capt_oats

Hadn't seen this mentioned and it should have been clear anyway given his comments the last time the job was available but Craigan's categorically ruled himself out saying he doesn't want the job and that it's not for him. He's happy working with the u20s and doing his BT gig. Sensible lad. http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/sport/15125417.Stephen_Craigan_not_interested_in_Motherwell_vacancy___It_s_not_for_me_/

What irks about that is that the teams that have beat them we've consistently picked up points against. Indeed to take Thistle & County as examples we've a draw and a win against the former and two wins and a draw against the latter. Add Accies to the list and we've a win and a draw there as well. So you've got sides that we've beaten, comfortably at times, going and picking up points against sides that we essentially seemed to write off getting results against.

fwiw, I find the idea that Robinson was brought in with a view to providing a bit of experience in light of McGhee's impending suspension pretty plausible tbh. Especially as it'd have been McGhee's 2nd suspension in a short space of time and could be quite substantial.

The statement said "parted company" so I'd guess that he's no longer an employee. Any time I can recall someone being placed on gardening leave it's been explicitly stated that was the case.

I had been wondering this myself tbh. I wouldn't be surprised if we'd been considering options for replacing McGhee since his breakdown at Ibrox. Maybe not with the intention of making an appointment now but certainly with a view to the summer. I'm maybe reading too much into it but it seemed telling that the interview in the Motherwell Times on February 9th (prior to the 7-2) McGhee expressed an interest in extending but at that point there had been no discussions. I get that we'd probably have been waiting to see how the rest of the season panned out but equally given that interview along with the subsequent results and heads gone moments no to mention the general ill will towards McGhee from sections of the support then it'd have made sense for the club to have been drawing up a shortlist at the very least. I honestly can't see why Craigan would consider the job given his other employment, he'd need sectioned if he was even thinking about it tbqh and while Robinson seems a good coach given our circumstances I'd have thought we'd be aiming for an experienced guy who's on board with the club's overall objectives.

Can't really see any real way McGhee's position can be anything other than untenable now. You could maybe have passed the 7-2 at Pittodrie as a collective shitemare but to follow it up 2 games later by shipping 5 in the first half at home to Dundee then, aye...time's up. I've largely been positive about McGhee, he turned things round last season no doubt but looking where we are at the moment (not in terms of the league, just generally); lost 7-2 & 5-1 in quick succession, he's a manager who's out of contract in the summer and surely won't be getting that renewed, in addition he's got a 2nd suspension coming up after the Pittodrie incident then it's actually difficult to see what the point in keeping him around at the club now. Based on that performance today it looks like he's also lost the players. At that point then the ball's pretty much on the slates. With his contract expiring and the woeful performances of late his position leaves him as this weird elephant in the room character. The smart thing to do given the circumstances would simply say "thanks for your time" and try and move on with hopefully a fresh voice and perspective.

Is the cup game not Sunday? Fixtures were/are due to be played on or by the 26th February. https://mobile.twitter.com/ScottishFA/status/823576453182844928

The post-Celtic one? Here it is: https://youtu.be/aJTzvrdXEKQ

Two losses to St Johnstone? A loss and a draw no?

It was written by a Killie fan and a Hearts fan respectively.

Not an official points table but this is up to date I think. https://www.statbunker.com/competitions/ClubBookings?comp_id=566

I think you're talking about a different game. The O'Brien incident was Ross County vs St Johnstone. I'm not sure where Aberdeen come into it.

In fairness it was thisGRAEME that posted the O'Brien tackle. I had heard about it but hadn't seen it. Jumps in, goes right through the ball. Absolutely ridiculous challenge tbh. Referee has a pretty clear view of it too.

Was Tait's suspension 1 game or is he injured? Agree it'll be 442. I'd have thought Tait will be in if available the rest depends on McManus & Hammell injuries. Samson Tait Heneghan Jules McMillan Cadden Clay McHugh Pearson McDonald Moult Subs; Bowman, Griffiths, Campbell, Lasley, Ainsworth, Chalmers, Frear

McCall, with a better side and larger budget than McGhee, had 6-0, 5-0 losses against Rangers, in fact his aggregate against them was 23-3 (if you include losing to their new incarnation in the 3rd division). Chuck in a 5-0 against Celtic, 5-1 against Dundee United plus 6 different 4-0 losses and he was allowed to stick around. So settle down.

It was just on SSN there and after every replay, in real time, I honestly can't see anything wrong with it that would warrant a red card. Yes, when you take it down frame by frame or take it out of context with specific still images then it looks bad but the ball is in mid-air, he knocks it out for a shy before Tierney is anywhere near it and he catches him on the follow through...however his foot has to go somewhere on it's way to the turf. Fwiw, if it was the other way round I'd be of exactly the same view. It was unfortunate. Tierney took a sore one and I'm glad he's not suffered any serious injury but I'd hazard a guess that you see that sort of thing every week on training grounds across Scotland.

Completely agree. For me, it was what it was an unfortunate collision rather than anything malicious. It seemed to me that everyone involved on the pitch accepted that. "By the letter of the law" he could (should?) have been sent of. As it was Tierney definitely took a sore one but he played the full 90, none of the players made a fuss about it, neither did Rodgers. If anything the fact that the referee kept it 11 vs 11 and Tierney was able to play the full match makes a decent case for referees being allowed to use common sense and take into account context rather than the arguments that were being used to justify the red cards shown to both McHugh and McDonald.

