capt_oats

On the point about Lamie at the top of the page, (mildly) interesting that Blaney got the nod on the left of the 3 to replace Casey on Saturday while the Bathgate Maldini was used off the bench to replace Butcher in the centre of the 3 against Livi. Is that our order then? Bev backs up McGinn, Lamie backs up Butcher and Blaney is back up to Casey? It's probably worth mentioning that we're often on here looking at other sides picking up points against Rangers and Celtic and talking about how they need to have an off day and we'd need everyone 100% at it - in terms of our defensive shape I thought we were pretty much spot on and for once there were few (if any?) self inflicted mistakes on our part. We actually have a positive goal difference over the period Kettlewell's been in charge which is something that should probably be commented on given the months of Hammell having seemingly not knowing where to even start in terms of fixing our defence. Here's the table since Ketts took charge - 3rd best GF and GA columns lads... Anyway, vaguely related to the McMullan chat here's the semi-regular reminder of who's contracted next season (this time by position): GK: Kelly, Oxborough DF: Lamie, Mugabi, McGinley, Blaney, Butcher MF: Spittal, Slattery, Maguire, Tierney, Miller FW: Van Veen, Danzaki, Morris, Shields and OOC: GK: N/A DF: O'Donnell, Carroll, McGinn, Johnston, Furlong (loan expiring), Casey MF: Cornelius, Goss, Paton FW: Efford, Aitchison, McKinstry (loan expiring), Mandron, Obika (loan expiring)

The Scotsman article had an edit this morning. I didn't see the original version that was published but it now reads: "Van Veen, now 31, is out of contract at the end of next season."

I've posted this before but if you like listening to Robinson's chat then the interview he did with a Bournemouth podcast is an interesting watch and he kind of addresses a couple of questions you've asked. TL,DR - in hindsight he felt that he should probably have left us the summer before he did as his stock was at its highest at that point and also that he found out that getting to 2 cup finals and into Europe with Motherwell didn't give him the clout he thought it would when he was applying for jobs. As the video title says he applied for the Bournemouth job twice - once while he was at Motherwell and the 2nd time after he'd' left and was patched on both occasions. You'd imagine he may have adjusted his expectations accordingly. As I say, it's worth a watch if you've a spare hour and half.

Aye. I mean, I've no strong opinion on McMullen either way. It just feels just be a really weird deal for us now given it's not like we're playing the wingers we actually have in the building just now. Also, as far as the timeline goes - you tagged me in a post mentioning the rumour on 1st of March so at that point Kettlewell had only been in the door a couple of weeks and clearly immediately prior to that we'd been in the middle of Hammell's Death Spiral. It seems an odd point for us to be confirming anything. What wouldn't surprise me would be if Hammell had been in dialogue with him about a possible PCA which is where the rumour could have come from. As I say, Hammell's default shape was 4231 so in that respect it would be easy to see where McMullen would fit there.

Mentioned this before and @YassinMoutaouakil's put it in a nutshell above but I'm generally sceptical of links about Dundee players having signed PCAs with us given we'd apparently signed Danny Mullen and Jordan McGhee from you guys which seemed to come from the same sort of rumours. There's so much of it makes zero sense given we're already well stocked for attacking midfielders (Spittal, Tierney, Danzaki and Lennon Miller the next Academy player coming through). We don't play with wingers (at the moment) to the point that we were supposedly lining up making Stuart McKinstry's loan permanent (according to the Hammell at the AGM) but now he can't even get off the bench and Oli Crankshaw's away back to Stockport as he's not going to get a game. The only way it adds up is if we'd been letting Hammell sort out PCAs before he was binned as he fucking loved a winger given he spent his limited time trying to inflict a 4231 on us. Even then, if you look at the state we were in when you first mentioned the rumour (on our way to relegation) it'd have been nuts if we'd been letting Hammell sign folk up tbh. Given the number of our current starting XI who are out of contract in the summer Ketts may have something different planned but as it stands, with the way we're set up, you genuinely can't see where McMullen would fit.

There he is. Some boi.

Livingston - 7 (WXW) St Johnstone - 1 (LXL) Dundee Utd - 4 (XWL) Kilmarnock - 2 (LXX) Ross County - 7 (WXW)

I mean, why not? Hi.

Related.

That Sean Goss redemption arc btw.

A wee gold badge for official organisations and what not. Apple, Apple TV etc has one. So does First We Feast.

Getting this in early.

