The Premiership 21/22 Sack Race

[dezz]

I voted for Alexander for similar reasons to be fair. Those stats also don’t take into account that he joined part way through the season and effectively missed a round of fixtures against the top 6 sides and then by virtue of Motherwell finishing bottom 6 missed another round of potential fixtures against top 6 sides.
The vast majority of his games have came against bottom 6 clubs which would naturally increase anyone’s win percentage. It would most definitely not be that high if he’d been in charge the full season.

It’s certainly a fair point that the majority of his games have been against bottom 6 teams which will skew his win%.
GA’s record against last seasons top 6 is 2 wins, a draw and 3 losses.
That included a win at Easter Road, a point against Rangers and a narrow 2-1 loss at Celtic Park. To be fair it also included a pumping off St J but that was when we had something mental like 17 players out injured.

GA could very well be the first to get punted but the reasoning put forward by@Theyellowbox doesn’t really stand up imo.

[capt_oats]

17 minutes ago, dezz said:

It’s certainly a fair point that the majority of his games have been against bottom 6 teams which will skew his win%.
GA’s record against last seasons top 6 is 2 wins, a draw and 3 losses.
That included a win at Easter Road, a point against Rangers and a narrow 2-1 loss at Celtic Park. To be fair it also included a pumping off St J but that was when we had something mental like 17 players out injured.

GA could very well be the first to get punted but the reasoning put forward by @yellowbox doesn’t really stand up imo.

Pretty much.

Like, there are certainly doubts based on where we are at the moment, the players we've lost and the fact we still have almost half a starting XI to recruit but considering the circumstances in which he arrived eg: form, injuries, our club captain with a gun to his head, our only creative midfielder spitting the dummy the argument that him guiding us to safety with games to spare and 9 points clear of the play-off made him look "out his depth" is just a complete misunderstanding of what actually happened to our season.

I mean he turned Devante Cole into a 1 in 2 goal striker. Prior to Alexander arriving he'd scored 1 goal all season.

If nothing else his record at Motherwell and his previous clubs shows that he's a fairly competent manager.

Edited July 26, 2021 by capt_oats

[RandomGuy.]

Anyone who looks at the list of managers and decides Graham Alexander is the obvious candidate as "out of their depth",  is either a moron or stupid.

Edited July 26, 2021 by RandomGuy.

[AJF]

6 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

Anyone who looks at the list of managers and decides Graham Alexander is the obvious candidate as "out of their depth",  is either a moron or stupid.

Or they have an opinion that’s different to yours.

It’s hard to say anyone is an obvious candidate, but we’re being asked to predict who will get sacked first before the league campaign has even started.

Edited July 26, 2021 by AJF

[RandomGuy.]

1 minute ago, AJF said:

Or they have an opinion that’s different to your.

Theres a plausibility in saying you think Alexander won't succeed at Motherwell. Some of his tactical decisions are just weird, while I'm not sure about their signings in general.

Theres no plausibility in saying hes "out of his depth".

[AJF]

8 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

Theres a plausibility in saying you think Alexander won't succeed at Motherwell. Some of his tactical decisions are just weird, while I'm not sure about their signings in general.

Theres no plausibility in saying hes "out of his depth".

It was merely someone’s opinion. “Out of his depth” is a common trope used in football if there’s a belief that someone isn’t up to the job.

I’d also argue that it’s subjective given that someone’s expectations for a certain club may be different to someone else. It doesn’t make them a moron or stupid though for believing it.

Edited July 26, 2021 by AJF

[RandomGuy.]

Just now, AJF said:

It doesn’t make them a moron or stupid though for believing it.

It does when the manager has managed well over 100 games at an equivalent level, and has won more than they've lost in their current division.

[AJF]

13 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

It does when the manager has managed well over 100 games at an equivalent level, and has won more than they've lost in their current division.

He has bounced around the 3rd, 4th and 5th tiers of English football. While you may deem it an equivalent level to the SPFL Premiership, as I mentioned, someone may not view it that way if they expect Motherwell to be aiming higher.

To use an extremely hyperbolic example to make my point, personally I’d think a manager coming from those tiers of English football to manage Rangers or Celtic or Aberdeen for example, would be a risky appointment even though they’d have managed at an “equivalent level”. This is why I think it’s quite subjective.

[Dons_1988]

Motherwell aren’t exactly a trigger happy club. 

We’re talking about a guy who took over a mess and stabilised and more in his time last season. 

You can nitpick at his record but I suspect it would take an absolute disaster start for him to be booted quickly. 

[Jacky1990]

Dont want to subject myself to rereading Malkay's old texts to find out, but i really, really hope that the goal that inevitably puts the final nail in his managerial career is scored by a player of whatever race he was abusing in those texts.

Karma ya c**t.

Can only hope Malkay's out before the first round of fixtures are done, but can see Uncle Roy being quite stubborn with him so big Tam the PE teacher for me.

Edited July 26, 2021 by Jacky1990

[ATLIS]

Can see why people think it'd be Martindale but after the cup final and securing top 6 we downed tools badly. There were about 10 players who knew they were getting punted and didn't even have a striker signed/fit. DM's done a fair bit of squad surgery and we look a CB short of a good side. He's had good form with his previous rebuilds using stats based recruitment so I've no reason to assume this will go any differently. 

