Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[Desp]

32 minutes ago, AngusTheBull said:

According to Neil McCann 6 games ago your fans were ‘hounding’ David Turnbull for having to audacity to put his foot on the ball and pick a pass.

 

Can Well fans confirm that Mr McCann is, in fact, speaking shite? 

Sounded to me like he was attempting to cast similarities between Motherwells current run and what he was trying (and failing) to do at Dundee.

 

Neil McCann there.  Failed football manager and shite pundit.

Did anyone challenge this nonsense on air?

[Desp]

19 hours ago, ropy said:

Is Kilmarnock the only team we haven’t taken points from?  We can sort that in a week or so.

This season, yes.  In fact, I don't think we've taken a point from Kilmarnock since Steve Clarke took over?

Celtic - 1pt

Rangers - 1pt

Aberdeen - 3pts

Kilmarnock - 0pts

Hearts - 3pts

St. Johnstone - 3pts

Hibs - 3pts

Livingston - 4pts 

Dundee - 9pts (obvs)

Hamilton - 3pts

St. Mirren - 6pts

[Busta Nut]

54 minutes ago, AngusTheBull said:

According to Neil McCann 6 games ago your fans were ‘hounding’ David Turnbull for having to audacity to put his foot on the ball and pick a pass.

 

Can Well fans confirm that Mr McCann is, in fact, speaking shite? 

Sounded to me like he was attempting to cast similarities between Motherwells current run and what he was trying (and failing) to do at Dundee.

Shagged his ain gran

[Swello]

7 hours ago, AngusTheBull said:

According to Neil McCann 6 games ago your fans were ‘hounding’ David Turnbull for having to audacity to put his foot on the ball and pick a pass.

I laughed at that one as the boy has never had a harsh word towards him - even when the team was playing shite and everyone was in full rage mode. I totally agree that McCann was unsubtly making a point about something that was nothing to do with Turnball and Motherwell...

ETA - If I don't stop typing the made up word "Turnball" which I've done about 10 times now, I'm rage quitting P&B

Edited February 18, 2019 by Swello

[capt_oats]

1 hour ago, Swello said:

I laughed at that one as the boy has never had a harsh word towards him - even when the team was playing shite and everyone was in full rage mode. I totally agree that McCann was unsubtly making a point about something that was nothing to do with Turnball and Motherwell...

He's been a fixture in the first team since October and has won fans player of the month in October, November, January and according to that news story he won December as well so....as takes go it's pretty wild.

Also, the idea that any of our players would be getting "hounded" for putting their foot on the ball when the first half of the season was spent shelling the ball back to front and bypassing the midfield is mental.

The full quote's on the BBC site:

Quote

Former Dundee manager Neil McCann

It's testament to the board's support to Stevie Robinson that, when it wasn't going well, they had the bravery to stick with him. He's allowed to then say, 'right, I'm putting in Hastie, I'm putting in Turnbull'.

Turnbull was getting hounded at the start of this winning run by fans because he was putting his foot on the ball and it was a bit different. But Stevie was brave enough to let him do it.

It's really important that the manager has the backing to put a kid in, it's not just about results because we see the work being done elsewhere, and its absolutely reaping the rewards now.

 

Edited February 18, 2019 by capt_oats

[AngusTheBull]

1 hour ago, capt_oats said:

He's been a fixture in the first team since October and has won fans player of the month in October, November, January and according to that news story he won December as well so....as takes go it's pretty wild.

Also, the idea that any of our players would be getting "hounded" for putting their foot on the ball when the first half of the season was spent shelling the ball back to front and bypassing the midfield is mental.

The full quote's on the BBC site:

 

He was the first member of Wells ‘young team’ that I was aware of, so it did get me thinking even before the blatant Dundee comparisons.

 

Good to see being a complete management failure hasn’t stopped McCann from being a slavering fuckwit.

[ropy]

It wouldn’t surprise me if someone from the main stand shouted something out of turn, but hounded?

[AndyRoss]

He's won that many bottles of whisky this season, he could start his own distillery. 

[steelmen]

He does have a point about the board sticking by Robinson, most boards would have punted him or have been seriously contemplating a change but you got the feeling, as long as we were safe enough, our board were willing to give him time to turn it round.

