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Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons


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24 minutes ago, capt_oats said:

There's a squad list thread but it's not pinned so it's slipped to page 2.

In total we've seen 5 players come back in and, by my count, 17 players who are either confirmed as having left, have been sold or are currently TBC.

We currently have a first team squad of 22 and even allowing for the clutch of injuries it's pretty clear that there needs to be some sort of trimming given we're 4 starters down from last season (Johnston, Furlong, Goss, KVV) and we need to recruit.

The plus point for me is that unlike some of the Robinson re-builds it feels like we're in a position where we're *only* looking to replace those 4 players who raised the level of the rest of the squad. (Easier said than done and all that).

As others have mentioned there are a pile of clubs in a similar position and there's been very little movement around the league apart from the likes of Dundee who, in fairness, only had 3 players contracted until recently.

The other thing that stands out to me is that of our peer group clubs there are precisely zero who have made any signings that I've looked at and thought "f**k, they'd have been a good fit for us".

Anyway, here's a big dull, boring list:

Returning players from loan:

  • Barry Maguire (Dundee)
  • Connor Shields (Queens Park)
  • Robbie Mahon (Dunfermline)

Re-signed players:

  • Jon Obika
  • Harry Paton

Loans expired:

  • Stuart McKinstry
  • James Furlong
  • Oli Crankshaw

Out

  • Kevin Van Veen (to FC Groningen)
  • Dean Cornelius (to Harrogate Town)

TBC OOC players:

  • Max Johnston
  • Dan Casey
  • Sean Goss
  • Mikael Mandron

Confirmed as left:

  • Jake Carroll
  • Logan Dunachie (signed for Clyde)
  • Daniel Hunter
  • Kian Spiers
  • Jack Aitchison
  • David Devine (signed for Alloa)
  • Corey O'Donnell (signed for Broomhill)

Released:

  • Josh Morris

Current first team squad:

Goalkeepers:
1. Liam Kelly (27) - 2024
13. Aston Oxborough (25) - 2024
31. Matty Connelly (20) - 2024

Defenders:
2. Stephen O'Donnell (31) - 2024
4. Ricki Lamie (29) - 2024
5. Bevis Mugabi (28) - 2024
16. Paul McGinn (32) - 2024
19. Nathan McGinley (26) - 2024
20. Shane Blaney (24) - 2025
23. Ewan Wilson (18) - 2024
25. Sam Campbell (18) - 2024
66. Calum Butcher (32) - 2024

Midfielders:
6. Barry Maguire (25) - 2024
7. Blair Spittal (27) - 2024
8. Callum Slattery (24) - 2024
12. Harry Paton (25) - 2025
26. Ross Tierney (22) - 2025
38. Lennon Miller (16) - 2025

Forwards:
9. Jon Obika (32) - 2024 + 1 year option
11. Joe Efford (26) - 2024
14. Riku Danzaki (23) - 2025
29. Connor Shields (25) - 2024

Thanks Capt. The 5 starters I alluded too included Casey. And with Butcher missing a couple of months at the start of the season then that is a worry. 

I do agree in that most non city clubs will be in a similar position. The likes of St Mirren clearly went above their normal budget last season, they admitted as much. It paid dividends in terms of top, but again I think they have admitted they cannot continue down that road. 

I wonder if we were in for Kyle Turner who has joined Ross County. I don’t know his position and skill set only that Thistle fans were openly stating that he would be the one player who they would miss the most and most difficult to replace. 

I look at that list of defenders and would probably only want to keep half of them 🤷‍♂️. Hey ho. Hopefully we can pull a rabbit out the bag….

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12 hours ago, welldaft said:

Thanks Capt. The 5 starters I alluded too included Casey. And with Butcher missing a couple of months at the start of the season then that is a worry. 

I do agree in that most non city clubs will be in a similar position. The likes of St Mirren clearly went above their normal budget last season, they admitted as much. It paid dividends in terms of top, but again I think they have admitted they cannot continue down that road. 

I wonder if we were in for Kyle Turner who has joined Ross County. I don’t know his position and skill set only that Thistle fans were openly stating that he would be the one player who they would miss the most and most difficult to replace. 

I look at that list of defenders and would probably only want to keep half of them 🤷‍♂️. Hey ho. Hopefully we can pull a rabbit out the bag….

