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Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons


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Speaking personally I'm happy that there are two Motherwell players in the u21s squad. However I'm not going to pretend I wasn't surprised when I saw that Chalmers had been called up.

Regardless of your view of his ability he's 22, only barely qualifies for the age group and has been called up to a squad that now has no chance of qualifying having only had limited starts for Motherwell this season. I'd have thought it'd have made more sense to draft in someone who had more of a future at that level. Chalmers' last involvement at u21 level was two and a half years ago. At guess I'd say he was probably just the first one to answer his phone but with Sbragia who knows.

All the best to Joe and I hope it helps him build on the decent performances he's had of late. The more international recognition for Motherwell players the better IMO.

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27 minutes ago, wellfan09 said:

 


Utterly ridiculous school of thought.

 

Maybe but that's how I see it. I'm fully aware that I'll be in the minority but I'm only interested in what's best for my club, not the International set up at any level.

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6 hours ago, Desp said:

Pleased for Joe. Hopefully it boosts his confidence even further, and it'll benefit Motherwell.

Sums up Ricky Sbragia though. We're now in a position where we can't qualify, so instead of getting an 18/19 year old in with an eye on the next campaign, he picks a 22 year old.

^^^^ This, 100x this

the game means nothing, so why call up a guy who is only eligible for this one game and probably has zero chance of actually playing. there must be a youngster out there who could do with the experience of being with the squad.... granted it is probably better to keep them away from Sbragia.

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Listening to McGhee's post-match interview it sounds like we'll be signing Lee Lucas. Seems like McHugh's concussion is (not unreasonably) being viewed as a longer term issue and Lucas can offer cover there until they feel someone like Campbell is ready for the first team.

Pointed to what he felt we lost having to bring Cadden into that area today and suggests Lucas could fit in that sort of area.

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Trialist keeper for the 20s on the bench tonight, Crags has only really had Morrison in goals so far so wants to have 2 keepers.

Hope Belic and Lucas put in strong displays.


Guessed it was a keeper when I saw the rest of the names on the bench. 2-1 win, Craigan really seems to be doing a very decent job with them.
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Speaking of McGhee, interested to know would Motherwell fans offer McGhee a new contract based on what we've seen so far in his (near)year back in charge?

Know we should probably wait and see how we go this season but I get the impression we won't go down and we won't have enough to trouble the top 4 or win the cup. So essentially another nice, solid, mid-table position awaits. 

Which would be fine, considering where we were when he took over and the budget he's working with given the current financial state of the club. However is there any long term plan there after?

I mean McGhee was brought in as an old hand to steady the ship due to the utter shambles we had become both on the park under Baraclough and off it. It looked very much like a short term appoint to me from those in charge at the time to make sure we didn't go down.

And we didn't, to finish 5th last year while getting rid of a lot of the shite from the squad he inherited from his predecessors and even managing to promote a few of the younger lads in the process was a great achievement by McGhee.

This season has started alright, majority of his signings look decent so far and despite losing a few key players we look in decent shape compared to this stage the previous two seasons under McCall and Baraclough.

His contracts up in the summer as far as I'm aware, so it's an issue that will become more prevalent as the season goes on. Just intrigued to see the general opinion of him just now and the job he's done since he came back, given the large amounts of anger and disappointment surrounding his return. 

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Funny you say that as I'd also been wondering about his contract situation. I'm a McGhee fan, I get why people have issues with him given his history and certainly he's prone to some baffling tactical choices but over the piece he seems to be a good fit for Motherwell and I'm not particularly precious enough to be "offended" by him. I'd certainly hope we'd be looking to extend his deal not least as a lot of what the club have been talking about trying to build is a succession plan and having McGhee around for another season or two to head up the management/coaching side of things makes obvious sense while the likes of Craigan, Lasley, McFadden, McManus, Hammell et al are doing their badges and getting experience.

I honestly can't see Craigan wanting to step away from his BT gig any time soon bit it's worth pointing out again what a good job both he and Lasley seem to be doing with the u20s. I went along last night and he's instilled a decent style of football with the younger players improving and playing a composed, possession based game. For me bringing keeping that momentum going needs a degree of stability through the club and it'd be good if we were in a position where everyone was bedded into their roles for the foreseeable.

There seems to be something of a mid-long term structure being put in place and that's not really going to be helped by losing a manager who, if nothing else, has brought a bit of stability back to the club. We're cutting about employing 'fan engagement' managers and what not, to me it suggests that we're looking a bit longer term on things.

Not that it actually means anything but a few of the players he's brought in of late have been on 2 and 3 year deals so you'd think that that might point to a bit of longer term planning. Ultimately it all depends on how things go results-wise I suppose but if we're in the position where he manages to keep us mid-table-ish and relatively out of danger then I'd be fully behind him being around Fir Park for a longer period.

I'm not sure who it was that mentioned it before but I could even see a scenario where McGhee might step up to a director of football style role in the future.

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I think James McFadden is a shoe in to be our next manager, rightly or wrongly. 

I expect McGhee to hang around another year or so, depending how we do. The only way he'd leave before then would be if we nosedive and end up relegated or we rocket up the league and have a good season, then he'll decide he's too good for us again and look elsewhere. That, or if/when Strachan gets the bullet in November when Scotland's World Cup campaign is already over and McGhee succeeds the post.

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I agree with your last part Capt. I think we'll see another two years after this one (which I fully support. I've always been a McGhee fan) before he moves "upstairs" and one of Craigan/Lasley/McFadden will take over.

If anyone is having doubts over whether he should get a new deal, compare and contrast the football club from when the last guy was in charge to now.

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