welldaft

Not good at all if these rumours are correct. He started the season on absolute fire, but I felt his game has been a bit off a bit last couple of months. Not alone in that respect I guess. I would still take an out of sorts Slattery in the team than some of the other options available. I say other. At this rate (like Arbroath) we will be putting on our sub goalie ! Miller was supposed to be out for minimum 3 months which iirc takes us into February. Possibly means a start for Maguire in the cup game at least.

We complain about lack of communication. Always. Then we get the CEO and Chairman giving almost an hour combined explaining their thinking and strategy behind the video and the search for new investment which the club certainly could benefit from. Honestly I find criticism of all of this baffling. It seems to me to be the easiest approach to take. It is lazy and it is not novel in any way shape or form. I imagine all the fans who criticise would do such a better job……not. The video could have been better in some respects but largely it has done the job it was intended to do in terms of creating awareness and discussion.

So with Mahon gone that is 5 players that have now left the club this window. None in yet. Could be an interesting deadline day ! Ketts said he wanted to bolster the squad as we were very light going into games which I think even a blind man could see. Allowing for a couple of injured players returning should not really impact that. As we will most likely always have 2-3 1st team players injured or suspended at any point in time. Assuming there are no other departures I would be looking for 3 to replace Spencer, Wilkinson and Souare. Alongside another 2-3 to bolster the squad as per Ketts wishes / comments and our needs. Better get our skates on !!!

“I think we have found a lump of coal that is going to turn into a diamond” said Amanda Holden of Paul Potts on BGT. Big Thelonius is just the same and is just getting started. We have a decent habit of turning players into sellable assets. Surely it would have to be north of £3-400k to make it even worth our while. I think he has another year after this season ?

This 100% on a) and b). Her comment “we don’t need investment”. I mean WTAF. Alright Laura if you say so. Is she privy to our bank accounts that actually show we have £20m in the bank and this is all a ruse. She has a view on almost everything- fair play. But she is often so wide of the mark.

That makes at least two of us. You kinda hope that it is so bad we get more coverage as people talk about it. You know like those Go Compare adverts or similar. Maybe some Sheikh stumbles across it and writes a huge cheque whilst pissing his pants….

I guess you were not the Director Mr Hahn .

Just watched the video. If that is the crux of our investment initiative we really are in trouble. Maybe someone will take pity on us. But I was hoping we were far down the line in discussions with potential investors. It is not terrible (although not far off) it is just quite underwhelming . I guess if someone really wanted to fling money at us they probably would have done it a long time ago. I need to go buy some more Euromillion tickets….. So far the only thing that has really come of this is we are making clear we need investment. If Queens Park can get Willie Haughey then you never know what is out there

I am not. I would be if he was from a PR/Marketing/Comms background. I read from his interview that he felt that the spend on Media (when Flow was around) was out of proportion for a club the size of Motherwell. Regardless of the output and success or otherwise it is hard to argue with that logic. When we have teams larger than almost all the city clubs then that is unsustainable. I dare say we could debate whether where we are now is a step backwards and a smaller budget / resource than a club the size of Motherwell. But given the squeeze on costs and the current CEO stated thoughts it is unlikely to change. As to the Manager. That was illuminating. Not least the fact we were still paying for 3 Managers at one point. Which we all suspected was the case. But his comments did point to the fact that Ketts was going nowhere probably even if we had lost to Livi. If he keeps us up then I don’t see him moving and tbh if we have a bottom 3 budget then I don’t think he should. Brevity is not his strong point, but I like him and think he is a very competent Manager.

A decent update from Derek Weir. Certainly helps to answer some of the questions surrounding CEO interview process, pitch and JH stand investment. Also the details around the costs bases are interesting. So it is almost exactly a 50/50 split between playing budget and all other costs. I would certainly have assumed a higher cost on the playing side. I think he comes across just fine. Whether you believe everything it is good to know that most things are functioning quite well. In reality our costs are rising out of whack with funds available. Short of cup runs, player transfers etc we obviously do need outside investment in addition to the Well Society. It is hard to gauge from that interview whether that is in place or not. Sounds like there are interested parties but they have not committed to funds / investment or even if they have any of that available.

With the budget we have available we probably are in a bad place. I don think we will have the money to go after options that on the face of it seem like secure bets. Do we ever. Main was very good in the latter stages of his time at St Mirren. There were times that he was pretty good for us also. I genuinely don’t know how well he has done in India but I would take him back. If we were able to shift either Shaw or Obika then that would be a bonus, but since both are or should be (3rd) 4th or 5th choice for us I doubt they are going anywhere. Unless there was a clause for us to send Shaw back down the road which I sadly doubt.

