capt_oats

The last time we were looking for a manager Freedman was at Forest (01/02/15-13/03/16). That was his last job. (McGhee was appointed 13/10/15). If you mean you liked the sound of Freedman when we ended up going with Baraclough then yeah, he's had a job since then.

Neil's been binned by Norwich with them 8th in the league and 9 points off the play off, it's not like he's left them in the relegation spots. I'd have thought he'd have enough credit left for at least another couple of Championship jobs down there let alone League 1.

Well, Gary Locke's taken the Cowdenbeath job so that's a bullet dodged there.

Goalkeepers are, for obvious reasons, a different case when it comes to loans outside the window.

Luke Watt's out on loan and was, last I heard, injured. Emergency loans are only available to sides below Premiership level. If we were absolutely desperate I suppose we could look at the free agent market.

I'd give Campbell a run at right back. Craigan's used him there with the u20s more than once.

Pretty sure that would have been how the weird Thierry Henry chat started the last time. I enquired about them pricing Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, on account of him being out of work (after the high profile issues last year), him having done a great job at Burton and him having been briefly mentioned for the job after McCall resigned but as yet they've not added his name.

McClair came from a requested bet on Twitter (not me) so that's why that name is there. I noticed it earlier when I did a wee search for "Motherwell".

For avoidance of doubt I'm not saying that we chuck half a dozen of the 20s into the first team, that would be mental and dropping a division isn't something I'd want to see (obviously). I was more getting at the idea that we should be looking to build our team round our *best* players rather than building round "experience", if that makes sense? I suppose what the new manager needs to address is how to make our good players better and turn the ones with potential into the real deal (horrible phrase but it'll do for now).

Completely agree that the "senior" players are needing phased out. This season has been one too far for a couple. This will sound daft but the players we should be looking to build the team around IMO are the younger players who are breaking through. We need to bring in players who can play alongside the likes of Cadden, Campbell, Hastie, Turnbull et al and will make them better and enhance them as sellable assets. Obviously that sounds quite ridiculous as our MO is essentially to develop and sell these guys on, so with such a transient outlook you'd obviously question how they can be a foundation for anything if they're just going to be sold on for profit. However I'd say that our approach should be less about 'experience' per se and more about building around the talent we have around the squad right now.

I can't really see Hughes fitting particularly well to be honest. If you look at his departure from ICT their fans were largely glad to see the back of him, whether they got his replacement right is a completely different story. I think the general consensus was that he did well with Butcher's side but the wheels started to fall off when he had to build his own. His toys went out the pram when he wasn't allowed to interview for the Dundee United job, he seemed to be antagonistic towards the ICT board about budget and from a playing point of view his approach seemed to be possession for possession's sake. That's before you get to his quite cringeworthy pandering to Celtic with comments about how "proud" he was to see Ryan Christie "pull on the Hoops". Compared to Hughes, McGhee was positively scathing when it came to commenting about Celtic. He did however win a cup with ICT. so there's that along with the 3rd place finish and other Top 6s. Obviously absolutely nothing I've said there suggests whether he's be a good or bad manager for Motherwell. Either way, it's worth pointing out that the "shortlist" that's been mentioned in this thread isn't actually the shortlist. The Motherwell Times reporter just took the few names from the bookies market. The only one who seems guaranteed to be interviewed is Robinson, while given Valakari's travel plans it'd seem a safe bet that we'll be looking to at least interview him.

The only way I'd have thought the original timeline suggested would have been doable would have been if we'd already had someone lined up IMO.

If you're taking that from the Motherwell Times piece then if you read it carefully that's not what it says. Those names are listed as being "in the running" based on the bookies odds. It doesn't say that's the shortlist. Those are just the top 5 names that have been lifted from the bookies market (or were as Valakari's now moved up to favourite). "The latest bookies odds have Robinson as the 2/1 second favourite to land the Motherwell gaffer's job permanently, behind 5/4 favourits Jim Duffy. Other names in the frame include Owen Coyle, Billy Davies and John Hughes. Motherwell supremo Alan Burrows said "We've had applications from all over the world, as well as a healthy amount of managers from the British Isles. I would take the bookies odds with a pinch of salt."" http://www.motherwelltimes.co.uk/sport/football/motherwell-fc/italian-superstar-ravanelli-ruled-out-of-motherwell-manager-s-job-1-4386526

I'd have said that's as plausible reading of it as any rather than it being a given that Robinson's getting the job until the end of the season tbh.

'Flow indicating in a piece in The Sun re: Robinson that realistically it'll be next week before anything's announced and that Robinson, McFadden & Craigan will take the Aberdeen game. Which is fair enough really. Reading between the lines etc I get the impression that it really depends on who the other candidates are and how they stack up against Robinson and whether they're obviously a better fit for the job. "Burrows told SunSport: Were doing our homework and due diligence on those who have applied for the job. It may be that we can make an appointment before the weekend but the likelihood now is it goes into next week. Being realistic it looks like Steve, James McFadden and Stephen Craigan will remain in charge for one more game at least, but Steve will be one of the people we consider. Hes someone we respect as a coach. He did brilliantly in the last game against Kilmarnock."

Quite surprised more hasn't been made of this one from Kouassi in the media tbh. Can't think why. https://twitter.com/talkingbaws/status/838407329464922112

Ha! If it's on Skybet then that was me via their #requestabet. I was curious to know what odds they'd give (I didn't put anything on it so rest easy).

You know McHugh is a centre half who has only recently been converted to a central midfielder right? He'd played almost 50 games as a centre half for Bradford before he moved to Plymouth and I'm pretty sure his first season there was as a defender. Him moving into a midfield role was a relatively new thing under Adams.

I noticed Craig Goldthrop, who covers MFC for the MT, indicated in response to the Duffy thing that the club had suggested the bookies odds should be taken with a pinch of salt. Which is fair enough really given the nature of how these things work, if there was chat on say, Sportsound last night talking Duffy up then that might have been enough to see punters put some cash on him rather than there actually being anything in it.

Going by Craigan's interview that went up yesterday ahead of the 20s game it sounds like Robinson will be taking the Aberdeen game either way.

Yep, it was Bop I think.

Yaaaassss! I had been thinking there seemed to have been a distinct lack of completely wild shouts for the job since McGhee left. That's tremendous!

Broadly speaking in our current situation, like any job/role, we've a profile that we'll be looking for an applicant to meet. The key ones are; - experience managing at a decent level, with experience in the Scottish game a preference - demonstratable evidence of improving/getting the best out of limited players - track record of integrating, progressing youth players to first team - clear ideas on youth development Ferguson ticks none of those boxes, like him or not McGhee to varying degrees did. Of the candidates being touted at the time McGhee was (to me at least) an obvious choice. I'd imagine that whoever we end up getting will be closer to the sort of profile McGhee fits than Ferguson.

Pretty much agree, the focus is making sure we're 10th and above from here on in. Whatever else happens, happens. Looking at our record against the sides outside the top 4 I think it reads: P - 17 W - 7 D - 6 L - 4 It's probably not really anything to crow about but it's a reasonable record against those directly around us. Beyond the confidence boost of stopping the run of defeats the Kilmarnock win was a timely reminder that there's a team there who can actually win games. Worth pointing out that Saturday was the first time we'd come from a goal down to win in almost a year. The last one was against Aberdeen at Fir Park.