Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[Busta Nut]

Robinson won't be going anywhere. If we did have to get another manager the time from now until the end of the season could be used to assess the squad and work out where he needs to add or remove personnel.

Edited January 22, 2019 by Busta Nut
asses, huh.

[YassinMoutaouakil]

GiVe ThE jOb To CoLliN o'NeIlL

[capt_oats]

There's a broader question around Robinson but I've had a suspicion that he'd probably be leaving in the summer anyway even before the groundswell of criticism about the aesthetics of things. When he got the job he was coming off the back of 6 months at Oldham and a swift sacking he's in a position now where he's got a few career highlights and I'm pretty sure he could pass this off as a poor season to prospective employers (injuries etc).

A lot has been made of the club being seen as a 'platform' for players, I'd have thought that would ring true for the manager too. Going by the reaction from Luton fans when he was touted for that job he'll already seen that his brand doesn't play too well for a certain type of role ie: a club pushing for promotion will probably shy away but I'd have thought an exit strategy of sorts would make sense for him to ensure the good work he's done so far doesn't become more tainted.

Also, I doubt he fancies another sacking. Would it be a massive surprise if a job at a mid-lower half League 1 side turned out to be appealing? Even an assistant or coaching role at a "bigger" club?

As @Desp said earlier it kind of feels like a parting of ways is inevitable. It's really a question of how it's managed IMO.

Looking at the number of players who are out of contract, the apparent reluctance of some of our brighter prospects to sign extensions along with the turnover of backroom staff  there definitely seems to be a degree of uncertainty plus the fact Craigan's away who, as @Swello pointed out, always seemed to be a close ally it kind of feels like Robinson's a bit more exposed and also like there's a bit of a shift somewhere in the background. I'd be quite curious to know how involved Robinson is with this whole pathway review that's been going on after Craigan and McManus left or if it's something that's largely being directed by Burrows, Hammell and Clarkson.

IMO Robinson's been a relatively successful appointment thus far I've said it before on here but if you look at his CV then there are a few highlights that would be sellable:

• 16/17 - kept us up...
• 17/18 - rebuilt squad, 2 cup finals, 7th in the league and record turnover & profit from player trading, established Campbell as a first team player, club record number of clean sheets.
• 18/19 - c. £1m for Kipré, QF of LC, established Turnbull as a first team regular, papped out the SC at first time of asking, league TBC.

As it stands he's sitting on a 41.8% win rate. Again, you can pick that apart in terms of league vs cup but as a number it's perfectly respectable.

When Craigan was talking about leaving the Reserves job he spoke about having a shelf life in a role, I think there's a lot to be said for that. Robinson got the job when we were in absolute free fall. He shored us up and made us difficult to beat. Add the cup finals in and he's done a pretty fucking good job of stabilising us and getting us on an even keel. Which is smashing but once you've got that foundation there's a point at which you need to progress and that seems to be Robinson's problem right now. We've never really looked capable of breaking teams down during his tenure and being honest he's not showing much by way of making progress on that front.

Robinson turned out to be a very decent appointment for us in the position we were in. If we had appointed Coyle (as was rumoured to be our preference) or Valakari who knows we may have ended up relegated. However I'd say that's a pretty fluid thing. If Robinson can't adapt then we're naturally going to end up reviewing things. It's horses for courses really. 

His brand has largely been based on us being organised and well-drilled not to mention the physicality.  I don't think it's a stretch to say that for whatever reason there doesn't seem to have been the same buy-in from the players this season which should raise eyebrows and the performance on Saturday was the very opposite of being organised and well drilled which is...problematic. Robinson's in a position where not only have our performance levels dipped but teams seem better prepared to cope with our approach and as has been discussed at length he seems to struggle to implement a plan B.

Tie that in with the fact that Robinson's often found it difficult to get a tune out our "footballers" and there are probably legitimate questions there.

