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Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons


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Just now, thisGRAEME said:

Cool so discounting the three in the league right now who have all won trophies and or reached cup finals in the last two seasons I guess you're right. 

No, not discounting, because none fitted the criteria of what I said. None of their tenures have ended yet unless I'm mistaken?

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I am actually quite happy with this appointment the more I think about it. 

Will it work ? Let’s be honest right now we all would take 10th place. So if he achieves that then he has done his job initially at least.

He is really nice guy and although that counts for nothing these days I am glad he has been given the opportunity. Also being our record post war appearance holder will buy him some time with our notoriously impatient support.

I had more reservations over Simo tbh. As for the 3rd candidate. Maybe was Healy. Maybe not but clearly there was no outstanding candidate with experience.

He gets my full backing even if he gets off to a sticky start. We need to see what happens when he adds some players hopefully very soon 🙏.

 

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Some quotes from the 'fishal:

Chairman Jim McMahon said: “We ran a very robust process that started with over 70 applicants. We met last weekend to narrow that down to a final three and we spent time interviewing them over the last few days. All three candidates were impressive, and each brought their own positives, but Steven was the unanimous pick of the directors and Well Society board members who sat on the panel.

He inspired us with not only his short-term plans to reshape the squad and adapt the style, but his medium to long-term vision around a fully integrated club and we felt this matched how we see the future of the club. We think he will bring many qualities to the job that he has demonstrated running the biggest department at the club for almost five years and it’s abundantly clear to us that he has the support and buy-in of the current squad and staff."

[...]

“It is an honour for me to be given the responsibility as manager of this wonderful club and something I am very excited about,” Steven Hammell added. “The last two weeks have given me an even bigger appetite for it and I am determined and ambitious to take this team on and put my own stamp on it. I hope I can continue to get my message across and give our supporters a team that will entertain them and a team that they can see are giving their all.

I have also spent that time assessing the squad and where I believe our short-term needs are. I think we have some hugely talented players in this group and it’s now my job to get the best from them. I also have first-hand knowledge of the exciting young players at the club and we will integrate them into the first-team environment when they are ready.

In addition, I think the players need some help with some new faces. As well as taking the team and planning my application, I have been busy identifying potential targets, should I be successful in getting the job. Now that I have, one of my first tasks will be to look to strengthen our options across a couple of areas.”

 

Strongly suggests that

1) he has a remit to change the style and both SH and board recognise the football we were playing under GA has turned fans off

2) there is a feeling the academy has not been utilised well over the past few seasons (covid also being a factor)

3) players 'giving their all' implies GA had lost the dressing room, as suspected

4) board are willing to support Hammell bringing in a few new players where we are clearly lacking

 

As others have already said, it's a risky appointment, but agree with all SH has said in interviews as caretaker and in the statement above. Lets see if he can solve the problems as well as he can identify them.

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One other point - lots of us (probably me included although I can't honestly remember) had reservations about 'Flow getting his job at time as it seemed like a "lazy/cheap option" - but I think these were proved massively wrong and having someone that is so tuned into the club has been a massive plus in his time so far. The upside of Hammy being appointed is that no modern manager of ours will have been so much immersed in the club and interested in more than just the short term/first team (which feels like another very thinly veiled criticism of GA). 

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After Saturday - which I'm still considering a free hit - we have four winnable games in the league and the ICT tie. Talk about having to hit the ground running...six points and a place in the QF is a modest par tally, more than that and I will feel considerably better about the whole project. Less and I'm bulk ordering panic buttons.

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3 minutes ago, Doctor Manhattan said:

I am 100% behind this appointment. That is all.

Me too. It's a risk, given his inexperience, but then so is every appointment we make. There'll certainly be no shortage of passion and he understands the ethos of the club so have at it 

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I am pleased for Hammell, I think his understanding of the club from top to bottom will be beneficial, his knowledge of the academy is likely to see us use that resource more than we have seen recently.  Is he a good manager, I don’t know, but he has talked a good game so far and his willingness to change things during a match is encouraging, we have 5 subs to use tactically and he has been seen to do this.

