capt_oats

So does that mean we're now looking for a replacement for Clarkson? On one hand being promoted from Head of Youth to Academy Director feels like a natural and obvious step. It also feels odd that it's taken the best part of 6 months to do it when we're simply promoting the guy already in the building. I mean, I'm sure our process was thorough and robust. The timing is mildly interesting given it's the AGM on Tuesday and as of a couple of hours ago we were apparently down a Head of Academy, Head of Digital, Brand and Communications and soon to be down a Chief Executive.

Suggestion on Football Insider that Queens Park, Doncaster and Dundee are interested as well (cc: @Ludo*1)

I had noticed that given we've a double header coming up against the best St Mirren team in 35 years or whatever, if we were to win those games (a big IF I grant you) it'd leave us 1 point behind them. As it stands we've also only lost 2 of our last 6 (**** (a) and Hibs (h)) Talking about margins this is where we were last season after 21 games (just as we were about to slide into that run as Alexander lost his mind): We're currently 11 points down on where we were having scored the same number of goals and conceded two more. The thing is, you don't have to look that far to see where we could have picked up a couple more points. Coulda, shoulda, woulda but if Kev scores that pen when we battered United 0-0, if we'd seen the game game out at 2-0 against Killie, if we'd seen the game out at 1-0 on Saturday...that's another 6 points right there before you get into being 2-2 with minutes to go at Tynecastle or being 1-1 in injury time against St Johnstone.. "If we'd won more games and picked up more points then we'd be higher up the table" isn't exactly stunning insight but as everyone's said...fine margins. It doesn't feel like a BIG statement but if Hammell could sort out the defence through some sort of witchcraft or just y'know signing some competent defenders and organising them properly then there's a fair chance we'd actually be fine. At the moment there's been nothing from Hammell and Kerr to suggest they're remotely capable of doing that though. Which is annoying tbqh.

In fairness, the fact that Hammell went out and signed Penney after a short stint of SOD filling in at LB suggests that he's of a similar view. He made it clear that he wanted a natural LB in as soon as Carroll was ruled out for the season. Also, Hammell saying that we're looking at "viable" alternatives in the news story is a bit of a giveaway I suppose.

Aye, to be clear I don't think it's the only way we can get a new CB either (especially having seen our cash balance in the accounts) but I'd imagine we'd need to do some trimming to balance the budget out a bit. Like, I've no idea how much we'd have been chipping in on Penney's wage but if it was a decent wedge then prioritising the bulk of that for a CB with a more modest amount going towards a LB seems like a plan at least while SOD is on the books and presumably capable of playing there.

As much as Hammell's talking about dialogue being ongoing and the like it feels very much like just saying the right things. Robinson's chat when Cole went back to Wigan was pretty much the same before they papped him off to Doncaster. While Penney was still here we had 10 defenders on the books; 3 are injured (Carroll, McGinley and Mugabi) so it's probably fair to say that if we want to address the CB area then we needed to see some movement on way or another given we've managed to assemble a squad that consists of 3 fit passable RBs, 2 bomb-scare CBs and 1 unknown quantity from the LOI.

Oh...I'm sensing he's not coming back. Absolutely gone at him thanking the groundsmen first like...

I think it kind of speaks to the point @crazylegsjoe_mfc made in terms of Sol having been signed on the basis of what Alexander was looking for and how he wanted to set up his defence. Essentially he just wanted them to defend the box, win headers etc which was broadly in their wheelhouse through that period. Bearing in mind it's really only been under Alexander that Lamie has shone there's maybe an argument that he's more suited to being used in a quite specific way. He was fucking mince under Robinson and has hardly been stellar under Hammell. Here's Lamie's playing history under Alexander from when he took over through to the end of last season: Apps: 51 W 23, D 12, L 16 = 45% win

I know big Sol has been getting it tight generally lately (not unreasonably) but to back up the whole #data argument in his favour I was having a browse through the stats on this site - https://fbref.com/en/comps/40/Scottish-Premiership-Stats And what do you know...the big man is 4th in the league for tackles won and 3rd for interceptions.