I'd say that the fact that the club seems to be on a more even keel financially along with the profile of the cup finals along with the recent uptick in attention around the league probably means that the standard of applicants for the manager's job may be marginally raised from recent appointments however if our thing is looking at applicants who are 'Motherwell minded' or know the club then it leaves us looking at a pretty shallow pool. Also, I'd imagine that any candidate would be asked to work with the current backroom staff so it'd presumably need to be someone who was comfortable retaining Lasley, Hinchcliffe and Boles.

A candidate who is (probably) out of work, knows the club, willing to work with the current staff and is a clear 'upgrade' on the present incumbent...I'd genuinely be interested to see who our options would be.

Edited January 22, 2019 by capt_oats

[YassinMoutaouakil]

Selection committee comprised of the most active posters on Well Fans II gets my vote.

[Ron Aldo]

What are Mitchell Van Der Gaag, Robert Maaskant and Simo Valakari up to these days?

In all seriousness though, if Robinson was to go (whether that be soon or in the summer) you'd have to think that Craigan would be top of the list to be the next manager.

[supermarv]

3 hours ago, Ron Aldo said:

What are Mitchell Van Der Gaag, Robert Maaskant and Simo Valakari up to these days?

In all seriousness though, if Robinson was to go (whether that be soon or in the summer) you'd have to think that Craigan would be top of the list to be the next manager.

Why would he leave in the first place but? That’s the part that gets me feel like something has gone on behind the scenes.

[capt_oats]

Just watched Robinson's most recent interview there where he describes left back as a "problem position" for him. He points out Charlie Dunne isn't a left back, mentions Adam Livingstone and that Richard Tait can play there but totally pies ATS. 

So...can we take it from that that he's aff?

Edited January 22, 2019 by capt_oats

[BigTamMuller]

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

[well fan for life]

18 minutes ago, capt_oats said:

Just watched Robinson's most recent interview there where he describes left back as a "problem position" for him. He points out Charlie Dunne isn't a left back, mentions Adam Livingstone and that Richard Tait can play there but totally pies ATS.

So...can we take it from that that he's aff?

He's either off or he's broken.

Again.

[Gianfranco]

Robinson definitely sounded like a manager who’s under pressure.

[capt_oats]

Total lies from me...he does mention ATS. He's broken...again.

Edit: In other news it looks like McCulloch's patching us to take a coaching role at United. To date, the assailant remains at large etc.

Back to the drawing board on that one eh? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Motherwell_F.C._players 

Edited January 22, 2019 by capt_oats

[Del_Superwell]

5 hours ago, capt_oats said:

Total lies from me...he does mention ATS. He's broken...again.

Edit: In other news it looks like McCulloch's patching us to take a coaching role at United. To date, the assailant remains at large etc.

Back to the drawing board on that one eh? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Motherwell_F.C._players 

Quite happy about that one to be honest, had my reservations about McCulloch after his disaster at Killie, however I get the reserves job is totally different from first team level.

Would hope they get a replacement in fairly quick as reserves due to start back v Hamilton next week.

[capt_oats]

2 hours ago, Del_Superwell said:

Quite happy about that one to be honest, had my reservations about McCulloch after his disaster at Killie, however I get the reserves job is totally different from first team level.

Would hope they get a replacement in fairly quick as reserves due to start back v Hamilton next week.

See, I may be misremembering but I thought Killie fans were of the opinion that McCulloch was a decent enough coach who just didn't really work out as first team manager.

The impression I get with the whole pathway thing up to the u20s/Reserves is that we're keen for whoever we appoint to be someone who has come through the Academy (or YTS as it was) or at the very least "knows" the club. If that's the case (and I may well be wrong) then it's a pretty limited field.

I may just be jumping to conclusions since Craigan and McManus were the previous coaches but given McCulloch made 147 appearances for us and went on to be a Scotland international and has some management experience then seeing as we were interested in him for the role he fits that sort of mould.

Ultimately I guess if we're trying to pitch the club to kids/parents then rightly or wrongly having known faces in those coaching roles is probably going to be viewed as a selling point along with our "Elite" status.

Seeing as his assistant manager role with Scotland is a pretty part-time gig I honestly wouldn't be surprised if we ended up giving it Faddy 'til the end of the season.

