Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[Desp]

Chris Kane is a funny one.  He was absolutely outstanding in the Cup Final on Saturday, but he never looked like scoring.  He will run his absolute pan in for the team, and as long as they've got the Bellshill Cafu knocking in winners in every Cup Final he turns up him, I don't see St. Johnstone fans worrying too much about Kane's goalscoring exploits. 

He kinda reminds me a bit of Curtis Main in the second half of our 18/19 side where he barely scored, but he run himself into the ground ragdolling defenders about, holding the ball up and creating space for Ariyibi, Turnbull & Hastie to thrive.  

Edited May 24, 2021 by Desp

[Guest superward]

2 hours ago, RostokMcSpoons said:

Apropos of nothing...
I was catching up with Scottish football news and saw the story about the Rangers loanee playing for Brechin getting himself sent off for homophobic language... what caught my eye is that our very own Kallum Higginbotham had managed to find his level at Kelty Hearts.    Blimey.  

I seem to remember Kallum not having many fans at the time of his 10 games before he sodded off to Partick, but he did manage to score one of my very favourite Motherwell goals.  Not only was it a cracking finish but most of the team got involved in the build up.  A great goal.  So I'm kinda surprised he's fallen so far down the ladder.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjKifmO9uaA

I could be wrong. But looking at the Kelty team they must have a wee bit of money about them. A lot of players who've played fairly recently at a decent level including Higginbotham, the bold Craig Reid, Tam Scobbie, Patrick Boyle and Michael Tidser to name a handful. So maybe a bit more to it than just 'they are all lowland league level' nowadays. 

[Busta Nut]

I seem to remember they were throwing money at league players

[18May1991]

Dropped in to check ‘the list’. 
Nothing. 
The silence from the club is deafening. New season just around the corner. What is Alexander thinking?! 
etc. 

[Busta Nut]

Rumour I saw is they offered almost everyone new deals. 

 

Whatever that means.

[RandomGuy.]

2 hours ago, Busta Nut said:

You have Chris Kane up front. I honestly think he's one of the worst players I have ever seen. he get about 5 goals a year too. 

Yeah Kane is really just a player you want to be bringing in/out the side when you need a workhorse tbh.

[welldaft]

1 hour ago, Busta Nut said:

Rumour I saw is they offered almost everyone new deals. 

 

Whatever that means.

[crazylegsjoe_mfc]

1 hour ago, superward said:

I could be wrong. But looking at the Kelty team they must have a wee bit of money about them. A lot of players who've played fairly recently at a decent level including Higginbotham, the bold Craig Reid, Tam Scobbie, Patrick Boyle and Michael Tidser to name a handful. So maybe a bit more to it than just 'they are all lowland league level' nowadays. 

You can add Nathan Austin to that list.

I remember him basically retiring Louis Laing that night East Fife took us to extra time. He then ended up at Falkirk.

[Busta Nut]

23 minutes ago, welldaft said:

I wish I was

[capt_oats]

16 minutes ago, Busta Nut said:

I wish I was

Tbh, it's not that difficult to believe.

I suppose there's the difference between offering a deal as a token gesture and offering something where we're actively trying to keep them on board.

Edited May 24, 2021 by capt_oats

[crazylegsjoe_mfc]

I've been massively pro-Alexander thus far, but if we end up with Foley signed, as well as O'Hara, Crawford, Maguire and Donnelly next season, it does not fill me with excitement for the brand of football we may play.

Foley obviously had a great game against Killie, but one swallow doesn't make a summer. There's a slight argument for keeping him on at the expense of Crawford, but I really don't think we need both.

[welldaft]

11 minutes ago, crazylegsjoe_mfc said:

I've been massively pro-Alexander thus far, but if we end up with Foley signed, as well as O'Hara, Crawford, Maguire and Donnelly next season, it does not fill me with excitement for the brand of football we may play.

Foley obviously had a great game against Killie, but one swallow doesn't make a summer. There's a slight argument for keeping him on at the expense of Crawford, but I really don't think we need both.

I would rather we kept Foley over Crawford or Maguire but as both the latter are contracted next season then

I hope Busta is incorrect re rumours. In some ways I can understand that the players in the main got results under Alexander, but that does not hide the deficiencies that were apparent earlier in the season and in fact for several games during Alexander’s short stay so far. 

I suspect that may be playing a part in the delay in the announcement of release list. Possibly hoping  some commit to offers recently made and we can announce positive news. 

We know Cole will be offered a deal but will Long ? Hopefully we will find out soon enough - as in not Friday at 6pm

 

[rowsdower]

We were near the top of the form league from when Alexander came in, so maybe he's going for continuity.......

We know that Gallagher, Polworth and Chapman are definitely off.  Dunne staying would be a surprise, but Alexander likes his character, so maybe there's that. Seedorf is injured, so it's possible we're going through the same process as tanner and dunne with him.

