BigTamMuller

Obviously not the most ideal news to come home to in terms of losing your best player, and one of the big draws to actually wanting to go watch Motherwell play over the last 6 months. Might be a slightly different viewpoint, but I’m not massively fussed on it being Celtic we lost DT to - in terms of direct competitors, it’s making sure we improve on the Killie’s and St Johnstone’s while not regressing to the levels of Accies, St Mirren etc that I’m focused on and none of them can afford Turnbull. That said, it will still hurt seeing DT rasper in a 30 yarder at Fir Park while playing for an old firm side! However, bigger picture is that that 30 yarder will hopefully go on to see a Bournemouth or whomever come and pay the fee’s we’ve seen Celtic sell players for in recent memory - a 21 year old Moussa Dembélé made them £20 million, and while that’s maybe a stretch, that’s Celtic’s model as well and hopefully in a couple of years time helps us out financially again. A point that’s been raised over the last wee while on here that I fully agree with would be preferring it to be a Championship side taking Div off us - the consensus seems to be the Premier League teams are happy to pay more to other English teams than they are up here = larger chunk of money from whatever sell on fee we insert in this transfer. Obvious other point to go along with that is that we don’t have to worry about seeing DT score against us for Celtic! So I’ll most certainly not be making any toys out the pram statements on wishing a young boys career down the drain, both from the point of view I’m not a roaster, and that ultimately if David Turnbull does move to Celtic, I hope he goes on and gets a big move down south while fulfilling his undoubted potential, and in turn, helping us out financially in turning an initial £3m transfer into a net ~5-6m transfer!

The first game I went to that I was aware enough to actually know I was at a football game to support Motherwell was against St Johnstone. I would've been about 6, so a quick Google to throw up the few it could've been, I'm leaning to thinking it would've been us beating St Johnstone 1-0 on the 30th October 1999, where Kevin Twaddle scored on the 9th minute. On top of that, my earliest memories are multiple attempts to play a cup replay against Arbroath in round about the same time. I'm sure I've seen it talked about before for how many times the replay was attempted. On the season tickets, I stopped mine a couple of seasons ago on the basis that I don't go to the home old firm games either, and often miss a couple more home games through other commitments etc, so no point from that viewpoint.

Didn't Gillespie join with a question mark around him after some reviews from his previous team? I want to say it was Luton but it was a while ago now. Safe to say any of those doubts have been well and truly dispelled nonetheless anyway. Hard to disagree with Turnbull scooping up both awards - as loathe as I am at seeing the same player win both. Aldred definitely in with a shout, more so because he was one of the few stand outs from the first half of the season as opposed to a few who really only got going from January onwards.

The only time I would imagine there'd be any contact between two clubs regarding an out of contract player would be if compensation was involved, but again that would surely be done once the player had signed for the new team and it was up to the clubs to work out the amount of compensation played. Someone will know the exact age rules of compensation between teams in the same country, and the player Gallagher's age, but I'm going to doubt there would be any compensation involved between Livi and whoever his new team is. Ergo, "Free to talk to other clubs".

Couldn't tell you the last time I actually logged into Steelmen for a read through, let alone post. May well need to clear my morning to have a read through that Casagolda thread again, the early posts on that and the Hammerfist agent was some absolutely superb stuff! As pish as he ended up - to the surprise of no sane minded person - watching his half time warmup was an absolute joy. The man had one of the best first touches, and cross-field pings I've ever seen at Fir Park.

It's strange when you think about it because it's really only been 2 games since County, and both of which on paper could easily have gone the other way with Hibs having a strong attack and Dundee being even more desperate for points than we were. A strange one on the what if scenario - what if we'd beaten County and started a cup run, but picked up say 1 point of the 6 we did get. That probably would've seen some panic buying, or maybe even a sacking like you said, over the last week. Ultimately we've come out of January in a position of strength - it would take losing every game from now til May to even think of relegation. We've trimmed the squad to the point we've a pretty safe starting XI - you'd imagine Hartley and McHugh will fight their way back in, and imo McHugh would be better suited as the midfield anchor in some situations - and an XI that most weeks going forward will include 2/3 nailed on academy graduates starting. And then, we've got a couple of prospects in Livingstone and Scott that we can feed in and out of the starting lineup without the pressure of relegation hanging over our heads had we not started the second half of the season off with back to back wins (3 in a row counting Accies in December).

