Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[capt_oats]

25 minutes ago, eliphas said:

Aye, I think I thought that too but I don't actually see anything when I look back

Noticed Blaney running in one of the pics so I guess that's a positive. 

Something I noticed a while back, I don't know if this is common practice or if it was just a mistake, there was a photo used in one of the training updates that was actually from the week before.

This one went up on August 10th but Arseblog had used the same image to announce the loan on August 3rd:

[Sortmeout]

On 26/08/2023 at 00:21, Black_and_White_Stripes said:

Ach, I'm only having a wee joke.

Seriously, as I said before - us, Killie and you are like sister clubs. Nothing but respect for your club and your fans. 

Looking forward to doing it all again in three weeks at your place! Shall we get the match thread started?  

Motherwell and Kilmarnock are far bigger clubs than St Mirren.

”sister clubs?”. St Mirren are more like a weirdo wee cousin for Kilmarnock and (I guess) Motherwell too.

[capt_oats]

20 hours ago, Handsome_Devil said:

With that in mind, you wonder if a contract extension is in the offing.

It's perhaps not a given how we got burned with Alexander. But as it stands, we already look ok for survival which is when thoughts turn to next season...

As much as the jury is out on SK's signings, steadying the ship this year is a triumph...and then he'll know he has a summer window ahead when he's not just putting out fires in the budget.

Mentioned this before but assuming Alexander had signed an initial deal through to the end of the 21/22 season (same as pretty much all the managers we've parachuted in mid-season) then the January extension felt like a reasonable point for him to get the new deal especially given our form for the calendar year 2021, whether it needed to be through to 2025 or not is a different story and the wheels clearly went flying off from that point on.

I guess the more obvious parallel is Robinson - he was made interim manager after McGhee was binned then got it permanently 15th March 2017 through to May 2018, we then gave him an extension on 13th October 2017 to the end of 2020 (the week before the LC semi-final against Rangers). He and Lasley got further extensions to 2022 on 18th July 2019 - a year before their existing deals were due to expire.

I mean, it broadly worked out but that first extension, an extra 2 years 7 months after he'd got the job, in hindsight, feels very much where we were at that point.

As far as Kettlewell goes I'd have thought that holding off until January and seeing where things stand would make sense for everyone.

I guess the next step for him/the club is extensions for players currently in the building that he'd want to keep around. He's already spoken publicly about us failing to get out in front of things in terms of of protecting out assets with Max Johnston, I'm pretty sure he's also spoken about wanting to get a sit down with Kelly about extending.

We've an absolute ton of players OOC in the summer (at least 21 by my count) and even setting aside the whole protecting assets side of things we should have a new deal on the table for Lennon Miller as he's a first team player now and should be weighed in as such.

Edited September 15, 2023 by capt_oats

[Black_and_White_Stripes]

51 minutes ago, Sortmeout said:

Motherwell and Kilmarnock are far bigger clubs than St Mirren.

”sister clubs?”. St Mirren are more like a weirdo wee cousin for Kilmarnock and (I guess) Motherwell too.

It'd be interesting to compare the clubs' size, perhaps using an objective criteria such as this:

 

 

Motherwell and Kilmarnock have bigger grounds, clearly. However, besides that I would say all three clubs are of a similar size. 

 

[joewarkfanclub]

38 minutes ago, Black_and_White_Stripes said:

It'd be interesting to compare the clubs' size, perhaps using an objective criteria such as this:

 

 

Motherwell and Kilmarnock have bigger grounds, clearly. However, besides that I would say all three clubs are of a similar size. 

 

If you are comparing fanbase, I think its perfectly reasonable to suggest that Motherwell, Kilmarnock and St Mirren are all similar sized clubs. If you factor in honours won, history within the Scottish game etc you can also make that argument, albeit St Mirren have never won the league title. In fact only 9 Scottish clubs have won all 3 trophies.

Celtic, Rangers, Aberdeen, Hearts, Hibs, Dundee, Dundee United, Kilmarnock, Motherwell.

You would have to say that the city clubs are all bigger in respect of fanbase and even clubs like Dundee and Dundee United who have had long spells out of the top tier are bigger clubs and historically have been more successful.

Looking down the way, even clubs which in the past could have been considered similar size such as St Johnstone, Partick Thistle, Dunfermline and Falkirk, never won the league And have even all fallen into the 3rd tier in recent times.

Not sure there is much in the debate other than bragging rights though. Its where you finish up at the end of each season that counts. 

 

[Busta Nut]

3 hours ago, capt_oats said:

 

This one went up on August 10th but Arseblog had used the same image to announce the loan on August 3rd:

 

Took me longer than it should to realise what the f**k arseblog actually was.

