Handsome_Devil

Indeed, and that's because he's over-used, partly because with injuries we had no choice but to keep him in. If we split time between Paton and Halliday for example rather than flogging a guy we all thought was a squad player to death, it'll help.

Not exciting - and frankly I'd have preferred only 6 months - but he's solid enough to do a job. Hope it wasn't an either or with Fraser mind.

Ha ha, no offence. But I remember back to the days of Angus (silent g - copyright GLF) Cook and there have been god knows how many crisis since then. Nearly everyone else seems to have a properly high point in the cyclical nature of our game since then - us, Killie, St M, St Johnstone obviously but even the Highland clubs, Livingston etc have had moments in the sun. Dundee - despite probably having the biggest potential of the lot, if you ever got it together - have never managed that. Even the fantastic Bonetti team was only fifth or sixth iirc? And that was a properly batshit time off the park, even for you. As mentioned already, there is definitely a feeling within FP that you (and United, tbf) have been spending more than is wise, whether that's fair I've no idea - would certainly seem so for your neighbours atm.

The thought occured to me too...it's entirely possible he didn't spend his paternity leave eating cakes and this is just their way of exerting a little pressure for him to take his share of the loss. Would you be away from your new-born, kill your career and be miserable for 10k a week or do you accept 6k (split between the clubs), come back to your family and score goals (maybe) for a fanbase who will happily feed your god-size ego?

That's largely where I am. I think everyone - the board, Kettlewell and fans - would find it very hard to say no should a deal be financially possible. The potential reward is huge, there's a risk of looking totally idiotic if you turn it down. But he took a while to get up to speed when signed in 2021, he's clearly a player whose head needs to be in the right place, there are questions physically... I think we were able to sign two forwards - KVV and a back-up given his situation, Obika's injuries and Shaw's shiteness - I'd go for it. That's unlikely though and if it's all the eggs going in the big mental Dutch basket I'd probably say no thanks...

Aberdeen and Hearts, depending on Miovski and Shankland, would certainly seem more natural choices than us. Both will have known for months they might lose their top striker, do they have immediate plans in place or do they need an interim solution till summer? Who knows. There's certainly plenty of moving parts and you definitely wouldn't expect him to come back...but I'm sure we're talking about the possibility (even if with enough informality to preserve deniability!) and on the basis 1) I'm sure he'll go somewhere, and 2) there are very limited options for that somewhere, I think a Jan 30/31 move is certainly not impossible.

Probably is a probably not but you could also say it's just public negotiation to put pressure on KVV and Groningen to take more of a haircut for the next six months. Because let's be honest, he clearly doesn't want to be there and not only do they not especially want him there, they basically came out and called him fat and unprofessional the other week. Their negotiating position is through the floor. Not only are they going to struggle to get anyone to pay anything significant of his wages towards the rest of the season, come summer who is going to spend serious money on an enigmatic but unhappy 33-year-old with issues who probably hasn't played first team football for eight months if he stays in their reserves? We are very quickly approaching the point where Groningen's best - nearly only option - is to take what pennies in the pound they can shipping him to Scotland till May so he can sort himself out and score enough goals that ideally someone gambles on him properly in June or, perhaps, he's then ready for 24/25. I'm sure Groningen will turn down an offer to cover 25% of his wages now but in two weeks time I doubt it...

I fully expect us to beat Alloa regardless of our issues but then I fully expected us to beat Sligo, Albion Rovers and Alloa last time.

A fair point - as much as we're in moan overload this week, it's also not a massive stretch to imagine County or St J screwing it up as well or instead. Four more wins will have us close to safe, five will definitely do it.

Kettlewell sounded like he wanted a net gain of a couple, bodies wise, pre window - presumably knowing who was definitely leaving and possibly counting returnees as the first couple. That would have been a snappy window. We're now two further down unexpectedly, starters at that. That's a window which needs to be not only busy include at least three nailed on starters that improve the first XI. I'm not writing us off by any means, there's definitely still a path to 10th. But it's a damn narrow one now and it's safe to say any more missteps or even simple injury bad luck and we're in the bottom two.

