capt_oats

Aye, it was when you said he'd been on trial when you were in the Championship it threw me and I took it as being January '20 you were talking about which is when all the DeeWee nonsense was on your forum. You'd still have been a Premiership team when Boyle was still at the club with McCann, no?

Sound. So him being on trial for definite was before "DeeWee" appeared on the scene in that January window after Watt had bailed on CSKA. That makes sense. As you were.

Genuine question, did you actually have him on trial or was that not some fantasist on TDB Forum who had him as 100% signing or was he on trial with Dundee before that (that thread is a great re-read btw). The timeline seemed to go that he sacked off CSKA in January 20 and the first report of him being "on trial" with us was 5th February 20 and he signed on the 7th. He did a podcast with Danny Denholm last year and briefly talked about signing - he never mentioned having been on trial with any other clubs (which isn't to say he wasn't). The implication was that we had him in for a look around and there was a deal on the table for him the next day.

I think it's come from Peter Martin on PLZ, I'd imagine that's where Cowan's picked it up from. Martin was named as the source when the rumour appeared on afc chat. I mean, I'm sure there are a lot of clubs in Scotland interested given he's out of contract at the end of the season.

Burrows being good on this whole thing again.

Aye, we're in a position where we have a break built into the season so in the circumstances bringing it forward a week and seeking to reschedule the 3 matches is entirely logical. I watched some of the European games that were back to being played behind closed doors the other week and honestly, get that in the fucking bin. So it's no real surprise that it's the **** who are objecting to and actively obstructing a perfectly rational solution that the majority of the Premiership clubs are behind. Speaking very specifically about Motherwell, maybe it's a result of having no actual derby but bringing the break forward isn't something I'm ready to get bent out of shape over. It's an obvious fix and I'm fully on board with it. We're in a position where 2 of the 3 games are away from home and the one fixture at Fir Park is against Livi which, with all due respect to Livi and their fans, I can't imagine is a massive money-spinner (even allowing for a bump in the home gate if folk are back in the ML postcode for Christmas). I don't know, but from the club POV I'd imagine the players would rather head up to Dingwall in a midweek in Spring than in the middle of December. Also, the fact that we had players driving individually to Parkhead in their motors the other week means avoiding having some Motherwell convoy travelling north then having to fulfil the fixture is probably preferable where possible.

Chairman Flao on the whole thing.

I think the point about the pre-Alexander signings is a good one. There are similarities between the way Alexander seems to be moving towards us playing and what Robinson was about but there are nuanced differences in terms of what we seem to be after in a player and some feel like less obvious fits than others the more we seem to be finding our feet as a team. Alexander mentioned previously he'd had players chapping his door about (lack of) minutes, I guess it's a question of whether that's enough of an issue for them in January or if it's something that's more of a transition thing in a summer window. I suppose for that specific bracket of player it's a case of whether someone comes along and offers them guaranteed first team games rather than us packing their bags for them in January.

Aye, to be clear I'm totally fine with Roberts sticking around if he wants. I wasn't packing his bags for him or anything it's just his deal's up but since he appears to have pretty limited options then tbh it's difficult to see us getting a better fit than him during a January window. He knows what we're about, we know what he's about and there's probably not a massive drop off between him and Woolery - which is a nice position to be in. Tbh, with the squad as it is I don't really see much needing done other than a bit of nip and tuck here and there. If we've been tapping the Irish market I guess there are probably opportunities for permanent signings from there given their season's not long ended rather than the usual route of loan signings we've often seen in January windows. If I'm choosing I'd happily take a possible longer term wide option if big Justin doesn't work out and as I said in a post the other day I'd quite like another in the style of Goss as there's still a bit of a lack of creativity in our midfield options. Someone like Goss but in a similar profile to Tierney that could be drip fed into the team would do me (unless we have one already kicking about the u18s or whatever). Incidentally I see Mark Doyle referenced us in a recent interview and has signed for St Pats the other day:

Aye, I had assumed that there may have been a reason his loan was only until January. Whether that was him wanting the option to move back South, Hearts wanting to sell him on or simply settle his deal and cut him loose so they don't need to think about him again. As @YassinMoutaouakil alluded to it in the post further up the page, it may be the case that Hearts can't actually move him elsewhere in January even if they wanted to. He's already played 20 mins for them in the LC group and obviously he's made appearances for us on loan - that's his 2 clubs for the season. Which means his options are literally; sit in the stand at Tynecastle, on the bench with us or mutual his contract and he sits on his tod until summer (unless he can get a move to a club running on a different calendar). There was a temporary change to that rule for 20/21 that allowed a player to play for 3 clubs on account of Covid but looking at FIFA's rules dated August 21 it's reverted to the original rule that you can register for 3 but only play for 2.

