Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[welldaft]

55 minutes ago, Mr Hahn said:

He comes across as a good man who loves his football, however he doesn't know the league and am not convinced he's the personality that we need. Sunderland, although on a different scale for us, seemed to suffer from similar problems to us now. Some talented players but many of whom didn't want to be there and weren't giving their all for the club.

For me, our team just seems to need a major boot up the arse. I think we can all agree that at this point in time Lasley isn't the man. I don't know what Graeme Alexander is like personality-wise but I can't see him being the not-taking-any-nonsense type for lack of a better phrase. 

Of those four, my choice would be Tommy Wright, knows the league and suspect his managerial style is what we need at the moment. This appointment is all about staying in the league which unfortunately for the most part means making the best of what we have at the moment. There's a lot of underperforming talent in our squad who don't seem to be giving it their all and Tommy Wright for me comes across as a guy who could rectify that. 

 

I am on record saying I would be fine with Tommy Wright as Manager. Did well at a club in Scotland with similar resources. He has had time to reset and get his appetite back for management and the game. As an added plus it would annoy a few farmers in Perthshire...

But I Q if our squad only needs a rollocking and kick up the arse.  It looks as if two or three of our better players may move this window and hopefully two or three of our poorer players. So we also need someone who has experience and a knowledge of where we could get such talent to improve our squad at such short notice. Graham Alexander has a decent track record in management is incredibly experienced in terms of playing - nearly 900 senior games and 40 International caps. He would have contacts and knowledge of players that we could afford and could do a better job. 

To be honest I would be happy with either as our next manager. Q somebody nobody has spoken about or an outsider

 

[Gianfranco]

I’m leaning towards Alexander but either him or Tommy Wright would be fine.

[ZX1886]

14 minutes ago, Gianfranco said:

I’m leaning towards Alexander but either him or Tommy Wright would be fine.

I tend to agree. I think either would do a job for us. 
I have a bad feeling that we’re going to wake up to Motherwell’s Twitter posting this tomorrow though...

 

 

Edited January 5, 2021 by ZX1886

[one m in Motherwell]

Would Mo Ross really be the end of the world? Aye, he’s got a knack for winding folk up but anytime I’ve heard him interviewed he’s come across reasonably well.  Weirdly I would probably prefer him over Las.  

Ultimately both are too close to the old ‘regime’ to give us the clean start we need - albeit at this stage in the season it’s staying up at all costs rather than starting to build anything.

Some earlier posters have rightly questioned the model  and whether it needs a bit of adjustment - question is, are any of the potential folk being talked about compatible with that?  It’s been highly talked up over the past few years and I can’t really see someone like Tommy Wright (capable as he is at this level) being the right person to drive that forward...

[Ron Aldo]

Maurice Ross gives me massive Steven Pressley vibes - he seems to talk a good game and looks the part but I get the impression he would just wind folk up and wouldn't turn out to be a particularly good manager.

That's just my opinion. He could be a fantastic manager but I'd rather his first opportunity to show it isn't with us given the position we're currently in.

[YassinMoutaouakil]

Aye I'm not saying I want it to happen nor is it particularly likely but Ross always comes across pretty sharp and well spoken to me. He fills me with much less fear than Lasley.

Surely it's going to be Wright though?

[steelmen]

I just can’t get behind Wright. As much as I would be happyish if Lasley had taken over in the summer of Robinson had gotten the NI job, for me it’s a hard no just now. This squad needs someone fresh to come in.
Wouldn’t mind Alexander, he seemed decent enough with Salford. Not his fault the owners have very unrealistic expectations.
Grayson seems like a good guy but Sunderland were awful under him and he looked clueless

Granted my opinion of Alexander and Grayson are based entirely on TV programs.

[capt_oats]

I noticed that Alexander has had the same assistant when he was at Fleetwood, Scunthorpe and Salford, (Chris Lucketti for the 90s Champ Man heads). I wonder if it'd be prohibitive if he wanted to bring his own guy in given we've a pretty settled backroom staff at the club.

Did Wright have his own coaching staff that he leaned on at St Johnstone? Well, that he'd want to bring in anyway? Or would it simply be a case of "sure, when do I start?"

Dunno, it feels like given everything that's going on Wright is the guy we should give the job to but Alexander is the type that we'd like to. Alexander's playing history and the fact he's been operating in the leagues we do a lot of our recruitment along with the fact that he's a relatively younger coach seems like it'd play well in an interview for us.

