crazylegsjoe_mfc

I'm not going to sit here and tell the Netflix guy how to make a documentary, but I have been thinking about this and wondering to myself how a BTS Motherwell documentary would be marketed. I do enjoy those types of programmes and have watched most of them that are available. There seems to be the ones that follow really big clubs like Arsenal, Man City, Spurs, Juve etc. Then the others that follow smaller clubs seem to have some kind of USP. Sunderland 'till I die was obviously targeted at them going straight back up, but they went down. Wrexham got bought by two actors and are trying to go through the divisions. Fort William were the worst team in the world or whatever it was. Real Kashmir had a pale, swearing ginger Scotsman in the Indian league. I know people use the "rollercoaster" patter about us, but 40 years in the top flight and 33 years without a trophy probably dismisses that to an extent. One of those two ending would probably make a good documentary and I'd fear it would be the former!

I don't doubt that they do. My point was that I don't think you can call the club apolitical. The voting demographic of the area, the community ethos of the club and the continuous nods to deindustrialisation definitely point to a left of centre narrative. A lot of that will contribute to why people take pride in supporting Motherwell, a fan owned club in a working class area. Someone's political leanings don't infer how good a job they would do on the 'Well Society board, however they perhaps would infer how well they would uphold values that make people buy into what the club does and what the 'Well Society does. I'm not saying that Nick Mackie shouldn't have stood - I questioned why he bothered wasting his time doing so - his LinkedIn page was floating about very publicly at the time, which showed people who his current employer is and I certainly know enough 'Well fans personally who would be put off by that. Again, that's down to an individual's choice whether that puts them off or not. We had a marketing campaign for season tickets not long ago (which I actually found to be quite crass, personally), in which the synopsis of the video was basically "the Ravenscraig closed, people from here are resilient, we are putting our prices up". You simply can't use that as a selling strategy and then say the club is apolitical. Furthermore, doing that and having a 'Well Society board member who works in Holyrood for the Tories does have an air of hypocrisy. I do agree that football and politics is a dangerous cocktail (I think my last post earned me my first red reaction ever on p&b ) but in many cases they can't help but overlap.

100% with @capt_oats's statement. I don't think you can say that we are apolitical given how much the Ravenscraig has been at the forefront of a lot of things we've done. That's why I was surprised that Nick Mackie guy stood for the 'Well society given he's a current Tory staffer.

I agree with this wholeheartedly and to be honest, I'm glad that this wave of spending that appears to be upon us has come at a time where we are trying to tighten the purse strings. I'm not saying we'd have gone all out the way other teams have, but if we had Turnbull's £3m arriving freshly in our account, I could've seen us entering a bidding war for KVV on deadline day etc. I'm glad we've gone down the more frugal route. On the former strikers returning to the league in January topic, I see KVV, James Scott and Curtis Main have a combined 0 goals between them.

Strikes me as a stick on signing for Aberdeen or Hearts next season.

I actually do kind of get it. He came on in the 87th minute as the last throw of the dice and bundled the ball over the line. In the weeks and months that followed that we had nothing but forwards on the bench and actually used our substitutes to decent effect. He's still only 17 as well, so there's no real need to rush him. What did confuse me to an extent was Dylan Wells bumping him in the pecking order in the meantime, but given the news story yesterday, it's perhaps now a bit clearer that it was a sweetener for him to sign a new contract with the EPL vultures around him. Shaw has only played six minutes himself since he returned, so we clearly have been working towards being in a position not to use him.

The split, along with the playoffs, ensure that come week 33, most of the league still have something to play for. Hearts will definitely finish 3rd, Livingston will definitely finish bottom and you'd say that Aberdeen have probably got a big enough gap not to get drawn in to a play-off battle. That means that 9 / 12 teams have something tangible to either achieve or avoid. Add in the fact you compete against the teams in the same boat as you, I can't see how anyone would see it as a negative.