[capt_oats]

HBD Toby

Not OTD but that strip...

Edited September 15, 2023 by capt_oats

[Black_and_White_Stripes]

1 hour ago, joewarkfanclub said:

If you are comparing fanbase, I think its perfectly reasonable to suggest that Motherwell, Kilmarnock and St Mirren are all similar sized clubs. If you factor in honours won, history within the Scottish game etc you can also make that argument, albeit St Mirren have never won the league title. In fact only 9 Scottish clubs have won all 3 trophies.

Celtic, Rangers, Aberdeen, Hearts, Hibs, Dundee, Dundee United, Kilmarnock, Motherwell.

You would have to say that the city clubs are all bigger in respect of fanbase and even clubs like Dundee and Dundee United who have had long spells out of the top tier are bigger clubs and historically have been more successful.

Looking down the way, even clubs which in the past could have been considered similar size such as St Johnstone, Partick Thistle, Dunfermline and Falkirk, never won the league And have even all fallen into the 3rd tier in recent times.

Not sure there is much in the debate other than bragging rights though. Its where you finish up at the end of each season that counts. 

 

Interesting to consider each clubs' honours:

Kilmarnock had a great spell in the league in the 1960s: https://kilmarnockfc.co.uk/club/history/ and I would suggest are the most successful of the three. 

 

However, I would suggest there's not much between Motherwell and Saints:

Motherwell (from Wikipedia): The club have won four major trophies in domestic football: the Scottish League title in 1931–32, the Scottish Cup in 1951–52 and 1990–91, and the Scottish League Cup in 1950–51.

St. Mirren:  Scottish Cup: Winners (3): 1925–26, 1958–59, 1986–87.  Scottish League Cup: Winners (1): 2012–13.

 

In terms of support, I would suggest Kilmarnock have the edge, with 5,000+ season ticket holders, but there's not a great deal between the three. All three clubs are very similar: each is the dominant club from their respective historic county on the periphery of Glasgow (Lanarkshire, Ayrshire and Renfrewshire) and provides a decent alternative to the Old Firm*.

 

 

*which is why I cannae hate Killie or the Well.

[JamesP_81]

5 minutes ago, capt_oats said:

HBD Toby

Not OTD but that strip...

Not sure what my favourite bit of that clip is , VdG's goal or Gerry Britton getting flattened . 

['WellDel]

4 minutes ago, capt_oats said:

HBD Toby

Not OTD but that strip...

 That's a far more complimentary image than the one Bazooka Joe was afforded en route to his ultimate emptying. The bold Tobe's is obviously a decent lad (if not footballer) and there doesn't seem to be any internal campaign or Kettlewell manipulation to see him out the door. Happy birthday lad.

['WellDel]

4 minutes ago, JamesP_81 said:

Not sure what my favourite bit of that clip is , VdG's goal or Gerry Britton getting flattened . 

Big Mitch's goal is one of my favourites ever. What a bounce when that went.

I've always felt that Gerry Britton was only half 'joking' about hoofing the ball into the stand if McDonald's opportunities had fallen to him instead on Helicopter Sunday. I really think he would have 'mis-kicked' to give his big team the title rather than his employers the win. For that, I'm happy to see any footage of him getting fucked. One player I wish I'd never seen in the glorious C&A.

[CoF]

40 minutes ago, Black_and_White_Stripes said:

Interesting to consider each clubs' honours:

Kilmarnock had a great spell in the league in the 1960s: https://kilmarnockfc.co.uk/club/history/ and I would suggest are the most successful of the three. 

 

However, I would suggest there's not much between Motherwell and Saints:

Motherwell (from Wikipedia): The club have won four major trophies in domestic football: the Scottish League title in 1931–32, the Scottish Cup in 1951–52 and 1990–91, and the Scottish League Cup in 1950–51.

St. Mirren:  Scottish Cup: Winners (3): 1925–26, 1958–59, 1986–87.  Scottish League Cup: Winners (1): 2012–13.

 

In terms of support, I would suggest Kilmarnock have the edge, with 5,000+ season ticket holders, but there's not a great deal between the three. All three clubs are very similar: each is the dominant club from their respective historic county on the periphery of Glasgow (Lanarkshire, Ayrshire and Renfrewshire) and provides a decent alternative to the Old Firm*.

 

 

*which is why I cannae hate Killie or the Well.

 

Are 42 Ayrshire cups greater than, less than or equal to one Copa Del Ray though? That's the deciding factor. 

[Handsome_Devil]

37 minutes ago, Black_and_White_Stripes said:

Kilmarnock had a great spell in the league in the 1960s: https://kilmarnockfc.co.uk/club/history/ and I would suggest are the most successful of the three. 

