Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[Swello]

I really enjoyed reading this article in the "i" that Alan Burrows linked on his twitter - well written and a lot of it makes you proud to be part of it all.

And because I do value the club's efforts in the community (and because I don't doubt the level of sincerity involved in it), I *really* don't want to be a dick - but if I am being brutally honest, the point of view put across that our measure of success is not in winning trophies but is actually <all the other stuff>, is one that rankles a bit.

The inference is that we can accept a level of on-field mediocrity (that has obviously seen us win nothing in 30 years while practically all our peers have) as long as we doing everything else well - and I don't actually agree with that at all. This isn't coming just from one article - I have had the impression with the whole relentlessly improving thing that the focus has become that above everything.

I don't really want to have a complete off-duty taxi driver phoning Super scoreboard take on it - but the on-field stuff should be the no 1 priority, we shouldn't accept not competing for trophies every year and our "mission statement" should reflect that. "Win a fucking pot by whatever means necessary" doesn't read as well as the current one - but I'd prefer it.

 

[Allroy for Prez]

Just over a week till the window shuts and we’re still at about 3/4 players of decent quality short of where we need to be.

We were told to be patient as we were chasing targets that would take a bit longer to get in.

Barring a sudden influx that strategy looks likes it falling on it’s arse and we have effectively/potentially sacrificed the opening games going with what we had whilst we put the team together.

If the window shuts and we still have the worst midfield anyone can remember then folk (ie me!) are going to go mental.

[capt_oats]

38 minutes ago, Kapowzer said:

Stevie Wonder could see Midfield was the main issue for us and not just of late.

Maybe we've been unlucky that all our potential deals currently in the pipeline are all midfielders, that and a playmaker is probably the hardest position to fill in the modern game.

Certainly would have limited a lot of the criticism aside from the quality and performance of the player recruited.

I went to Dalziel Park for lunch on Tuesday and VanVeen was doing shuttles with one other and a coach separate from the bounce game. He was still there 5 minutes later when I passed again after being told its shut till September.

I think this is a problem that a lot of teams are having (not midfielders but transfers in general) for whatever reason Tory Brexit, Pandemic whatever, it seems like the market is slow at the moment and we're in a position where there's only so much that the club can do and it's kind of out their hands when transfers complete.

It seems improbable to me that we've not been trying to bring midfielders in but what do I know?

I've no idea who we're in for or who we're not but to take Robbie Gotts as an example, who we have been linked with, the first mention from Nixon was 8th August, the good brother @Casagolda had mentioned it was a name that had been floating around back on August 2nd. We're at the 19th August now and he's still at Leeds and while it seems clear they want to move him on there doesn't seem to be an out for him that suits so he's just stuck in a kind of limbo.

You saw the Ben Woodburn thing with Hearts where they seemed to have something in place but now Klopp's put a pause on it.

Don't know if anyone's a regular reader of the New York Times but there's some chat from Burrows in this article.

f**k the Tories, f**k Brexit etc.

Edited August 19, 2021 by capt_oats

[rowsdower]

Typical Motherwell, bleating to the New York Times when things don't go our way. 

[ropy]

I have only just realised that because we are massive we are going to do the rest of our business after 9pm on the 31st.

[Well Well]

23 minutes ago, capt_oats said:

I think this is a problem that a lot of teams are having (not midfielders but transfers in general) for whatever reason Tory Brexit, Pandemic whatever, it seems like the market is slow at the moment and we're in a position where there's only so much that the club can do and it's kind of out their hands when transfers complete.

I've no idea who we're in for or who we're not but to take Robbie Gotts as an example, who we have been linked with, the first mention from Nixon was 8th August, the good brother @Casagolda had mentioned it was a name that had been floating around back on August 2nd. We're at the 19th August now and he's still at Leeds and while it seems clear they want to move him on there doesn't seem to be an out for him that suits.

You saw the Ben Woodburn thing with Hearts where they seemed to have something in place but now Klopp's put a pause on it.

Don't know if anyone's a regular reader of the New York Times but there's some chat from Burrows in this article.

f**k the Tories, f**k Brexit etc.

Thats actually really interesting. I didnt realise how many hoops the club went through trying to sign players

[well fan for life]

I really enjoy Rory Smith's stuff. His writing is great and Set Piece Menu is one of the best football podcasts going. However I definitely wasn't expecting a deep dive into Motherwell's transfer dealings from him.

