capt_oats

100% this btw.

So that was the final weekend of R3 (...and again no one wins the big cash prize) To finish this off: R1: 01/08 - Hibs (h) 2-3 (L) = 0 08/08 - St Johnstone (a) 1-1 (X) = 1 21/08 - Livingston (a) 1-2 (W) = 3 28/08 - Dundee (h) 1-0 (W) = 3 11/09 - Aberdeen (h) 2-0 (W) = 3 19/09 - Rangers (a) 1-1 (X) = 1 25/09 - Ross County (h) 2-1 (W) = 3 02/10 - Hearts (a) 2-0 (L) = 0 16/10 - Celtic (h) 0-2 (L) = 0 23/10 - Dundee Utd (a) 2-1 (L) = 0 27/10 - St Mirren (h) 2-2 (X) = 1 Total = 15 points - P 11 W 4 D 3 L 4 F 14 A 15 R2: 31/10 - Rangers (h) 1-6 (L) = 0 06/11 - Aberdeen (a) 0-2 (W) = 3 20/11 - Hearts (h) 2-0 (W) = 3 27/11 - Dundee (a) 3-0 (L) = 0 30/11 - Dundee Utd (h) 1-0 (W) = 3 04/12 - Hibs (a) 1-1 (X) = 1 12/12 - Celtic (a) 1-0 (L) = 0 18/12 - St Johnstone (h) 2-0 (W) = 3 26/12 - Livingston (h) 2-1 (W) = 3 18/01 - Ross County (a) 3-1 (L) = 0 01/02 - St Mirren (a) 1-1 (X) = 1 Total = 17 points - P 11 W 5 D 2 L 4 F 13 A 16 R3: 26/01 - Hibs (h) 0-0 (X) = 1 29/01 - Hearts (a) 2-0 (L) = 0 06/02 - Celtic (h) 0-4 (L) = 0 09/02 - Dundee United (a) 2-0 (L) = 0 19/02 - Aberdeen (h) 1-1 (X) = 1 27/02 - Rangers (a) 2-2 (X) = 1 02/03 - Ross County (h) 0-1 (L) = 0 05/03 - Dundee (h) 1-1 (X) = 1 19/03 - St Johnstone (a) 2-1 (L) = 0 02/04 - St Mirren (h) 4-2 = 3 09/04 - Livingston (a) 2-2 = 1 Total = 8 points - P 11 W 1 D 5 L 5 F 11 A 19

Agree with this. Questions should definitely be being asked but tbf I'd rather ask the questions about what the actual f**k has happened since the turn of the year from Top 6 removed from the relegation shitshow than be running the risk of finishing 10th by mistake. Also, a Top 6 finish looks better on Alexander's CV if any lower league jobbers in England are looking at a new manager. Also agree with this. We've come from a goal down and two down at Ibrox in two separate fixtures. An injury time goal to equalise at St Mirren and then coming from 2 down today in a game where the result actually fucking mattered. Considering when Alexander took over last year we literally hadn't managed to equalise in a game the fact that we've turned into a side that actually has a bit of dig counts for something IMO. I mean, we've come from behind to take something in 8 of our last 16 games in all comps and an injury time equaliser in a "must not lose" game is so unMotherwell it's untrue.

Aye, it was really in that context that his comment stood out. Fair enough him giving standard platitudes like "he's an important player and was the difference in the previous game" but it definitely sounds like a bizarre dig to chuck in that he'll be "shocked" if he's still at the club next season. Like, I can't imagine Alexander popping up at his press conference and hitting out with "Bruce Anderson btw, some player...No disrespect but Livi will do well to keep hold of him next season." or whatever. The other thing is that I've been a Day 1 on the Budget Bergkamp but...we kept hold of Moult for virtually his entire contract. Big Kev hasn't hit anything like Moult levels for folk to be chapping our door IMO.

