Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[Doctor Manhattan]

4-0 now.

In some parallel universe, we're all currently in Prague, smashed off our faces on Staropramen and having a great time, and we don't give one solitary shite whether we're winning by 2 or losing by 6. 

[Handsome_Devil]

33 minutes ago, Doctor Manhattan said:

4-0 now.

In some parallel universe, we're all currently in Prague, smashed off our faces on Staropramen and having a great time, and we don't give one solitary shite whether we're winning by 2 or losing by 6. 

I've spent all of yesterday thinking 'right now I should on a plane-having a beer while changing-checking in etc etc. I suppose skipping raging at a 6-0 defeat and then checking the bank statement post two nights out in Stavanger semi-positive.

I've basically got over Sligo already and I know it doesn't work like this but Christ Motherwell owe us big time for that one. We put up with all kinds of shite in return for occasional special moments and to blow an accessible trip after a run of Russia-Iceland-corona in our last decade of Euro matches...ffs boys.

 

[Kapowzer]

1 hour ago, Doctor Manhattan said:

4-0 now.

In some parallel universe, we're all currently in Prague, smashed off our faces on Staropramen and having a great time, and we don't give one solitary shite whether we're winning by 2 or losing by 6. 

Who is it has a brother in Prague? They’re out there presently with Zero Fucks Given.

Oh and 5-1 in Stavanger. That should have been us and highlights what a shitshow both legs were. Happy £350k lads.

Edited August 4, 2022 by Kapowzer

[Ron Aldo]

That Sligo result has just dredged up all the rage from the other week. Let's not pretend they're anything other than complete dug shite. Massive opportunity missed by us. 

[welldaft]

1 hour ago, Ron Aldo said:

That Sligo result has just dredged up all the rage from the other week. Let's not pretend they're anything other than complete dug shite. Massive opportunity missed by us. 

Over the two legs you could see they were a bang average side. To be fair they did not need to be any better. The only upside is we are now looking for a new Manager. Had we won through it may have been another month or so + before a parting of the ways.

I have said on here many times that I liked Alexander, but he rightly had to carry the can for that abomination. We were woefully underprepared and you can see from United team the impact of what a handful of quality additions and better preparation can deliver. Granted United have been making big losses and seem to be stretching their budget somewhat but still….

Edit to add - Viking FC are 17 league games into their season. So less chance of Sligo catching them cold. And yes we were still shite over two legs….

 

Edited August 4, 2022 by welldaft

[Kapowzer]

51 minutes ago, welldaft said:

Over the two legs you could see they were a bang average side. To be fair they did not need to be any better. The only upside is we are now looking for a new Manager. Had we won through it may have been another month or so + before a parting of the ways.

I have said on here many times that I liked Alexander, but he rightly had to carry the can for that abomination. We were woefully underprepared and you can see from United team the impact of what a handful of quality additions and better preparation can deliver. Granted United have been making big losses and seem to be stretching their budget somewhat but still….

Edit to add - Viking FC are 17 league games into their season. So less chance of Sligo catching them cold. And yes we were still shite over two legs….

 

I'd have rather had £350k and emptied him next Friday.

[Archie McSquackle]

To get that £350k we'd have had to have got through to the next round and I'd be unlikely to be able to bite my fingers just now.

[Kapowzer]

19 minutes ago, Archie McSquackle said:

To get that £350k we'd have had to have got through to the next round and I'd be unlikely to be able to bite my fingers just now.

We would have got it for papped in Q3 over papped in Q2.

Hammy also wouldn't have had to get on Skyscanner much to Mrs Hammy's displeasure.

Edited August 4, 2022 by Kapowzer

[Allroy for Prez]

Watched that Utd performance last night and couldn’t help but be massively jealous of that performance and their signings.

Imagine filing your stadium and the players actually turning up? 

Made me even more annoyed at our horror show v Sligo and the players we are suffering at the moment.

How come St Mirren, Ross County and Livingston can go out and find forward players especially that look useful yet we’re putting up with Efford, Shields, Morris and Spittal? 

Edited August 5, 2022 by Allroy for Prez

[eliphas]

7 hours ago, Kapowzer said:

I'd have rather had £350k and emptied him next Friday.

IMO though had we got through Sligo and put out by Viking we won't have 'mutually parted ways' until we were 5/6 games into the season at least, probably limping along and with the transfer window shut. 

[eliphas]

3 minutes ago, Allroy for Prez said:

Watched that Utd performance last night and couldn’t help but be massively jealous of that performance and their signings. 
 

Made me even more annoyed at our horror show v Sligo and the players we are suffering at the moment.

To be honest, I find it hard to be hugely jealous as such. Dundee Utd are way outspending us to get the quality of player they have in their squad this season. Dangerously so I'd say.

Sure, we could have spent some more over the summer, speculate to accumulate and all that. But even so we couldn't, without a massive dangerous overspend pay the wages they are paying to Watt, Mulgrew, Fletcher for a start. Not to mention the fees and wages for Levitt and Middleton. 