Can only echo what was said about what a laugh yesterday turned out to be - have long since lost interest in deadline day as a bit of a spectacle but that was up there with the great Barraclough trolley dash of '15! Over the window, we seem to have settled onto a new formation that you can actually make sense of going into games, and have players that you are genuinely excited about going to watch get on the ball! Ross McCormack - On paper, a fantastic coup for us. Him starting that Ross County game however was a bit of a reality check into just how far from fitness he actually is. Also makes for an interesting conversation as to where he fits into this new system, ie, centre forward or on the left and have Hastie/Ariyibi fight it out for the traditional pacey winger position on the other side potentially. A nice problem to have however! Gboly Ariyibi - Doesn't seem to suffer from the Elliot Frear syndrome of hiding. Quite enjoy the eraticness (for want of a better word) he has where nobody, himself included, knows quite what his feet will do when the ball is in and around him. Sometimes that'll go for you, other times it won't but we seem to have found a more than capable body in terms of pacey, versatile on the forward line and adds a form of creativity in the final third. Jake Hastie - I'm going to tag him as the 'like a new signing' category here. Just give him the ball and let him run. That ball in for Turnbull against Hibs after his run was a thing of beauty also. Perfectly weighted. Also a special mention to signing David Turnbull up to 2021. What a player we have on our hands and you'll have to think we'll be receiving some serious money for him when he does move to a bigger stage! Absolutely no complaints from me on the outgoings. Getting money for Bowman was banter! Loved the guy, limited ability wise. Nothing that hasn't been said before. Been massively underwhelmed by Bigirimana over his spell, but even in this new system there isn't really a nailed on spot for him with Turnbull having that advanced position, and Gorrin seems to be far better suited to the pivote 6 position than him (Will miss a Robinson interview where he moans about Bigi not tracking a runner and we concede from it). Rose helped contribute to some great results over his stay, so can only thank him and wish him well over in the States. ATS - meh, on paper he seemed to be exactly what we needed at left back. Unfortunately it also seemed like he was made of paper. Plus a few others away, it looks like we're saving a pretty decent wage that we'll be able to play with going into next season. Could we have done more? Being greedy, a left back would've been great, but Tait more than does a job there and would allow us to ease Livingstone in a heck of a lot easier than the Celtic home game he got. A centre forward as well would've been on my wish list as personally I don't think Curtis Main is the answer for bringing our other players into the game but again that may be one for the summer. Finally, on Robbo. I would imagine we'd still only be a few dropped points away from well fans 2 going into meltdown over him again, and whether he leads us into next season or not remains to be seen with how the rest of the season goes. But, you have to say to him fair play for acknowledging that he made a mess of things in the summer, and changing it up the way he did.

Right ...

I gave them a buzz earlier and was put through to the club shop - was greeted by the warm voice of Freddie Dindeleux as he asked me to hold.

Right, back to Well Fans 2 you go.

Was there much substance to the Lyndon Dykes from QoTS rumour? From the way a mate from down by that way described him, he’d fit in quite perfectly to the way we’re trying to set up right now.

Missed the chat about getting back to basics and winning the battle ...

Bump Anyone been to an Ajax game and got any tips for tickets? 3 of us are going to Amsterdam for a weekend in April, they're playing Excelsior so thought tickets would be pretty available. Official website has the odd loose ticket around the stadium, do more pop up available as the game draws nearer? Any other websites you can get tickets from, or is it a case of buying them on the day from a window?

My only worry on bringing McCormack in would be the financial aspect of it all. But, if as it seems that Villa plainly just don’t want him and are happy to keep paying him whatever ridiculous weekly wage he’s on while we play him, then it’s a no brainer for us!

The Ravenscraig mention was quite intriguing as well, came almost unprompted too, but I suppose as time goes by, Fir Park will only become more and more expensive to maintain. Not seen it written down on either Fir Park Corner or the SO post, but I’m sure a figure of £250k was quoted for a replacement tannoy system! Didn’t get too much from Robbo that he hasn’t either said or alluded to already in the press. Agree with Swello though, you can’t help but feel he got an easier time of it than he perhaps would have a month or so ago! Interesting to hear that Turnbull has KB’d 4 offers from us already! There was definitely another dig in there at his agent too!

