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I normally enjoy your posts as they are always thoughtful and well reasoned, but I think you are off the mark with this one. The manager and the team may or may not be in turmoil, I would say thats quite a subjective assessment. But things in the garden are certainly not rosy. We have a squad with 9 injured players, several of them long term, a situation which has been pretty much ever present since the start of the season. The team is misfiring badly and is struggling to create any meaningful chances, far less score consistently. We cant keep a clean sheet. We have a manager who is wedded to a system he doesnt have the players to implement and shows no sign of changing it. The style of football has been terrible for large parts of the season and we just got knocked out of the cup by the worst team in the league without so much as a whimper. Ive defended SK on here for the most part as there has been plenty of mitigation for performances and the circumstances he has had to face. We ARE still in a reasonably healthy position in the league, and until that changes he does deserve the opportunity to turn things around. But lets not pretend its a conversation that shouldnt be happening, because its getting talked about plenty in the stands and in the pubs. Thats not to say the discourse surrounding the subject cant be more respectful. But we shouldnt be comparing this place to Twitter or Facebook.

I mean, he signed Bair, Biereth, Furlong, Gent, Spencer, AP, JT, Gordon, Seddon, Kaleta, all if whom seem to be consensus good signings. He has got Miller to this stage, and improved Max and Spittal to the degree that they got good moves. Wilson has flagged lately but it wasn't that long ago we were all raving about him too. He also got a ridiculous tune out of KVV, and an equally ridiculous fee, but we prob don't want to talk about that one much. I know he's signed a fair few duds as well, but I'm genuinely interested to see his hit rate compared to other managers, and what other clubs our size have been selling folk for.

Doesn’t matter how many times you type same, there’s still a flaw to your argument… Celtic (4) were drawn at home to ball (13) not ball (12) Yeah, quite simple.

Spot on. Sums up my feelings exactly. Current performance is the worry. Focusing on an early season SF and our current league position would be a lot more meaningful if the current signs were also positive. But they are far from positive. It speaks volumes that many fans who were fully supportive of SK throughout last season’s bad run, myself included, are now expressing serious doubts. It is not just those that took an irrational immediate dislike to him that are voicing their concerns on here and at games. Saturday is huge. Result aside, SK and the players need to show that they have it within them to get back on track. Give us something to believe in. Please!

Yeah, for some reason he goes by JT even though his name is ordered TJ.

shame taken , fuck it, last time I try that. Raith would have fucked us out too 😁

All the best to smudger - must say the overhead kick against Rangers got me off my feet and I was told to behave as was in the Rangers end - how could a young fan contain themselves with such an effort.

I see Paul Smith is recovering from a heart attack, wishing him a speedy recovery. Him and Andy Walker had a good partnership in the 80's, both ....ahem.....crisp finishers !! 🤪 Get well soon Smudger, will never forget that equaliser in cup at tynecastle in 1987 when you cemented Henry Smith to set up Walker, plus your overhead effort against Rangers in league cup semi in 1987 also

It's no coincidence that Max and Lennon have dads that were also pros. I'm sure it makes a huge difference to get advice from immediate family who know the business, rather than immediate family that want to you play for the OF team they support.

Aberdeen 1 Airdrie 2 Ayr Utd 3 Celtic 4 Cove Rangers 5 Dundee 6 Dunfermline 7 Hamilton 8 Hearts 9 Hibs 10 Livingston 11 Motherwell 12 Queens Park 13 Raith Rovers 14 Rangers 15 St Mirren 16 Ah would help if my Alphabet was better. Still away to Celtic but we did Rangers a Favour lol 1 Aberdeen v Dunfermline 7 3 Ayr Utd v Hibs 10 4 Celtic v Motherwell 12 6 Dundee v Airdrie 2 11 Livingston v Cove Rangers 5 13 Queens Park v St Mirren 16 14 Raith Rovers v Hamilton 8 15 Rangers v Hearts 9

It doesn't. I don't see the point of of the constant shouting for him to go -or name calling him - that's not discussion or debate on any level. Where's the "debate" when people are sitting typing names at him?

