Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[dezz]

On 26/08/2023 at 14:12, dezz said:

Apparently we’re leading the race for ‘one of Europe’s best young strikers’… [Leanne Dempster, 2019). 

The first time I’ve ever been ‘ITK’! Class.  Might start a Patreon. 

[welldaft]

I would be perfectly happy with Oli Shaw. At least I/we know who he is. Played for Ketts at Ross County which is where any connection would be. 

Barnsley also paid a fee to Kilmarnock for him if I recall.  His goalscoring record is OK. Had a purple patch for Killie in the Championship. Scored almost 1 goal in every 2 games (played almost 30 games). Albeit at a lower level than the top flight. 

 

[YassinMoutaouakil]

2 minutes ago, capt_oats said:

To me, we need 2 strikers in the door anyway so when Shaw was mentioned last week along with Fletcher it seemed...fine? as the other guy.

I mean, I wouldn't be expecting him to turn our season round or anything but equally, given where we are, with 3 of our 4 strikers maimed it's a pretty limited market we're shopping in.

Bair distracting defenders while Shaw runs on to through balls from Spitts/Slatts/Mills. I can sort of see the vision.

[capt_oats]

6 minutes ago, YassinMoutaouakil said:

Bair distracting defenders while Shaw runs on to through balls from Spitts/Slatts/Mills. I can sort of see the vision.

He's over 6ft too so that checks a Kettlewell box.

https://www.barnsleyfc.co.uk/teams/first-team/forward/oli-shaw/

Edited August 30, 2023 by capt_oats

[Handsome_Devil]

Shaw strikes me as a good Championship level striker but someone who hasn't quite made it in the top-flight.

If we can coach/motivate/build a rainbow for him to bridge that gap, we'll probably have a player. If we can't, we won't.

Which is where most of our signings are really.

As for Fletcher, if he was eager to play football for us, great. If he's not, I wouldn't be wasting a lot of effort (and certainly not money) persuading him.

[welldaft]

3 hours ago, Handsome_Devil said:

Shaw strikes me as a good Championship level striker but someone who hasn't quite made it in the top-flight.

If we can coach/motivate/build a rainbow for him to bridge that gap, we'll probably have a player. If we can't, we won't.

Which is where most of our signings are really.

As for Fletcher, if he was eager to play football for us, great. If he's not, I wouldn't be wasting a lot of effort (and certainly not money) persuading him.

Don’t know why but I think if Oli signs he will do well for us. Probably jinxed it now but I think he would be a good fit. Knows the Manager and knows the league. Already half way to fitting in.

Agree re Fletcher. I wanted him to sign but actually weighing up the two options I would opt for Oli simply as he is younger and has most of his career ahead of him. I can understand Fletcher holding out to see if he can get a longer deal. No problem with that. That said I am sure we would have sold a 6 month deal on the basis he does well we would offer to extend. Maybe that is not the case. Who knows…wonder where he will end up. 

Let’s see if we only have the 1 coming in today and if there are any outs also. 

Quick word about Spencer Brodie. See he is in the Record today. I may have missed it but I did not see many comments on his debut. I thought he did exceptionally well given he only joined a couple of days before. He looks like he will be a very decent addition

[thisGRAEME]

I would much rather have Fletcher than Shaw, fwiw. 

[dezz]

Oli Shaw seems like a sensible, fairly low risk move considering our situation. He knows the league, we know he's broadly capable of performing at this level, and he gives us a bit more guile and mobility than big Thelonius. Imagine it'll be an initial 6 month deal until we know what the script is with Mika, Wilkinson and Obika. 

Hope we are still in the market for another forward, a LWB, and possibly another midfielder because if Spittal picks up an injury we've not got anyone capable of playing that advanced midfielder role anywhere near as well as him. 

[MP_MFC]

Oli Shaw's history is slightly better than Connor Shields. That's about all I can say for him. 

I'd rather take a punt on Fletcher (McDonald never needed a pre season) who is proven at this level.

[Swello]

In the aftermath of Saturday, I'd convinced myself that Fletcher would be brilliant in that 2nd half system - so I'm disappointed that he'll apparently be off elsewhere (no doubt in the Free Agent Panic Buy market after the window shuts). 