It would fair stack the left side and arguably help the midfield if he drops in. You could consider something like: Mugabi, Butcher, McGinn SOD, Davor, Paton, Montgomery Spittal, Bair, Gent You can turn that from 3-4-3 into 5-4-1 easily enough. You would hope that's enough for Saturday but it's not being particularly panic-merchanty to say that side isn't avoiding the bottom two.

Dundee have been a financial basketcase on and off for as long as I've been following football, I've long given up understanding them. As for us, the money in the bank isn't intended to be touched easily. We budget for certain league positionings, cup runs and transfers, if we don't get them the money covers that. Using it in standard circumstances is the road to ruin really.

An interesting line from Kettlewell in the presser was he thought Montgomery and Gent can play in the same team. Which is some going if we're keeping three at the back.

The joys of the internet!

I suspect this is a daft question but was there actually any positive news from the presser?

Of course it is, you think panicking will help? We clearly have a tonne of work to do and until our efforts there are complete there's no point in being too ott. It's repeated all the time that the standard in Scotland is miserable, 10th is by no means beyond us.

It's very odd, you assume arsenal would only formally recall him when the next deal in place and his next club would presumably want him in for Saturday. While we may wish to combine it with good news, I imagine that wish is very much bottom of the pile in the grand scheme of things.

Groningen said he returned unfit from his break in Scotland and is now training with their reserves or youths. As much as they'll obviously want to recoup as much of his wages as possible, they're essentially throwing good money after bad on him - at least for the next six months - to the extent that even saving 20-50% is now a gain. I'd be amazed if he's not back in Scotland on loan, north of England at a push, by the end of the window. Whether we win that particular battle, and even if we should be involved at all, is a different matter mind.

The start really screwed up the narrative for me. Everyone and their granny said this would be a tough season, settle for 10th, balance the budget and start afresh. And if had been attritional from the start, I doubt there'd be the same level of moping now. So I'm taking my usual(ish) position of saying things are not as good as they appear when we're good and not as bad as they appear when we're bad. This season has indeed been a binfire yet we're not in the bottom two, we're probably in the next round of the cup and we still have two weeks to improve the squad... there's still time to make this another 'job done' season if nothing else.

Bizarrely I'd fancy our chances quite strongly against United. They would be under comical pressure, are they really good enough to get through four games in two weeks living on their nerves without fucking up once? Doubtful. I reckon they'll win the league comfortably in the end mind.

10/10 for optimism there. Maybe we could recall Lamie and play him up front.

I think it's safe to say the cash reserves will be taking another battering later this month, we'll then need to trim fat in summer and we absolutely won't find ourselves in the same situation again from October onwards...unless we do actually get relegated of course. Losing Biereth would obviously be annoying but that was a chance we knowingly took - the bigger problem yet again comes down to the other attackers we signed being so completely underwhelming the hat was hung on a loanee from a club with a reputation for exactly this. As an aside, it does put the manager debate into perspective somewhat...there are clearly some baffling decisions made at times but let's be honest, whether it's SK, Hammell, Alexander or anyone else, being Motherwell manager is like being asked to push water uphill.

Positive to hear. Gent as 10 though. Of course he is.

Hastie clearly had - has in fact - potential but he strikes me as a classic 'good player without a widely viable position'. He's not really a left winger, isn't Robben so got found out on the right, isn't a solo through the middle... could he have worked as a rampaging rather than creative 10? I've not followed his career in that much detail but he strikes me as Danny Johnston scenario - if your only position is one of a starting two up front you're going to find options are limited very quickly. Still he hope he turns it round mind, I've nothing against him. And if so another return would be great - as said above, that five month spell was wonderful.

Meant to be but I'm afraid Butcher has some amount of convincing to do it that his injury at Livingston didn't end him at this level.