Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[Swello]

On 22/09/2019 at 09:55, MP_MFC said:

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/chris-cadden-details-truth-painful-20136447

Methinks the lady doth protest too much

Just had a chance to read this and I agree to an extent. The Columbus/Oxford tie-up is as clear a stitch up as you're likely to see and (his club/agent via the player) getting the excuses in early is probably all part of managing things for once it becomes acrimonious when 'Well get little or no money out of this.

That said, I doubt Cadden, at 21/22 and having only played for Motherwell had much hand in all the behind the scenes stuff and I seriously doubt that his first choice would have been to stiff the club. I'm working under the assumption that after a mediocre end to his time with us that the Columbus  Oxford move was the only reasonable thing on the table and he went for it in absence of any other interest. 

I guess the final proof of intentions will be if he ever plays in the MLS. 

[nsr]

Poor Chris Cadden getting all excited about his new life in America, only to be told he's actually going down to the heady heights of Oxford Utd.

That's what happened.

[crazylegsjoe]

I think Cadden was backed into a corner to an extent.

I don't think there is much honour in how Columbus Crew/Oxford acted behind the scenes, but from Cadden's perspective, he was on the back of a season filled with stagnation and injury to the point that the compensation involved in a conventional transfer would have scared most teams off. I don't think he would have wanted the club to get shafted, but at the end of the day he was looking after himself, which I don't necessarily blame him for.

I don't see where he would fit in to our side now, so I'm not filled with regret that he's no longer here. Not convinced he's a better right back than Tait or Grimshaw and I don't think his creative numbers add up enough to be part of a front three.

Edited September 23, 2019 by crazylegsjoe

[capt_oats]

Carson, Mugabi, Maguire, Sloth, Manzinga, Semple and O'Hara in the Reserves team for this afternoon.

 

[Lobby Dossar]

53 minutes ago, crazylegsjoe said:

Not convinced he's a better right back than Tait or Grimshaw 

As much as I like Grimshaw he is at best a squad player never a right back in a million years

Yip we all get excited at his headless chicken runs forward but can anyone tell me of one that’s had an end product 

Tait is the best right back that we have at the club but I fear like Cadden were messing him about with continually playing him out of position to the detriment of the player 

 

[Mr Hahn]

13 minutes ago, Lobby Dossar said:

As much as I like Grimshaw he is at best a squad player never a right back in a million years

Yip we all get excited at his headless chicken runs forward but can anyone tell me of one that’s had an end product 

Tait is the best right back that we have at the club but I fear like Cadden were messing him about with continually playing him out of position to the detriment of the player 

 

Not sure I agree, I like Grimshaw at right back. You're probably right that he's not better than Tait but I think he's perfectly serviceable at right back in this league.

He's fit, decent pace, strong, can win a header, not afraid of a tackle and comfortable enough on the ball for that position. We could do a lot worse than Grimshaw as a starting right back in my opinion.

Edit to add: I'd rather have Grimshaw than Cadden at right back.

Edited September 23, 2019 by Mr Hahn

[crazylegsjoe]

28 minutes ago, Lobby Dossar said:

As much as I like Grimshaw he is at best a squad player never a right back in a million years

Yip we all get excited at his headless chicken runs forward but can anyone tell me of one that’s had an end product 

Tait is the best right back that we have at the club but I fear like Cadden were messing him about with continually playing him out of position to the detriment of the player 

 

What about the one that got him an assist for Hylton against Hibs, a mere three weeks ago? 

[Gallus Numpty]

40 minutes ago, Lobby Dossar said:

Yip we all get excited at his headless chicken runs forward but can anyone tell me of one that’s had an end product 

Third goal against Hibs?

[Swello]

44 minutes ago, Lobby Dossar said:

As much as I like Grimshaw he is at best a squad player never a right back in a million years

Yip we all get excited at his headless chicken runs forward but can anyone tell me of one that’s had an end product 

Tait is the best right back that we have at the club but I fear like Cadden were messing him about with continually playing him out of position to the detriment of the player 

 

Weird timing for me - I think Grimshaw has actually looked a much improved player this season so far, looks to be growing into the role and has been pretty consistent, which has been a problem in the past. Add to that - I quite like being entertained at the football and Grimshaw is nothing if not entertaining. I thought while Campbell was comfortably the best player on the park on Saturday, Grimshaw was probably next in line....

[YassinMoutaouakil]

If Cadden wants to f**k us over for a few bob, that's fine. Footballs a short career and I'm not demanding total loyalty from him, we've also exploited cross border loopholes in the past. To go crying to press about it to try and absolve himself of the blame is a riddy though. I'd have a lot more time for him if he fucked off and kept quiet than tried to plead innocence.

