crazylegsjoe

That's it. I'll always have a lot more time for the Heneghans and Bowmans of the world, than the Omar Daley and Brian Kerrs.

Hartley and Dunne out of contract at the end of the season, I wonder if this decreases the likelihood of them getting new deals. Heneghan seemed like an honest pro, but I really did not rate him whatsoever. He got outmuscled by big strikers and outrun by nippy strikers.

Don't get me wrong, he was a cracking young player for us, but as with most young players, he suffered badly from inconsistency. I think often his good form at Motherwell came in spurts and he could often be nullified on days where he wasn't on it, particularly against Celtic and Rangers. If you were asking which of our players of that era most deserved to be capped, he'd certainly have been ahead of Steven Saunders, but viewing it rationally, between a mixture of their own ability and those in front of them in the pecking order, no one particularly deserved a cap then in my eyes, to be honest.

I've thought about Christie up front before a good few games, but I do wonder if the team at large are intelligent/good enough to play with a "false nine" and if a lot of his effectiveness would be lost playing the game with his back to goal. Forrest hasn't been "bad" as such for Scotland lately, but since his 5 goals in 2 games spell last year I'm not sure he's been particularly good either. If all three are fit and available for the playoffs, it would be Fraser on the left, Christie on the right and Forrest on the bench for me.

I started going to Motherwell games in 1997 and looking back on it rationally, I would say that Martyn Corrigan is probably the only player in that time who wasn't capped, but should feel aggrieved about it.

I just remembered that I made a youtube playlist with all of the highlights of that season. If anyone fancies a recap in one easy sitting:

Absolutely. My abiding memory of the Celtic game for some reason was the amount of headers he won. The Hibs game on the Friday was my birthday too which was a nice bonus. The equalising free-kick against St. Mirren is worth mentioning too. I think not only Everton wasted him, but he was a bit wasted in that era too. In a time where 4-4-2 was prevalent, he was neither the big man or the little man in the partnership and the defensive responsibilities of playing as a left midfielder would supress his qualities too much. I wonder how he'd fare now with 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 where the number 10 role exists and wide men are considered forwards rather than midfielders.

I love Faddy and I do think he should be celebrated as the best player our club has produced, certainly in my time. It is rare that you have a club legend who was brilliant in teams that finished 11th and 12th but had a much lesser impact on a team that finished 2nd. For me, his legacy would have been best if he had come back at that point when he did in February 2013 and played those three months when he was instrumental and then left to go elsewhere that summer and never came back after that. The following season still had its moments (the 4-1 Hearts game where he scored one and made three in particular) but for most of it you could see he was clearly injured, yet we persisted to play him.

Had a hilarious dive that somehow won a penalty, looked particularly glum in pictures and completed 90 minutes twice in the league. That about sums up his time with us I think.

My abiding memory of this game is that their keeper went off for treatment and we didn't manage to score into them when they had ten men, one of whom was an outfield player in goals.

I've always found it weird how we "had" to cut our cloth during the 2000/01 season when we got rid of Brannan, McMillan, Spencer, McCulloch, Goodman and Goram in a short space of time, yet then let Davies sign his summer dross, before allowing Black to then sign Dirk Lehmann and five Frenchmen. It's no wonder we ended up in administration when you think about it really! Didn't David Kelly's 'Well career end after a bust-up with Butcher after the Scottish Cup to defeat to Dunfermline? Wonder if it was a physical or verbal fight. On a side note, I'm guessing that the Scotland Belgium friendly last year must be the only international match ever where both managers were former Motherwell players.

Last two posts sum it up for me. We seem to have a load of centre halves at a similar level at the moment and a 24 year old the manager knows well, rather than a 28 year old he doesn't, makes you perfectly understand why Findlay gets the nod over Gallagher at the moment.

This reminds me of the game where we had to beat St. Mirren on the final day before the split to get top six and McGhee played a back four of McLean, Craigan, Reynolds and Hammell with Quinn on the right wing and Klimpl centre mid. Potentially the most defensive lineup I've ever seen us put out, in a game we needed to win, against the might of St. Mirren. Needless to say, we got beaten.

I had a post a bit further up in this thread about how I did enjoy a bit of both, however, the open goal podcast has got so wearing I never listen to it any more. Slaney's humour soon became same-ish and unbearable (despite the fact I said further up the thread that I found him funny despite not wanting too) and sometimes you feel he's treated by the others as a performing monkey. The clip of him pouring drinks on himself, dressed as a referee, at the fringe looked like absolute hell on earth. I do like some of the interviews, but it is all down to how the interviewees make the most of the template of questions. I don't think Ferry is a great interview, the key point is that players seem to trust him interviewing them. I guess with that trust means he never asks many pressing questions. I've never really listened to the terrace podcast regularly before, but the TV programme has been spot on. Was a bit laboured the first week or two, but all the guys seem to have grown into their roles. The features have been the highlight for me. For me, the only common ground they seem to share is the fact they are about football, the rest seems almost polar opposite, so I don't see why either needs to make snide remarks about the other.

