capt_oats

This is broadly the approach that we've had as well. The idea that it's important to get the right players in and potentially having to wait vs signing up players that you've targeted who are more likely to say yes and sign up on pre-contracts or early in the window. Kelly's probably a good example of that, we'd been speaking to him and QPR for months before the deal finally completed. Chances are had Robinson still been the manager we'd just have sacked it as the risk of waiting and it not happening may have meant us missing out on other players. I think it was something like 18 of our first team squad who left who left Fir Park in the summer. So far we've signed 6. We had a fucking massive squad because of all the injuries last season right enough but we've still got another 5 or 6 to bring in and we're having to limp through the Betfred games with a barely serviceable midfield and central defence while we wait. Tiny violins compared to the shitshow you guys are having but the point I'm getting at is there seem to be quite a few clubs who are holding off transfer-wise.

What's the story with Ojo anyway? Apart from the obvious hilarity of Aberdeen gazumping Hibs to him then McInnes apparently not knowing what to do with him. I know he was loaned out to Wigan last season and seemingly did alright? Reason I ask is it was Alexander who brought him to the UK when he signed him for Scunthorpe and we're in the market for midfielders. We've already seen Alexander bring in one of his former players in Van Veen and I'm pretty sure our HoR worked with Ojo in his stint as manager when he took over from Alexander at Scunthorpe. Given we've pushed the boat out a bit to bring in Kelly I half-wondered if we might take a look at Ojo if Glass is keen to get rid. What sort of a midfielder is he supposed to be?

Lasley talking a bit about his role. This is essentially what Ross was being asked to do on a matchday wasn't it (going by the Inside Motherwell video that went up)?

Without knowing anything about the actual set up or dynamic it'd feel like a logical move for shift Lasley into Mo Ross' role (the one he had pre-pandemic). Obviously Lucketti's come in and on the face of it looks like Alexander's assistant in a traditional sense with Lasley presumably offering a support role but both Ross and O'Carroll have left so depending on what's happening with the Reserves etc next season there's still a gap there and given Hammell and Clarkson's roles Academy side Lasley would feel like The Natural Bridge (a little nod for Silver Jews fans there) between Academy and First team. It's a bit of a reprise of the discussion after he took the team for the Accies game at New Year in so much as Lasley, for all his qualities and time spent coaching alongside various managers, doesn't have much by way of actual experience in managing a team be it Reserves or otherwise. He was Craigan's assistant with the 20s, Robinson's assistant with the first team and now Alexander's assistant assistant. As I say, I'm saying that knowing absolutely nothing but the role Mo Ross had with the Reserves would be a fit for him IMO.

Oh aye? IIRC the club didn't announce the term of Alexander's contract at the time. Seeing as Lasley's deal was up next summer that puts all three on 2023 expiries.

I thought Alexander's interview on Wednesday covered some interesting stuff on recruitment etc. He has seemed quite up front that we need another 4 or 5 at least and acknowledged that the process of recruiting in Scotland has been a challenge for him to get used to on account of the differences in timeline between Scotland and England. As far as players needing minutes I know this has a strong "I'm literally grasping at straws" energy but when I was looking back at previous pre-seasons earlier (not including last year where players hadn't kicked a ball in 6 months) we'd played 3 or 4 friendlies by the time the LC groups rolled around and that was on top of the training camps we had. This season we've had 2 bounce games, the first featured a pile of trialists and a clutch of school weans and it seems to have been the case that a number of players have been missing on account of illness so we're having to negotiate that. Anyway....

It is. Our credit facility is £2,959,000 If we were to have drawn down the full amount we're paying back £147,950 p/a. For a club whose turnover is generally between £4m-£5m then getting an interest free cash injection of c.£3m (in a season where we sold Turnbull for a record fee and had our business interruption insurance claim accepted) is an absolute no brainer. We'd be daft not to. It's absolutely no surprise we're doing up Fir Park and covering last season's STs and such.

That's the one.

Fair point. I had it in my head that Edinburgh City game was in the same group of games we struggled against Clyde. Ironically, we beat EC 5-0 that season. Elliott Frear hat-trick. Halcyon days.

I was a fan of Brown when he was in our 20s when we signed him from you guys. A bit of a shame he only got one token first team appearance. I kind of saw him as a potential successor to Allan Campbell but as it was Campbell ended up sticking around for another couple of seasons so ultimately Brown moving and getting regular first team football has probably been a smart choice. He has the potential to be a smashing player.

Aye, I mean, I'm not disagreeing about the performance. I literally can't because that's precisely what it was. But to the point about the midfield, we've seen both Polworth and Campbell leave and neither have been replaced so it's not a massive surprise that the issues are the same as the (fit) options are exactly the same as the ones we had last season. Same goes with centre back, we have the same options save Gallagher leaving and O'Connor coming in. It speaks to @Swello's point that we seem to have consciously decided to "wait" to bring players in. We might end up with the "right" players but in mid-July we're looking at a pretty disjointed mess to be going into actual competitive games with. That's before you factor in the messaging being very much about "minutes in legs" etc.

Agree with that 100%. I suppose the difference with where we are at the moment vs previous LC group stages is that we seem to be consciously treating these games as pre-season and also a reminder of the extent to which we're clearly fucking miles from having a remotely finished squad. That starting line-up was missing Mugabi, McGinley, O'Hara, Donnelly, Van Veen from what you'd probably expect to be a first pick XI (based on those who are currently signed at the moment) and we had Alexander speaking to the press the other day about needing to add another 4 or 5 at least. Compare that to the teams that started the last time we beat QP 5-1 in the LC or scudded Morton, the teams we put out there were far closer to our actual starting XI. That's not to be deliberately happy clapper but being dugmeat in mid-July definitely feels like a risk we're running at the moment.

