Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[Archie McSquackle]

Tommy Coyne?

[Desp]

16 minutes ago, Archie McSquackle said:

Tommy Coyne?

M'Lord!

[well fan for life]

Hartley was tremendous when he joined. A proper leader on the pitch, would tackle anything and scored some important goals. 

However never, ever forget the first half performance him & Bevis put in for the 4-4 draw against St Mirren. 

[Desp]

I think people reminisce fondly about Hartley due to his goal scoring abilities, as opposed to his defensive side.  At the back, he was very much an English League 2 style centre half - be a brick shithouse type player and kick it the way you're facing.  With the way Robinson set-us up in 17/18, and having the pace of Dunne & Kipre either side of him, worked well and got him though a lot.   

A good c**t, to be fair.  His riling up of the cream buns and subsequent last minute equaliser in the game that followed was lovely. 

[YassinMoutaouakil]

KVV is fine imo. He's never going to be a Moult or a Higdon I don't think, but he's more or less stepped up and filled the hole Cole left. If you're going to be a middling Scottish Premiership striker you might as well be a big radge Dutch c**t that nutmegs defenders and hates Aberdeen, IMO.

[Handsome_Devil]

46 minutes ago, Archie McSquackle said:

Tommy Coyne?

Pretty sure he didn't...in 94/95 he had a huge number by Christmas (as many as 16?), got injured then only got another couple after coming back in April.

 

[well fan for life]

9 minutes ago, YassinMoutaouakil said:

KVV is fine imo. He's never going to be a Moult or a Higdon I don't think, but he's more or less stepped up and filled the hole Cole left. If you're going to be a middling Scottish Premiership striker you might as well be a big radge Dutch c**t that nutmegs defenders and hates Aberdeen, IMO.

Give me an inconsistent maverick over a Jordan White/Conor Sammon any day of the week. 

[capt_oats]

11 minutes ago, YassinMoutaouakil said:

KVV is fine imo. He's never going to be a Moult or a Higdon I don't think, but he's more or less stepped up and filled the hole Cole left. If you're going to be a middling Scottish Premiership striker you might as well be a big radge Dutch c**t that nutmegs defenders and hates Aberdeen, IMO.

See I'm happy to view big KVV as mercurial rather than inconsistent.

As @Casagolda said earlier, give him the right service and put the right people around him (Tierney is absolutely one of those IMO) and he's absolutely fine.

That said, an alternative to him should probably be on our shopping list for the summer.

Edited April 4, 2022 by capt_oats

[Kapowzer]

Over the past few seasons have there been any standout central defenders in our price range and we could have maybe got at any other clubs anyone wished we got in first for?

I'll start the ball rolling with Halkett.

[Ron Aldo]

Give me an inconsistent maverick over a Jordan White/Conor Sammon any day of the week. 

Both of them were consistent tbf.

Consistently shite.

[Busta Nut]

2 hours ago, Kapowzer said:

Over the past few seasons have there been any standout central defenders in our price range and we could have maybe got at any other clubs anyone wished we got in first for?

I'll start the ball rolling with Halkett.

Declan Gallagher tbf, until he spat the dummy.

[Swami]

…

Edited April 4, 2022 by Swami
Didn’t notice someone already said it.

[AdamMFC]

21 hours ago, Kapowzer said:

Keeper - Only if Kelly has suitors, otherwise nothing to do here

LB - Priority Number 1 for me, 2 players both* unfancied, both here for a few years yet, still makes me weep thinking of McGinley on the books for another 2 years.

RB - SOD, Mugabi and Johnston to return, plenty of cover.

Central Defence - Mugabi, Sol, Ojala ... I'd try to come to an agreement to save that wage, ideally two players who are good enough that Sol becomes a backup. O'Connor will I guess be based on feedback from QotS. I'd bite someones hand off for a pair of Hartley's.

Midfield - Slattery and Cornelius are now my shoe ins. Another quality starter in the summer would be on my wish list. Pushes the likes of Goss further down the pecking order. I'd just like to win more midfield battles over a season which I think we're looking back to McCall as the last time it happened.

Forwards - Ideally someone to compete with KVV for a start, also to make up for his 3 stealth games to 1 decent one ratio. Woolery and Shields are here for a while, Efford, you'd like to see a bit more from him. Tierney to feature more once the steak and Guinness diet kicks in.

 

So 5 players on my wishlist maybe a tall order as we already have 20 on the books for 2022-23. However I'd easily cull 4 to 5 of those already contracted as not good enough even as squad players.

I think guys like Ojala and Carroll may be encouraged if they wish to play first team elsewhere, we'll come to an agreement.

You'd hope the young guys on buttons, a few may step up and be in regular contention (Johnston, Devine, Mahon, Tierney). 

I'd agree with this. I'm hoping Johnston stays and fights for a place in the first team. I know they're struggling this season and granted I haven't seen much of them but any highlights I've seen of Queens when Max has played he's looked decent. As for O'Connor I'd like him to stay as well and go out on loon again.

