bit more physical presence.

Could we get Allan Campbell back even on loan? Now that would be magic 

[wellfan]

8 minutes ago, grizzlyg said:

Could we get Allan Campbell back even on loan? Now that would be magic 

A midfield of Campbell and Miller would be worth the season ticket cost alone, but I don't see that happening in a million years. 

I hope he gets back on his feet after his horrible loan spell at Millwall. When does his contract expire with Luton?

[Spit_It_Out]

We need to add a couple bits of quality that's for sure.

Let Kelly leave and save on his wage a good GK can be picked up on a decent money.

Do not sign players that have a history of injury problems or resign players that have had a history of injury problems.

It shall be solely Kettlewells squad next season so no excuses getting a bit tired of hearing the same lingo week in week out and doesn't seem to be getting sorted how we go from the Rangers performance to that utter bs yesterday is beyond me.It felt like it was last game of the season stuff.

Sadly yer Hibs,Hearts and Aberdeen will be all over wee AC and I wouldn't rule of Celtic and Rangers aswell.

Happy Easter to one and all!

 

[santheman]

19 minutes ago, wellfan said:

A midfield of Campbell and Miller would be worth the season ticket cost alone, but I don't see that happening in a million years. 

I hope he gets back on his feet after his horrible loan spell at Millwall. When does his contract expire with Luton?

Think it expires at the end of this season.

Imagine he won't be short of offers.

[bobbybingo]

15 minutes ago, Spit_It_Out said:

how we go from the Rangers performance to that utter bs yesterday is beyond me.

 

Our players just aren't capable of producing performances like that on a regular basis, hence the reason they're here. Same throughout a league that's as bereft of real quality as any I can remember, and odds are the standard of ability and entertainment will keep dropping.

[Kmcalpin]

11 minutes ago, bobbybingo said:

Same throughout a league that's as bereft of real quality as any I can remember, and odds are the standard of ability and entertainment will keep dropping.

It will until the English lower leagues collapse financially. They're running up huge unsustainable debts.

I have always modest expectations of entertainment and whilst I didn't like yesterday's level of performance, I don't get unduly concerned about it. 

[bobbybingo]

11 minutes ago, Kmcalpin said:

I have always modest expectations of entertainment and whilst I didn't like yesterday's level of performance, I don't get unduly concerned about it. 

Hope for the best, but expect....you know.

Motherwell's my team, and no level is too low to change that. Same story for a lot of folk, but the poverty of the product, combined with rising prices - football related or otherwise - must be shaving numbers off the gate year by year, and it does hee haw to encourage new paying customers.

[wellfan]

36 minutes ago, bobbybingo said:

Hope for the best, but expect....you know.

Motherwell's my team, and no level is too low to change that. Same story for a lot of folk, but the poverty of the product, combined with rising prices - football related or otherwise - must be shaving numbers off the gate year by year, and it does hee haw to encourage new paying customers.

Add VAR and its destruction of the matchday experience to that, and gate numbers will only drop further. 

[bobbybingo]

15 minutes ago, wellfan said:

Add VAR and its destruction of the matchday experience to that, and gate numbers will only drop further. 

Very true.

[Kmcalpin]

There's two ways to look at squad rebuilding for next season. A large amount of bodies will be departing; lack of consistency and time for new lads to settle in and gel; managerial time and effort required to plan for this; some new arrivals will tank. Most, maybe all of this is true. 

However, I prefer to take the opposite, more positive view. Having managed the team for a bit longer now, SK will be more aware of individuals' strengths and weaknesses. He'll have seen them in more diverse situations. He'll also have more freedom to sign his own men as so many depart. More deadwood will have been cleared. More cash will be available to him to spend how he wants (not in overall terms but through distribution of what we could call wasted money).

On the Dundee matchday thread, Steelboy makes a very valid point in this respect, when he wrote "The problem with our squad is Lamie, Tierney, Maguire, McGinley, Obika, Wilkinson, Elliott and Shaw. Change them for a decent centre half and centre mid and we'd easily be top six." Some of course have already departed, but will have consumed cash in the process.