Aye, I've seen a few "Motherwell will struggle this season" hot takes based on last night. It's understandable and I'm sure QP were very good and we were very bad but that starting XI was missing half a dozen players who are already at the club and Alexander has acknowledged that we still need to add another 4 or 5 at least so the idea that XI is representative of Motherwell's side for the season is pretty wide of the mark. That's not to take anything away from QP who were probably missing players as well and are a very different team now compared to the one we beat 5-1 at Hampden in 17/18 but it's definitely the risk we're running in treating these games as pre-season compared with Robinson's approach of getting as many "in the door" as possible for the start of the group stages.

I get that this isn't necessarily how it works or if it'd be something that we'd be amenable to but given a chunk of our extra £500k on top of the £1m was add-ons I wonder if we'd be open to side-lettering an element of that to bring him home and if that would be a preferable option for Hull. I mean, it's in our interests for him to do well given we'll have a sell-on built in and him disappearing into obscurity Hastie-style doesn't really help us cash in. In terms of what we want vs what we need, I'm still not sure Alexander is convinced by Lawleff especially given he seems to have been trying him out as a #10 rather than a wide player. It leaves us with "forward" options of Watt, KVV, Woolery, Shields and Amaluzor (who on the face of it seems a punt). It'd be pretty fucking bold but there's definitely room for Scott in that group (as @thisGRAEME's mentioned above). if it was a choice of bringing Jordan Roberts back on loan or Jimmy Scott coming home for a season then....

Well...this is from Banderson. On reflection I think bringing Jimmy Scott home is something "The Thread" should put its weight and considerable influence behind. Make it happen Burrows.

Amazing that this wasn't the first thing posted tbqhwy.

This is pretty much where I am on him as well. He picked up an injury that required a surgery in his first training session with Hull, then there was the Covid break. Hull were comfortably mid-table when he signed for them but they sold Bowen to West Ham and by the time they re-started the Championship again they went into freefall (IIRC a couple of their players bailed and said they wouldn't play) and somehow ended up relegated having been 14th and 13 points clear of relegation at the end of the January window. I mentioned this in the St Johnstone thread but he only managed 3 league starts in League 1 last season (15 subs) so if he wasn't getting starts in League 1 it's difficult to see him getting games in the Championship. The Erwin comparison kind of fits in so much as he's presumably pulling in a decent wedge and going by his IG stories seems to enjoy "Young Footballer" lifestyle with his missus. No judging here but there's a "too much, too young" vibe (in a football development sense). It's been a while since I looked but I'm not sure the Hull fans were particularly enamoured with him.

Sort of. For the most part we used him as a wide target man rather than him drifting out there. You're right in saying that's probably his natural game though. We initially tried him as a traditional #9 but he didn't really have the experience or nous to play against Premiership centre backs so ended up getting a lot of joy by sticking him out wide and planting him on top of full backs as an out ball. The 3-0 win against Hibs where he was pulling balls out the air while monstering Lewis Stevenson was probably the peak example of that. He's a unit and has very good feet but he's a forward rather than a winger. His time at Hull has been kind of fucked. He picked up an injury that required surgery at training the day after he signed so he had months out that coincided with the whole Covid thing, they were comfortably mid-table (14th and 13pts clear of the relegation spots) when we got our cool £1m+ for him but they sold Jarrod Bowen to West Ham for £18m+ went into free fall so somehow managed to end up in League 1. He only made 3 league starts last season (15 subs) so it's hard to see him as being anything other than a periphery player now they've been promoted to the Championship. Desp just mentioned it on our thread but there are definite echoes of Lee Erwin leaving us for Leeds.

That's yer Darragh O'Connor signed. One year deal.

A whole 12 mins of #Grezza interview.

Interesting to see that. Our ballot seems to have a different approach with "Household Groups" Clearly that's absolutely f**k all consolation to you given you're neither a Motherwell supporter or ST holder but it's a curious difference in how it's set up.

Someone who's much more connected with that side of things will clearly know better in terms of what is just soundbite and what the club actively do but I'm fairly sure either Mo Ross (who, granted, wasn't for everyone) and/or Burrows were talking on one of the podcasts about the club consciously playing a part in helping players transition at the point they've been released from youth/development football. It's this one: https://www.mfc1886.com/tag/maurice-ross/ It's old and clearly Ross is no longer at the club but he kind of talks round it a bit. It's a bit less specific than I remembered it though.

I think it depends on what he's actually been told by the club in that respect. If it's a case of "we have a pile of targets but you're welcome to come in and train with us and see how it goes with no guarantees" that seems fine. Also, I could be miles out but I get the impression that even if he's not for us we're the sort of club who'd put in a word for him elsewhere. I thought our approach with Kelly was interesting in so much as he was clearly our #1 priority and were "working day and night to get the deal done" but at the same time we had a viable alternative in the building training with us in Tom King who ended up signing for Salford 2 days after me announced Kelly. This may be heavy confirmation bias but it feels a bit different in that some of our trialists sound like they've either been genuine targets that we've asked to come in before we announce them eg: KVV or players we've scouted as potential alternatives to our priorities eg: King as a fall back if Kelly didn't work out.