What about the one that got him an assist for Hylton against Hibs, a mere three weeks ago?

I think Cadden was backed into a corner to an extent. I don't think there is much honour in how Columbus Crew/Oxford acted behind the scenes, but from Cadden's perspective, he was on the back of a season filled with stagnation and injury to the point that the compensation involved in a conventional transfer would have scared most teams off. I don't think he would have wanted the club to get shafted, but at the end of the day he was looking after himself, which I don't necessarily blame him for. I don't see where he would fit in to our side now, so I'm not filled with regret that he's no longer here. Not convinced he's a better right back than Tait or Grimshaw and I don't think his creative numbers add up enough to be part of a front three.

We had quite a few old heads around when Robinson came in and it didn't take long for them to move on or retire in to coaching jobs. We did, but up to 2k a week with a contract expiring/less than a year left is a lot easier a contract to break than the ones some of these Hearts players will have.

Despite us being above them in the league currently and a lot better over the calendar year etc, managing Hearts is a totally different proposition for Robinson that managing Motherwell is. He's always had a squad with a young average age, full of guys plucked from obscurity and the odd youth player here and there. That is totally different dynamic to going in to Naismith, Berra, Whelan, Washington, Ikpeazu, Souttar, Clare and Halkett to name but a few on several k a week. There's also considerably more fans with a bigger sense of entitlement as to what they think their club should be achieving than there is at Motherwell. Recruitment becomes a whole different bag too. A flop on £5k is a lot harder to forget than a flop on £800 a week. There's every chance that's an exciting prospect to Robinson and he'd like to go in and see how he could do with it, but it would be very, very different.

It actually came up on my LinkedIn feed today that Elliott Frear had posted a highlights video up there, looking for a club either at home or abroad. Although I don't feel we've suffered at all for losing him, I think he'd have Ilic's seat on the bench at best, it's still sad to see a guy who was a decent servant for us struggling for a club. Trials at Dundee United and Oxford didn't work out by the looks of things. I wonder if there ever was any danger of us re-signing him when he turned up at that Gretna game.

I honestly don't think we need any more defenders. Having Tait and Dunne on the bench in the last game was an embarrassment of riches for a team like this. I'd hate to think we'd stifle Maguire (although he seems to be a midfielder these days) or Devine by signing an also-ran defender who's a free agent in the middle of September.

I felt sorry for Frear in his time at Fir Park, he was signed by McGhee and used in a role alien to him initially by Robinson. When we finally decided to play four at the back, he got his chance, but got injured the first game and then Hastie came in and took his chance. For me, he's a left winger stuck in a 1990s 4-4-2 formation where the wingers role was to get to the byline and put crosses in. He doesn't really have many tricks, he's quick enough without being rapid and isn't the kind of guy who you could play inverted, I can't imagine him cutting inside on his favoured foot or anything. He had a decent delivery when it came off and when it didn't he was half decent at winning throws and corners high up the park. I guess he's probably as good as the strikers he's crossing to. He did get a vital number of assists late in the 2016/17 season which were instrumental in keeping us up and I would have been happy enough had he stayed, but I definitely feel we've moved in the right direction with the wingers we have in now.

People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis. You can't trust people, Jeremy.

I think age counts against him as well. There can't be many academy products, certaintly none spring to mind, who've made it after their first start coming age 21. Essentially, if/when we sign Ilic, that puts Livingstone down to fourth choice. Were Carroll and Ilic both missing, I'm pretty sure Robinson would bring Grimshaw in and move Tait over before using Livingstone.

He was more of a cult than anything I guess. Crazy we won the fair play award that season, despite all the cards he and Coach picked up. My abiding memory of his spell is that the game before the split, we could've got top six had we beaten St. Mirren and somehow McGhee managed to shoehorn Quinn, Hammell, Reynolds, Craigan, Klimpl and McLean into a 4-4-2 formation and we lost 2-0. I think it could be the most negative starting eleven I've ever seen us put out.

Talk on Steelmen Online of Elliott Frear actually signing a new deal. Whilst I fully believe it to be a lot of shite, he would be a massive dark horse to be the next in the Scott McDonald avoid pre season mould.