Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[Doctor Manhattan]

Anyone know how his first name is pronounced? Is it Michael, or Mikkel, or Michelle, or what? Only I'd hate to come across like a twat by getting it wrong while hurling abuse at him five minutes into his debut when he's taking too long over a throw-in.

[Kapowzer]

Based on his pedigree seems a scout once seen him drop a hip and do a stepover, got a gig out of it and has traded on that big name with each subsequent move. So Liverpool and Arsenal to us, on trial for 2 months then offered a 6 month deal ..... seems his value dropped quicker than a "England 2020 Winners" t-shirt on the Sport Direct Website.

[ropy]

I hope he follows in the footsteps of some of the great Motherwell No. 26s.

['WellDel]

Kipré came from Leicester u21's, Grimmy was a former Man U u21 captain, Seedorf was on the books of Wolves.

3 examples of excellent, decent, and shite.

Big name academy history is very subjective. I'll put myself down as cautiously optimistic that the boy will come good. I wish him well and hope it works out.

I'll also still maintain my hopes of at least a seasoned centre half and midfield creator to arrive shortly. 

He also adds to our list of fantastically named players of recent years, alongside Lionel, Giles, Sherwin et Al. Welcome Mich'el. 

[Busta Nut]

I know it's a short deal for this guy but our midfield seems like its all battlers and guys who can knock it sideways 5 yards.
That'd be awright if our forward 3 were fucking dynamite.

[capt_oats]

Apart from the hilarious level of expectation management from Alexander and the 6 month deal the main scepticism (from someone who has never seen him play) is surely that he's 22 and has literally never played a senior game of football. Not even a loan out to a bunch of National League jobbers.

His career to date has been:
Arsenal Youth (2013-14)
Liverpool Youth (2014-18)
Millwall u23s (2018-19)
West Ham u23s trialist (2019-20) https://www.hammers.news/transfer-news/insider-report-west-ham-take-free-agent-michel-parker-on-trial/ https://www.footballinsider247.com/revealed-update-on-free-agent-whos-headed-to-west-ham/
MK Dons - trialist (March 20 - August 20-ish) https://www.miltonkeynes.co.uk/sport/football/arsenal-overpower-mk-dons-stadium-mk-pre-season-outing-2952861

Honestly, if you google him you have to get properly Veronica Mars on him because his Transfermarkt hasn't been updated since he was released by Liverpool in 2018. https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/michel-parker/profil/spieler/340309

As I say, the short term element of this feels to me like we're heavy short of numbers in midfield (O'Hara's been nowhere to be seen on account of injury and Donnelly's still coming back from injury and we don't want to break him again) and haven't been able to get our actual targets in as yet.

So seeing as he's been kicking around and our senior midfielders were given the runaround by one of our former Academy players on Wednesday we've asked big Mich'el if he fancies being a ringer for our Betfred games...sorry Premier Sports Cup games to see how it goes.

Edited July 16, 2021 by capt_oats

[Kapowzer]

Makes you wonder if going for a proven SPFL midfielder in Sam Foley over someone who needed 2 months to convince the club of a deal is the right direction.

[well fan for life]

That, @capt_oats, is the reason we all come to this thread.

[ropy]

Just now, well fan for life said:

That, @capt_oats, is the reason we all come to this thread.

And the curry stuff?

[well fan for life]

Just now, ropy said:

And the curry stuff?

That's a given.

[crazylegsjoe_mfc]

The thing that I’m annoyed about regarding this signing is that I don’t feel like we need numbers at centre back or centre midfield, but quality. 

At least when we signed Lee Lucas, he had been Wales’ under 21 captain and promising before injuries at Swansea. This fella just seems totally non-descript.

Alexander’s midfield last season was lacking creativity and turgid to watch, but I cut him slack based on him playing the card he’s been dealt but it’s now even worse with Campbell gone.

You can’t really place Maguire, Crawford or O’Hara in any of the anchor (Gorrin / Donnelly)  box-to-box (Campbell) or playmaker (Turnbull / Polworth) roles. None of them have a real identity in there.

I’m still thinking that for our midfield to be do well, we’re relying on Campbell / Polworth replacements and Donnelly seamlessly fitting back in and staying fit. That, along with an experienced centre back to replace Gallagher is beginning to sound like a tall order.

[capt_oats]

12 minutes ago, well fan for life said:

That, @capt_oats, is the reason we all come to this thread.

I mean, no shade on big Mich'el it's just that signing two trialists up on relatively short term deals the day before LC group games has strong "messaging the group chat that you're a couple of bodies short for 7s an hour before kick-off" vibes.

[capt_oats]

8 hours ago, crazylegsjoe_mfc said:

The thing that I’m annoyed about regarding this signing is that I don’t feel like we need numbers at centre back or centre midfield, but quality. 

To that point, for all I'm having a wee moan the approach this summer has generally been that we're waiting for the "right" players. That's something I'm broadly advocating.

I don't think anyone has a problem with the Kelly signing (if you do then make yourself known you massive weirdo), I for one am on the Budget Bergkamp hype-train, Swindon paid £325k for Woolery a couple of seasons ago and he's off a double figures season with Tranmere and Shields was a Championship Team Of The Year player last season and also in double figures.

To give the club the benefit of the doubt I'd imagine that our targets for the centre back and midfield positions are of a similar profile to those players and we're not pinning our hopes on an extremely Irish re-gen from Leicester's Academy and someone who's quite possibly an Ali Dia clone. I mean, I hope we're not because we're absolutely fucked if these signings are part of a grand plan.

