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Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons


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23 minutes ago, Busta Nut said:

So anyone any idea who who the 82 trialists were?

I've a feeling O'Connor would be one of them. That would make sense.

Also, I'm guessing this is the other centre back trialist over Watt's shoulder in the opening frames of the video the club put up yesterday. It's not particularly helpful as he's out of focus and I've no idea who it is.

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Given how quickly the press ran their story about "ex-Rangers star" Jamie Ness playing as a trialist against Dumbarton I thought we might have heard a couple of names leaked. Maybe the club have tightened things up and went Secret Squirrel on that front though.

Also, I take it from Alexander's comments about "still looking to recruit" in the V.O that's a process that's running in parallel to having a million trialists bouncing around the place.

Edited by capt_oats
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40 minutes ago, Busta Nut said:

So anyone any idea who who the 82 trialists were?

Taken from SO

watched the game today.

O'Connell started the game along with another really physical centre half who had the same phyisicality as Kipre. His first name was Christrian.

 

O'Connell didnt have his best game but hard to judge as Millwall were impressive.

 

Donnelly played first half and played well.

 

Van Veen played had some noce touches but looked a bit short of fitness.

Woorley looks decent, never gives up and looks to have pace.

 

At half time a trialist came on in middle of park, anotger big physical player, reminded me of Andy Rose, he looked  calm on ball, his first name was Mikel and has been at the club for 4 months.

 

Amaluzor came on, reminded me of Seedorf but a bit more physical.

 

Max Johnston looked decent, Watt put in a really hard shift and Kelly made some great saves.

 

Interesting that McGuire played full 90

 

 

 

 

 

 

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21 minutes ago, santheman said:

O'Connell started the game along with another really physical centre half who had the same phyisicality as Kipre. His first name was Christrian.

O'Connell didnt have his best game but hard to judge as Millwall were impressive.

At half time a trialist came on in middle of park, anotger big physical player, reminded me of Andy Rose, he looked  calm on ball, his first name was Mikel and has been at the club for 4 months.

Saw that boy post on Twitter yesterday.

O'Connell = O'Connor (or a misspelling of O'Donnell)?

Going by that description Mikel will be Mich'el Parker who's been mentioned earlier in this thread as ex-Liverpool youth who's been around the club for ages. Interesting if he came on in midfield as he's played as a centre back at his other clubs.

Edited by capt_oats
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34 minutes ago, Archie McSquackle said:

Doesn't sound very convincing if he's been on trial for 4 months and not been signed up yet.

Why?

You're really meant to scout players for at least 12 months before signing them to minimise risk, why launch into signing a total unknown off the back of training sessions?

Presumably you all agreed he'd return for pre-season and actual games to judge him, and he's happy with that.

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36 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

Why?

You're really meant to scout players for at least 12 months before signing them to minimise risk, why launch into signing a total unknown off the back of training sessions?

Presumably you all agreed he'd return for pre-season and actual games to judge him, and he's happy with that.

This 

If you've got the chance to run the rule over a player for an extended period of time you would be daft not to.

A guy can look good at training but the only way you can really tell is in actual games.

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, Archie McSquackle said:

Doesn't sound very convincing if he's been on trial for 4 months and not been signed up yet.

 

1 hour ago, RandomGuy. said:

Why?

You're really meant to scout players for at least 12 months before signing them to minimise risk, why launch into signing a total unknown off the back of training sessions?

Presumably you all agreed he'd return for pre-season and actual games to judge him, and he's happy with that.

Agree with the whole minimise risk element and tbh it's a refreshing change having seen Robinson just dive in and sign exactly that type of player up before moaning about budget and not being able to pay competitive wages but when you add in the fact that he's 22 and barely played a senior game of football it naturally raises questions.

In fairness to him, his CV comes across of one of those EPL Academy players who has just drifted. I've not seen him play so I'm not in a position to judge one way or another.

From what I've been able to piece together he came through at Arsenal youth where he was released in 2014, moved to Liverpool youth before being released by them in 2018, spent time at Millwall's Academy, had a trial at West Ham in November 2019  and prior to pitching up here the most recent mention I can find was playing as a trialist for MK Dons against Arsenal back in August '20 although it seems he'd been there since at least March '20. as he appeared in a team line up against Slough Town again, as a trialist.

Realistically it's going to be pretty difficult for an Academy player to break through at either Arsenal or Liverpool so it's hard to find fault in having not played any first team football there but not even having had a loan spell or whatever feels a bit unusual.

Edited by capt_oats
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33 minutes ago, Archie McSquackle said:

An extended trial like this is great for the club to have a really good look at him but I still find it unusual, particularly from the player's perspective as it seems a bit eggs all in one basket.

I think it depends on what he's actually been told by the club in that respect. If it's a case of "we have a pile of targets but you're welcome to come in and train with us and see how it goes with no guarantees" that seems fine. Also, I could be miles out but I get the impression that even if he's not for us we're the sort of club who'd put in a word for him elsewhere.

I thought our approach with Kelly was interesting in so much as he was clearly our #1 priority and were "working day and night to get the deal done" but at the same time we had a viable alternative in the building training with us in Tom King who ended up signing for Salford 2 days after me announced Kelly.

This may be heavy confirmation bias but it feels a bit different in that some of our trialists sound like they've either been genuine targets that we've asked to come in before we announce them eg: KVV or players we've scouted as potential alternatives to our priorities eg: King as a fall back if Kelly didn't work out.

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In terms of what sort of club we are I would be interested in finding out what part the club plays in finding e.g, Hussain a place at Forfar.  I remember tracking our youth cup winning team and discovering that all of them found a place somewhere in Scottish football.  What part of the message to Academy and Reserve players is that we are preparing them for a career somewhere because few will make it at Motherwell. 

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While I am on this most of us will have gone on training courses at work, some of us will have gained qualifications associated with our profession.  One qualification relevant to a footballer is that of being a referee.  Not specifically with a view to a future career but with a view to understanding the game.  The ability to talk to a ref during a game in the language they understand must be of benefit.  ‘Never a foul ref’ turns into ‘there was no force or recklessness’. But players would just generally better understand the thought process of a referee in a game.

Players could use their qualification to help out with youth games etc.  but any form of education around the game would be useful?

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41 minutes ago, ropy said:

In terms of what sort of club we are I would be interested in finding out what part the club plays in finding e.g, Hussain a place at Forfar.  I remember tracking our youth cup winning team and discovering that all of them found a place somewhere in Scottish football.  What part of the message to Academy and Reserve players is that we are preparing them for a career somewhere because few will make it at Motherwell. 

Someone who's much more connected with that side of things will clearly know better in terms of what is just soundbite and what the club actively do but I'm fairly sure either Mo Ross (who, granted, wasn't for everyone) and/or Burrows were talking on one of the podcasts about the club consciously playing a part in helping players transition at the point they've been released from youth/development football.

It's this one: https://www.mfc1886.com/tag/maurice-ross/

It's old and clearly Ross is no longer at the club but he kind of talks round it a bit. It's a bit less specific than I remembered it though.

Edited by capt_oats
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2 hours ago, ropy said:

While I am on this most of us will have gone on training courses at work, some of us will have gained qualifications associated with our profession.  One qualification relevant to a footballer is that of being a referee.  Not specifically with a view to a future career but with a view to understanding the game.  The ability to talk to a ref during a game in the language they understand must be of benefit.  ‘Never a foul ref’ turns into ‘there was no force or recklessness’. But players would just generally better understand the thought process of a referee in a game.

Players could use their qualification to help out with youth games etc.  but any form of education around the game would be useful?

Are you advocating the Tony Watt School of Diplomacy?

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