Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[capt_oats]

That's interesting re: Brill. I can't say I'm shocked he'd be looking at a move given he's out of contract at the end of the season and hasn't had a look in despite Samson's woeful form.

The u20s keeper at the moment is Peter Morrison. I can't imagine he'd be viewed as being anywhere near ready, even as cover. You'd think if we were bringing a keeper in on loan it'd be on the proviso that he'd get games, that seemed to be the script with Ripley anyway.

I'd be pleasantly surprised if we made a move for another keeper tbh. Samson's been absolutely brutal while Brill's performances for the u20s haven't exactly been stellar. For all McGhee seems to have wanted to give Samson support publicly it'd be quite reassuring if it transpired he wasn't totally blind to Samson's mistakes.

When there's been chat in this window about who we'd be likely to bring in I'd only really considered a goalkeeper in hope than expectation.

The O'Halloran link just seems daft given we have plenty of right sided options and Burrows was on the MFC podcast the other night saying explicitly it was the left side of the park we were looking at.

[one m in Motherwell]

As much as I understand the reasoning, not signing anyone until deadline day is properly boring. I appreciate there are negotiations etc. behind the scenes but it's a drag, especially when there's no games on to compensate!

Oh for the Baraclough '14 players in a day' era.

[Swello]

2 minutes ago, one m in Motherwell said:

Oh for the Baraclough '14 players in a day' era.

That was on deadline day wasn't it?

On Brill - If he isn't good enough to supplant Samson in the form he's been in, we're well rid of him. There is literally no point in bringing someone in as cover only - they need to be good enough to step into the first team next time Samson palms one out in to the path of the opposition striker.

[Desp]

Re the Daily Record article, Hearts are interested but I'm sure the agent has asked the paper to throw in another few Premiership teams to make it look interesting.  There's absolutely nae chance we're going anywhere near Michael O'Halloran.

As for Brill leaving, no surprise.  He's either got fed up playing second fiddle to Samson, or he's being let go because he's no longer good enough to play in the first team.

For a potential loan 'keeper, there's not always that promise of first team football, Capt.  As Ron Aldo pointed out, back in McGhee's first spell we had Nielsen, Krysiak & Daniels who came up and sat on the bench for the majority, if not all, of their loan spells.  

I do hope, however we can push the boat out and get a new no.1 in.  

I thought we might have had a signing in place for the cup tie coming up, but it's looking unlikely at this point.  Unless they are signed today, you wouldn't imagine there would be any new faces in the starting XI at Ibrox. 

Edited January 18, 2017 by Desp

[thisGRAEME]

14 minutes ago, Desp said:

I thought we might have had a signing in place for the cup tie coming up, but it's looking unlikely at this point.  Unless they are signed today, you wouldn't imagine there would be any new faces in the starting XI at Ibrox. 

Aye, with the number of links we've had so far, I'd kind of hoped there'd be something done and dusted by now, just for that wee boost going into Saturday. 

[capt_oats]

19 minutes ago, Desp said:

As for Brill leaving, no surprise.  He's either got fed up playing second fiddle to Samson, or he's being let go because he's no longer good enough to play in the first team.

For a potential loan 'keeper, there's not always that promise of first team football, Capt.  As Ron Aldo pointed out, back in McGhee's first spell we had Nielsen, Krysiak & Daniels who came up and sat on the bench for the majority, if not all, of their loan spells.  

I do hope, however we can push the boat out and get a new no.1 in.  

That's a fair point. I think I was just looking at it from a similar angle to Swello in so much as bringing in someone solely as cover seems utterly pointless when the current first choice has been chucking them in on an almost weekly basis and I'd have thought that someone halfway decent would be looking for some sort of guarantees one way or another. As you said over on Steelmen though, it'll be interesting to see if McGhee brings in someone who's viewed as first or second choice.

In truth I'd have thought that the academies in England must be littered with Ripley-a-likes who given the nature of the position are nowhere near getting a game. He's 30 just now so Ruddy would have been 22 when he arrived on loan? Randolph was a similar age when he signed, though obvs not a loan. Clearly we lucked out in both those cases and it'd be a stretch to say they're 10 a penny but I'd hope there would be options looking for first team games who could offer more than either Brill or Samson.

[Casagolda]

According to the Sun, Dean Brill's away down to Colchester for a trial the now and we've currently got Joe Fryer(21) on trial from Middlesbrough as his potential replacement.

Imagine that means Samson's staying as number one then.

[Desp]

12 minutes ago, Casagolda said:

According to the Sun, Dean Brill's away down to Colchester for a trial the now and we've currently got Joe Fryer(21) on trial from Middlesbrough as his potential replacement.

Imagine that means Samson's staying as number one then.

