Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[Antiochas III]

31 minutes ago, AmericanFan said:

Lol at absolutely taking out the keeper there with no foul given. Some MLS-level officiating there.

Aberdeen did the exact same thing earlier in the game.  Anderson just not as much of a goal threat as Craig Reid 

[Archie McSquackle]

55 minutes ago, AmericanFan said:

Lol at absolutely taking out the keeper there with no foul given. Some MLS-level officiating there.

The ref wasn't bothered about the Aberdeen player on the line saving the first shot with his hand either. He just seemed to decide anything goes. Which is quite something when you realise it meant we won second place instead of Aberdeen on the final game of the season with the additional prize money that went with it.

Edited March 12, 2023 by Archie McSquackle

[crazylegsjoe_mfc]

As much as it's a completely laughable piece of refereeing that allows us to score here, Aberdeen fans conveniently left out Russell Anderson equalising with his hand in the game at Fir Park in the January when making their plea...

[capt_oats]

15 hours ago, thisGRAEME said:

Quite exciting this, on the whole. Done properly, it should benefit everyone, really.

100%

”Done properly” feels like the important bit. I hope that there’s actually genuine buy in and they’re given the resources to properly do the job.

It definitely feels like a step in the right direction though.

[stephmc1886]

3 hours ago, crazylegsjoe_mfc said:

As much as it's a completely laughable piece of refereeing that allows us to score here, Aberdeen fans conveniently left out Russell Anderson equalising with his hand in the game at Fir Park in the January when making their plea...

Or the penalty on Hutchy right before we scored....

[Handsome_Devil]

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/lee-erwin-caught-ugly-scenes-29442947

Makes the play-off sound like a Sunday kickabout.

[thisGRAEME]

1 hour ago, Handsome_Devil said:

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/lee-erwin-caught-ugly-scenes-29442947

Makes the play-off sound like a Sunday kickabout.

 

Bring him home.

[Doctor Manhattan]

42 minutes ago, thisGRAEME said:

Bring him home.

Big Lee has obviously assimilated seamlessly into the rich cultural tradition of the Lebanese people. Do you think that's a rifle he's aiming there, or a grenade launcher?

Edited March 13, 2023 by Doctor Manhattan

[Kapowzer]

loathe to post this but I need someone to watch it and convey if there's anything interesting. I refuse to watch that arsehat and the spotty p***k.

 

Edited March 13, 2023 by Kapowzer

[casinobay]

On 12/03/2023 at 17:06, MFC HISTORY said:

Hello casinobay, Could you email me at historian@motherwellfc.co.uk please. Thank you.

Hi, I messaged you earlier this afternoon.

Hope to hear back from you soon

[capt_oats]

2 hours ago, Kapowzer said:

loathe to post this but I need someone to watch it and convey if there's anything interesting. I refuse to watch that arsehat and the spotty p***k.

Tbh, it's an entirely watchable interview. A fair amount of interesting stuff about how he sees things at the Football Club and how he ended up getting the job at the Football Club.

Am paraphrasing here but the things that I picked up on were that he thinks we're still a couple short in terms of staff. He had Richie Brittain as his assistant at County and Don Cowie as first team coach.

The interview is (obviously) post-Frail coming in so it'll be interesting to see if he wants a similar set up with a First Team Coach being added.

He says that 352 isn't his go-to formation but he felt it was the best fit in terms of getting 2 strikers on the park and fixing the defensive side of things.

There's loads of chat about his time at County which was genuinely interesting as ngl I knew absolutely f**k all about his career and it's quite insightful in terms of how he views the game and his relative coaching experience.

He also implies that we have a better infrastructure/support staff than he had when he was at County (they were doing all the recruitment stuff themselves).

Another point that seems very relevant to a lot of chat in this thread is that he's saying that he thinks every team needs a destroyer to win the ball back.

Edited March 13, 2023 by capt_oats

[YassinMoutaouakil]

I'm not massively arsed about Open Goal either way but they're basically our only hope of a long-form interview with a Motherwell manager unless we appoint Scott Brown or somebody. 

[Kapowzer]

1 hour ago, capt_oats said:

Tbh, it's an entirely watchable interview. A fair amount of interesting stuff about how he sees things at the Football Club and how he ended up getting the job at the Football Club.

