Handsome_Devil

It hasn't helped in getting players into the first team but some obviously still make it - or at least fill out the squad. And while the chance of becoming rich through your youth system is much reduced, I'd be surprised if it's not still viable financially for us - potentially even more consistently than before. The guys who sign elsewhere at 16 will have accumulated hundreds of thousands for us by now when, on the evidence of their playing careers, staying would have brought us zero (flawed as that direct comparison is). I think the basic calculation the club made when project brave was announced remains true - it's a shite system but while it exists we have to be in it.

With the caveat I've no idea about his actual coaching abilities he seems the sort of appointment we should nod and say 'good appointment' about.

With those mentioned it's the age old question of does disappearing from the pro game show they were right to grab that one contract when they could or were they wrong to move from a more obvious path to first team football? Obviously massively subjective but I'd nearly always say the former so fair play to them. When you look not just at those who make our first team squad but those who did so and played pretty regularly but still didn't 'make it' (Ian Ross, Kinniburgh and Fitzpatrick are the three which stand out for me for various reasons but there are lots), I think anyone advising a kid to turn down a life-altering contract to stay at FP is pretty optimistic/deluded/selfish.

Aye, don't disagree with any of that. On the other hand, 2002/3 was the last season I could go to every game but it was in a phase of life where I was in the pub with mates before/after every home game and every away day was epic...it's one of my favourite ever seasons despite us being utter shit. No doubt there will be the subsequent generations who look at what we have now and as it's coming at the right time they'll have nice memories of it...and bizarrely the fact we haven't beaten the OF for so long means they'll probably not rue the fact it never happens more.

That's one of my all-time faves. Absolutely epic. I'm also all aboard the 90s Motherwell is the best Motherwell though I strongly suspect it's more related to that being the decade of your formative years. As much as I'd argue for the 90s, previous generations of my family would give the Ancell Babes and the 30s the same accolade due to the exact combination of good teams at the right time.

He had a good loan spell which included the game of his life (a 1-0 mugging of Aberdeen at Pittodrie) but was essentially crap afterwards.

I agree on that but when fans, pundits and no doubt even some less goalkeeping-inclined managers regularly trot out the nonsense clichés of never getting beat at the near post or the GK side at a free kick etc, I can also understand why they take the alibi.

There'll be people more up on the technical details than me but I just don't understand what he was thinking with his angles. Normally the GK takes a side, the wall the other and if the guy sticks it inside the post wall side you say 'too good' because you can't cover the whole goal. But this applies to free kicks vaguely in the centre surely, not way out where today's was. Kelly could have been basically in the middle because he'd still have had the advantage on the angle to cover the GK side unless JT really hammered something special right into either corner. Instead he invited him to hit a huge area with little more than a dink, because of the rangers 'wall' he only saw it late and that was that.

If we'd been offered these results this morning you'd have banked them with glee.

Slattery has been in a slump for a while for reasons we don't need to recap but he strikes me his potential ceiling is still relatively high for us. If he finds that next season he'll leave for nothing - would you think he's worth an extension on current (no doubt generous)? Probably not. So aye, should we get the chance to cut our losses in summer I'd be tempted to take it. Goss I'd still tell to go...another peach of a non-assist today for the goal but over two years there's no just the trust there he'll contribute week in week out.

Defeatist as it is, I'm not too bothered about today...we were competitive, scored a nice goal and minus two on the gd far from a disaster. Of course individual mistakes are annoying but we're Motherwell, we're always going to make them. If we're better against Hibs (regardless of result), I'll still feel confident of picking up another two points from the home games pre split.

We've largely defended well but this is essentially attack v defence, the chance of holding out another 45 of this is basically nil.

Aged well etc.

Sadly I suspect it won't make much difference either way. But yes, with KVV playing like he can in a two and the unpredictability of lumping it long to a lump, there was at least a feeling of having bought a ticket to the raffle. 5-4-1 with KVV getting increasingly frustrated isolated up front suggests we're just playing for time until the inevitable goal comes and defeat follows.

