capt_oats

100% not a dig at this account btw but I clocked this the other day as the Tweet I'd posted from Greg Marshall about Slattery tagged the account and I realised I hadn't seen many posts and it always used to show up in a 'Motherwell' search on Twitter so I had a wee peek. Anyway, I'd kind of forgotten the amount of pearl clutching from Motherwell Twitter off the back of those PCAs becoming public knowledge and how it definitely meant Alexander had lost the dressing room or whatever (not suggesting that's what VM was saying like but it was definitely a general vibe). With McGinley, Mugabi, Maguire and ultimately Lamie all extending deals it kind of feels a bit different in hindsight? Maybe? I mean it doesn't really feel like something that folk are getting worked up about now. Fwiw, O'Hara played 1,429 minutes total last season. That was 17th most from a squad of 28 players used. Both Ojala and Johansen played more minutes than him. https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/motherwell-fc/leistungsdaten/verein/987/reldata/%262021/plus/1

I always thought it was a group. Like the Onion Bears. Incidentally, actual adults cutting about, knowingly calling each other "Bears" will never not be funny.

Oah!

More pitch #content.

To date, the assailant remains at large.

Back to Austria for the pre-season training camp are we?

Missed this when it was posted but here's a nice bit of #data from Greg Marshall.

I mean, not really. It's not unusual for a club of our size to have a Manager, Assistant and first team coach plus various coaching support staff. In our case as far as I can see Lasley just kept his previous job title and from what I can tell from the bits and pieces of #content the club put out he absorbed the role vacated by Mo Ross who we didn't replace. In fact, to speak to that point when Robinson was here his support staff included Lasley as assistant plus Ross and O'Carroll - despite the latter 2 having ostensibly job titles for the Reserves and u18s - with Craigan having been part of the coaching staff in the same respect previously. Right now, as it stands our "first team" coaching staff amounts to Alexander and Lucketti. It's doubtful that we're looking to appoint a second "assistant manager", but a first team coach in some form or another doesn't seem that far fetched nor does it seem a luxury. In fact, it was pretty much the first thing folk suggested last week when it was floated we might have an interest in Davis if Rangers weren't going to extend his deal ie: it'd be a player/coach sort of situation. As I say, you can only really take Alexander at face value but it suggests that there is a role (as yet undefined) we're looking to fill - he literally talks about a "new coach": Full list of backroom staff as it stands:

Alexander specifically spoke about a new coach coming in when it was announced Lasley was leaving.

I see we've updated our backroom staff on the official site. https://www.motherwellfc.co.uk/squad/first-team/ Liam Jukes is Lead Sports Scientist - previously at Ross County. That was the job that was advertised when Boles left. Looks like he's been at the club since March. Tom Jones is Performance Therapist but is pretty fucking unGoogle-able. That's on top of Callum Davidson (not that one) who's also a performance therapist and was previously at Salford. We also now have an assistant kit coordinator. So we're still shy a goalkeeper coach and a Lasley replacement.

That's 4 current or former Motherwell players in the squad then? Some laugh when the Bathgate Maldini gets his call up. Actually, where's Declan? Surely after his big move last summer he should be a shoo in for a spot.

Folk are rightly pointing out that there's a difference in our circumstances because we built a c.5k stand with the express intention of being able to house OF fans in it but fwiw Burrows articulates our position on the subject well in this reply to a Celtic fan. Tbh, I'd have thought it'd be something that Lasley would be mindful of.

For a very limited period yes. He was unbeaten at home against Brendan Rodgers' Celtic team - didn't *win* any of them but didn't lose. Things went sideways after we were scudded 7-1 at Ibrox. Then he got the notion in his head that he wanted to try and play football against them because I've a feeling he was getting fed up with the "hammer throwers" tag. After having been competitive early on he just completely lost the run of himself. Fwiw January 19 was when we switched from the 352 to the 433 His record against the OF was P: 20 W 1 D 6 L 13 F 18 A 68 GD -50 01/04/17 - Rangers 1 - 1 Motherwell (X) 06/08/17 - Motherwell 1 - 2 Rangers (L) 22/09/17 - Rangers 0 - 2 Motherwell (W) - (LC Semi Final) 26/11/17 - Motherwell 0 - 2 Celtic (L) - (LC Final) 29/11/17 - Motherwell 1 - 1 Celtic (X) 29/11/17 - Celtic 5 - 1 Motherwell (L) 27/12/17 - Rangers 2 - 0 Motherwell (L) 18/03/18 - Motherwell 0 - 0 Celtic (X) 31/03/18 - Motherwell 2 - 2 Rangers (X) 19/05/18 - Celtic 2 - 0 Motherwell (L) - (SC Final) 25/08/18 - Motherwell 3 - 3 Rangers (X) 11/11/18 - Rangers 7 - 1 Motherwell (L) 05/12/18 - Motherwell 1 - 1 Celtic (X) 19/12/18 - Celtic 3 - 0 Motherwell (L) 24/02/19 - Celtic 4 - 1 Motherwell (L) 07/04/19 - Motherwell 0 - 3 Rangers (L) 10/08/19 - Motherwell 2 - 5 Celtic (L) 27/10/19 - Rangers 2 - 1 Motherwell (L) 10/11/19 - Celtic 2 - 0 Motherwell (L) 15/12/19 - Motherwell 0 - 2 Rangers (L) 05/02/20 - Motherwell 0 - 4 Celtic (L) 30/08/20 - Celtic 3 - 0 Motherwell (L) 27/09/20 - Motherwell 1 - 5 Rangers (L) 09/11/20 - Motherwell 1 - 4 Celtic (L) 19/12/20 - Rangers 3 - 1 Motherwell (L)

Wee Al...

Happy anniversary lads...

I see there was another pitch update yesterday.

With Spittal signing this is where we are with contracted players. Contract expiries: 2023 - Fox, O'Donnell, Johnston, Ojala, Carroll, Cornelius, Goss, Mahon, Efford, Van Veen 2024 - Kelly, Mugabi, Lamie, Johansen, McGinley, Maguire, Slattery, Woolery, Spittal, Shields 2025 - Tierney I'd imagine there's potential scope for some changes with players going out and there's obviously the question of whether you consider Robbie Mahon as a first team player but ngl it's a trip for us to be in a position where we're not looking at having to sign 10+ players at this stage.

Aye, I mean, we're not going to see a bump in season ticket sales because we've signed Blair Spittal but taking everything into account - his age, the area of the park he plays, the fact he's a known quantity and is coming off the back of a good season with a team who eventually bedded into a Top 6 place means that as @thisGRAEME says it just feels like an entirely sensible signing. The fact that @RandomGuy.'s radar has him showing good creative/progressive numbers (cheers RG) suggests it's a step towards addressing an issue that had entire sections of Motherwell Twitter wildly bent out of shape. To roll back to a point @Handsome_Devil made a while ago, this feels pretty much on the money: Fwiw, it seems we were in for him when he was at Queens Park.

Finishing 5th and ending up in Europe after Sked's incredulity in the preview pod at the suggestion that it *might* be possible to finish 6th if things went our way is exactly the kind of small victory I'm here for tbh.

There's yer boy Blair.

Oh absolutely. I've no dog in this fight. It's just it's true to say we have cut their allocation but as you say that stand more than accommodates (tbf that's the whole point of it being the size it is). There's been a section partitioned off while away teams have been using the south stand for dressing rooms but under normal circumstances it holds closer to 5k (4,856 to be precise).

Both things are true. We used to give them a section of the main stand as well but we don't any more. It's just the away stand.

Was that not dictated by Covid and the like though or has it become a permanent thing?