Let’s get back to the Thunderdome. Batter our way to escaping the trap door. Main and Bair up front would be a sight to behold. Defences be like…..

YES. Budgeted for top 6, good cup runs and player transfers. Completely unsustainable as soon as we have or had one or two seasons where all those things don’t come together. Let’s face it rarely do those 3 come together even with very good and expensively assembled Motherwell teams. The Q is how much of this strategy was completely down to her alone. The answer is even as CEO this would need overall Board approval.

Fair point. Let’s hope he does not impress them too much .

Not sure how to interpret this. My gut feel is it is not good news. He is there player but you would expect he would get a winter break like the rest of the Motherwell players if he was staying after the break. Who knows but it seems a little strange.

Could be good timing. We are looking for a CEO after all. She would have to work to a more realistic player budget than previously. I genuinely don’t know how good a job she did at Hibs or latterly at QP but on the few occasions I met her she was very switched on. She also would have the experience of working at other football clubs. Could be a win win all around. I guess it depends whether she would come back and whether the current Board would be open to that also.

May I be the 1st to say I hope it is not a Valentine’s Day massacre - for Motherwell at least . Interesting and surprising that the Livi game has been chosen. Not least as we will be well clear by then .

In my opinion he was better than all our strikers apart from Biereth. Not that difficult lets be honest. Of course Bair has turned prolific goal scorer (for now) Wilkinson would be behind him in the pecking order. I think he would thrive in a team that lays on opportunities for him. If he played for either of the Old firm he would bang in a fair few goals. The problem is we need more effort from our forwards. Bair gave us that without the goals. Now he has added that long may it continue. I am assuming we would have factored in some loan returns. Especially since none of them are likely to be regular starters. I get it may impact the budget, but if we bring in less than 4 serviceable players then I will be disappointed and we really will be praying that we get a run in 2024 without key injuries and suspensions - which simply will not happen. Without trawling through all of the teams (around about us) I suspect we would have the smallest squad with 1st team experience ?

Absolutely. I spent many years going to Easter Rd when we had so called better teams and squads and hardly ever saw us record wins. Both teams were light on numbers yesterday as well documented but it does not change the fact that Hibs have a bigger and more expensively assembled squad. That and they were at home yesterday having had a free weekend to recharge. A draw however it was achieved was a decent result on the back of our 1st win in a long time.

For me I would be looking for a decent CB so we don’t have to play Mugabi unless necessary. Neither Casey or Butcher have come close to the levels from last season even when fit and available. Now that Bair has turned into prime KVV we do need to sort out the defence as best as we can with the budget available. I have a feeling I will sigh heavily when seeing the OG from Mugabi but when all is said and done I would have taken a point at Easter Rd especially when down 1-0 and being outplayed. We go into the break a with 4 points from 6. 4 points gained on Livi and 3 on County. People still calling for Ketts head on a plate. Not sure if Pep G could even do as well with 13-14 players to choose from .

Very much this. Apparently we have also won more points from losing positions this season than any other team. It does prove that we are poor to be behind a lot. But also shows the players have fight and a will to play for the Manager. Disappointing to lose a late equaliser but we have scored 7 or more goals in ET. So was more than likely to happen at some point. Would have taken a point before KO. Especially since Ketts is literally picking 11 players from around 12 to 14 experienced players in recent weeks - I would say he has done OK. 4 points from 6 before the break is perfectly acceptable. Gain a point on Livi and County into the bargain.

Great win. Yes our performance after 35 minutes was bang average and a better side would have taken advantage. But I am not having this we were lucky today. Comments about still sacking Ketts are wide of the mark and utterly fucking churlish. Right now our goal is to finish 10th. Bair second goal was utterly mesmerising. Kudos to him. Sorry I forgot to mention that I did not know Shaw was actually on the pitch after 45 minutes and I am at the bloody game. What the F has Wilkinson done to be behind him ? Must b injured !

I think it fair to say Livi struggle to score. I think it is fair to say we struggle to defend. Therefore for 90% of Motherwell supporters we fully expect Livi to get at least one goal probably two. In fact we fully expect Livi to score within the first 15-20 minutes from a long throw or free kick or any situation that requires our defenders and goalie to deal with it in a professional manner… I am going along with very little expectation. I doubt it will be a classic. Any win will do

This ^ I would start Biereth and Bair on Saturday and bring on Wilkinson and if needs be Obika in that order. Wilkinson does not have the ability or physique to noise up the opposition like Bair and even Obika has. But if out of all our forward players (minus Biereth) I could choose one to hit the net from inside the box it would be Connor all day every day.

The only team both seem able to score against is us. Maybe we are the worst team in the league .