capt_oats

Tbh, I'd imagine Hammell's said to the recruitment lads "I realise we'll have literally no left back but I want (another) attacking midfielder. Give me some options." and the bold Riku has popped up and we've asked around about him and decided to go all in. He was on loan at Brisbane Roar so he was playing with Tam Aldred and had been a team-mate of Scott McDonald. There's the possibility we got some sort of reference from Steven McGarry as well. It's probably worth pointing out that he had a really good first loan spell with Brisbane - he scored 9 in 26 games or something like that.

I just assumed he'd be there as he was in a fair number of the photos from Dalziel Park last week (there are a few on IG with him cutting about in the background too). Disagree that he was a speculative punt. We apparently spent ages jumping through hoops to sort out the necessary paperwork to sign the laddie (see tweet from Burrows below). He's also here on a 2.5 year deal until 2025. These aren't the things you do for a speculative punt IMO. Also, as @crazylegsjoe_mfc says Hammell chucked him in straight away. It hasn't worked out and it probably hasn't helped that within a couple of of weeks the manager who signed him was emptied and his replacement set us up in a shape that pretty much made him redundant along with McKinstry and Crankshaw (only losing 2 games in 14 in the process). You can put it down to Hammell being wildly out his depth and completely fucking it but either way it seems clear that we absolutely prioritised his signing.

Having a quick swatch at the first team staff page and on top of Tom Jones moving to Stoke I notice that Callum Davidson has disappeared from the page as well (he's now at Wigan going by his LinkedIn). Clearly no idea if we've plans to replace but, as it stands, that's the backroom staff trimmed down a bit after Alexander's re-structure. Although he wasn't first team you've also got Archibald having left the Reserves/u18s role to move to Killie. It's interesting after Kettlewell was quoted as saying he felt we were/are understaffed not long after he got the job. https://www.motherwellfc.co.uk/squad/first-team/

There's a better one at 1:34

Aye. His highlight reel for Orient isn't quite #BudgetBergkamp but I can definitely see why he'd be flagged as a possible option.

Ketts

He is indeed. He was in a photo the club put up on the socials earlier. Creeping behind SOD in the background here I believe.

I actually forgot about Casey. Oops. Well, it was more that we actually have an option for LCB in Blaney whereas those other positions we have question marks - although I suppose short term SOD slots in at RWB as he did at the tail end of the season. From what I can tell Kyle Turner would fall into the "attacking midfielder" bracket which is an area I think it's fair to say we're over-subscribed between Spittal, Miller, Tierney, Danzaki and nominally Mahon. Like, I wouldn't be surprised if we took a look but it feels like at the moment RWB, LWB, CM and CF are the key areas for us.

Bold of Big Jon Obika to claim the #9. Also, signing players from the juniors are we?

There's a squad list thread but it's not pinned so it's slipped to page 2. In total we've seen 5 players come back in and, by my count, 17 players who are either confirmed as having left, have been sold or are currently TBC. We currently have a first team squad of 22 and even allowing for the clutch of injuries it's pretty clear that there needs to be some sort of trimming given we're 4 starters down from last season (Johnston, Furlong, Goss, KVV) and we need to recruit. The plus point for me is that unlike some of the Robinson re-builds it feels like we're in a position where we're *only* looking to replace those 4 players who raised the level of the rest of the squad. (Easier said than done and all that). As others have mentioned there are a pile of clubs in a similar position and there's been very little movement around the league apart from the likes of Dundee who, in fairness, only had 3 players contracted until recently. The other thing that stands out to me is that of our peer group clubs there are precisely zero who have made any signings that I've looked at and thought "f**k, they'd have been a good fit for us". Anyway, here's a big dull, boring list: Returning players from loan: Barry Maguire (Dundee) Connor Shields (Queens Park) Robbie Mahon (Dunfermline) Re-signed players: Jon Obika Harry Paton Loans expired: Stuart McKinstry James Furlong Oli Crankshaw Out Kevin Van Veen (to FC Groningen) Dean Cornelius (to Harrogate Town) TBC OOC players: Max Johnston Dan Casey Sean Goss Mikael Mandron Confirmed as left: Jake Carroll Logan Dunachie (signed for Clyde) Daniel Hunter Kian Spiers Jack Aitchison David Devine (signed for Alloa) Corey O'Donnell (signed for Broomhill) Released: Josh Morris Current first team squad: Goalkeepers: 1. Liam Kelly (27) - 2024 13. Aston Oxborough (25) - 2024 31. Matty Connelly (20) - 2024 Defenders: 2. Stephen O'Donnell (31) - 2024 4. Ricki Lamie (29) - 2024 5. Bevis Mugabi (28) - 2024 16. Paul McGinn (32) - 2024 19. Nathan McGinley (26) - 2024 20. Shane Blaney (24) - 2025 23. Ewan Wilson (18) - 2024 25. Sam Campbell (18) - 2024 66. Calum Butcher (32) - 2024 Midfielders: 6. Barry Maguire (25) - 2024 7. Blair Spittal (27) - 2024 8. Callum Slattery (24) - 2024 12. Harry Paton (25) - 2025 26. Ross Tierney (22) - 2025 38. Lennon Miller (16) - 2025 Forwards: 9. Jon Obika (32) - 2024 + 1 year option 11. Joe Efford (26) - 2024 14. Riku Danzaki (23) - 2025 29. Connor Shields (25) - 2024