I'm pretty sure that Ketts clarified in one of his press conferences that he'd been injured recently and is only just coming back to kicking a baw. I mean, that would explain it... Same with Tierney, apparently he had a set back with his recovery. Here we go...18 min 15 seconds. Ross Tierney (Groin) Riku Danzaki (Ankle)

Aye, it feels harsh to be making any decisions on him one way or another given his age and the fact he's relocated half-way round the world along with the whole adapting to a different league and different culture thing. I mean, it took Ally Gorrin at least 6 months before he began to look like a pler. He may end up being the second coming of Nakamura, he may not but either way he's only been here 2.5 months and has already seen the manager who signed him launched out the door so it's probably a bit early to be filing him in the Casper Sloth bin (also, has he not been carrying an injury recently?). That said, it's probably a legitimate question to ask of Hammell's priorities in that January window seeing as the Danzaki deal probably definitely took a lot of time and effort to get done yet we've managed to end up with 3 players for the same role (Spittal, Danzaki and Tierney) and Hammell seemed to think he could just pitch him straight in. It's also a wee reminder for the more easily excitable element of our fanbase to maybe temper their expectations a bit.

Aye, that was the alternate version I had in my head but wasn't sure exactly what the ins and outs were.

It was the season Robinson replaced McGhee and Hughes was busy relegating Rovers. Reporting on what actually happened varies though - IIRC the bold Yogi's version is, as above, along the lines of he knocked us back out of loyalty to the guid oanest laddies at Raith or somesuch. I'm fairly sure he spoke about it on Sportsound or something. @McGuigan1978 might have a better recollection of that particular episode? By which I mean, Hughes attempted exit from Kirkcaldy - not of Sportsound Interestingly, in light of our apparently having filed his latest application straight into the bin, I wonder where the Record got the notion we were 'seriously considering' him to replace Hammell... https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/john-hughes-under-consideration-motherwell-29218315

So we totally pied John Hughes then...

From the United game on Saturday. https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/motherwell-manager-stuart-kettlewell-speaks-with-derek-weir-news-photo/1251842524

He didn't play in the last Reserves fixture against Ayr the other week either but has been on the bench for the first team. Who knows? Maybe he's just said he doesn't fancy playing for the Reserves.

I think this is the key point for me. Flow was pretty much a unicorn for us in that not only was he highly competent across a range of areas he also had an emotional engagement with the role that meant he was operating beyond a professional capacity. It seems unlikely that we're going to get someone who will replicate that, which in itself puts the club in a bit of a bind because rightly or wrongly he's set expectations for what the role looks like amongst the supporter base. While the Kettlewell renaissance has meant that a series of (being honest) pretty unexpected results have taken the heat off for the the time being there are still some pretty awkward questions floating around in the background (be it some of the decisions taken this season, the lack of CEO, the lack of comms, that one particular employee....whatever). The fact that there's no longer a firewall to insulate between the fanbase and the board has been increasingly noticeable in the couple of months since Flow fucked off to Pittodrie. The fact that there's (still) no head of comms probably amplifies that as well. Like @Handsome_Devil I half wondered whether seeing the void that Burrows has left it might mean we'd consider a restructure of sorts as (I mean, we still may - that could be a close season situation) but either way having one person driving the club in the way Flow did is great until that person is no longer there.

Fwiw, this is (IMO) pretty fair comment from Andra. Like, I'm sure everyone's relieved that we're going into the split in 8th given where we were but whatever way you slice it this has been an absolute bin fire of a season - one that's been defined by, at best, naïve choices and a series of poor decisions being made. Not least going completely off piste from our usual blueprint and appointing a first team manager with literally no first team management or coaching experience. I mean, it doesn't need to be a case of Sack The Board but from a season that's seen 3 managers, a chief executive leave with (apparently) no continuity plan in place plus the Head of Comms role still vacant after almost a full calendar year then a bit of accountability probably wouldn't go amiss. As I've said before I'd hope that lessons have been learned and similarly I don't doubt that the decisions that were made, naïve or otherwise, were in good faith and with good intentions but equally it's also not unreasonable for questions to be asked of what the actual f**k has been going on.

Crankshaw's back at Stockport. Was mentioned at the start of the month when he appeared at an open training session. Morris ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

That was my assumption as well. Similarly there's a chance we've decided not to follow in Aberdeen's snideness by announcing while he's still working his notice at Blackpool.

Aye, I've been keeping half an eye on your results as I've been curious how he does at Championship level as this loan kind of feels a bit make or break for him. He's kind of in a weird place with us as he's on 75 appearances but never really looked like cementing himself in the side in the same way someone like Allan Campbell did and I don't think it's really helped that he's come through as part of the same peer group as Turnbull, Campbell etc as he clearly suffers in comparison. He's been a tidy enough player for Motherwell without ever really looking like he's the guy who'll be dominating a midfield. From the outside looking in it sounded like it's been kind of similar for him at Dens - injury stuff aside.