Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[crazylegsjoe_mfc]

I think in terms of our defence, I would offer SOD & McGinn new deals and let Mugabi & Butcher go in what I'd consider to be the right balance between "better the devil you know" and trying to better a problem area from this season. I think McGinn and SOD are both versatile senior pros, which is handy in our system. I actually think that most of our centre backs would've been fine with a commanding leader and presence in the middle this season and with that being where Butcher and Mugabi primarily play, I think that offers us the chance to improve that. I'd love to keep Gent on the left but part of me does think that he, like many others, will use his stock rising up here as a vehicle to get himself a move closer to home.

[ropy]

We have a tried and tested spiel for requesting wingbacks from English academies, we can show our workings, no reason not to believe we will have someone new next season.

[YassinMoutaouakil]

It's probably the right decision but I can't really imagine us without Bevis.

[AnderooMFC]

38 minutes ago, YassinMoutaouakil said:

It's probably the right decision but I can't really imagine us without Bevis.

Someone asked a few pages ago who's been with us longest. According to Transfermarkt Barry Maguire (remember him?) signed the earliest. They have it as July 2019 which I'm guessing might just be when he turned pro? Not sure how it works with that.
Apart from him, Bevis is our second longest; joined in September 2019. SODS is third, August 2020, then Kelly and Slattery both July 2021.

[well again]

4 hours ago, AnderooMFC said:

Someone asked a few pages ago who's been with us longest. According to Transfermarkt Barry Maguire (remember him?) signed the earliest. They have it as July 2019 which I'm guessing might just be when he turned pro? Not sure how it works with that.
Apart from him, Bevis is our second longest; joined in September 2019. SODS is third, August 2020, then Kelly and Slattery both July 2021.

Barry McGuire has been with us since 2014 ,, he came through the academy.

[crazylegsjoe_mfc]

5 hours ago, AnderooMFC said:

Someone asked a few pages ago who's been with us longest. According to Transfermarkt Barry Maguire (remember him?) signed the earliest. They have it as July 2019 which I'm guessing might just be when he turned pro? Not sure how it works with that.
Apart from him, Bevis is our second longest; joined in September 2019. SODS is third, August 2020, then Kelly and Slattery both July 2021.

Maguire made his debut in April 2018, I think the week directly before the Scottish Cup semi where we beat Aberdeen 3-0. Remarkably, he's made an appearance in 7 different seasons for us. You would imagine that would come to an end this summer.

It's surprising to see Slattery so high up that list. I think he will stay with us, at least in the short term due to his injury, but prior to that I had thought that this summer might have been a mutually beneficial time for him to go. Don't get me wrong, there's absolutely a player in there, but he's just as capable of an absolute stinker as he is a good game and given it seems like we bought him with the intention to sell, I do wonder if the wages v output ratio is worth it.

[well fan for life]

My overarching memory of Maguire is that game St Johnstone cuffed us 5-1 while he played at centre back. Looked like he'd never played fitba before. 

Then he managed to win new deals by hitting corners with both feet which appeared to only impress Jock Brown during the Covid years. This should not be taken into consideration for his future as the Covid years are not a canon event. 

[thisGRAEME]

1 hour ago, well fan for life said:

My overarching memory of Maguire is that game St Johnstone cuffed us 5-1 while he played at centre back. Looked like he'd never played fitba before. 

I'll never forget him playing in central midfield and Zidane turning some St. Mirren jobber, and convincing myself he'd be brilliant. 

[well again]

34 minutes ago, thisGRAEME said:

I'll never forget him playing in central midfield and Zidane turning some St. Mirren jobber, and convincing myself he'd be brilliant. 

He played mainly centre back in the youth team that craigan coached and he was quite good then , but it just proves that not all players improve as they get older.

[crazylegsjoe_mfc]

The most memorable thing about Barry Maguire for me is how unmemorable most of his appearances were - rarely see anything good or bad from him.

Him taking corners also did annoy me - if you are 6ft+ and you are taking corners you need to be class at them, IMO. He wasn't.

[Vietnam91]

3 hours ago, crazylegsjoe_mfc said:

Maguire made his debut in April 2018, I think the week directly before the Scottish Cup semi where we beat Aberdeen 3-0. Remarkably, he's made an appearance in 7 different seasons for us. You would imagine that would come to an end this summer.

What's remarkable is how he's managed to draw a salary from a premier league team for 7 (seven) years. I get the first few were down to his physical size and seemingly having everything needed to progress in the game (and no doubt being cheap as a graduate) but a slew of managers have extended him all being sold on the "he's gotta turn good, I mean he has to .... right?" carrot. Think of how many others have been listed over those years in the annual GTF announcement we make the Tuesday after game 38 and are now at Broomhill and EK because that's their level. He's lived a charmed life in C&A.

As for Slattery, I'm sure someone mentioned way back he has a Grealish vibe about him, trying to draw fouls when staying on his feet would be more useful. Rather than beating a man, he turns back into trouble so often its infuriating and falls on top of the ball killing the flow any momentum. It's annoying as you say Joe there's definitely a player there, just decision making in a number of aspects is way off.