** awaits details of Joe's career statistics, YouTube clips, list of favourite TV shows and general eating habits from @capt_oats imminently **

[capt_oats]

7 minutes ago, Desp said:

** awaits details of Joe's career statistics, YouTube clips, list of favourite TV shows and general eating habits from @capt_oats imminently **

[thisGRAEME]

Big Joe, known as 'Joey' to his pals, seems to have played for them in the 'EFL Trophy' for the Under-23s against Scunthorpe, Cambridge and Shrewsbury;

 

Where the ball seems to pass right through him/just beyond his grasp each time. The one against Cambridge is particularly bad, in addition to a sensational own goal where he comes out and swings wildly, and misses. Has been in and out of the reserve side. 

Won the under-21 league a couple of years ago, and is a fan of the Darts and LADSLADSLADS holidays in Zanta/BEEFA.

My prediction: More Artur Krysiak than John Ruddy.

Edited January 18, 2017 by thisGRAEME

[Desp]

Does he eat chips more than twice a week?  If so, get him to f**k.

[capt_oats]

Brill going on trial with Colchester first probably makes it a bit awkward for us as there's no guarantee they'll take him on. I'm not surprised they want to kick his tyres a bit before committing to anything tbh. He's played only 20 minutes of competitive football in the past 2 years. In that respect, fair play to his agent in managing to get a club to take a look at him.

Absolutely no reason for us to make things difficult for him though. He's out of contract at the end of the season and it's clear we don't feel he's good enough to even challenge Samson (which is damning in itself) and he, not unreasonably, wants to play and feels he has more to offer than simply sitting on the bench as a back up to an absolute bombscare of a goalie. I wonder if swapping Brill for a loan player would maybe free up a bit of budget for wages too.

Edit: It seems the Elliot Frear move is still a thing. Forest Green have already brought in a replacement and going by the local press we're the only side that seem to be named in relation to him moving: 

http://www.stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk/sport/15031356.Forest_Green_players_set_to_leave_New_Lawn/

Edited January 18, 2017 by capt_oats

[Swello]

I assume the "Pearo is definitely coming back" thing isn't as much of a stick-on as we'd hoped/assumed? You would have thought if it was a done deal, he would have been in place for Saturday. Would be a boot in the baws if he was off trying to get a million pound a week contract in China....

[capt_oats]

I assume the "Pearo is definitely coming back" thing isn't as much of a stick-on as we'd hoped/assumed? You would have thought if it was a done deal, he would have been in place for Saturday. Would be a boot in the baws if he was off trying to get a million pound a week contract in China....

Aye. At the very least it'd appear that he's looking at other options first. There was a really vague mention on Twitter that we were interested in taking Christie on loan from Celtic (I think thisGRAEME mentioned that on Steelmen too) which to me seems a much more sensible shout than the O'Halloran link. While I've no idea if there's any genuine interest the fact that Christie can play centrally linking midfield and attack, while he's nowhere near as robust it's not a huge stretch of the imagination if we were thinking of him as being a possible alternative to Pearson.

[thisGRAEME]

Aye. Vaguest of vague links for Christie. 

I'd kind of assumed Pearson wasn't coming back, now. If he won't get back in to kick rangers players two weeks in a row, I doubt he'll be back.

O'Halloran is a wild shout, and, as good as Christie is, I've no interest in helping anyone else in Scotland develop their players, particularly to the detriment of our own. We can't afford Christie and I'd be amazed if he was arsed coming to us for more than a loan. Pass.

[capt_oats]

Interesting (actually, in no way interesting) bit on the goalkeeper thing. Just noticed your man Robert Grieve at The *un tweet that Man City's Welsh u21 keeper is due to sign with St Mirren til the end of the season and a Glasgow based management company has replied to him mentioning that he was apparently with us a couple of weeks back. I wonder if we've known about Brill wanting away for a while (which wouldn't be a surprise tbh) and are having a few trialist options in to have a look at them first.

[Busta Nut]

No doubt he will have made his yearning for first team football known and we won't stand in his way I'd imagine so we will have been looking for another (backup, I fear) goalie.

[capt_oats]

If nothing else it'd be good to draw a line under Brill's stint at Fir Park and free up a wage. Nothing against the guy but if we genuinely don't rate him enough to play him ahead of Samson then it's kind of pointless him being here and taking a first team wage to sit on the bench. I get the feeling that the hope was to bring him in and he'd be able to reach his pre-injury level but it just hasn't happened.

I don't blame him for being dissatisfied and good luck to him if he gets a move but he's clearly not going to be here next season so from everyone's point of view he's as well moving now if there's interest.

[Desp]

Not Motherwell related, however I feel this beauty is worth a giggle;

Quote

Hamilton Accies fans group WeAreHamilton plan to boycott their team's league game against Kilmarnock on 4 February in a protest over their current plight. The New Douglas Park club sit 11th in the table after 21 games with just two wins. (National)

 x 1,000,000.

[YassinMoutaouakil]

Not Motherwell related, however I feel this beauty is worth a giggle;

Hamilton Accies fans group WeAreHamilton plan to boycott their team's league game against Kilmarnock on 4 February in a protest over their current plight. The New Douglas Park club sit 11th in the table after 21 games with just two wins. (National)

 x 1,000,000.

They not been doing that for years?