Alternatively it'd be interesting to see how Wright got on given our infrastructure seems to have a lot of the elements he used to have a wee moan about not having when he was at St Johnstone (in terms of scouting and recruitment and what not, to be clear I don't mean a moan about us specifically).

Edited January 5, 2021 by capt_oats

[Desp]

17 minutes ago, capt_oats said:

Dunno, it feels like given everything that's going on Wright is the guy we should give the job to but Alexander is the type that we'd like to. 

I think this is pretty much spot on. If we were making this appointment at the end of May, Alexander seems like the type of guy we'd go for. 

Considering it's January and we're in the shit, Tommy Wright seems like a very logical choice. 

[Ron Aldo]

Joey Barton was sacked by Fleetwood earlier today.

Let me be the first to say #welcomejoey

[RandomGuy.]

19 minutes ago, capt_oats said:

Did Wright have his own coaching staff that he leaned on at St Johnstone? Well, that he'd want to bring in anyway? Or would it simply be a case of "sure, when do I start?"

Alternatively it'd be interesting to see how Wright got on given our infrastructure seems to have a lot of the elements he used to have a wee moan about not having when he was at St Johnstone (in terms of scouting and recruitment and what not, to be clear I don't mean a moan about us specifically).

As far as I remember he didn't bring anyone with him when he started from previous jobs. Callum Davidson and Alec Cleland were his coaches. Alan Maybury appeared, then disappeared, after Davidson left. Obviously Davidson in a job (for now), and Cleland is part of the bricks at McDiarmid. No idea about Maybury but doubt he'd make a big push for him, so he'd likely be happy to work with Lasley etc.

I'd be a bit cautious about believing anything TW moaned about, as I genuinely think he literally moaned about everything during his time with us, before retracting it after he got what he wanted. Hes unfairly painted as a "dinosaur", but by all accounts he'll be more than happy to be involved in any statistical scouting, especially with your new link up, He wasn't able to do that with us since our scouting department consists of a notepad with Allan Prestons name and number next to a dial up phone, so people think its not something he likes.

[one m in Motherwell]

I think that’s my view on it too.  
 

Wright is very much the continuity candidate inasmuch as he has sound knowledge of the league and would presumably have us well drilled and at least hard to play against.

On the other hand Alexander is more in keeping with what we would typically look for - a bit of a left-field name but with experience operating in (you’d assume) a pretty constrained scouting and transfer setup.  

However, I still think it’ll be Wright - if we were making this decision in the close season then it may be a different call but I can see the board being pretty cautious given where we are.

 

EDIT - thanks to @Desp for being far more concise than me!

Edited January 5, 2021 by one m in Motherwell

[capt_oats]

6 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

As far as I remember he didn't bring anyone with him when he started from previous jobs. Callum Davidson and Alec Cleland were his coaches. Alan Maybury appeared, then disappeared, after Davidson left. Obviously Davidson in a job (for now), and Cleland is part of the bricks at McDiarmid. No idea about Maybury but doubt he'd make a big push for him, so he'd likely be happy to work with Lasley etc.

I'd be a bit cautious about believing anything TW moaned about, as I genuinely think he literally moaned about everything during his time with us, before retracting it after he got what he wanted. Hes unfairly painted as a "dinosaur", but by all accounts he'll be more than happy to be involved in any statistical scouting, especially with your new link up, He wasn't able to do that with us since our scouting department consists of a notepad with Allan Prestons name and number next to a dial up phone, so people think its not something he likes.

Aye, I wasn't having a dig at TW - it was a genuine point in so much as that side of things is clearly something we've leaned into and as you say St Johnstone's approach was/is shall we say different.

Burrows seems a more genial sort of GM to get on with as well which would be interesting considering the whole fall out with Robertson.

Edited January 5, 2021 by capt_oats

[RandomGuy.]

Just now, capt_oats said:

Aye, I wasn't having a dig at TW - it was a genuine point in so much as that side of things is clearly something we've leaned into and as you say St Johnstone's approach was/is shall we say different.

Burrows seems a more genial sort of GM to get on with as well which would be interesting considering the whole fall out with Robertson.

Yeah I didn't mean to suggest you were, it was more for the inevitable flood of "DINOSAUR TOMMY" shite that'll start floating down the river if hes hired. I doubt you'll ever hear him mentioning xG but he definitely examines it, his chat after signing Stevie May was absolutely riddled with references to it. By all accounts hes into all that stuff quite heavily.