Also f**k the tories.

[Ron Aldo]

I have only just realised that because we are massive we are going to do the rest of our business after 9pm on the 31st.

Gotts and Feghouli will be sitting in their cars outside the Phil O'Donnell stand desperate to sign for us.

[Yorky]

3 hours ago, Allroy for Prez said:

Just over a week till the window shuts and we’re still at about 3/4 players of decent quality short of where we need to be.

We were told to be patient as we were chasing targets that would take a bit longer to get in.

Barring a sudden influx that strategy looks likes it falling on it’s arse and we have effectively/potentially sacrificed the opening games going with what we had whilst we put the team together.

If the window shuts and we still have the worst midfield anyone can remember then folk (ie me!) are going to go mental.

I’m guessing we were chasing a few that ended up signing for other clubs, better players will have other options. I’d honestly still prefer going down this route than just signing any old rubbish no one else wants but it comes with risks. Maybe we get lucky in the last week but it’s looking increasingly likely we are going to have to go with pretty much what we have.

[capt_oats]

50 minutes ago, Yorky said:

I’m guessing we were chasing a few that ended up signing for other clubs, better players will have other options. I’d honestly still prefer going down this route than just signing any old rubbish no one else wants but it comes with risks. Maybe we get lucky in the last week but it’s looking increasingly likely we are going to have to go with pretty much what we have.

I'd imagine that's true and would be true of any other window regardless of "strategy".

What feels a bit more high risk is in a circumstance like Gotts, to use him as an example (i've no idea if there's anything in the link with him but it's a good illustration of a point). That seems to be what we're leaning into more with the whole slowly, slowly catchy monkey approach.

If we're sitting tight waiting on players/clubs to make decisions, as seems to be the case with Gotts...Leeds by all accounts want shot of him one way or another and if reports are to be believed he has clubs interested in him then you're hoping that we have other options in play if it goes sideways and he ends up choosing say, Salford rather than us.

It doesn't really fly to just go "ach well, we've waited a month for a player that we've targeted but he's fucked off to join Gary Neville's side...we'll just run with what we have".

Not specific to Motherwell but it definitely feels like the entire market below a certain level is a collection of clubs just looking at each other waiting on other clubs to do something.

[Yorky]

7 hours ago, capt_oats said:

I'd imagine that's true and would be true of any other window regardless of "strategy".

What feels a bit more high risk is in a circumstance like Gotts, to use him as an example (i've no idea if there's anything in the link with him but it's a good illustration of a point). That seems to be what we're leaning into more with the whole slowly, slowly catchy monkey approach.

If we're sitting tight waiting on players/clubs to make decisions, as seems to be the case with Gotts...Leeds by all accounts want shot of him one way or another and if reports are to be believed he has clubs interested in him then you're hoping that we have other options in play if it goes sideways and he ends up choosing say, Salford rather than us.

It doesn't really fly to just go "ach well, we've waited a month for a player that we've targeted but he's fucked off to join Gary Neville's side...we'll just run with what we have".

Not specific to Motherwell but it definitely feels like the entire market below a certain level is a collection of clubs just looking at each other waiting on other clubs to do something.

I think that’s exactly what’s happening and a number of clubs in Scotland are looking at the same players. Holding out for their first/Second choice players while their third/forth choices get sick of waiting and sign for someone else. I doubt we have any back up plan other than looking at whoever else is still available.

[welldaft]

Well it has been 3 weeks since Ojala signed. So one thing is for sure. We are taking our time and / or we are missing out.

Part of me is anxious as we don’t have a settled 11 or even 12,13,14…We are still needing 2-3 starters imho in a few key positions especially midfield. 

From the outside looking in it does appear as if we have paid some money for Kelly, Slattery and Ojala. So it does look like we are loosening the purse strings a little. But I am also hoping that we are not going too far. So if we cannot afford the Norwegian beefcake then so be it. 

Looks like Jimmie Scott is off to Hibs for the season. They do like an ex Motherwell winger.

Edited August 20, 2021 by welldaft

[Allroy for Prez]

11 hours ago, Yorky said:

I’m guessing we were chasing a few that ended up signing for other clubs, better players will have other options. I’d honestly still prefer going down this route than just signing any old rubbish no one else wants but it comes with risks. Maybe we get lucky in the last week but it’s looking increasingly likely we are going to have to go with pretty much what we have.