Am paraphrasing here but the things that I picked up on were that he thinks we're still a couple short in terms of staff. He had Richie Brittain as his assistant at County and Don Cowie as first team coach.

The interview is (obviously) post-Frail coming in so it'll be interesting to see if he wants a similar set up with a First Team Coach being added.

He says that 352 isn't his go-to formation but he felt it was the best fit in terms of getting 2 strikers on the park and fixing the defensive side of things.

There's loads of chat about his time at County which was genuinely interesting as ngl I knew absolutely f**k all about his career and it's quite insightful in terms of how he views the game and his relative coaching experience.

He also implies that we have a better infrastructure/support staff than he had when he was at County (they were doing all the recruitment stuff themselves).

Another point that seems very relevant to a lot of chat in this thread is that he's saying that he thinks every team needs a destroyer to win the ball back.

Based on that I gave it a go. Like you, a few takes from it.

I suppose a lot of what he's said have came out in other interviews in the past month. His omission he requested to have the weekends off to continue with his media stuff hasn't been something I'd seen before. However the limited interaction he had with the first team squad when his role was a key link between the development teams and in theory a two way street is a head scratcher.

The next is the 1-2 coaches down thing, I think we all agree that is correct, but it is another thing that makes you wonder the mindset of the previous team. Surely they knew this too, was there a reluctance to get people on board, was it budgetary, did people turn them down, were they holding out, did they not want interference?

In fairness to Ferry the "What exact things did you do before the St Mirren game to turn things around?" was actually a very good question, maybe looking for insight due to his own side gig. However he let SK go on about meticulous planning without really asking for details that the question kinda needed.

He does like a core group of influencers who he will communicate things to first, as you said the enforcer thing which he un-PC called a destroyer and 352 was primarily facilitated to allow for two strikers and the rest of the lineup was driven by the available bodies in the building.

An interview that could have offered so much more insight if more pertinent questions were asked with intelligent follow ups.

The last 25 mins is RC focused and seemed to full of leading questions from Ferry wanting to know how mad his pal Michael Gardyne was.

Ferry should really jettison the p***k, he adds absolutely nothing other than being an annoyance. "What's your last meal, starter, main dessert?" f**k me. I sucks any credability out the room ..... the Pockmarked Dyson.

Overall impressed as I've been in pretty much all of his media stuff since being appointed. I am genuinely enthused to what he may source and strengthen this summer when recruiting to the central belt is cheaper and easier than Dingwall. He certainly seems to have a plan and a work ethic to match.

Edited March 13, 2023 by Kapowzer

[Swami]

If we hadn’t been shite against Raith Rovers, and had then beat Rangers in the quarters and then Celtic in the semis, we’d have got a lower league team in the final. Missed opportunity. 

[capt_oats]

1 hour ago, Kapowzer said:

The next is the 1-2 coaches down thing, I think we all agree that is correct, but it is another thing that makes you wonder the mindset of the previous team. Surely they knew this too, was there a reluctance to get people on board, was it budgetary, did people turn them down, were they holding out, did they not want interference?

I really don't want to keep dinging Hammell and rake over old coals as he's gone, out the door etc but it's really fucking hard not to have questions about this sort of thing. It's not like Kettlewell is criticising but the fact he's highlighting it doesn't really reflect well on the previous set up (that's before you get into the speculation about our training during that period).

If you go back to last summer Alexander was also talking about speaking to potential candidates to bring in to a coaching role, essentially to replace Lasley.

22nd April 22: https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/local-sport/motherwell-eye-coaching-staff-addition-26774850

21st June 22: https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/local-sport/motherwell-boss-graham-alexander-new-27286952

So we've got Alexander explicitly talking about wanting to add to the coaching staff.

Almost the first thing Kettlewell brought up besides the whole winning games of football business was that we were/are understaffed on that front.

Meanwhile Hammell was in the job for 6 months and never once mentioned it as an option. In fact, while the question was framed differently, he bristled at the suggestion of getting additional help in.

Again, I realise that point was put forward at the AGM was more of a DOF or experienced guy to learn from but as a general point it feels telling that he dismissed the idea. Don't get me wrong, I understand that he may have felt it would possibly have undermined his position but it's hard not to compare it with Kettlewell choosing to hire Frail.