On pre-season - I was interested that Max Johnston (a guy obviously at the other end of his career) effectively did pre-season with a specialist gym (it was in one of the 200 agent-planted stories about him at the time) - so because a player isn't attached to a club it doesn't mean that he's sitting at home in his pants eating Lamb Pathia for lunch. (the Scott McDonald theory where experienced players don't need to be running round traffic cones for a fortnight in June could also be true).

[Desp]

5 minutes ago, Swello said:

he's sitting at home in his pants eating Lamb Pathia for lunch. 

Genuinely frightening how you've just described what I'll be doing circa 1pm today.

[Casagolda]

Fletcher would’ve been ideal but I was sceptical about it actually happening.

He doesn’t need the money and if we couldn’t offer enough to entice him to join 2 months ago, I don’t see what’s suddenly changed. I know we’re probably more desperate now but unless someone was putting their hand in their pocket to fund the signing, then I doubt it would we would have enough to entice Fletcher off the golf course. 

As for Shaw, he’s scored 47 goals in 157 games for Hibs, Ross County and Killie. I would have obviously preferred Fletcher but at least he’s shown enough to suggest he could do us a turn over the next 6 months. 

Like I’m not sure what folk were expecting to be left kicking about in the last days of the window, willing to come to Motherwell for Ricki Lamie’s wages but I reckon this is about the best we could probably hope for in the current circumstances. 

[thisGRAEME]

10 minutes ago, Casagolda said:

As for Shaw, he’s scored 47 goals in 157 games for Hibs, Ross County and Killie. I would have obviously preferred Fletcher but at least he’s shown enough to suggest he could do us a turn over the next 6 months. 

While I think he's definitely got something about him, it is worth noting that ratio drops quite dramatically when looking at Premiership goals, taking him to 16 in 87.

Is he a better footballer than Bair? Probably. As a stop gap, we could do worse, but I'd temper expectations, tbh. The only time he's been faintly prolific was in the Championship.

[capt_oats]

Wait...Tommy Wright's the NI u21s manager?

[joewarkfanclub]

If I was Fletcher, Im not sure I would be enticed by a 6 month deal.

That smacks of us only needing him until Biereth, Wilko and Obika are fit again and we can get him off the wage bill.

Of course its probably a lot more complicated than that, but I wouldnt want to have to be finding another club half way through the season at that age.

[thisGRAEME]

Just now, capt_oats said:

Wait...Tommy Wright's the NI u21s manager?

It was after he got Kilmarnock relegated, then was failing to get them promoted, but was definitely the right choice when we didn't appoint him and various online Saints fans got very upset about not their manager. 

[crazylegsjoe_mfc]

43 minutes ago, thisGRAEME said:

While I think he's definitely got something about him, it is worth noting that ratio drops quite dramatically when looking at Premiership goals, taking him to 16 in 87.

Is he a better footballer than Bair? Probably. As a stop gap, we could do worse, but I'd temper expectations, tbh. The only time he's been faintly prolific was in the Championship.

I always think for a striker of his age, minutes and starts are important for context rather than just appearances.

Sure a goal every five and a half games isn't something to get off your seat about (16 in 87), but a goal every three starts (16 in 50) certainly puts a different complexion on it. A goal every 235 minutes (16 in 3770) looks even more promising.

I'm not saying he's going to come in here and score 10 - 15 goals, 4 or 5 till we get others fit will do, but I do think for a lot of those appearances probably being 10 or 15 minutes as a sub, it's unfair to judge him on that return.

[YassinMoutaouakil]

Imagine your national u21 manager not even wearing skinny jeans?

[Archie McSquackle]

For all the talk of 6 month deals, I reality are they not only going to be 4 months so they're available in January?

Personally, even if he's not scoring, I think Fletcher would fit in well in terms of hold-up play and linking with the midfield. Less convinced by Shaw.

[Handsome_Devil]

5 minutes ago, Archie McSquackle said:

For all the talk of 6 month deals, I reality are they not only going to be 4 months so they're available in January?

Personally, even if he's not scoring, I think Fletcher would fit in well in terms of hold-up play and linking with the midfield. Less convinced by Shaw.

That's certainly the main attraction of Fletcher and I can understand why wants a deal to next summer.

But at the same time, if he really had the motivation to do something special in his possibly/probably last season, he'd had have signed early rather than sitting around eating pakora in his pants or being in the gym on his tod. 

Signing someone his age for a fair bit of cash is one thing if you're convinced they're up for it, if you've really had to persuade them to come...nah.