Hardly a surprise given Robinson was chatting about Jake Hastie being potentially involved when he returns from his loan. Bit of a shame however as I thought there was always something about him in any of his brief appearances, but he just never really got himself a proper run in the team. Be it injuries, or not quite having a nailed down position for him. Interestingly though, it was Ray McKinnon who took him to Morton, and was quite keen to do so - Link - and now that he's at Falkirk it does make sense. Anyway, at least he'll get to link up with Petravicius again ...

Not quite the Aberdeen pasting of a few years ago, but you'll take it!

Might we see the return of the elusive Xenodochof off the back of this ... That's a horrible thing to happen to Trevor - hopefully it clears up problem free and he can get back to playing football sooner than later.

In amongst those two beautiful games against Rangers, we also dished out some absolute pastings to St Mirren and Accies at FP towards the end of that 14-15 season that actually made that ultimate 11th place finish an exciting run in - any other season Ross County would not have gone on the run they did to pip us to 10th! Was on holiday over the weekend there, so thankfully haven't brought myself to watch or read up on any more on the result from Sunday - scrolled past the odd heads gone post that's appeared on my Facebook from Well Fans 2 so got a general gist of the main points. After the St Mirren and Dundee wins, viewed Rangers away as a "free hit" of sorts, but that's not the manner you want to see your team lose a match - was actually half confident we could steal a result from Ibrox after their Thursday night loss, and long travel back but alas not. Agree with an above point, I don't think sitting 9th in mid November is a sackable offence by any stretch. Adding to points made above, if we do replace, I'm meh about the scenario of an older head who'll do what needs to be done short term, but then leave us back at square one in 12-18 months time, or the Kearney/Barraclough approach which may leave us exactly where we are, or take us even further backwards. I'll even add the Owen Coyle scenario from last season too, where who you bring in backfires completely.

Straight out the Stewart Carswell school of consistent side/back ward passed from midfield. To continue the point on the list above, just about every single one of them had a young player in the same position in our 20's/reserve squad that would've offered something. Hypothetical's of course since you do at least some players in backup roles etc. All fun and games looking back on some of them and laughing though, or cringing.

SR is starting to sound rather desperate with chat about bad luck - outwith the Rangers game, we've scored 1 goal at home if I'm not wrong? And you could count the amount of proper goalscoring chances we've had with your ten fingers, in those games. Could quite easily repeat a lot of what's been said over the last 10 days, but ultimately it's our, and Stephen Robinson's fault, that we are where we are, and not bad luck.

I'd 100% say he's earned the right to get us out of the mess he's ultimately put us in through tactical stubbornness and a shocking summer recruitment - I just don't think he will turn our fortunes around based on what we've seen so far this season. It's pretty telling that of the 3 league games I've stumped up £60 for to get in, I've seen us score one goal - Bowman's deflected shot against Livi that looked to be going straight at the keeper - and probably create about 10 chances at the very most. It's hard to make a case for Robinson that it's actually going to improve without a spark coming from somewhere, and I genuinely think it may take a fresh voice and perspective to get that out of the current bunch. Problem with this though is that as mentioned multiple times with our current crop, they just aren't blessed with quality, that even with a Tanner coming back as well, you genuinely wonder just what even a Steve Clarke, for a slightly extreme example, could get out of them. Ultimately however, a manager lives and dies by the decisions they make, and if Robinson is relieved of his duties in the near future through results, then he's only himself to look at for his summer dealings, and managing to regress us when we went into a summer with real optimism. One other point to consider is that if he does get a couple of results that keeps him going til January, will he try and address the lack of attacking quality we have in the team?

This the same Well Society email that announced the society would be sponsoring the “Ladies player of the r award”? [emoji55]

Got a fair few older games to trade in, so will make a trip to GAME over the weekend and get a PSN voucher - I assume they're still a thing - that can bump a bit of the price off the game from the PSN store and will get this downloaded in good time after seeing the crazy game size! Got half a day's holiday to play with as well that I don't see a better use for than on next Friday.

Haha you got a few bites anyway - wasn't slating your post btw, more the rather amusing responses when you consider we've got Sammon sitting on the bench (effectively replacing one 'maverick**' with another). Will always be one of those "what if" scenarios - what if Robinson did get a full pre season out of him for us ... ** Not sure if I'd call Sammon a maverick in the same mould as Ciftci mind you.