Either way, I'd have thought that given Hammell was in the job 29th July 22 - 11th Feb 23 if he'd actually wanted another coach in he'd have been able to find someone. 

Put it this way, we managed to get Neil Alexander in the door inside a month of Dibble having left.

Obviously I don't know for certain as I wasn't in the building and I don't know Steven Hammell but it genuinely feels like it was a personal choice and he felt that promoting Kerr was enough.

Which is fucking nuts.

Edited March 13, 2023 by capt_oats

[Kapowzer]

Yeah he seemed to bristle at the idea of someone coming in with more experience in particular. However someone to do the donkey work, take an element of the team (say forwards) away for specific drills, Christ even lay out dilts and an aluminium wall for free kicks ….. it is all a bit strange. There was a definite under current of I won’t be undermined about his answer. To have another premiership manager in the building and seemingly keep him at arms length seems to dovetail with this.

The Frail appointment is one that doesn’t seem to come from anything other than he’s found someone who compliments him and enhances the backroom decision making. That was another thing that came from his interview especially the RC bit. Frail feels like a pure meritocracy appointment rather than gig for a mate.

I guess they must have done their UEFA badges together at some point?

So as far as coaching/footballing stuff goes, with Forster into SK’s gig, there’s backfilling whatever Clarky’s role was before he got academy director.

And as mentioned something similar to Las. Which was sitting in the TV gantry with an earpiece plus Monday to Friday stuff at Dalziel Park.

Edited March 13, 2023 by Kapowzer

[Swello]

11 hours ago, capt_oats said:

Tbh, it's an entirely watchable interview. A fair amount of interesting stuff about how he sees things at the Football Club and how he ended up getting the job at the Football Club.

Rage levels rising

[eliphas]

10 hours ago, YassinMoutaouakil said:

I'm not massively arsed about Open Goal either way but they're basically our only hope of a long-form interview with a Motherwell manager unless we appoint Scott Brown or somebody. 

Aye, I enjoyed it originally but it wore a bit thin on me so I've not seen any for ages. Will probably take this in though.

OpenGoal ticks the box for a lot (a lot) of people who enjoy it so absolutely fair fucks to them. They've got a niche and aren't trying to kid on their anything they are not.

[capt_oats]

4 hours ago, Swello said:

Rage levels rising

Once you notice it you really can't unhear it.

12 hours ago, Kapowzer said:

Yeah he seemed to bristle at the idea of someone coming in with more experience in particular. However someone to do the donkey work, take an element of the team (say forwards) away for specific drills, Christ even lay out dilts and an aluminium wall for free kicks ….. it is all a bit strange. There was a definite under current of I won’t be undermined about his answer. To have another premiership manager in the building and seemingly keep him at arms length seems to dovetail with this.

One of the other vaguely useful parts of the interview was SK giving a brief explainer of what his role at the club had actually been as LDC.

The news story that went out when he was announced made it clear that it wasn't a first team appointment: "The former Ross County boss, 38, takes up his new post today working specifically with our Development and Under 18s teams."

The "specifically" in that line makes it quite...erm, specific what his purview extends to.

His role was working with Academy graduates in that transitional space between Academy and first team. Which is fine - the question he answered makes it clear how that actually worked in practice.

I know the role Ross had changed as a result of the Reserves being mothballed during Covid but rightly or wrongly when Robinson was at the club it always felt like the coaching staff (Robinson, Lasley, Ross, O'Carroll, Boles and Hinchliffe plus Craigan and McManus before them) was a much more fluid group in terms of responsibilities.

That doesn't appear to have been the case here. It'll be mildly interesting to see if that changes with Kettlewell.

Again, to go back to the AGM (that I wasn't at), responding to the question about someone with experience coming in to assist by pointing out that there's already experience in the building that Hammell could lean on kind of missed the point if the issue was actually executing the work on the training ground.

Like, it's great if the manager can pick up the phone to someone for advice but that is absolutely zero help if he and his assistant couldn't run a minodge...

Edited March 14, 2023 by capt_oats

[Archie McSquackle]

Some of the one on one (no hangers on)  interviews are very good and I went back through the catalogue and listened to those when I first became aware of them. I tend to listen to the podcast version rather than sitting down to watch them.