Edited January 23, 2019 by capt_oats

[craigkillie]

McCulloch wasn't cut out for the managerial job at the time, but he left on good terms and my impression is that he is generally fairly well regarded amongst our fans. By his own admission, the job came too early for him, and he would have been better served staying in the background learning the trade a bit longer. He signed O'Donnell, Power and Brophy, who have been amongst our best players over the last year, but on the other hand he didn't manage to get the most out of any of them (he barely played Power after he had a nightmare on his debut).

[well fan for life]

It would appear my wishes for 6 feet of snow are not coming true. Buzzing to freeze myself half to death while watching us be absolutely fucking shit.

[kingjoey]

I have just watched Steelmen from BBC Alba and it was a great programme. Great memories from those interviewed.

[crazylegsjoe]

21 hours ago, capt_oats said:

Total lies from me...he does mention ATS. He's broken...again.

He also mentioned that Livingstone isn't developing as quickly as they had hoped he would. Must not be great for the lad now that's a second time he's been criticised (not sure if that's too strong a word) publicly by the manager.

[capt_oats]

16 minutes ago, crazylegsjoe said:

He also mentioned that Livingstone isn't developing as quickly as they had hoped he would. Must not be great for the lad now that's a second time he's been criticised (not sure if that's too strong a word) publicly by the manager.

Aye. It's a bit of a rock and a hard place for Robinson in that respect I suppose. If he doesn't play him he's going to get the "why aren't you playing Adam Livingstone" chat, then again when he was thrown on against Celtic he was subbed off with cramp after an hour (acknowledging that yes, he had played 45 mins for the reserves on the Monday). There's a pretty fine line between what's actually public criticism and simply fair comment. I like Livingstone but if he's not developing quickly enough then...he's not developing quickly enough.

It's that whole Luke Watt thing really. Best right back we never played.

You look at Jake Hastie, that was him chucked on against County in an overall shiter of a team performance and gets a goal. Granted it's very different to being chucked on at left back against Celtic but if you're part of this u20s group and the manager gives you a chance you really need to make some sort of an impact.

Edited January 23, 2019 by capt_oats

[Del_Superwell]

14 hours ago, capt_oats said:

See, I may be misremembering but I thought Killie fans were of the opinion that McCulloch was a decent enough coach who just didn't really work out as first team manager.

The impression I get with the whole pathway thing up to the u20s/Reserves is that we're keen for whoever we appoint to be someone who has come through the Academy (or YTS as it was) or at the very least "knows" the club. If that's the case (and I may well be wrong) then it's a pretty limited field.

I may just be jumping to conclusions since Craigan and McManus were the previous coaches but given McCulloch made 147 appearances for us and went on to be a Scotland international and has some management experience then seeing as we were interested in him for the role he fits that sort of mould.

Ultimately I guess if we're trying to pitch the club to kids/parents then rightly or wrongly having known faces in those coaching roles is probably going to be viewed as a selling point along with our "Elite" status.

Seeing as his assistant manager role with Scotland is a pretty part-time gig I honestly wouldn't be surprised if we ended up giving it Faddy 'til the end of the season.

That's true as well, I noticed the Sun breaking the news a wee while ago that they think Maurice Ross is now set to get the job having gone through some coaching session with McCulloch in front of senior management and Robinson chose him, how true that is I don't know but made for interesting reading.

[capt_oats]

9 minutes ago, Del_Superwell said:

That's true as well, I noticed the Sun breaking the news a wee while ago that they think Maurice Ross is now set to get the job having gone through some coaching session with McCulloch in front of senior management and Robinson chose him, how true that is I don't know but made for interesting reading.

Obviously I've no idea what the plans were but I'd have thought that it'd have been more likely that we were lining up McCulloch to replace Craigan and Ross to replace McManus. I see we're also advertising for a Head of Academy Sports Science and Medicine as Michael King's now working with the SFA.

Our staff in the reserves currently consists of Aileen Anderson.