David Martindale being a bit weird about Motherwell again is it? "Shocked" if he's still at Motherwell next year. Really? A player who turns 31 in June and has 10 goals in all comps this season? (Unless he literally means 2023 when his contract expires)

Doing a bit of digging and according to the blog that covers Rangers youth teams we're 4th in the u18s league and we beat them 3-1 last month. https://rfcyouths.wordpress.com/under-18-league-2021-22/ There's a match report on Aberdeen's official site from a game we won 5-3 that gives a team line and it's interesting to see who was playing vs who's listed on our official site https://www.motherwellfc.co.uk/squad/reserves/. https://www.afc.co.uk/report_nostats/report-motherwell-u18s-v-aberdeen-u18s/ There's also a report from the more recent game we won 3-0. https://www.afc.co.uk/report_nostats/u18s-young-dons-beaten-by-well/

33 league appearances, 1 Cup and 5 League Cup https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dom_Thomas

Yeah, I had a feeling he was maybe playing Juniors but I'd found an interview with him where he was talking about Turnbull and he said that after he'd left Motherwell he'd taken a year out of football and his TransferMarkt shows no club so left it as n/a. https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/dylan-falconer/profil/spieler/321406

In fairness that's just peak McGhee. You know what he's getting at or trying to say, he doesn't need to say it but he says it anyway. He seems to have zero self-awareness or filter. See also his referencing the Celtic job when he's at the press conference for him being presented as Aberdeen manager or sitting at Motherwell talking about how had other results gone differently in his career he could have been managing Liverpool but instead he's at Fir Park. https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/mark-mcghee-sliding-doors-moment-cost-anfield-dream-1485502

Both @Handsome_Devil and @Casagolda have pretty much covered it but for my 2c: I seem to remember it being mentioned by either Craigan or Ross (maybe both) that the hope with each "cycle" was that we'd see maybe a few break into the first team with the hope that one or two develop even further. The group that gave us Turnbull, Campbell, Scott, Hastie et al was probably the exception rather than the rule. In that respect if we get a Cornelius establishing himself as a first team player in the same way Campbell did but it means we lose a McKinstry before they get to kick a baw then while it's 100% annoying it probably means the Academy is functioning as the club would anticipate - I doubt the club expect 4 or 5 Academy players to be bounced into the first team every summer although the constant struggle to keep kids at the club is no doubt a frustration. It's mentioned in the posts above but if we're talking about the 'point' of the Academy then there are degrees of how you interpret that. We're developing players for the first team to varying degrees (could we afford to "buy" a Turnbull or a Campbell? Absolutely not), there's the community aspect of giving players a platform and allowing them to develop their career if not at Motherwell then potentially at other levels and finally there's the fact that we can monetise the academy either through grants and funding. Fwiw, Here's the Youth Cup winning team and additional 'products of the Motherwell Academy' plus the number of games played and where they moved to, most of them still seem to be kicking a baw (apologies to anyone I've missed): Allan Campbell - 160 games (signed for Luton Town) Chris Cadden (boooo) - 139 games (signed for Columbus Crew) Barry Maguire - 57 games James Scott - 42 games (signed for Hull) David Turnbull - 41 games (signed for Celtic) Dominic Thomas - 39 games (signed for Kilmarnock) Ross Maclean - 22 games (signed for Falkirk) Jack McMillan - 20 games (signed for Livingston) Jake Hastie - 18 games (signed for Rangers) (+ 17 games - loan) Ben Hall - 18 games (signed for Brighton) David Ferguson - 16 games (signed for Ayr United) Adam Livingstone - 12 games (signed for Cove Rangers) Luke Watt - 10 games (signed for NV Novigrad) Jamie Semple - 8 games (signed for East Fife) Dean Cornelius - 7 games Dylan Mackin - 5 games (signed for Livingston) Max Johnston - 2 games David Devine - 1 game Stuart McKinstry - 0 games (signed for Leeds United) Reece McAlear - 0 games (signed for Norwich City) Brett Long - 0 games (signed for Dundee United) Robbie Leitch - 0 games (signed for Burnley) Dylan Falconer - 0 games (n/a) PJ Morrison - 0 games That said, whether it's been a conscious decision by the club or it's just been a result of the way things are post-pandemic in Scottish football it feels like there's less visibility with the Academy stuff beyond the little bits of #content we've seen or socials posts about Miller, Rice and Johnston getting international call-ups for the age groups or the video packages about Cornelius and Johnston. The club don't cover the Youth levels through official channels and the fact that the Reserve league has been mothballed means there's a bit of a vacuum in the space below first team level compared to what we used to see when we were getting u20 Dev league highlights up via the YouTube on a weekly basis. I suppose the upshot of that is that a disconnect can develop whereby if we're not seeing/hearing about these players then the assumption is that they're either being ignored by the management or they're not there.