Is this what you mean by colourful and robust. Each to their own. I don't think I have a problem if all I am suggesting is that the manager of the team we support be treated with a little more respect, particularly when he has contributed significantly towards keeping us in the top division. As you well know, social media is powerful, perhaps more powerful than the man shouting obscenities from the stand and it can create a tone, positive or negative, supportive or toxic, that can influence outcomes. Steelmen Online does not exist in a vacuum.

This forum is exactly the type of place for these discussions to be had by fans. The whole concept of sharing opinions and information on topics of shared interest is the very reason why such fora exist. At the end of the day, this is a ‘fans’ forum, and nobody is forcing the manager or players to read our thoughts. This is not the open terracing where folk often shout unnecessary and viscous crap at people trying to do their jobs, which is a whole different story. So, if robust and colourful debate on the suitability of Kettlewell as manager is too much for some, then that’s not the problem of the forum, it’s your problem.

It's not though. What we often forget is that there is a human being on the other end of this discussion, who is working really hard for the club and who has saved us from relegation in the last two seasons. This thread was started very early in SK's tenure and has trundled on throughout his time at the helm. We are talking about a guy who has a career to build, a family to feed and who is an honest hard worker professional who has done well for this club. The appetite to sack managers is generally distasteful and it is really easy to be smart ( and often anonymous) on a football forum. I am not referencing you in this mfc88, just quoting your last sentence. Sacking manager threads should surface in times when a team is in turmoil. This team is not in turmoil and yet there are fans hell bent on creating instability and a false sense of turmoil. It seems that this is now as much a part of the entertainment as the football itself. I think SK deserves a bit more respect. He has earned it.

Taking a risk on someone coming back from injury isn't a terrible idea in isolation. However, we signed Callachan when our main midfielder in slattery was out for a year, and we already had Nicholson and paton who have been injury prone, and halliday who cant last 90. Then add the fact that we knew Miller was on borrowed time with us, and you can see the whole midfield recruitment strategy was a shambles. Especially when we lost our best player from last year in that position. On the squad size. We had a number of injuries at the start of the season, so that has to be a factor in making more signings than planned. If Nicholson wasn't injured, would we have got maswanhise? Are the loan kids inuded in the 28? How many players are fit and not in the match day squad each week? A couple? If we had our usual squad of, say 23, we'd be royally fucked with the injuries right now. We got a good turn out of Wilson due to seddons injury, but he seems to be feeling it now, as tends to haplen with young players. Are any of the other young players real prospects? I'm not seeing much from their loan exploits to suggest so.

Fair point but I think most fans are not so much concerned about our position or what we have achieved but rather they are looking at the rest of the season ahead and are rightly worried about where we are going to end up. We need the club/manager to be proactive and change things for the better now. Don’t wait till we are deep in trouble and then make changes. Those changes could be tactics, attitude, formation, team selection or whatever. SK is the guy getting paid to figure out the best changes.

I wasn't. But that doesn't change my opinion. Being booed off the park after a very poor result doesn't necessarily translate to loads of fans turning against him. And I'm not the only person who has said the same on here over the last 24 hours Ps. I knew I would get the laughing emoticons but it's no biggie. I've been supporting Motherwell for decades and I don't boo players or the manager - Id rather back the team when we are struggling

St Johnstone 2-0 Motherwell Also: Kettlewell to be booked. SODs to trip over his own arse. Back five. Casey to batter Frail. Zero shots on target. Halliday in midfield on his own. 35% possession. 150 Well fans to make the journey. Basically, it’s looking like Simo may Finnish off Kettlewell.

Ox was decent today, making at least one goal-stopping save. His distribution and urgency were, however, honking.

Sounds like a decent payday for the club missed out on in the next round, but one less trip to the away end at Ibrox doesn’t exactly bother me.