Last season finishing clear in 7th, winning four and drawing one of the post split games and watching KVV run riot was actually a very enjoyable end to the season. I actually found it really enjoyable watching us play in good form, free from any pressure. The one I always think of on the flipside is the 2010/11 season, where we snuck in to the top six and hemorrhaged 17 goals post split, including two 0-4s and a 0-5 and then went in to the cup final in dreadful form where we witnessed a dreadful performance on a dreadful day to cap a miserable end to the season. Mind you, the next Scottish cup final we were in was proof that finishing 7th and winning games in the lead up wasn't a sure fire solution either.

I can't believe we've got another week where we are talking about Kettlewell's future, when we've won There's a post on the match thread talking about playing Conor Wilkinson centre mid against Ross County in December. Personally, I wouldn't have been gutted or surprised, had we parted ways with Kettlewell after that game. But he's turned it around and it's becoming more than tedious harping back on about it. It honestly feels a bit like reacting to Theo Bair's goal yesterday by saying "aye, but he only scored 1 in 18 games earlier in the season". Comparisons with Alexander are miles off it. When we relied on Ricki Jamie's last minute goal to get top six against Livi, we were clearly on the descent. We finished the calendar year 2021 on game 20 and we did the same this year. In the 12 games leading us to where we are now (one game from the split) 2021/22: P12 W1 D5 L6 2023/24: P12 W4 D5 L3 Under Alexander, we were clear in 4th at New Year, this season we were in relegation bother at Christmas. Going for top six on the last day when you've not been in the top six since October or whenever we were last there is a lot different to going for top six on the last day when you've not been out it all season. I also think it's unfair to compare a season where we've had to cut our cloth quite considerably, to one where we were chucking transfer fees about and had the much publicised massive staffing costs. This team quite obviously has its faults. The goalkeeper and central defence situation does need to be sorted out. We can all theorise on here about which back three / five should play, but the fact yet another new combination was tried yesterday tells me that we are just trying to amble along until the end of the season before addressing the situation in the summer and to be quite honest, 10 points from our last 15, in spite of this is quite the return. Also, looking at the first goal back from yesterday - for me it's clear that both Halliday and Blaney make individual errors. I don't think it's rational to look at that and go "sack the manager". For the second goal, there's no defending Kelly really. But again, we are just trying to navigate another six games with him in goals. He clearly won't be here next season. I doubt Oxborough will either. I imagine he's already made this fairly clear to Oxborough, so it would probably be a weird conversation to tell him he was now chucking him in. This post will no doubt make me look like a Kettlewell apologist / fanboy, but I'm really not. He has his flaws and has driven me up the wall several times this season. We are conceding soft goals far too often, but in return we are playing some decent football, scoring lots of goals and showing great character to dig out results in lots of games. That's more to be positive than negative about for me. Things aren't perfect, they never will be and this notion that the grass is greener is one of fantasy at times.

I'm sure you gauged my tongue being in my cheek, but rightly or wrongly I associate St. Johnstone with having strikers like Chris Kane, Michael O'Halloran and Stevie May (the second time) not scoring very often.

Just like Spittal, getting someone with the "numbers" that Bair has to sign a contract extension is nigh on impossible. If we do manage to get a six figure fee for him in the summer, then that represents a great example of recruiting to sell and of course, would address part of the £750k gap talked about. Equally, if he wants to chance his arm at having another good season with us to get a decent bosman and a good signing on fee, then you'd definitely say the move has been mutually beneficial. Either way, I've learned my lesson in listening to St. Johnstone fans' assessment of strikers, given that strikers don't generally score much for them anyway.

It's certainly a good thing compared to the ten team, play everyone four times league that went before it, particularly with playoffs added. You find that most teams in the league at this stage of the season have just about got something to play for. In the old format, really the two main things to play for were a third place finish and avoiding bottom. Those are probably the only two final positions that you'd say are nailed on at the moment, which would mean there would be a lot of teams going through the motions (I know we now have more European slots than we did then, but still).