He's 15 so probably a bit young. https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/bailey-rice/profil/spieler/924849 Miller's also 15 so scrub that mention I made about him earlier https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/lennon-miller/profil/spieler/924857 Both turn 16 this year. Unrelated but who's the boy on the right of the photo in the 8th slide of the post the club put up on IG earlier. Big Vic Nirennold is apparently 6ft 4" so yer man must be legit huge.

I thought the same as I'd always quite liked the look of him and he seemed like he could develop into a player who could do us a turn. Refreshing my memory, from what Burrows said at the time it was unlikely he going to renew his contract with us (presumably because he was aware of Norwich's interest) which is fine and unsurprising given the opportunity but I guess we've since changed manager and even the guy who was taking the Reserves while he was here has moved on (Ross). It'd only really be the coaching staff who were here with Robinson who'd have worked with McAlear that would be advocating for him and I suppose the question is whether or not there are players in the 18s who'd be likely to step up pathway wise (Lennon Miller?) or whether we're looking for a more "first team ready" option for that position. He left us when he was 17 and he's only just turned 20 now.

I don't think Andy Considine is the answer to anything (for precisely the reasons @crazylegsjoe_mfc mentions above) but if Lamie is indeed away then it probably puts us in the market for a left sided centre back (unless McGinley is that guy and we're in the market for an actual left back). I'd actually be quite interested to know who our best centre back is statistically speaking as it feels like in isolation all 4 probably show up pretty well in the nuts and bolts stuff when it comes to defending ie: aerial duels, interceptions etc but it's more that we're missing something on the intangibles side of things - a presence who'll organise and take the game by the scruff of the neck. Fwiw, according to WhoScored.com we're top when it comes to Aerial Duels Won and 2nd in interceptions.

Tbh, we never really got to see much (any) of him. He had only really been around the fringes of the first team and by the time Robinson got around to giving him some game time in pre-season Norwich had expressed interest and he'd told us he wouldn't be signing a new deal when his current one expired so we cashed in and off he went. I always liked the look of him and he seemed like he had something about him so it's annoying he never got a shot in the first team beyond a couple of friendlies. @RiG will be able to tell you more than I can but he seems to have been doing alright for The Caley.

Robinson not doing anything to shake that Motherwell Reserves tag in his recruitment then.

He's a qualified spark. So there's that.

Well, you're in luck because we've only scored the first goal in 1 of our last 15 games (and we lost). We've also only kept 1 clean sheet in the same number of games.

In fairness to Alexander he's generally stuck with a team if it's got a result eg: it was the same starting XI that played both Aberdeen games b2b in the cup and the league. I wouldn't be surprised if there was minimal fuckery after finally winning a league game (and scoring 4 goals).

See I'm happy to view big KVV as mercurial rather than inconsistent. As @Casagolda said earlier, give him the right service and put the right people around him (Tierney is absolutely one of those IMO) and he's absolutely fine. That said, an alternative to him should probably be on our shopping list for the summer.

Aye. Sounds unlikely especially as the story is (unsurprisingly) crediting Championship sides with an interest. Dunno if I've just been conditioned by Robinson's transfer windows but I was surprised to see he's not a 6ft+ brick shithouse...

The official YouTube is crediting it to Tait.

Aye. Setting aside the whole 'style'/Alexanderball gripes which, to me, is a separate conversation it feels like this summer should really be about addressing the areas we didn't deal with long term last summer (and dealing with any outgoings ie: Lamie and O'Hara). Contract-wise this is how it breaks down: 2022 - Morrison, Lamie, O'Connor, Grimshaw, Nirennold, O'Hara, Donnelly, Amaluzor, Roberts 2023 - Fox, O'Donnell, Carroll, Ojala, Johnston, Devine, Cornelius, Goss, Van Veen, Efford, Mahon 2024 - Kelly, Mugabi, McGinley, Johansen, Maguire, Slattery, Woolery, Shields 2025 - Tierney At the time it always felt that with someone like Amaluzor he was here to pad out the squad, get us through the Betfred group and then he'd have a year to see if he's the second coming of Marvin Johnson or whatever. It seemed clear that we had two different recruitment threads on the go. I'd imagine the intention was to treat it in stages. We'd bring in guys like Kelly, Johansen, Slattery etc as long term options last summer and add to that further down the line (as we did subsequently with Tierney). In terms of goodwill from the fans I'd say we could probably do worse than getting Cornelius an a slightly longer deal.

Also 100% on this.

FTFY