I think comparing the relative size of the three is bald men fighting over a comb territory and like you I definitely have nothing against the other pair but there's virtually no metric which has Killie being more successful in the league than us. 

[capt_oats]

13 minutes ago, Handsome_Devil said:

I think comparing the relative size of the three is bald men fighting over a comb territory and like you I definitely have nothing against the other pair but there's virtually no metric which has Killie being more successful in the league than us. 

100% this btw.

Actual adult humans getting worked up about "who's bigger" is a heavy VL energy.

[welldaft]

57 minutes ago, Black_and_White_Stripes said:

Interesting to consider each clubs' honours:

Kilmarnock had a great spell in the league in the 1960s: https://kilmarnockfc.co.uk/club/history/ and I would suggest are the most successful of the three. 

 

However, I would suggest there's not much between Motherwell and Saints:

Motherwell (from Wikipedia): The club have won four major trophies in domestic football: the Scottish League title in 1931–32, the Scottish Cup in 1951–52 and 1990–91, and the Scottish League Cup in 1950–51.

St. Mirren:  Scottish Cup: Winners (3): 1925–26, 1958–59, 1986–87.  Scottish League Cup: Winners (1): 2012–13.

 

In terms of support, I would suggest Kilmarnock have the edge, with 5,000+ season ticket holders, but there's not a great deal between the three. All three clubs are very similar: each is the dominant club from their respective historic county on the periphery of Glasgow (Lanarkshire, Ayrshire and Renfrewshire) and provides a decent alternative to the Old Firm*.

 

 

*which is why I cannae hate Killie or the Well.

It is always quite amusing when looking at relative success you would choose to omit quite a few factors / stats that would lead to an alternative conclusion. 

I am not going into who is the bigger club because I agree all 3 are quite similar in terms of core and passive support. 

But the fact we are only 1 of 3 teams that have been in the top flight continuously for almost 40 years. The fact we have competed in Europe almost one in every two years for the last two decades. And the rather BIG fact that we have amassed or accumulated 1000 more top flight points than St Mirren and 800 more that Killie leads to a fairly decisive conclusion over which team has been more successful imho !

[YassinMoutaouakil]

f**k me are we due a St Mirren relegation 

Edited September 15, 2023 by YassinMoutaouakil

[Black_and_White_Stripes]

5 hours ago, Sortmeout said:

Motherwell and Kilmarnock are far bigger clubs than St Mirren.

”sister clubs?”. St Mirren are more like a weirdo wee cousin for Kilmarnock and (I guess) Motherwell too.

 

1 hour ago, Handsome_Devil said:

I think comparing the relative size of the three is bald men fighting over a comb territory and like you I definitely have nothing against the other pair but there's virtually no metric which has Killie being more successful in the league than us. 

 

1 hour ago, capt_oats said:

100% this btw.

Actual adult humans getting worked up about "who's bigger" is a heavy VL energy.

 

1 hour ago, welldaft said:

It is always quite amusing when looking at relative success you would choose to omit quite a few factors / stats that would lead to an alternative conclusion. 

I am not going into who is the bigger club because I agree all 3 are quite similar in terms of core and passive support. 

But the fact we are only 1 of 3 teams that have been in the top flight continuously for almost 40 years. The fact we have competed in Europe almost one in every two years for the last two decades. And the rather BIG fact that we have amassed or accumulated 1000 more top flight points than St Mirren and 800 more that Killie leads to a fairly decisive conclusion over which team has been more successful imho !

 

Folks, I was replying to @Sortmeout's post quoted above. I have said that we're 'sister clubs' of roughly equal stature. 

Anyway, I'm content to let the fitba do the talking tomorrow. 

[thisGRAEME]

2 hours ago, CoF said:

Are 42 Ayrshire cups greater than, less than or equal to one Copa Del Ray though? That's the deciding factor. 

On the basis that winning trophies against a side that's quite literally never won a trophy doesn't really feel like much of an achievement, I'd call the Copa del Rey a bigger deal.

[ropy]

2 hours ago, welldaft said:

It is always quite amusing when looking at relative success you would choose to omit quite a few factors / stats that would lead to an alternative conclusion. 

I am not going into who is the bigger club because I agree all 3 are quite similar in terms of core and passive support. 

But the fact we are only 1 of 3 teams that have been in the top flight continuously for almost 40 years. The fact we have competed in Europe almost one in every two years for the last two decades. And the rather BIG fact that we have amassed or accumulated 1000 more top flight points than St Mirren and 800 more that Killie leads to a fairly decisive conclusion over which team has been more successful imho !

It is an unfair comparison due to us being Massive.

[redstarcvedza]

An unchanged pie line up for tomorrow with star striker tikka chasni being ably supported by donner pakora...