My hope is that we have a manager for 10 years who may build 3 or 4 different teams and may gain some success during that period, I guess I am looking to replicate McLean’s time with us.  This may involve taking some low points on the chin.  I had hoped for the same from Robinson and Alexander but it wasn’t to be.

My negative thoughts go to two years time if this appointment hasn’t been successful and Hammell has to go.  The club will have lost a ‘legend’.

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5 minutes ago, Swello said:

One other point - lots of us (probably me included although I can't honestly remember) had reservations about 'Flow getting his job at time as it seemed like a "lazy/cheap option" - but I think these were proved massively wrong and having someone that is so tuned into the club has been a massive plus in his time so far. The upside of Hammy being appointed is that no modern manager of ours will have been so much immersed in the club and interested in more than just the short term/first team (which feels like another very thinly veiled criticism of GA). 

Think this is a good point actually.

I suspect Hammell already being in the building, knowing where we're deficient and hopefully being able to act on it in a quick manner without needing a settling in period is one of the major reasons he'll have got the job.  

We don't know who this third candidate was and possible never will but now that the news is out, I can't wait to get behind Hammell. What some of our more "nervous" supporters (being kind) will need to realise though is that the seeds of decline seem to have been sown in our team and reversing that isn't easy. Hammell is going to need patience and support and if he loses on Saturday (fairly likely against an in form Aberdeen team), the usual suspects need to restrain every sinew in their body not to give it their usual treatment. I heard a few boos on Saturday, admittedly that was an end to the game which was heavy on emotions, but feels like something at this stage that we could really do without.

He probably wouldn't have been my first choice going into the process, but now that it's done, I feel better about it. At the very least, the style has been identified as an issue so when we do win games, hopefully we won't be going home having to wash our eyes out and can actually feel good about it.

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I was quite up for Simo but I think this will actually work out quite well.  We don't have the resources to bring in a raft of new players to try and fit some philosophy that a newcomer to the club thinks will work. 

Hammy might not have the direct first team management experience of others, but he knows the club inside out and is likely to have a much better handle on what is expected.

I'm particularly keen to see what this might mean in terms of blooding more of the youth players - we've seen a few of the guys popping up on the bench since Alexander left and I wouldn't be surprised if we start to see much earlier integration going forward.  Certainly there seems to be far more of a link between the first team and age group sides which can only help us in this respect.

 

But regardless, a few new faces this afternoon wouldn't go amiss.

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If we were going to take a risk I’m glad we done it with Hammell instead of someone like Kevin Thompson. Compensation obviously put Valakari out the race. 
Aberdeen is going to be tough but a good round of fixtures afterwards to gain some momentum. My fear is if we don’t pick up points in those ‘easier’ games then we’ll be in real trouble by the time Rangers, Celtic and Hearts come around. 
New players urgently needed.

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On 06/08/2022 at 09:42, 2426255 said:

The interview gave me the overall feeling that he is an absolute shoe-in for the job and they may as well give him the job officially now. Added to the interview everything about it fits well with Motherwell.

https://youtu.be/jeWby_E0boU?t=709

 

I'll be interested to see how he gets on. Happy for him - seems a likeable guy. Might even go to a few games if I get some free time.

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I'm sure now that he's in post, Hammell will get the backing of the majority of fans. This season is obviously going to be massively transitional, and everyone is going to need to accept and buy into that. Anyone whose realistic hopes begin anywhere above scraping 10th place and building from there needs to massively reevaluate. It's going to be a long slog of a season with more lows than highs, but a squad with this much dead weight is going to take time to put right.

Our notoriously fickle support are going to need to give him that time to gradually shape his own side and style. It might be a while before we see the shoots of recovery but he speaks well and I like his vision of the way forward and where he wants to take the club as a whole, not just the first team. I hope he is afforded the time and has the ability to see it through.

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