The Big Relegation Thread

[RandomGuy.]

40 minutes ago, AJF said:

I live in my own bubble because I said Motherwell are in bother (which you seem to agree with) and that they could've conceded 6 or 7 goals?

Of course teams struggle when they are missing players, I never argued otherwise, but does that mean I am living in my own bubble because I said they are in bother?

Also looking at the Motherwell starting 11 from Saturday, all but 3 of those players have made more than 10 league appearances this season and 1 of those 3 players is your keeper who only signed in January and is first choice. The average number of league appearances would be 15 which is more than 50% of your matches.

So while you no doubt had players out, it suggests that the vast majority of them have featured in a lot of matches and make up a large part of your squad which is intended to be used when injuries occur. I was just surprised at the manner of the defeat going by the highlights.

I'd give up, Motherwell started with 7 experienced top flight players, including their first choice three strikers, yet some are behaving as if it was a youth side.

Johnston and Magloire the only inexperienced players, and even then they had a defender with over 100 appearances sitting on the bench.

[Derry Alli]

29 minutes ago, Ric said:

"Gutted Rangers didn't need to use Dens, resulting in Dundee going into administration", type post.

 

 

26 minutes ago, Yflab said:

Is your club not due another administration? You could go for the hat trick. Now away back to the seaside league.  

^^^ Disappointed to miss out on "the biggest spender" prize, IMO. 

 

[Widge]

2 minutes ago, ropy said:

Our squad is larger because we had the injuries, we have signed a keeper most months and we padded the numbers out in January with people who are subsequently injured.

The difference is, Motherwell were signing senior players every time they lost one. Every other team in the league has had to throw in youngsters or guys totally out of position on a repeated basis this season. Motherwell are still fielding a squad of mostly senior guys week in week out.

I get that the keeper issue is a bit different, but to have 5 senior goalkeepers in a season is mad, every other team would have played a young guy by now!

[scottmcleanscontacts]

Not going to get into a debate about Motherwell players and their respective abilities but looking at their XI from Saturday it hardly screams of a side made of players who've not kicked a ball all season. 

Apart from a couple they seemed to be familiar names who have played a fair number of games. 

 

[DiegoDiego]

I loved Tesco as a lad. My father was a Tesco fan and every Saturday he'd take me there with my mother to go round the aisles. As a boy it was fascinating, all the different food on sale, those old trolleys rattling around, one of the lassies at the till even used to let me scan the clubcard. I'd wake up on a Saturday morning with a huge grin on my face, tucked beneath my Tesco Savers duvet cover.

I was supermarket obsessed and when I was a bit older and I turned semi-pro with Asda. It was a steep learning curve and I was farmed out to Lidl. I still did my shopping at Tesco though, there was just something about walking through the car park wearing the blue and white on a Saturday.

After hard work and solid performances I now find myself regional manager at Lidl. They're a great outfit with innovative ideas and I get to shape and implement them. I love my job. The company car's not bad either.

Yesterday I got a call from the temp agency. She said that Tesco had been following my career and would like to offer me the position of shelf-stacker. I've just spoken to my dad and he's in tears of joy. Who cares if it's minimum wage, I can't wait to don the blue and white!

TL;DR players/managers only care about their boyhood club at the end of their careers (c.f. Charlie Adam), Goodwin joining Celtic's back room isn't happening any time soon.

[tree house tam]

Who'd have thought Motherwell fans could be such whiney moany bitches?

[btb]

14 hours ago, Costanza said:

Their

They're

[TheScarf]

3 hours ago, G51 said:

Of course Celtic are Jim Goodwin's Scottish team. He knows all the lyrics to Boys of the Old Brigade. What other explanation is there?

Who doesn't?

[ropy]

35 minutes ago, btb said:

They're

Both errors existed in the original post 

[Coventry Saint]

1 minute ago, ropy said:

Both errors existed in the original post 

[The Marly]

Their

They're

[Costanza]

What about the last line?

My eyes were bleeding too much by that point.

[ATLIS]

On 22/02/2021 at 11:39, DiegoDiego said:

I loved Tesco as a lad. My father was a Tesco fan and every Saturday he'd take me there with my mother to go round the aisles. As a boy it was fascinating, all the different food on sale, those old trolleys rattling around, one of the lassies at the till even used to let me scan the clubcard. I'd wake up on a Saturday morning with a huge grin on my face, tucked beneath my Tesco Savers duvet cover.