 

[crazylegsjoe_mfc]

10 minutes ago, welldaft said:

I would rather we kept Foley over Crawford or Maguire but as both the latter are contracted next season then

I hope Busta is incorrect re rumours. In some ways I can understand that the players in the main got results under Alexander, but that does not hide the deficiencies that were apparent earlier in the season and in fact for several games during Alexander’s short stay so far. 

I suspect that may be playing a part in the delay in the announcement of release list. Possibly hoping  some commit to offers recently made and we can announce positive news. 

We know Cole will be offered a deal but will Long ? Hopefully we will find out soon enough - as in not Friday at 6pm

 

Yeah definitely agree re Crawford and Maguire. I think there's much of a muchness between the three of them and the fact that Foley can bring a bit of experience and leadership is probably enough to put him in pole position of the three, but as you say, Crawford and Maguire are contracted and that for me is probably reason enough to get rid of Foley.

I did hear that Long had been offered a new deal. It's one which probably does split opinion and I change my mind constantly myself as to whether it's a good idea or not. 

[rowsdower]

I change my mind on Long multiple times during a match. I think we should keep him for his motivational skills.

 

 

[thisGRAEME]

7 hours ago, crazylegsjoe_mfc said:

I see Euan Murray in the Championship team of the year there. I noticed an article the other week about him being out of contract and attracting Premiership interest, given our love for signing former players, I wonder if he's on our radar.

[Neil86]

2 minutes ago, rowsdower said:

I change my mind on Long multiple times during a match. I think we should keep him for his motivational skills.

 

 

Better the devil you know and all that, FWIW I actually like Long, don't have an issue with him not smiling at all, actually find it weird how 90% of our support lose their minds over it.

[Swello]

15 minutes ago, Neil86 said:

Better the devil you know and all that, FWIW I actually like Long, don't have an issue with him not smiling at all, actually find it weird how 90% of our support lose their minds over it.

From my point of view - I couldn't give a toss if he smiles but there are times where he clearly got discouraged early in games and was worse than useless as a result and he can drive me mad with stupid bookings etc - but I still find it hard to want to get rid of him. 

A large part of me thinks that a player that is more consistent, even if he isn't quite as talented as Long would do us better but I can't quite dismiss the fact that he is a really capable player at our level and if someone  could find his cheat codes, we'd have an excellent player on our hands.

[capt_oats]

Taking a look at who's out of contract:

GK: Fox, Chapman
DF: Dunne, Gallagher
MF: Campbell, Polworth, Semple, Cornelius, Foley
FW: Long, Seedorf, Robinson, Cole

Loans: Kelly, Nolan, Magloire, Hastie, Smith, Roberts

We already know Gallagher and Campbell are away (though we need to keep Campbell's deal on the table), you'd think Mrs Polworth will have made her views clear and we've made Cole an offer. We're also keen on sorting something out with Kelly be it a loan or whatever.

That's 5 of 19 accounted for.

Magloire, Hastie, Smith and Roberts are all still contracted to their parent clubs for (at least) another year.

If Seedorf's injured would it be a massive surprise if he was offered a Tanner type deal over the summer? Same with Dunne and Fox especially so in Fox's case give Carson's still coming back from injury and Kelly's situation is up in the air.

Really that only leaves Semple, Cornelius, Foley, Long and Robinson. You'd imagine Chapman and Nolan are away.

We also need to cut about 10 bodies regardless as the current first team numbers are clearly unsustainable. There's not a chance we run with 33 "first team" players (which is how it stands currently)

Edited May 24, 2021 by capt_oats

[Onthefringes]

19 minutes ago, capt_oats said:

Taking a look at who's out of contract:

GK: Fox, Chapman
DF: Dunne, Gallagher
MF: Campbell, Polworth, Semple, Cornelius, Foley
FW: Long, Seedorf, Robinson, Cole

Loans: Kelly, Nolan, Magloire, Hastie, Smith, Roberts

We already know Gallagher and Campbell are away (though we need to keep Campbell's deal on the table), you'd think Mrs Polworth will have made her views clear and we've made Cole an offer. We're also keen on sorting something out with Kelly be it a loan or whatever.

That's 5 of 19 accounted for.

Magloire, Hastie, Smith and Roberts are all still contracted to their parent clubs for (at least) another year.

If Seedorf's injured would it be a massive surprise if he was offered a Tanner type deal over the summer? Same with Dunne and Fox especially so in Fox's case give Carson's still coming back from injury and Kelly's situation is up in the air.

Really that only leaves Semple, Cornelius, Foley, Long and Robinson. You'd imagine Chapman and Nolan are away.

We also need to cut about 10 bodies regardless as the current first team numbers are clearly unsustainable. There's not a chance we run with 33 "first team" players (which is how it stands currently)

Other than the obvious, expect less than 2 from those highlighted