I understand that recruitment in the pond we fish is never easy, but we can’t go with what we have, the midfield in particular just isn’t going to be good enough to win games. 

['WellDel]

We've known of the shift in recruitment policy for a while now and the extra time the club said this new approach would involve, and that's fair enough. You can also add to that the info from the various press pieces over the past couple of days and see the difficulties facing not just us, but scottish football as a whole due to the pandemic, brexit making work permits/visas harder to obtain etc.

I strongly suspect a couple of new faces will still arrive before the window closes, but in the immediate term, picking up a few points is imperative in the next two games. One point from two tough opening fixtures vs Hibs and St J is probably realistic enough to most, and although the Spaghettihad is rarely a happy hunting ground it is not unreasonable to hope for 4/6 in the next two games there and at home to Dundee (with Aberdeen and Rangers two very tough tests up after that). I'm in no way convinced that what we currently have available will deliver that though, and to be sitting after the first half dozen games with potentially only a point or two on the board is looking like a depressing yet real possibility.

[stu92]

It's a bit of a catch 22 situation.

We've clearly been targetting a higher calibre of player this year, and for any multitude of reasons it's taking an age either to get signings over the line or for them to fall through. Plan A may not always come to fruition, but I'd imagine that plans B, C and D are all also centred around targetting higher quality players? I doubt very much that there was no back-up plan for recruitment, the sheer number of trialists we've had in during pre-season would suggest we're not being lazy when it comes to finding players.

I fully agree with most that we're a few starters short of where we want to be, but I think I'd rather run with what we've got and bank the salary than get bodies in the door at the last minute for the sake of signing players. I'd rather go with Dean & Max than punt on Nolan & Ilic, etc.

[crazylegsjoe_mfc]

I don't think there's really any part of the field that we are low on numbers, however, I think in just about every area of the pitch we are low on quality. I fear we will sign 2 or 3 players which will add to the first part, without addressing the second. 

[capt_oats]

Ultimately the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

Even Burrows said, rather matter-of-factly, that we'd see if taking a different approach worked out when he was on the MFC Podcast and Alexander was talking to the press about "learning" about the difficulties of working in the Scottish market.

Ultimately you had some fans unhappy with us taking a punt on a grab bag of players in the hope that a few turned good and we'd just quickly write off the others and pretend they hadn't happened with the end result being a frankly obscene turnover of players. Then there were others completely affronted at the sheer number of trialists we had in at the start of this window...how very fucking dare we (the fact we only signed one or two on short term deals pretty much overlooked).

Now we're a point where we've brought 9 players in but the last signing was mid-July and there's heavy anxiety that we're not going to sign anyone else ever again. Which tbf is understandable given that on the face of it we look a few first team players short and the "real stuff" kicked off weeks ago.

One of my main concerns going into this window was the idea that given both have zero experience recruiting for this league Alexander and Daws might have underestimated the league vs the "quality" they were looking to bring in. So far Kelly is a fine enough signing as long as you swerve his Twitter and accept that while he's got a nice dug he's clearly a fucking idiot, if nothing else Ojala's CV is as solid as we could reasonably expect, Slattery seems fine, on the limited amount we've seen him Van Veen looks better than a Chris Long.

Most of those were done reasonably early.

What I'd guess the concern would be now is whether the players we bring in before the window closes have actually been worth the trade off of waiting until the end of August to bring them in (whoever they end up being). I guess that's entirely subjective and different people will have different expectations on that front.

If you believe Steelmen (I know, right?) we had a midfielder in as a trialist the other day and Burrows has said to his reply guys that we'll be making signings. So that's something.

Edit: Hmmmm.....

I look forward to people reading that as he's not sure if we'll sign anyone. 

Edited August 20, 2021 by capt_oats

[thisGRAEME]

56 minutes ago, capt_oats said:

Ultimately the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

Thank you.

[YassinMoutaouakil]

When the pudding is in a cream bowl, you have to look long.

[Kapowzer]

2 hours ago, capt_oats said:

So far Kelly is a fine enough signing as long as you swerve his Twitter and accept that while he's got a nice dug he's clearly a fucking idiot

Guessing his Covid coverage? The re-tweet about Texas has not aged well ..........