However the hand we've been dealt at 23:50 on a Friday night is that as yet we haven't actually signed those replacements and if Mugabi, McGinley and O'Hara  aren't fit and we don't want to re-break Donnelly we're extremely light on numbers unless we want to play some actual school weans (and who knows maybe the weans are good).

Going by the interview Alexander did on Tuesday it sounds like he's been focusing on having the squad in place with a view to the first game of the season rather than the LC groups so the Queen's Park game may have very much been a live action "life comes at you fast" meme as he watched his midfield get dismantled by a League 1 side.

Edited July 17, 2021 by capt_oats

[YassinMoutaouakil]

3 hours ago, capt_oats said:

Absolutely no harm to big Mich'el (I've literally never seen him play) but there's a huge Lee Lucas energy here. It's similar to when we signed Lucas up on a short term deal to allow us to play him in the Betfred games.

Still maintain that Lee Lucas was world class for 60 minutes against Ross County. And also cemented some Accies p***k.

[YassinMoutaouakil]

See as an aside, where did the "welcome to our great wee club" patter to every new signing originate from? Swear I'd never seen it at all until a few seasons ago and can't say I'm a fan.

Edit- it's surprisingly difficult to find photos of our man Mich'el where he doesn't have at least one foot off the ground, I approve.

Edited July 16, 2021 by YassinMoutaouakil

[dezz]

See as an aside, where did the "welcome to our great wee club" patter to every new signing originate from? Swear I'd never seen it at all until a few seasons ago and can't say I'm a fan.
Edit- it's surprisingly difficult to find photos of our man Mich'el where he doesn't have at least one foot off the ground, I approve.

It’s terrible patter… ‘Welcome to the best wee club in the world’

If signing the bold Mich’el means that come September Robbie Crawford is out on loan at Accies/Dunfermline/Thistle then I’m all for it.

[capt_oats]

8 hours ago, YassinMoutaouakil said:

See as an aside, where did the "welcome to our great wee club" patter to every new signing originate from? Swear I'd never seen it at all until a few seasons ago and can't say I'm a fan.

Edit- it's surprisingly difficult to find photos of our man Mich'el where he doesn't have at least one foot off the ground, I approve.

+1 on reply guying with the whole "welcome to our great wee club" patter putting my teeth on edge but then again most comments on Motherwell socials posts are an absolute riot of cringe.

That said, on the subject of comments and mentions I smiled when I saw the comments on the bold Mich'el's IG announcement had quite the who's who of Young English football including but not limited to: Joe Willock, Rhian Brewster and Harry Wilson. OK so Wilson's Welsh but whatevs blue ticks all over the place.

Ach, good luck to him #WelcomeMich'el.

Edited July 17, 2021 by capt_oats

[Swello]

8 hours ago, YassinMoutaouakil said:

See as an aside, where did the "welcome to our great wee club" patter to every new signing originate from? Swear I'd never seen it at all until a few seasons ago and can't say I'm a fan.

Edit- it's surprisingly difficult to find photos of our man Mich'el where he doesn't have at least one foot off the ground, I approve.

I'm annoyed that my "No Glove Wearers" signing policy that I sent to Alexander has been totally ignored. What's the point of being a part-owner when we don't get a say in the big stuff?

[RandomGuy.]

Have you hired Stephen Robinson again?

Reeks of you lot taking a punt on a kid with the physical ability, and seeing what comes out of focused training and game time.

[capt_oats]

2 hours ago, RandomGuy. said:

Have you hired Stephen Robinson again?

Reeks of you lot taking a punt on a kid with the physical ability, and seeing what comes out of focused training and game time.

Nah if it was Robinson he'd have signed him on a 1 or 2 year deal.

As others have said the news story that accompanied the signing is pretty much an expectations management job:

Quote

“Mich’el has been training with us for a while now and shown a gradual improvement,”

“He’s a young player who has been at Liverpool and West Ham but lost his way a little.

“He’s now got an opportunity here to show he can build a successful football career.

“He has some work to do but he has the ability and there’s a will from him to take this chance. We look forward to helping him achieve that.”

I mean, it's a nice day, I'm not going to sit at my MacBook dunking on a young guy trying to make his way in the game etc. but it is what it is.

I got the impression that the goalposts were shifting a wee bit for Alexander when he was talking in his press conference on Wednesday: "I think we have to prepare to lose players through the season to isolation and stuff so we have to prepare ourselves to have enough players to cover those absentees...I do believe that the squad possibly has to be bigger than I would usually like it to be because of those circumstances but like you say it has an impact on your budget."

Up until now the line has been that we're "waiting to get the *right* players in" and Kelly was/is a good example of us doing that and a week ago the messaging was "I'd still expect us to be able to put teams out in the next few games to be the favourites, which we should be and be able to win those games" but as it stands Mugabi's still coming back from his shoulder surgery, McGinley's not been seen since the bounce game against Dumbarton 3 weeks ago, nor has O'Hara and Donnelly hasn't kicked a ball in a year. I think the game against Queens Park on Wednesday was maybe an eye-opener for Alexander in terms of where we are short term.

Parker's someone who's been around the club for months but we've only had 2 bounce games and one of those featured 7 trialists and 4 literal school kids in our teams (where previously we'd have had 4 games, had a training camp and signed 10 players by now). The fact he's got a 6 month deal means we can at least play him in these games Lee Lucas style and while I'm sure we have other targets (I fucking hope we do) it means that we're not looking at 3 games in a week with literally only 3 fit midfielders because on the face of it, it seems that's where we were this time yesterday.

Edited July 17, 2021 by capt_oats