He was always quite into bringing young players in and developing them too (Marcus Maddison/Gwion Edwards good examples, with differing levels of success for us), which makes it bit weird to see people suggesting he wouldnt fit your "model". I imagine actually being able to properly scout players will increase his success rate, rather than the pathetic shit we offered him.

I think he enjoyed the fight with Steve Brown tbh, so Burrows might be in for some fun. Hes very much someone who will just continuously push for improvement on and off the pitch. I can't comment on the Robertson stuff, I'm not totally convinced she had as big a part to play in his departure as others do tbh. 

[capt_oats]

23 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

He was always quite into bringing young players in and developing them too (Marcus Maddison/Gwion Edwards good examples, with differing levels of success for us), which makes it bit weird to see people suggesting he wouldnt fit your "model". I imagine actually being able to properly scout players will increase his success rate, rather than the pathetic shit we offered him.

I think the point about the model is less about developing the young players and more how he'd deal with them being sold on regularly. I'll not lie when I think of a TW side it's guys like Davidson and Craig who were signed and have been there for years.

Our current longest serving player (I think) is Allan Campbell (though maybe not for much longer if the Millwall and Stoke rumours are true).

I can't remember who it was made the point about Kerr, McCann etc that's absolutely fine they're very good players developed by the club but I guess it's the fact that they're still there is the difference. We got 41 games out of Turnbull, 42 from Scott, 52 from Kipré, McKinstry and McAlear as others have pointed out didn't even make a first team appearance before they were picked up by Championship sides.

I could be wildly out but the impression I always had was that the core of TW's sides were pretty constant. With us you're seeing significant player turnover every couple of seasons.

Edited January 5, 2021 by capt_oats

[RandomGuy.]

1 minute ago, capt_oats said:

I think the point about the model is less about developing the young players and more how he'd deal with them being sold on regularly. I'll not lie when I think of a TW side it's guys like Davidson and Craig who be signed and have been there for years.

Our currently longest serving player (I think) is Allan Campbell (though maybe not for much longer if the Millwall and Stoke rumours are true).

I can't remember who it was made the point about Kerr, McCann etc that's absolutely fine they're very good players developed by the club but I guess it's the fact that they're still at the club that's the difference we got 41 games out of Turnbull, 42 from Scott, 52 from Kipré, McKinstry and McAlear as others have pointed out didn't even make a first team appearance before they were picked up by Championship sides.

I could be wildly out but the impression I always had was that the core of TW's sides were pretty constant with us you're seeing player significant player turnover every couple of seasons.

Ah, fair enough. 

Doubt we ever lost as many players as you in one go, but he was able to cope with losing players. We lost key players but still performed. He lost May after one season then got Brian Graham banging in goals for one season, then Graham Cummins the season after that, so hints he can replace players in back to back campaigns.

Again though, our scouting gives it all a caveat, as why try and replace these players when you're having to find players yourself and they're performing well? Not sure his reliance on players long term, and resigning players, was down to desire, more a lack of alternatives.

[YassinMoutaouakil]

I reckon there'll be a fucking riot if they appoint Grayson. Not that I don't rate him and tbh he probably has the most impressive resume of the 4 but from what I've seen most people are beginning to firmly entrench themselves in either the Alexander, Lasley or Wright camps.

[0Neils40yarder]

3 minutes ago, YassinMoutaouakil said:

I reckon there'll be a fucking riot if they appoint Grayson. Not that I don't rate him and tbh he probably has the most impressive resume of the 4 but from what I've seen most people are beginning to firmly entrench themselves in either the Alexander, Lasley or Wright camps.

I've not really seen many want to give it to Lasley now to be honest...it looks like a 2-horse race to me

[YassinMoutaouakil]

1 minute ago, 0Neils40yarder said:

I've not really seen many want to give it to Lasley now to be honest...it looks like a 2-horse race to me

I've seen a few but yeah, he's not for me. If we were in a situation where Robinson had left in February or March and we were more or less safe I could see the logic in giving Lasley/Ross a few months to stake a claim but it's really not the right time right now.

[Archie McSquackle]

I have to agree with most of the recent posts. I'd be happy enough with Wright to try and get us out this mess but if it was a summer appointment I'd probably prefer Alexander. Lasley would be way down my list and I'd go for Ross before him if we were promoting from within.