We've actually got a striker this season and not wingers/midfielders up front. Decent experience and young guys who'll develop too. If Martindale does go, it'll be a step upstairs for the awaiting DOF job that's basically just sat aside waiting for him. He'll just retain the control over transfers and Bartley will step up as manager. 

Edited July 27, 2021 by ATLIS

[Sherrif John Bunnell]

8 hours ago, Jacky1990 said:

Dont want to subject myself to rereading Malkay's old texts to find out, but i really, really hope that the goal that inevitably puts the final nail in his managerial career is scored by a player of whatever race he was abusing in those texts.

Karma ya c**t.

Can only hope Malkay's out before the first round of fixtures are done, but can see Uncle Roy being quite stubborn with him so big Tam the PE teacher for me.

If one person from every minority that McKay abused in those messages scores, then County will be looking at about an 8-0 defeat that day.

[Kapowzer]

11 hours ago, ATLIS said:

........ and we look a CB short of a good side.

May we interest and tempt you with a certain Mr Richard Lamie? We'll throw in our away strip to sweeten the deal.

Edited July 27, 2021 by Kapowzer

[Savage Henry]

3 hours ago, Sherrif John Bunnell said:

If one person from every minority that McKay abused in those messages scores, then County will be looking at about an 8-0 defeat that day.

Looking at the squad, there’s every chance that happens anyway.  Keith Watson captain, and Blair Spittal and Ross Callaghan as midfield creators.  Lord have mercy!

['WellDel]

14 hours ago, capt_oats said:

Pretty much.

Like, there are certainly doubts based on where we are at the moment, the players we've lost and the fact we still have almost half a starting XI to recruit but considering the circumstances in which he arrived eg: form, injuries, our club captain with a gun to his head, our only creative midfielder spitting the dummy the argument that him guiding us to safety with games to spare and 9 points clear of the play-off made him look "out his depth" is just a complete misunderstanding of what actually happened to our season.

I mean he turned Devante Cole into a 1 in 2 goal striker. Prior to Alexander arriving he'd scored 1 goal all season.

If nothing else his record at Motherwell and his previous clubs shows that he's a fairly competent manager.

Alexander is new to the Scottish game, and the jury is definitely still out on him, nowhere more so than amongst our own support. However, his previous work,  and what he's done on the whole since arriving certainly points towards at least a level of competence. 

The more I see and hear of him talking about the change of approach to recruitment, and acquiring players who will strengthen and benefit us a bit longer term, rather than a constant cycle of one year deals and hopeful punts, the more I like and buy into the new ethos and change of direction in that regard. 

Sure, getting bodies in is taking longer than usual, and by nature as fickle fitba fans a lot of people are getting bent out of shape way too quickly. It would obviously be better to kick off your first game with all your targets in place, but with a fair bit of the window still to go I'm fairly relaxed about it and think the new strategy is far better than his predecessors scattergun approach and his signings will come good.

There feels like a wholesale change around the club at the minute and I see Alexander being here a couple of years. People should get their money on Malky for first out instead.

Edited July 27, 2021 by 'WellDel

[LiviLion]

11 hours ago, Jacky1990 said:

Dont want to subject myself to rereading Malkay's old texts to find out, but i really, really hope that the goal that inevitably puts the final nail in his managerial career is scored by a player of whatever race he was abusing in those texts.

That'll be anyone who isn't a straight white man, or Jewish.

[Al B]

16 hours ago, AJF said:

I voted for Alexander for similar reasons to be fair. Those stats also don’t take into account that he joined part way through the season and effectively missed a round of fixtures against the top 6 sides and then by virtue of Motherwell finishing bottom 6 missed another round of potential fixtures against top 6 sides.

The vast majority of his games have came against bottom 6 clubs which would naturally increase anyone’s win percentage. It would most definitely not be that high if he’d been in charge the full season.

Absolutely take your point here, but for me it's more than balanced out by the fact that he acheived that win percentage with players that for the most part, struggled to kick a ball in the direction they were facing, and who all looked like they fucking hated each other.

[Theyellowbox]

16 hours ago, RandomGuy. said:

Anyone who looks at the list of managers and decides Graham Alexander is the obvious candidate as "out of their depth",  is either a moron or stupid.

Hiya! It's an opinion and one I can only base on what I have seen of him. Not suggesting he isn't fit to manage a team as he clearly is, but the impression I have if him (admittedly not backed up by stats) is one of a guy who doesnt cope well under pressure, hence 'out of his depth'. A few times last season he got sent to stand it certainly came close to it, which from what limited amount I saw of Motherwell stuck out. I get frustrations etc, but that doesnt help the team. 

Clearly he is a man who can pick a team, but given he tends to only last a couple of seasons before getting fired, you could come to the conclusion he can maybe pick an underperforming team and get them playing, but maybe cannot either keep it going or identify the right replacements. 

[The Saintee]

Martindale for me. 

[Kapowzer]

You've gone so far down your "Alexander is out his depth" rabbit hole now despite being given demonstrable facts you've started eating carrots and humping your sister.