I was supermarket obsessed and when I was a bit older and I turned semi-pro with Asda. It was a steep learning curve and I was farmed out to Lidl. I still did my shopping at Tesco though, there was just something about walking through the car park wearing the blue and white on a Saturday.

After hard work and solid performances I now find myself regional manager at Lidl. They're a great outfit with innovative ideas and I get to shape and implement them. I love my job. The company car's not bad either.

Yesterday I got a call from the temp agency. She said that Tesco had been following my career and would like to offer me the position of shelf-stacker. I've just spoken to my dad and he's in tears of joy. Who cares if it's minimum wage, I can't wait to don the blue and white!

TL;DR players/managers only care about their boyhood club at the end of their careers (c.f. Charlie Adam), Goodwin joining Celtic's back room isn't happening any time soon.

Would've thought Partick fans preferred Waitrose imo 

[YassinMoutaouakil]

It's mental folk still aren't grasping this. There's some clubs in the league that could probably soak up a significant amount of injuries and still field a decent team but Motherwell just aren't one of them. We've probably got the 10th or 11th biggest budget in the division and as such have a much smaller squad than sides like St Mirren or St Johnstone etc, there's just no way we can cope with anything like 13-14 first team players out.

Edited February 24, 2021 by YassinMoutaouakil

[frankthetank22]

28 minutes ago, YassinMoutaouakil said:

It's mental folk still aren't grasping this. There's some clubs in the league that could probably soak up a significant amount of injuries and still field a decent team but Motherwell just aren't one of them. We've probably got the 10th or 11th biggest budget in the division and as such have a much smaller squad than sides like St Mirren or St Johnstone etc, there's just no way we can cope with anything like 13-14 first team players out.

 

I get what you're saying but what are you getting at, are you complaining about mismanagement of the Motherwell player budget here? If not it just sounds like you're crying because your team has injuries.

Other clubs have chosen to spread their budget to ensure a depth of squad to carry them through what was ALWAYS going to be a particularly challenging season.

To not recognise that extra pressures were going to occur this season is bordering on the ridiculous.

[The Marly]

It's mental folk still aren't grasping this. There's some clubs in the league that could probably soak up a significant amount of injuries and still field a decent team but Motherwell just aren't one of them. We've probably got the 10th or 11th biggest budget in the division and as such have a much smaller squad than sides like St Mirren or St Johnstone etc, there's just no way we can cope with anything like 13-14 first team players out.

You don't have a much smaller squad than St Johnstone.

[NorthBank]

It's mental folk still aren't grasping this. There's some clubs in the league that could probably soak up a significant amount of injuries and still field a decent team but Motherwell just aren't one of them. We've probably got the 10th or 11th biggest budget in the division and as such have a much smaller squad than sides like St Mirren or St Johnstone etc, there's just no way we can cope with anything like 13-14 first team players out.

Well have a far bigger squad than St Mirren. We have 6 players out injured and cannot fill the bench.

[Ric]

1 hour ago, YassinMoutaouakil said:

We've probably got the 10th or 11th biggest budget in the division and as such have a much smaller squad than sides like St Mirren or St Johnstone etc, there's just no way we can cope with anything like 13-14 first team players out.

[welldaft]

I think YM has been on the mushrooms. Either that or it is a clear case at winding other fans up which has worked a treat.

We have the biggest squad in terms of numbers so I suspect he is on the piss take. The problem we have is we have the wrong half of that squad injured. It is more than likely that those players who are playing are the ones to get injured but somehow we have even managed to get injuries to several new players who have hardly touched a ball. 

They say January is not a good time for signing players. A Covid window even worse but there will be no Well fans that will disagree that Kelly apart and maybe Lawless it has been a total clusterfuck our transfer dealings in Jan. That is clearly on the club - 100%. It may also be the defining reason if we get relegated. Bring in 7 players and quite possibly only properly use ONE when we needed at least 3 or 4 to have a positive impact

 

[Comrie]

At a rough guess, approximate first team squad sizes (incuding some youth players who have made appearances):

County 30

Motherwell 29

Kilmarnock 28

Accies 26

St. Mirren 25

St. Johnstone 24

Edited February 24, 2021 by Comrie