I have hopes that Kettlewell's summer pixie dusty sprinkle can make Davor spray passes about like Iniesta.

Edited April 15 by Vietnam91

[capt_oats]

1 hour ago, thisGRAEME said:

I'll never forget him playing in central midfield and Zidane turning some St. Mirren jobber, and convincing myself he'd be brilliant. 

I think this is kind of it with Maguire. You can see why we kept him around to see how it played out.

He's a good size, is technically good, two footed (of course) and is fucking brilliant at bleep tests. He has enough tools that you could buy into but as @crazylegsjoe_mfc says he just seems to lack that something that would let him put a stamp on games that others of his cohort (Turnbull, Campbell, Cadden et al) seemed to have.

People got bent out of shape when we were signing jobbers from the lower leagues in England, I can't really criticise for giving an academy player a run as he's probably one of the fairly rare instances of graduate whose ceiling could simply have been our first team.

[thisGRAEME]

29 minutes ago, capt_oats said:

People got bent out of shape when we were signing jobbers from the lower leagues in England, I can't really criticise for giving an academy player a run as he's probably one of the fairly rare instances of graduate whose ceiling could simply have been our first team.

With the chat around 2/3 of what will be our longest serving players potentially leaving, we could really do with someone that's exactly this.

[eliphas]

Maguire I think wasn't helped by the fact he got stuck into all the promo videos and content with Turnbull, Hastie and Campbell when it was, even back then, quite clear he wasn't on the same level as any of them (Hastie...I know, I know hasn't panned out well). 

Robinson, I think, was the one who tried to convert him from defender to midfielder, and I reckon that also probably didn't help his development long term as he kind of got lost a bit position wise. Want good enough really for either position.

Always thought he was a useful squad player to fill a gap, but not much more than that, which is probably why he has managed to hang around. Time for a new start somewhere else though.

[capt_oats]

11 minutes ago, eliphas said:

Maguire I think wasn't helped by the fact he got stuck into all the promo videos and content with Turnbull, Hastie and Campbell when it was, even back then, quite clear he wasn't on the same level as any of them (Hastie...I know, I know hasn't panned out well). 

Robinson, I think, was the one who tried to convert him from defender to midfielder, and I reckon that also probably didn't help his development long term as he kind of got lost a bit position wise. Want good enough really for either position.

Always thought he was a useful squad player to fill a gap, but not much more than that, which is probably why he has managed to hang around. Time for a new start somewhere else though.

IIRC he actually joined the club as a midfielder but was converted to a defender by the time he was turning out for the Dev team.

I think the St Johnstone 1-5 game @well fan for life mentions above was the point at which Robinson bailed on him as a viable centre back which is when they decided to repurpose him as the ML1 Busquets.

I mean, who did it better:

[well fan for life]

4 hours ago, thisGRAEME said:

I'll never forget him playing in central midfield and Zidane turning some St. Mirren jobber, and convincing myself he'd be brilliant. 

 

1 hour ago, capt_oats said:

IIRC he actually joined the club as a midfielder but was converted to a defender by the time he was turning out for the Dev team.

I think the St Johnstone 1-5 game @well fan for life mentions above was the point at which Robinson bailed on him as a viable centre back which is when they decided to repurpose him as the ML1 Busquets.

I mean, who did it better:

Again, the COVID years are not canon. 

However I think our perspectives were all fucked due to watching Robbie Crawford being left to play midfield through a stream that chucked it every 5 minutes. 

[Dosser1886]

2 hours ago, crazylegsjoe_mfc said:

The most memorable thing about Barry Maguire for me is how unmemorable most of his appearances were - rarely see anything good or bad from him.

Him taking corners also did annoy me - if you are 6ft+ and you are taking corners you need to be class at them, IMO. He wasn't.

Think he is firnly in the "hoped he would kick on, but never did" pile.

[crazylegsjoe_mfc]

23 minutes ago, well fan for life said:

Again, the COVID years are not canon. 

However I think our perspectives were all fucked due to watching Robbie Crawford being left to play midfield through a stream that chucked it every 5 minutes. 

I remember giving Grezza a fair bit of credit for shitfesting our way to safety easily when the likes of Maguire and Crawford made up two of his midfield three. It was the next season that it sadly dawned on me that it was actually his chosen style of play.

[StAndrew7]

14 minutes ago, crazylegsjoe_mfc said:

I remember giving Grezza a fair bit of credit for shitfesting our way to safety easily when the likes of Maguire and Crawford made up two of his midfield three. It was the next season that it sadly dawned on me that it was actually his chosen style of play.

I had legit forgotten about Crawford ever having played for us. COVID seasons were madness. 🫨

[Desp]

1 hour ago, well fan for life said:

 

Again, the COVID years are not canon. 

However I think our perspectives were all fucked due to watching Robbie Crawford being left to play midfield through a stream that chucked it every 5 minutes. 

Don't be disrespecting Sam Foley in this manner.