Penney's away back to Ipswich.

Scott Burns saying we've started the work permit process... #massive

Scott Fox signs for Cove.

Watched the premiere this evening then rewatched again. It’s very good.

David Turnbull Some boi.

When you remember that Robbie Leitch to Burnley and Ben Hall to Brighton were things that happened then it wouldn't be a massive surprise if Preston were "tracking" Cornelius.

It was a 6 month loan so it'll have expired.

I wondered about this tbh. I mean it's hardly earth shattering stuff but does Hammell sticking McGinn in as the #6 to cover Slattery's absence have any knock on for someone like say, Maguire who was on the bench or was it a case of seeing it as a good opportunity to get Johnston in the team but still wanting to keep McGinn on the park rather than a ding on the other midfield options.

It was Robinson but your timeline is miles out. The successful Thunderdome era was 17/18 which was the season he took over and he was signing quick, physical players like Kipré and Dunne to drop into the team alongside Moult etc. By the time 18/19 came round other teams had worked us out and we spent 6 months launching the ball up to Conor Sammon and Curtis Main. Even Robinson admitted it was eye-bleeding and didn't work. That's when he pivoted to 433 and stuck with it for the rest of his time at the club. His Livi fixation came far later. He signed Gallagher which went well for the first season when he deservedly got our POTY then the wheels came off in the Gallagher's 2nd season which coincided with him bringing in Lamie and Crawford. So...three players directly from Livi. He signed Jordan White that season as well. He'd resigned by the time Kelly and Lawless signed but IIRC Lawless confirmed that it had been Robinson who had put that deal in place.

We've utterly kicked the arse out him anaw... He's played the most minutes of any of our outfield players this season but is still averaging near enough a goal every other game and has the best goalscoring rate we've had from a centre forward since Moult the first time round...

Really? With the fact that he's a left sided CB and Lamie is our vice captain I thought it was pretty obvious he was being brought in as cover/competition with a view to being a longer term project. As has been said the biggest con ever pulled has been Ricki Lamie managing to convince folk at the club that he's worth building a defence around.

Ha! To be clear, I mean the numbers need finessing not the players.

Aye, apologies. I'm, not suggesting that you were stamping your feet - there's been a lot of it around though. I understand your point about the budget but I kind of disagree that a winger and striker shouldn't have been a priority. For me we've been asking KVV to play week in, week out whether he's fit or not because we've had absolutely no one else to play the #9. Same with Connor Shields he's been getting chucked out there simply because we had no one else to fill the jersey to the point that his confidence is absolutely fucking shot. Those positions (IMO) were every bit as important to fill as CB and MF. The defence feels like it's a situation where we actually have numbers. Like, if you look at the first team squad of those who are fit, we have O'Donnell, Lamie, Johansen, McGinn, Blaney, Johnston and Penney to pick from. From that POV I'd imagine that if we wanted to bring anyone in for that area we'd need to see a couple move out anyway - it's unlikely that we'd be running with 10+ first team defenders on our books. It's definitely frustrating when you see the sort of goals we've been conceding it's an area where we probably have to manage the numbers first. For avoidance of doubt we absolutely need to sort the defence out - absolutely zero argument from me on that - but it probably needs a bit of finessing.

Absolutely. I can't see anything going wrong with that one. Sign him up.

Aye. There's a lot of stamping of feet about this. It's pretty reductive to just assume that we'll be able to get players in, in order of priority, in January. Don't get me wrong, if we don't address the issue this month then it's a massive problem but we're limited in how much control we have as to timing. I'd guess there's a chance we're looking at loans and as Burrows pointed out to his reply guys last week we're at the mercy of the parent club as to when they're willing to release their player. On top of that I'd guess that whatever happens with Penney will have a bearing on who we're bringing in as well. SOD's situation probably has a knock on too. Either way folk absolutely furious that we've signed 2 forwards whose heads would have completely detached if Connor Shields had started yesterday is some laugh. Motherwell Twitter is an absolute shitshow just now tbqh.