There's no doubt more to it on attendances but one of the things that struck me about the 2-1 win in 98 posted recently was the home crowd. You used to expect to lose to the OF but at least be competitive and there were enough upsets people turned up and offered a bit of atmosphere...now we're in a vicious cycle of never winning, apathy in the stands etc. FP when the OF came to town was hardly Istanbul ofc but at least it something to appreciate about the day. And you do wonder if a bit of hatred in the stands helped some players find an extra half yard occasionally which the resigned and here out of an obligation attitude doesn't.

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/lee-erwin-caught-ugly-scenes-29442947 Makes the play-off sound like a Sunday kickabout.

Aye, even allowing for the ferrets in a sack nature of Scottish football I never understood why we didn't do this years ago.

I think there's balance to be struck. I don't care for any of it personally (I think the only stuff I actually watched properly was the infamous footgolf years afterwards to see just how it torpedoed an entire season according to some!) but would happily watch proper highlights of the reserves/youths. On the other hand, the club (rightly or wrongly) felt the brand stuff helped them land the Bet365 'non-sponsor' and can potentially provide an edge in attracting guys from England. It probably won't compensate for Dundee United offering 500 quid a week more but the 'Alan Campbell brand guide' might persuade someone to FP for 100 less than Killie will pay if they think we will be invested in making them sellable. I think there's little doubt the buzz/brand/whatever does affect what you can get for players to an extent (Goodwillie going for 20 times what we got for Murphy still infuriates and baffles me in equal measure). On the other hand, how do you quantify it compared to how good a player is and how many folk you've sold recently, which is surely a much bigger contribution to brand Motherwell than anything on social media? Where we went wrong under Russell was we created the impression we existed to pump out this content regardless of the context, hence the rage...ultimately no matter how nice your little videos are, if they piss off your core support the balance is wrong. But with the caveat of having to find that balance, if we have limited resources I can understand focusing on brand stuff which *might* help beyond the core support, who will simply hand over their money regardless of what's on YouTube.

The return of the #content makes me long for the days we were shite and relegation certainties tbh.

That's not 100% how I remember it TBF...shite players managed badly was also a popular view!

I think that's pretty much it. To play football in a 4-3-3 you need at least one CB who can pass, good full backs, two functioning wingers (who do tonnes on and off the ball) and a lone striker worthy of the name. To play our 3-5-2, you need two functioning wing backs but the rest can kind of muddle through...and if you have KVV in form that's obviously a bonus. Essentially in the latter shape there's much less complication and much less that can go wrong which with players at our level is always massively skewed to the risk side of risk-reward. SK obviously does the simple stuff and the players, happy with a fresh start, run a yard harder and we win. The massive challenge is developing that from here because when the extra yard goes you're basically back to Alexanderball or trying to play in a nicer way which is fine until you meet and get beat by the richer teams or peers in the 'nothing stupid, shell it' phase. It's probably why managers at our level last about 18 months, very few of them are willing to regress when needed (Robinson was a notable exception).

I'm not writing off Easter Road but if you assume that and the OF bring zero, we should still have some kind of gap as long as we don't lose to United and Livi. However, we've shown we're capable of long winless runs before and the margins remain fine yada yada...so I'm taking nothing for granted yet.

Didn't see it so no real comment from me but what a turnaround...next two likely free hits before another crunch double-header so we're not safe yet but certainly closer than imaginable three weeks ago.

Udon is cracking tbf. How the Brandon still going is beyond me...only been once and lucky to get out alive quite frankly. I assumed the Dalziel a solid if gradually failing business due to the age of the clientele with a new winning formula not yet found.

It's very hard to judge obviously but Frail seems like a good appointment and, whether it was the board or SK choosing the profile, an acknowledgment of previous errors.