[YassinMoutaouakil]

James Scott and Gboly were robbed

 

[capt_oats]

I noticed the discussion about OF ticket allocation over on the St Johnstone thread and remembered that we'd "cut" their allocation this season.

There was a fair bit of chat at the time about how it'd affect us (if at all), so on and so forth.

Having a quick check it'd appear the policy change made no material difference to our reported attendance. Barring the opening day of the 17/18 season the difference is a few hundred either way over the past few seasons:

19/20
10/08/19 - Motherwell 2 - 5 Celtic Att: 8822

18/19
26/08/18 - Motherwell 3 - 3 Rangers Att: 9545
05/12/18 - Motherwell 1 - 1 Celtic Att: 8433 (mid-week)
07/03/19 - Motherwell 0 - 3 Rangers Att: 9200

17/18
06/08/17 - Motherwell 1 - 2 Rangers Att: 9974 (Opening game of the season)
29/11/17 - Motherwell 1 - 1 Celtic Att: 9164 (mid-week)
18/03/18 - Motherwell 0 - 0 Celtic Att: 8717
31/03/18 - Motherwell 2 - 2 Rangers Att: 8915

16/17
16/07/16 - Motherwell 0 - 2 Rangers Att: 6951 (LC group)
03/12/16 - Motherwell 3 - 4 Celtic Att: 8535
02/01/17 - Motherwell 0 - 2 Rangers Att: 7902

So there you go...

Edited September 24, 2019 by capt_oats

[YassinMoutaouakil]

I'd quite like to see Cole and Long playing off each other on Saturday.

[capt_oats]

Charlie Dunne out for 3 to 4 months.

 

[capt_oats]

We have a trialist playing with the Reserves today. That's exciting.

 

[steelmen]

Just 3 subs too, that’s not good

[Swello]

I see the wee push from the club to put Gallacher into the reckoning for Scotland came to naught. I thought it was probably a good bit of PR from the club positioning him in that way and I'm sure the player will be pleased, so it helps for internal reasons if nothing else.

There was a time (specifically when Brian Martin, Paul Lambert and Rab McKinnon were all more than worthy of a call-up in't olden days) when I used to get angry about our players being overlooked - but the truth is that the fucking massive cloud of apathy that I've felt towards the national team for at least a decade means that my selfish "club first" side is quite pleased that our players aren't in the firing line for extra games/injuries or being exposed to the whole depressing mess.

 

[capt_oats]

Tbh, Gallagher could be playing like the second coming of Baresi and Maldini and for fairly obvious (non-footballing) reasons you'd imagine he'd be miles off a call up. Doing time for cracking a boy's skull like a pinata is probably going to work against you in that respect.

I mean it's nice to force his name into the conversation and at the moment his profile and performances are such that you'd hope he feels like he's made the right choice in joining the club.

Same goes with Polworth who was also a target of Tommy Wright.

It's been pretty quiet in this thread lately but apropos of nothing and without wanting to jinx things by my reckoning this is our best start to a league campaign since McCall's 2nd & 3rd place era. 

Early days and everything but well done everyone for that.

Last season after 7 games we were on 4 pts,

17/18 = 10 pts,
16/17 = 9 pts,
15/16 = 7 pts,
14/15 = 7 pts,
13/14 = 13 pts,
12/13 = 13 pts,
11/12 = 13 pts

Edited October 1, 2019 by capt_oats

[Desp]

Gallagher not being called-up is absolutely fine with me.

I see a lot of "well, he's better than *insert player here*".  You could very well argue the case that Gallagher at this moment in time is a better option than Mikey Devlin, but the question you really need to ask is, 'Is Gallagher good enough to play for Scotland?".   I don't really buy the argument that because one of our players is a bit less shit than the shit that's currently in the squad then they deserve a call-up.  If Gallagher is a stand out for us  all season as we storm to 3rd place, then there's perhaps time for a conversation then.  Until then, let him rest and keep up 100% for Motherwell.

Genuine question here, but when was the last time (prior to Scott McKenna) that we had a regular Scotland centre-half who plied his trade in our top flight (excluding Celtic & Rangers)?  Pressley when he was at Hearts?   

[thisGRAEME]

16 minutes ago, Desp said:

Genuine question here, but when was the last time (prior to Scott McKenna) that we had a regular Scotland centre-half who plied his trade in our top flight (excluding Celtic & Rangers)?  Pressley when he was at Hearts?   

I honestly can't even think of one outside Pressley. Davie Weir before he left Hearts got a few caps, but not someone you'd describe as regular, eh?