Kettlewell is clearly not going to get the sack, so I don't waste much energy thinking whether he deserves it or not. What you do have to remember is that despite how much he can baffle us with his formation, selection and substitutes, this year he's had a hell of a lot thrown in his direction. He's had to reduce the squad in quality and numbers, he's had several long term injuries and he's even had to contend with two of the bright spots in a poor run being recalled from loans in January. I can't speak for everyone's aspirations but I often see Motherwell fans on here and elsewhere saying they'd be happy with 10th. I won't be relaxing until the arithmetic confirms it, but we are very much looking on course to do that now. I think it's hard to be critical of the manner in which we've gone about it. If his decisions have cost us points this season, they've also won us points. I posted last week that goals and assists from substitutes alone are worth 10 points to us this season and that stat doesn't even cater for the likes of yesterday - O'Donnell changing position and being there to assist. Since we got beaten by Ross County in December, we have actually become really hard to beat. It took Celtic until 94 minutes to take the lead and we would have had an equaliser against Aberdeen were it not for a VAR anomaly. Rangers and Hearts did deserve to beat us but didn't give us a going over. Those account for all of our league defeats since. I think it's 19 points in those 15 games since - that's not relegation form. We would really be getting rid of Kettlewell for something that happened months ago - which doesn't sit well with me. Not being delighted with his decisions doesn't always have to equate to him deserving the chop. I'm not sure if anyone was expecting the race to survival to be pretty and free flowing with a young manager and young players. I think the difference between this and other seasons (like last) is that we've previously gone on a fantastic run to beat any relegation fears, whereas this time we are doing just about enough.

I think the problem with our defence stems from the fact that we don't have an experienced and physically able leader to play in the middle. Butcher done it well last season, but he's physically broken and even then, he was a defensive midfielder by trade prior to coming to us. I think if we had that, we could probably get away with most of our current options either side of them. If we are to persist with a back three, I'd make that a priority in the summer. Earlier in the season I could see why, but now I think we've got the personnel not to be tied to the back three. There's no reason why we can't be working on a 4-3-3 / 4-2-3-1 plan B, that we can at least change to during a game.

I could be revisionist after how the game went, but today I looked at that lineup and agreed with it entirely (on the assumption Miller wasn't fit to start). The only way the back three could have had a left footer in it would have been Blaney, who I've found to be less than convincing. Casey played on the left for all of his run of good games last season, where we played three right footers. McGinn has done well previously in the middle of a back three for me and did lots of parts of it well today (I don't think the concession of the corner was anything to do with where he was playing, just a brain fart). Where he did have a bit of a mismatch was Mandron's physicality. What's more of a concern to me is that we still don't know our best back five going into April, as well as the wholesale changes made to defence during every game. However, you do have to caveat that with the fact that has there not been the changes, would SOD have been in place for his clever assist which ultimately won us a point?

Conceding a cheap goal from a set piece. Equalising to draw at home. Only one of the defence finishing the game in the position he started it. I think I've seen this film before. As has been mentioned, Gent played some fantastic crosses all afternoon. I'm loathe to criticise Bair when he's been so good for us, especially on an afternoon where he's scored another vital goal, but surely we should be working on him (and others) being in the right place to capitalise on these. The one where Gogic kicked fresh air was particularly frustrating. All in all I was pleased to escape that game with a draw if I'm honest. Even game but our slackness gifted them the better chances.

I wasn't a massive fan of Woolery, but it seemed to me like we waited on him coming good and then dropped him, but that was prime Alexander for you.

Mega bust is very harsh. I wasn't disappointed to see him go, but he never got a run of starts and scored three very crucial league goals which all won us points. However, I do concede that any good was undone by wearing number 99 and taking corners (badly) despite being 6ft plus.