We are now reaping the benefits not only of sticking by our management team but by investing and improving out youth scheme. Most teams would be happy with Cadden and then Campbell but there looks to be even more coming through, Shame we won’t get a look at McKinstry(?)

I’m sure someone very soon will be clapping their hands saying this shows project brave is a success completely ignoring this all started years ago.

On the ‘hounded’ comment he’s clearly at it.

[Jim McLean's Ghost]

That McCann comment is baffling.

We were absolute pish and the only thing you could hang your hat on is that David Turnbull might score an absolute worldy.

The only person who would have hounded Turnbull is is Robbo went on another one of his "right to play football" speeches.

[YassinMoutaouakil]

Turnbull and Hastie are so fucking good. Keep reminding myself multiple times a day.

[Pettigrew]

12 hours ago, ropy said:

It wouldn’t surprise me if someone from the main stand shouted something out of turn, but hounded?

There is one mental old boy near me who's given him a bit of stick (probably got his name wrong as well).   He was walking down the stairs moaning about Turnbull after the Ross County game and Chris Cadden was walking alongside him basically shaking his head and laughing at the fella.  Some absolute belters in that section behind the dug outs.

[capt_oats]

That's Hastie talking to McGarry in The Herald.

Quote

There is no doubt the winger is flying high at the moment, but his feet remain firmly on the ground, and he has reassured any worried Motherwell supporters that he knows he is in exactly the right place to continue his rapid development.

“My agent is still in talks, so hopefully [I’ll sign] in the next couple of weeks,” Hastie said.

“I definitely want to stay here. I’m playing football and that’s the main thing.

“I’m still only 19 and I’ve still got a lot to learn about the game, and this is the best place to do it.

“It can be a bit frustrating but I’m just letting my agent deal with it. I know that some players have gone down south young and it hasn’t worked out, so being here just now is the best place for me.

“I just want to keep doing what I have been and keep playing well.”

Good lad.

Edit to add: there are another few interesting comments from him...apologies to the bold Mr. McGarry for the C&P. The rest of the interview is good read. He genuinely seems to be echoing a lot of the stuff Robinson's been saying publicly and there's another tip of the hat towards Goodwin and Alloa.

Anyway this bit about his expectations when he came back to FP is quite informative:

Quote

“My expectations were to come back and fight for a place in the first team. I didn’t think it would come straight away, I thought I would have to bide my time a little bit, but luckily I got on because of injuries and now I just need to keep doing what I’m doing and keep giving the gaffer a headache.

“I practice after training, working with Mo (Ross) who takes us for shooting, and I just feel that all the extra hard work is paying off. All week we work on that wee touch and hit so that I can make a yard for myself.

“All the young ones here are always up the gym, we’re always doing extra and we’re always the last ones out of here."

I'd have said that's pretty much what everyone would have been expecting when he came back from Alloa and tbqh it should probably put those handwringing "why didn't we have his deal extended earlier" shouts into perspective.

Edited February 19, 2019 by capt_oats

[Casagolda]

Good to hear, like Turnbull no ambiguity and pretty emphatic statement of intent.

Wouldn’t even blame him for looking at his options tbh, or indeed trying to milk a bit more money out of us if he does want to stay. The boy is absolutely flying right now, I mean 5 goals in 6 games(plus that assist against Hibs) is ridiculous really. He only seems to need a half chance at the minute, as soon as he got put through 1v1 with Berra on Sunday you just immediately thought - goal.  

Probably the worst time possible for us to be negotiating his new contract right enough but still, if we can get it done and have another season of him, Campbell and Turnbull then the club can have my season ticket money right now.

[well fan for life]

4 minutes ago, Casagolda said:

Good to hear, like Turnbull no ambiguity and pretty emphatic statement of intent.

Wouldn’t even blame him for looking at his options tbh, or indeed trying to milk a bit more money out of us if he does want to stay. The boy is absolutely flying right now, I mean 5 goals in 6 games(plus that assist against Hibs) is ridiculous really. He only seems to need a half chance at the minute, as soon as he got put through 1v1 with Berra on Sunday you just immediately thought - goal.  

Probably the worst time possible for us to be negotiating his new contract right enough but still, if we can get it done and have another season of him, Campbell and Turnbull then the club can have my season ticket money right now.

Aye I couldn't tell you the last time I saw a player like that with us. The second he had stepped inside Mulraney I already knew he was going to burst the net. 