Absolutely. I was more meaning that it wasn't really an issue with the pitch in the way that was kind of implied in the post @thisGRAEME was replying to. The way I'd read it was that there had been some sort of f**k up in installation that we were having to fix.

Ah. We already knew about that like. It's not the *actual* pitch. The club Twitter posted about the work a couple of weeks ago.

100%. That's broadly why I'd be taking a crate load of salt with the rumour. He had the same arrangement with Robinson when he was at Fir Park. I'm not sure if Alexander was open to being as flexible although I guess it was a moot point as Carson had a long term injury when he took over and Kelly was our #1.

He joins McGhee and Danny Mullen in the growing list of players that Dundee fans on TDBF have had us definitely signing. Can't wait to find out who it'll be next summer. Fwiw, as I said at the time, I wouldn't be at all surprised if Hammell had a chat with him about a PCA and that's where the rumour came from.

Shocked to find we hadn't actually signed him on a PCA.

Tbf, if Carson was going anywhere then with his family situation I'd have thought he'd be away back to the North East. It's well known he gets special dispensation from Robinson re: training that allows him to get down to the Newcastle area. He was linked with a move back to Hartlepool before United jumped in to sign him from us and I've got a feeling the same thing happened when St Mirren signed him as well. To speak to @djchapsticks point above I'd be more inclined to believe the rumour if it was about him wanting to move off the back of personal circumstances than a falling out with Robinson.

Just had a quick check and I see the promotion and the start date of the new role. June 2023. I mean, without seeing the job description it's had to tell in comparison with the original remit that was advertised. IMO there's definitely a difference between "Head of..." and "Executive" roles. In this case whether that's just semantics or not I'm not sure. In other LinkedIn news I see Tom Jones is away to Stoke City.

Ach well, it was a nice thought.

In our case (Motherwell) I’m guessing the (1) signing they’re talking about is Obika - who was at the club on loan last season anyway. While it’s technically correct we’ve signed him on a permanent after Morecambe released him at the end of the season and it’s not a loan made permanent type deal - he’s not really a *new* signing either..

Bring him home.

Our link to Fletcher that appeared yesterday feels pretty unlikely as we're not going to be able to get anywhere near whatever daft salary you're chucking at him and Nixon's a source to take with a pinch of salt with that sort of story (he briefly floated us being in for Watt at the 11th hour before you loaned him to St Mirren) but what's the script with Fletcher anyway? I saw a bit of chat on one of your fan accounts on Twitter that Goodwin had suggested he's staying. Does he have a relegation release clause? Is he back with you for pre-season? Basically, under the circumstances is there a chance that United might mutual him?

See, that entirely makes sense because we've not replaced either (AFAIK). Say what you like about Burrows but his job prior to stepping down was CEO not head of comms. Like, I'd imagine he took on some of Grant's role but it'd have been on top of his actual job and I'm sure that wasn't the only stuff he was being asked to cover. Anyway, a friendly reminder that the vacancy for Head of Digital, Brand and Communications was first advertised on 1st March 2022 (and it really is an all timer): https://www.motherwellfc.co.uk/2022/03/01/vacancy-head-of-digital-brand-and-communications/ It's definitely pitched to a very specific type of candidate...

There are probably about half a dozen in our squad who fall into that category - Shields being an obvious one given he was bounced out on loan to QP last season and has generally had a fairly shite time at Fir Park. Barry Maguire and Robbie Mahon were also loaned out but are still under contract while you also have guys like Bevis Mugabi and Ricki Lamie who went from regular first team starters under previous managers to bench players when Kettlewell came in. Kettlewell’s inherited a fairly large squad with an amount of budget tied up in contracted players who didn’t get minutes for whatever reason. There are a few of our squad who’d be a good fit for Thistle tbh.