Left back has to be our priority position in getting sorted out over the summer. I'm hoping as well that Tierney is able bulk out a bit but tbf to him he doesn't shy out a challenge and getting stuck in but if he can add some muscle then a Midfield of him, Slattery and Dean would be my preferred starting midfield with someone new as backup.

As for outgoings my only real concern would be Kelly.

 

Overall I'm just glad we're not staring yet another rebuild in the face. It's comforting to know we really only need to add 4-5 players (IMO anyway).

[Kapowzer]

11 minutes ago, AdamMFC said:

Overall I'm just glad we're not staring yet another rebuild in the face. It's comforting to know we really only need to add 4-5 players (IMO anyway).

I'd just rather have a squad of 20 players who could all be called on (3 of them are keepers mind). Rather than 25ish which is what we'll have if nobody contracted moves and our priority positions are addressed. I don't know, but I look upon a squad of 25 as being 10 of those wages could be combined and used to get 5 overall better players.

With the Covid rules easing but struggling to find players due to Brexit as conveyed at the AGM it may be tougher than we assume. Granted this season our mini covid outbreak happened during the winter break and we've avoided a St Johnstone type injury list so we've not had to dip into the outer reaches of the squad (if you don't count Ibrox).

I felt last summer it was looking like we went down the quality over quantity route after he kinda inherited Lawleff and extended Crawford, both he did move on. But come the end of the window it did feel like Goss was recruited because other target(s) fell through. Niernnold .... don't really get that one at all. It seems he's destined to secure the services of one guy per window you hardly ever see ... he's this window's Eddie Nolan.

I think he does rate Maguire, certainly his professionalism and ethic. He's been injured and off a lot of our radars, he really does need to step up next season and command a weekly start and push on, he's been here long enough and that has been billed for a while now.

[For Your Pies Only]

8 hours ago, well fan for life said:

Give me an inconsistent maverick over a Jordan White/Conor Sammon any day of the week. 

It's still mental to me that Conor Sammon conned his way to a career mostly based at Scottish Prem/EPL/English Championship level out of one good season at Killie. Fair play to the man (and his agent) but I can't think of many strikers who have played at Fir Park who had less natural finishing ability than him.

He's probably one of the most depressing signings of the last 10 years for me, because we weren't taking a punt on an unknown quantity from down south or the irish leagues - we were taking a punt on Conor f**king Sammon. Who had scored 9 goals from open play over 66 Premiership Games in the 2 seasons prior. One of those signings where the 'he's got good experience at this level' soundbite made a few appearances despite said experience being totally chronic. Even for a loan it felt like desperate stuff.

[Ron Aldo]

It's still mental to me that Conor Sammon conned his way to a career mostly based at Scottish Prem/EPL/English Championship level out of one good season at Killie. Fair play to the man (and his agent) but I can't think of many strikers who have played at Fir Park who had less natural finishing ability than him.
He's probably one of the most depressing signings of the last 10 years for me, because we weren't taking a punt on an unknown quantity from down south or the irish leagues - we were taking a punt on Conor f**king Sammon. Who had scored 9 goals from open play over 66 Premiership Games in the 2 seasons prior. One of those signings where the 'he's got good experience at this level' soundbite made a few appearances despite said experience being totally chronic. Even for a loan it felt like desperate stuff.

Connor Sammon owes pretty much his entire career to Alexei Eremenko.

[craigkillie]

Sammon did have a lot of good physical attributes, and even in his second spell at Killie I thought he did pretty well as a hard-working forward. He definitely got lucky in hitting a purple patch in front of goal in that spell under Paatelainen, but I think he'd likely have had an OK career at Premiership level for a few years even without that.

[well fan for life]

7 minutes ago, craigkillie said:

Sammon did have a lot of good physical attributes, and even in his second spell at Killie I thought he did pretty well as a hard-working forward. He definitely got lucky in hitting a purple patch in front of goal in that spell under Paatelainen, but I think he'd likely have had an OK career at Premiership level for a few years even without that.

Sammon was rapid and, as I learned when he walked past me in the Cooper Suite, he's built like a brick shithouse. Eremenko was a tremendous player in that Killie team which probably helped Sammon. Nothing but respect to him for turning that purple patch in to a life changing amount of money while he was down south. 

Was he shite for us? Aye. But he's not even approaching the top 20 of shit players we've had while I've been watching. 

[YassinMoutaouakil]

I don't think the Sammon signing was that bad in isolation but given we already had Main and Bowman upfront at the time... what the f**k are you doing man?

[KirkySuperSub]

1 hour ago, well fan for life said:

Was he shite for us? Aye. But he's not even approaching the top 20 of shit players we've had while I've been watching. 

Christ, that's a whole topic of it's own right there!

For me, number 1 - DAVIE SHANKS...!

Numbers 2 to 20 all open to intense debate.