Enjoying @Busta Nut in the mentions. Fowler makes a really good point here and I think it's applicable to Nicolson's "inexplicable" argument re: the Motherwell job. The more I read the article back (and I've read it a few times recently) the more it feels like Nicolson doesn't actually *get* what the Motherwell job was/is and there's a reason why we've tended to go for a certain profile of manager (that TW is pretty much the opposite of). In fact, in hindsight, given what was actually required and the changes that have been implemented over the summer I think Wright would probably have been a fucking terrible fit for us (which doesn't mean he was anything other than the very good manager he was for St Johnstone).

Nope. "Until the January transfer window."

Aye. I really hope Donnelly's (knee) doesn't fall to bits after getting his 90 yesterday as much for him as having functioning knees is a good thing but also yesterday was a nice reminder that he's a good option to have around the squad and it'd take a bit of the weight off Slattery. As far as January goes, for me it's really a question of specific depth. Like, we don't really have an alternative to Goss and the specific role he has - and as wild as it feels to say this, he's a big part of making the midfield work at the moment. O'Hara's not that type of player and from the bits and pieces I've seen of Tierney he's not the same sort of 'foot on the ball' midfielder either. Same with the front 3 - though Woolery has made that shirt his own Roberts' loan is up and the bold Justin doesn't feel like someone that we could chuck into the starting XI at the moment without seeing a drop off.

He mentioned in the video piece the club put out about him after the Hibs game that he'd spoken to the manager about going on loan and they'd agreed to keep him around the first team rather than loan. Tbh, it's got nothing to do with him scoring his first goal I'd say his 2 league starts and his performances in those games suggest he has a first team role this season. For me he's already comfortably moved himself ahead of both Grimshaw and Crawford in the midfield pecking order.

I know it was mentioned plenty in the match thread but echoing in here - absolutely delighted for Cornelius yesterday. It was a smashing take and an even better finish. Small sample size but that's another game where he's slotted into the midfield and it's been entirely functional and balanced. Even allowing for Saints being an absolute gang swapping out 2 of the regular midfield 3 to start was pretty bold especially as it's been a problem area at times this season. Nicely done...

It may be through gritted teeth but I think a reappraisal of Sean Goss is probably due soon as well. Absolutely wild the difference he's made since he's got a run of games.

Like, I get that the article is what it is. It's a puff piece written by a pal of Wright's who's pretty salty about him being overlooked for a bunch of jobs. Fair enough. It's the written equivalent of the Sideshow Bob stepping on rakes GIF though. In all seriousness while I get that #Grezzaball isn't for everyone having seen the rebuild that Alexander (and Burrows) have set about, given the increase in backroom staff and expansion of our scope when it comes to recruitment I genuinely can't even begin to get my head round the idea of what a Tommy Wright Motherwell would actually have looked like.

"Utterly inexplicable."

Just chipping in to add, another here also delighted for Cornelius.

It was a fairly general comment Alexander made in his press conference but in saying: I half-wondered whether we were open to the idea of flipping Watt for cash money in the same way we did with Moult. Thinking back to last January we apparently kb'd "substantial" offers for Campbell from Millwall on account of the whole "being literally bottom of the league and wanting to keep him around to help fix that" thing. At the moment circumstances seem a bit different. I mean, the implication from Alexander is that there's the potential for other players to move on but I guess Watt feels like our main "asset". In fact, it turns out there's a load of extra quotes from that press conference including a fuller bit of chat about Tony and a mention of the Irish winger we were linked with a while back: Absolutely none of that feels controversial tbh.

Saw a Galaxy Brain take on Twitter earlier along the lines of "we should have offered him Lawless' wage on top of what he's already on." While it's cute that folk seem to think Lawless didn't get a pay off to f**k off (f**k Off Money, if you will) so that wage is just there for us to play with even then the idea that combining the two wages would make a dent in terms of Watt's potential earning if he has Championship offers on the table is genuinely fucking wild. Some of Motherwell Twitter genuinely have no fucking comprehension of the sort of money at that level eh? Anyway, here's the full press conference from earlier. "He's one of a number of players that are out of contract who we have offered contracts to." Here are our OOC players for 2022 (as it stands): Mich'el Parker (January), Jordan Roberts (January - loan ends) Scott Fox, PJ Morrison, Ricki Lamie, Bevis Mugabi, Darragh O'Connor, Nathan McGinley, Liam Grimshaw, Barry Maguire, Mark O'Hara, Robbie Crawford, Liam Donnelly, Justin Amaluzor, Tony Watt. Curious to know who the others are that we've put offers to. There are a few that you'd assume would be locks to get offers, others it's kind of difficult to tell one way or another at the moment.

Here's the context, absolutely fair enough tbqh. Again, big fan of the cut of #Grezza's jib here.