capt_oats

Mind there was chat from the Dundee forum that we were supposedly signing Danny Mullen? He's signed for Thistle.

That's him announced by Oxford.

As far as timeline goes Watt moved on 17th January, Efford signed 28th January. Rudden signed on loan with Dundee 31st January although his pre-contract was announced on 21st January. Alexander and Lasley were at Firhill to watch Rudden on 14th January - his performance is discussed on the thread starting page 1642. On the face of it Efford's 18 month deal feels like a very different, lower risk stop gap signing to what (presumably) we'd have been committing to with Zak Rudden. They're different players serving different purposes. Tbh, my take on it is that it's more a case of being a bit more discerning with signings @crazylegsjoe_mfc alluded to it yesterday but it may just be the case that the right player, in the right price bracket hasn't been available. Rather than chuck some budget at a Jordan White-alike we've just not bothered and gambled on the players we've had in the building to take their opportunity - it's very much the anti-Robinson approach. Shields is actually a fairly good example, he feels like someone Robinson would just have given up inside the first 6 months and agreed to the player's request to loan him out whereas Alexander's actually committed to using him and given him games.

Aye. The only other #9 he's signed has been big Harry Smith and I think most of us acknowledge that Alexander had pretty much f**k all to do with the signings in that window. There's an argument that Shields could be a #9 as that's where he was used in his breakthrough season with QOS. Also, last season he'd inherited Watt from the Robinson squad. To date these are Alexander's signings: Summer 21 - Connor Shields, Justin Amaluzor, Kaiyne Woolery, Kevin Van Veen, Liam Kelly, Darragh O'Connor, Mich'el Parker, Callum Slattery, Juhani Ojala, Sean Goss, Sondre Solholm Johansen, Jordan Roberts (loan) = (12) January 22 - Ross Tierney, Jordan Roberts (loan made permanent), Liam Shaw (loan), Victor Nirennold, Joe Efford, Robbie Mahon = (6) Summer 22 - Blair Spittal, Paul McGinn, Josh Morris = (3) Total = 20 (inc. Roberts loan/loan made permanent) For comparison here's Robinson's signings:

Looking for an alternative mercurial centre forward are we? Bring him home #Grezza.

That's pretty much how I see it (and tbf the manager was in the press last week saying it's his view we're "light" up front). I'd be a bit more concerned if it felt like we'd followed the Robinson strategy we'd become used to where the aim was to get all our business done in time for pre-season. I mean, there's clearly still space in the squad it's not like we're maxed out or anything. Looking at the squad as is: GK: Kelly, Fox, Connelly (3) DF: O'Donnell, Carroll, Lamie, Mugabi, Ojala, Johansen, McGinn, McGinley, Johnston, Devine (10) MF: Maguire, Spittal, Slattery, Cornelius, Tierney, Goss (6) FW: Van Veen, Efford, Morris, Mahon, Shields (5) Total: 24 Given Devine's 21 and has 8 career games under his belt unless he's the new Maldini it wouldn't be a surprise to see him loaned out (he was unfortunate with his loan to QOS being cut short by Covid and seems to have had injury problems since) Incidentally, I notice the admin has moved Morris from midfield to forward after Woolery leaving.

Aye. It's in the actual rules. The relevant section dealing with compensation/development etc starts page 75 here.

Pitch update.

Their goalkeeper from the Bala game didn't play as he's apparently signing for Oxford. #bitored

Aye, it was a meniscus tear that Carson had. The implication was that he was rushed back early by Robinson and as you say he got through the 90 mins against United but broke down again after about 65 mins against Killie. Though it's not directly related it's probably worth considering the amount of time he was out as a result of the DVT. Gillespie took his place and he pretty much spent the 19/20 season on the bench as a result. At his peak for us, around 17/18 he was an exceptional goalkeeper. Fwiw, as soon as Carson was injured in 20/21 Robinson went straight out to source a replacement. We ended up with something like 4 first team goalkeepers in that period - Carson (injured), Fox (injured), Chapman and Jordan Archer.

Suffice to say "Hampshire Live" is a pretty speculative source. I'd file this alongside Matt Butcher in the "players we might have taken a look at, at some point" pile.

Cheeky nutmeg from Crypto Joe.

Aye, they've been on sale for ages. They're on the Ticketmaster site just now. https://www.eticketing.co.uk/motherwellfc/Events?preFilter=20&preFilterName=European Games

Oh, I've been to Prague.

Seems like a relatively successful day if the best the reply guys have got is "wHy iSnt rObBie mAhOn pLaYiNg?!!?!"

Aye, for me it's a situation where 3 goalkeepers isn't essential but it's definitely desirable - for exactly the reasons you mention. Morrison was quoted last year as saying that he wanted/needed games. I don't know if he was injured in the first half of last season but he didn't get his loan until the 2nd half of the season. In that respect it wasn't a massive surprise he left - it's one of those that's no one's fault, it's just unlikely that we're going to be in a position to give a GK in his early 20s a run unless he's the 2nd coming of Donnarumma.

Cheers. With the goalkeeper I just thought it was interesting that we actually took a look at him rather than him being someone who's just up and we'd maybe see what he's like in training then send him on his way. Similarly, given we played SOD in every minute of the Betfred group games last season rather than give Johnston a run I guess it's a positive he got a start - he's obviously got a season of games with QoS under his belt since this time last year like.

How did the trialist 'keeper get on? Also the bold Max? Pleased to see Brian fucking Graham didn't get his usual goals anaw.

Mind the ITK types from the Dundee United forums had Callum Butcher signing? He's just confirmed as having fucked off to Burton Albion. So that's good.

The fact there's a Tayto theme park will never not impress me. https://taytopark.ie/

I believe Ricicles were twicicles as nicicles.

@thisGRAEME mentioned trying to work out the team from the clips of that bounce game in Austria, I noticed in the video the club posted with Jake Carroll last night there's a shot of all 10 outfield players at 3m 31s (given KVV was captain I assume it was Fox or Connelly in goals). Given the rough positions when the goals were scored it looked like: McGinn Mugabi Lamie Carroll Slattery Maguire Shields Spittal Goss KVV

Agree with all that obvs but ironically I think there's an argument that the entitlement is actually an unexpected consequence of the way the club is run in that we seem to have developed an unintentional culture where there's an expectation that any minor grievance or inconvenience will be dealt with directly by our actual-fucking-CEO. Give folk an inch, the ongoing Karen-ification of culture etc.