 

[well fan for life]

To be honest I'm not particularly arsed about where we sign people from. My problem with this summer so far is that the glaring issues we had all season last year are still glaring issues. 

[welldaft]

8 hours ago, Kapowzer said:

We would have got it for papped in Q3 over papped in Q2.

Hammy also wouldn't have had to get on Skyscanner much to Mrs Hammy's displeasure.

To be precise it is 350k Euros for QR2 and 550k Euros for QR3. So a difference of 200k Euros. So approx £165k. Sure by the time you add another home gate probably adds another £100k. So say £250k less bonuses and costs. 

No guarantee he would not have won a league game also to keep in position for a little longer. The million $ Q really is whether Alexander leaving now and appointing a new Manager will (hopefully) turn our season into a much better one. 

In his defence us finishing 5th and not say 8th (realistic if we finished bottom 6) and getting the 350k Euros + home gate has probably meant an extra £6-700k less costs  / bonuses. That is a fairly significant sum ! 

[capt_oats]

6 hours ago, well fan for life said:

To be honest I'm not particularly arsed about where we sign people from. My problem with this summer so far is that the glaring issues we had all season last year are still glaring issues. 

To me the Sligo games feel like Airdrie in the Betfred group writ large in that respect. Except without the get out of jail card of being able to qualify as group winners regardless.

It's a moot point now but the impression I have is that the plan was to finish off our recruitment this month when you'd imagine some of those issues were planned to be addressed. Which is fine if you win the games you need to and you can sell the big picture thing.

From the guy who brought us "we don't need to 'directly' replace Tony Watt" came:

Quote

“I’m confident we have enough goalscoring threats in our squad to score the amount of goals that we did last season. If you took away penalties, we were the fourth-top goalscorers in the league.

“The improvements we feel we have to make are on the defensive side of it and not concede as many goals as we did. We have done a lot of work on that. I feel we have the players that can help us improve that aspect."

Link

For all you needed to take whatever Alexander said to the press with a crate load of salt, to follow that up with losing both Sligo games to nil and conceding 3 with Bevis' clownshoes contribution means that in hindsight it's really another in the line of judgement calls Alexander got wildly wrong.

Curiously a lot of those calls seemed to come in situations he was new to (competitive games in the LC groups in July, European qualification in July) and scenarios where he seems to have overestimated his own team and underestimated the opposition.

Who knows who we might have been targeting to bring in this month but from where we were it feels like a fresh pair of eyes coming in and looking at the squad before the window closes is almost certainly welcome.

Edited August 5, 2022 by capt_oats

[capt_oats]

As expected.

[Busta Nut]

Hate that type of update, I could have told you that Raman.

[Swello]

26 minutes ago, capt_oats said:

Curiously a lot of those calls seemed to come in situations he was new to (competitive games in the LC groups in July, European qualification in July) and scenarios where he seems to have overestimated his own team and underestimated the opposition.

I think this is it - having a manager that was 100% steeped in the traditional world of English lower leagues turned out to be a bad thing - he was caught out with Bet Fred Groups, Pre-contracts, Winter breaks, Early Europe. Probably shows the wisdom of having "someone that knows Scottish Football" on the management team (and actually listening to them).

 

[Handsome_Devil]

22 minutes ago, Swello said:

I think this is it - having a manager that was 100% steeped in the traditional world of English lower leagues turned out to be a bad thing - he was caught out with Bet Fred Groups, Pre-contracts, Winter breaks, Early Europe. Probably shows the wisdom of having "someone that knows Scottish Football" on the management team (and actually listening to them).

 

Or someone who is so obviously stubborn - he's been sacked in the exact same manner in all four jobs, and I'd bet right now his fifth will end the same way.

Robinson managed to change and reinvent the team about half a dozen times in his stay, if Alexander was just a little less himself I've no doubt he'd still be with us and would be good manager indeed. 

[Blink182]

[Swello]

14 minutes ago, Handsome_Devil said:

Or someone who is so obviously stubborn - he's been sacked in the exact same manner in all four jobs, and I'd bet right now his fifth will end the same way.

Robinson managed to change and reinvent the team about half a dozen times in his stay, if Alexander was just a little less himself I've no doubt he'd still be with us and would be good manager indeed. 

Robinson learned lessons before he took over, he knew Scottish football already - that's why his compromise was to have the whole squad signed up before June was out - he seems to have carried that on at St Mirren. It means you might miss out on some good loans or folk that will only choose you as their 5th choice - but at least the team is at "full" strength. This approach wasn't perfect either of course and having a poor summer transfer window was one of the reasons that led to him going ultimately. 

I would imagine that if Alexander got a shot at another Scottish club, he would have to do things very differently. His view seemed to be that what happened on the Saturday was all that mattered but it was a lot of the other stuff where he was found wanting that led to his downfall.

.