I think it's one that could have gone either way. In context Teirney's taken a poor first touch, the ball's popped up and Bowman's clearly got to it first by some distance rather than just a nick on the ball and collided with the player in following through. IMO that's how the referee saw it and why it was only a yellow. It's also how I think the Celtic players saw it as well since watching it back not one of them takes issue with it. Had they thought he'd gone in to do Tierney or that it merited a red card they'd probably have made the point to the ref. As it was, Brown checks on Tierney and seems happy enough to take the free kick. Had the ref seen that in following through Bowman had planted his (sizeable) boot on Tierney's knee in the way it's shown (out of context) in the still photos that are kicking about then it could easily have been a different story. However it's one of those that in my mind, given the pace the game is played at, depends on what the ref has seen and how he's interpreted it. In this case I think he's just seen it as an unfortunate, awkward coming together of two players rather than a challenge using "excessive force" etc Was interesting to read Rodgers play it down and put a lot of it down to the pitch; "I thought the Kieran Tierney challenge was a result of the pitch. The ball pops up, and the player makes the challenge on the back of that. It didnt look very good but I'll give the benefit of the doubt to the player that he didnt mean it." IMO that's a fairly reasonable assessment. Edit: it's quite telling that the only people who actually seem to have any sort of interest in the incident are supporters (and I suppose the media). The players didn't make much of it, Tierney played the full 90, Rodgers seems to have played the challenge down and is more concerned about the state of the park.

Yeah gave it up when he took the Oldham job. Unless he went back to it after he got emptied. "The 41-year-old will leave his role as assistant manager at Motherwell and with the Northern Irish set up to fully concentrate on his new role with Oldham Athletic." http://mobile.oldhamathletic.co.uk/news/article/2016-17/breaking-steve-robinson-appointed-new-oldham-athletic-manager-3175357.aspx

Absolutely. Looking at Oldham's league results, while it's clear it didn't work out for him there, in his 24 games they kept 7 clean sheets and there were 8 matches where they only conceded 1. It seems fair to say that, if nothing else, Robinson knows how to set a side up defensively. After the utter shellacking on Wednesday and tbf what seems an overall decline in our general defensive performances this season since he left it's surely a step in the right direction. Rather than go full knee-jerk after the 7-2 and with things balanced as they are in the league IMO it seems a sensible move for the club to have acknowledged that there's an issue and look to address it with a solution that isn't going to create disruption and uncertainty.

I don't think you can really just group "injuries" into one catch-all you really need to look at what types of injuries they are. Knocks and serious injury ie: McHugh's concussion, MacLean's broken toe & dislocated shoulder (I think that's what it was?), Lasley's knee injury in the Aberdeen game etc are pretty much unavoidable. There's not a lot that anyone can do about those it's part an parcel with a contact sport. While Kennedy's illness and subsequent weight loss at the start of the season would probably be in the same category, I've no idea what the script is with his hip injury though. Moult's absence following his operation was a known. Chalmers was out with a similar issue I think but he seems to have missed a fair chunk of both seasons he's been at the club through injury. Strains and pulls are the ones that probably you need to start questioning as to what the cause is it's a result of players not warming up properly etc or I suppose in the case of Hammell recurrent injury may simply be an age/recovery thing. Looking back at McManus' appearances for the club he's hardly missed any games through injury. I think it was something mental like 5 games that he'd missed.

His contract in the assistant role is up at the end of the season so I'd imagine he'll stick around until then. After that? Who knows? I suppose it depends on whether or not he actually *wants* to continue. The gist of what he was saying when he was appointed was that a formal coaching position hadn't been something he had been considering so with hindsight it's difficult not to feel that it's something that between him and the club they've decided to give a shot and see how it goes. As Haggischomper says he was essentially thrown into the role as Robinson's replacement but it's hard not to look at it and feel it was a convenient arrangement. Whether Robinson coming back (if indeed he does) and the general performances this season as compared to last can be construed a tacit acknowledgment that it's not really worked out I guess is up for debate. As it goes, right now I'd say Robinson coming back may well take some of the responsibility off McFadden and some of the pressure off McGhee whose heads gone moments have been become increasingly frequent post-winter break.

Totally fine with Robinson coming back in tbh. I'm not sure it necessarily is a luxury as such, especially as there's another international break coming up which McGhee will presumably be away for (which is a different story). If we had budget available to bring Ciftci in on loan then I'd have thought that money would still be available to allow Robinson to come in and contribute as a coach. Given he'd recently signed an extension at the club Robinson taking the Oldham job seemed a bit out the blue and I have wondered how much of an effect him leaving has had. Especially since it seems clear from his comments at the time that McFadden hadn't even been considering a formal coaching role when he was offered the assistant job. Any time McFadden's been asked the question he's responded saying that he still wants to play. Whether that's realistic or not IDK but it does suggest that there's an element of convenience for both parties around his assistant role. Which isn't to say he's not 100% committed or focused or that he's not got something to offer but I can't help feeling that bringing someone like Robinson back into the fold on the coaching might help balance things out. Faddy has said himself that our main problem this season is that we keep making mistakes, yet we're into February and as a unit we looks no more solid or organised and we're still seeing players consistently making mistakes. It's not a huge leap to trace that back to the training ground. We're still short of a goalkeeping coach as well right?

Is scheduled to be played on the 17th at 1pm. http://www.hibernianfc.co.uk/news/7254