Fair play to Hearts in the second half because their shape change stopped him getting the ball further up the park for the most part, but then you see him dropping and taking the ball off Grimshaw, driving 40 yards and sliding a through ball to Turnbull. The boy's a class act. 

Mental how we've gone from Bigi not chasing people and Bowman running at corner flags to Turnbull being the best midfielder in the world and Hastie scoring for fun within 2 months. 

[Busta Nut]

14 hours ago, steelmen said:

He does have a point about the board sticking by Robinson, most boards would have punted him or have been seriously contemplating a change but you got the feeling, as long as we were safe enough, our board were willing to give him time to turn it round.
 

That what his point was though, a dig at Dundee cos they sacked him.

Why he made up the rest only he knows.

[Swello]

4 minutes ago, well fan for life said:

Fair play to Hearts in the second half because their shape change stopped him getting the ball further up the park for the most part, but then you see him dropping and taking the ball off Grimshaw, driving 40 yards and sliding a through ball to Turnbull. The boy's a class act. 

And this is precisely the challenge for him from this point on. He's getting the deserved hype right now, but the familiarity of our league means that every manager will now be setting out to nullify him to some extent.  Trying to nullify him and being able to is another thing obviously - but if he can overcome that, then we've really got a player on our hands.

I'd written this season off after the County game - but the last few weeks have felt like one of those times that'll be remembered along with the purple patches under McGhee and McCall...

[capt_oats]

McCann's comments about the club sticking by Robinson along with the fact that he's close to 2 years in charge now and almost at 100 games makes it worth having a look at his body of work to date.

As an aside Robinson was 4 years younger than McCall was when he took the Motherwell job (McCall was 46, Robinson was 42...in fact Robinson's still younger than McCall was and also less experienced (by a couple of games) considering McCall had 135 games at Bradford and a 34.6% win rate under his belt before he signed for us). Robinson has also presumably been working on a reduced budget compared to the Dempster/McCall era in (arguably) a more competitive league.

Anyway, his overall record as it stands is, including 2 cup finals and a QF: 

P 96 W 43 D 15 L 38 = 44.8% (compared to McCann who was: P 65 W 22 D 9 L 34 F 66 A 96 GD -30 = 33.85%)

The usual counter to that is the league numbers which are below:

League:
16/17 - P 12 W 4 D 2 L 6 F 16 A 16 GD 0 Pts 14
17/18 - P 38 W 13 D 9 L 16 F 43 A 49 GD -6 Pts 48
18/19 - P 26 W 11 D 3 L 12 F 29 A 35 GD -6 Pts 36

P: 76
W: 28 (36.8%)
D: 14 (18.4%)
L: 34 (44.7%)
F: 88 (1.15 GPG)
A: 100 (1.31 GPG)
GD: -12
Pts: 98 (1.28 PPG)

Basically he's averaging over 1 win in 3 in the league which over the course of a season will more than likely keep you up. Similarly his PPG rate over a 38 game season comes in at 48 points which in a normal season would have you sat mid-table.

Right now we're 4 wins off matching the points total from last season...which given it's generally acknowledged that the league's as competitive as it's been in years seems alright.

@Al B had an excellent post on Steelmen a while back prior to this run which basically pointed out that Robinson's ticking every box the club would have been asking of him. It's still 100% on point, even more so in fact.

Edited February 19, 2019 by capt_oats

[well fan for life]

2 hours ago, Busta Nut said:

That what his point was though, a dig at Dundee cos they sacked him.

Why he made up the rest only he knows.

I try not to pay much attention to the comments of a man who has sexual intercourse with his own grandmother tbf. 

[thisGRAEME]

23 hours ago, Swello said:

And this is precisely the challenge for him from this point on. He's getting the deserved hype right now, but the familiarity of our league means that every manager will now be setting out to nullify him to some extent.  Trying to nullify him and being able to is another thing obviously - but if he can overcome that, then we've really got a player on our hands.

It's funny, like, because from all the reserves footage I think every one of us said 'Aye, but he'll not get that time'.

Turns out he made the time for himself and still does, I can't even think of a time where he's given it away. If teams do start doubling up on him; good. Doubling up on Turnbull gives Campbell more space to run into, Gorrin more time on the ball, Hastie and Ariyibi more space wide.