I actually forgot about Casey. Oops. Well, it was more that we actually have an option for LCB in Blaney whereas those other positions we have question marks - although I suppose short term SOD slots in at RWB as he did at the tail end of the season.

From what I can tell Kyle Turner would fall into the "attacking midfielder" bracket which is an area I think it's fair to say we're over-subscribed between Spittal, Miller, Tierney, Danzaki and nominally Mahon.

Like, I wouldn't be surprised if we took a look but it feels like at the moment RWB, LWB, CM and CF are the key areas for us.

Edited by capt_oats
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1 minute ago, Thejackdaw said:

The guy has electric pace and real promise and I believe he's in Holland with your team ( not dougie arnott of course)

He is indeed.

He was in a photo the club put up on the socials earlier.

Creeping behind SOD in the background here I believe.

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1 hour ago, rowsdower said:

Nah, I just mute "announce" and "moult", then block anyone who posts "this is not a signing" under a club tweet. It's not personal, it's just half our twitter fans are dicks. It's fine if they think I'm a dick too, I can give them that.

Looking at that squad list, next summer is going to be frantic, unless we dish out some extensions.

I was taking the piss out of the tweeter.

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2 hours ago, Casagolda said:

For what it’s worth, the name I got last week was Conor Wilkinson. 

No idea if it was actually true, still ongoing or if it fell through. However after doing a bit of research, I can certainly see why his name would pop up in our search for a Van Veen replacement…

Aye.

His highlight reel for Orient isn't quite #BudgetBergkamp but I can definitely see why he'd be flagged as a possible option.

Edited by capt_oats
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1 minute ago, capt_oats said:

There's a better one at 1:34

Christ 😂

The cheek of fans of these clubs to talk about how their "nan could score 20 goals in Scotchland" when thats going on.

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5 hours ago, Al B said:

Yeah it's stuff that was part of the job last year but they ran out of time, so they made it useable for the season with the intention of finishing it this year.

Aye that must be it. Was told it's costing us more though and through mistakes from last year on our watch, but maybe that's duff info.  

Edit: See @Londonwell has heard the same. 

 

Edited by eliphas
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Having a quick swatch at the first team staff page and on top of Tom Jones moving to Stoke I notice that Callum Davidson has disappeared from the page as well (he's now at Wigan going by his LinkedIn).

Clearly no idea if we've plans to replace but, as it stands, that's the backroom staff trimmed down a bit after Alexander's re-structure. Although he wasn't first team you've also got Archibald having left the Reserves/u18s role to move to Killie.

It's interesting after Kettlewell was quoted as saying he felt we were/are understaffed not long after he got the job.

Screenshot2023-06-26at11_12_03.thumb.png.aaafb5d0b412e0cc157a143a9d0c3583.png

https://www.motherwellfc.co.uk/squad/first-team/

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1 hour ago, eliphas said:

Danzaki not in Holland as far as I can see in the pics. Anyone noticed him? 

I can't make him out in this picture from this morning.

It's a shame tbh, he got that Esteban Casagolda style build-up but sadly it appears that he is honking. I wonder how Hammell stumbled across him in the first place.

image.thumb.jpeg.5b56e2f8762ef0b854030986409da0cb.jpeg

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17 hours ago, MurrayWell said:

Not sure there is much new in the Burns tweet, budgets are always tight and we will miss out on top targets every year, I'd imagine. Squad 100 per cent needs work but still a fair bit of time to sort it. 

That's probably where I'm at with it. The fact he says we "hit the post" with a couple tells me we are actively trying to bring players in.

I think everyone realises we'd be running with a smaller squad this season and it's unfortunate that most of the players we're left with were the ones not playing when we were doing half decent towards the end of the season.

I think our squad will look different when we play Elgin, when we play the league opener and then again on September 1st.

I'm hoping the fringe players do enough to get us by in the league cup and perhaps give themselves a bit of a shop window to get a loan to a championship club to create funds.

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2 hours ago, eliphas said:

Danzaki not in Holland as far as I can see in the pics. Anyone noticed him? 

Some good news at last 🤞. Clearly he was a speculative punt. But one that appears to have not paid off. 

Ketts was clear in that his fitness needed to improve. I hope we have reached a mutual agreement. Of course if we have we will be the last to know 🤷‍♂️.

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