Now to that list you could also add the likes of Butcher and Kelly. The latter, in particular, will be on a fair wedge. There are always contrary opinions of course, but I suspect most fans would not be apoplectic if Kelly was to move on. I think we could secure a better keeper for the same outlay or hopefully less. 

Then, in the middle band, there are OOC players like Mugabi and O'Donnell and Slattery who some would retain and some wouldn't.  Of those OOC, the only one I'd really want to keep is McGinn. Younger prosects like Ewan Wilson - I'd also want to keep too.

In short, I'm not overly bothered if "all 5", whoever they may be, reject our new offers.

Some questions to be answered too. Is Nicholson considered to be a replacement for Spittal? Would he sign on again?

There are also known unknowns - the likes of Miller or Bair, might move on if offers are right. 

SK has already said that he identified signing targets months ago, and has been working flat out on squad planning. This summer promises to be very busy and interesting for us fans. I'd like to see us bring in a new commanding keeper; strengthen central defence; and introduce some steel to midfield.  

.

 

[wellsince75]

5 minutes ago, Kmcalpin said:

This summer promises to be very busy and interesting for us fans. I'd like to see us bring in a new commanding keeper; strengthen central defence; and introduce some steel to midfield.  

 

 

Give this man is job in recruitment

Completely with you.  We need 

A keeper who commands his 6 yard box would make a huge difference. 
Central defender who won the first ball and organised us. 
Centre Mid by the name of Alan Campbell would be awesome . 

We've got too many journey men and most can leave.   

Our better signings have been loanees - the likes of Gent and Vale - more like this please. Ideally sign them but if not another season loan would be great. 

[Kmcalpin]

10 minutes ago, wellgirl said:

I personally think as good as Bair has been for us over the last while - there are still games where his form is a bit up and down (like many players) and I don't see why we should be thinking at this stage of him moving on when he's got another year on his contract. We should be looking to keep players who are producing the goods for us in my view. It's obviously going to be harder to keep Miller but I'd be hugely disappointed if we lost Bair this summer. 

Yes, his form is a bit erratic, you're right. However, he's hitting the net regulalry.

I don't think we're actively planning to sell Bair, but would accept a decent offer if one came in during the next window. Thats not unlikely in my view. We have to consider that scenario, and I'm sure we are.  I have no inside knowledge whatsoever but wouldn't be surprised if Miller moved on in the summer for a decent fee. Almost certainly the club has factored that into their planning.

[wellfan]

1 hour ago, Kmcalpin said:

There are also known unknowns - the likes of Miller or Bair, might move on if offers are right. 

Miller will be sold soon enough, and I don't see any BIG enough offers coming in for Bair yet. Much like Miller's extension, we should be offering Bair a one-year extension to protect our asset in the hope that he continues to improve next season and doesn't leave for bugger all at the end of season 2024/25.

[grumpy]

2 hours ago, Kmcalpin said:

Yes, his form is a bit erratic, you're right. However, he's hitting the net regularly.

I don't think we're actively planning to sell Bair, but would accept a decent offer if one came in during the next window. That's not unlikely in my view. We have to consider that scenario, and I'm sure we are.  I have no inside knowledge whatsoever but wouldn't be surprised if Miller moved on in the summer for a decent fee. Almost certainly the club has factored that into their planning.

I'm resigned to losing Miller sooner rather than later, that seems to be how it goes now. In an ideal world, Man City give us a few million quid and loan him back to us for a season or two, I'm not holding my breath though.

Bair can be viewed two ways, we have picked him up under freedom of contract, and I suspect his wage is pretty low relative to a lot of the rest of the squad. He has rewarded us, and Kettlewell, with 12 goals and a few assists and is probably a season ahead of where Kettlewell hoped he would be after he was signed. Do we reward him with a new improved and longer contract, in the hope that he replicates, or improves, this form next year, or do we cash in a-la KVV, assuming a good offer is received of course.