It's easy for us to say now that Bair has hit a bit of form, that we identified him as a player who we could transform into the player has become. It could be that we did actually sign him as a squad player and he's been given the platform to flourish due to the fact he's remained fit and available for selection when all of our other striking options haven't. The truth is probably somewhere in between. On his worst day this season, I still thought his graft and attitude brought something to the team. It is quite funny to see everyone associated with St. Johnstone Football Club tying themselves in knots at the suggestion his performances last season may have been something to do with them and not only him. As for Mandron, I know last season he perhaps wasn't the most graceful striker we've ever seen, but he did a decent job as foil for KVV. I said in the summer that for availability's sake alone, I would have kept him instead of Obika. Had we done so, we probably wouldn't have needed to sign Oli Shaw either. I wouldn't have expected him to get double figures right enough, so fair play to him. However, I wouldn't say it's strictly comparing apples for apples with his 10 to Bair's 11. I think the League Cup group section can certainly inflate a player's goal return for a season these days, see Elliott Frear for us as an example. Of course, we all use all competitions when it suits our narrative and league only when it suits our narrative, but I think these days the latter is a more accurate marker.

Tell me something good, tell me that you love me. That guy.

I'd be delighted if we managed to sign an attacking midfielder this summer on a two-year deal, if they could produce those numbers and then leave for free at the end of it. He's definitely done his bit for it.

Football has become so numbers and data focused that the chances of us keeping an out of contract attacking midfielder with 11 goals and 9 assists are pretty much nil. Hearts is a perfect move for both parties. He gets a decent hike in wages without having to move a young family. Hearts get a low risk singing or a proven player in the division who won't cost the earth, when they don't have many players otter than Shankland scoring or assisting frequently. He was good enough last season, that he didn't need to commit to a new deal in the summer. When we sign players of his age on two year deals, a player generally isn't good enough to be offered an extension half way through, or too good to need to sign the deal he's offered.

Whilst theoretically I may agree with you, if the on field ref is agreeing with the omnipotent in well over 99% of cases, isn't the time spent making the decision more of a drain on the game than who is making it?

I honestly don't speak to anyone who still thinks VAR is a good idea. I don't watch enough of any other league to know how bad VAR is there. But poor decisions we saw one referee make on the spot prior to VAR, we still see regularly made after the live review, a subsequent review in an office and a further review on the field, killing time, momentum and enjoyment. The only things it has benefited are absolutes - offside, goal line technology etc. If I was offering any suggestions on how to improve it - why don't they cut out the on field review by the referee? I know there have been a few since, but weren't we stuck on one instance of Willie Collum sticking to his guns for ages? I don't know why they're so hung up on the match referee being the one making the decision. Sadly, I can't see it disappearing from Scottish football. Now it has been implemented across most of the top leagues, if Scotland was the first to reverse it due to our inability to run it properly, it would be a major riddy for those in power. To add insult to injury, it has also turned my leisurely stroll for the 17:26 train home into a powerwalk.

I've been baffled by his substitutions on multiple occasions myself, but bizarrely we would be 10 points worse off if it wasn't for goals and assists from substitutes he's made. That obviously requires lots of context and it's harder to capture data from subs which haven't worked, but I bet if ever questioned on his subs, he would have a 20 minute screed prepared on that. Incase anyone is interested the 10 points are: Hibernian 2-1 (H) - Mika scores and assists from bench (3 points) Kilmarnock 2-1 (H) - Paton scores winner from bench (2 points) Ross County 3-3 (H) - All three goals scored by subs - Mika, Wilkinson, Ross (1 point) St. Johnstone 2-2 (A) - Gent assists equaliser from bench (1 point) Celtic 1-1 (A) - Obika scores equaliser from bench (1 point) Dundee 3-3 (H) - Wilkinson scores from bench (1 point) St. Johnstone 1-1 (H) - Bair assists Mika from bench (1 point)