wellsince75

I hope not. he’s had a couple of assistant mgr roles in 2nd tier German league , the longest lasting led to relegation . a short stint at Cowdenbeath . Suspect he’d be further down the pecking order than say Valakari - who would also be a punt - (unless he comes over with a mini bus full of very decent finish stars who we can test out in a bounce game )

Personal view is we’ve signed far too many very ordinary players. At their best they work hard but they offer v little else . Ordinary players at best will be very ordinary teams . we managed results due to having some flair/guile with Watt and KVV. i don’t expect a turnbull to arrive every year but it wasn’t long ago with similar budgets we had people of the quality of ainsworth and others like him . Not world beaters but had some skill and craft . Even likes of Jim Obrien were far better than the dross we’ve had in recent years from seedorf , amaluzor. Now we have guys like Morris, spittal , shields , efford - it’s simply not good enough . I’m not impressed with the recruitment team at FP. The manager rightly took flack but what is everyone else accountable for .

We do need to bring in some decent quality - ideally players who can create and score , a solid centre half who reads the game and talks players through games would be great . for now I’d like to see us trying some formations that suit the players we have available . plenty of teams set up 3-4-2-1 or similar as they only have one out and out striker . we could easily set up in this formation and get much better use out of tierney , goss and others

I would have Hammell in front of many of the merry go round managers . Someone who cares deeply and well educated on the club and coaching . Alex Neil had ways less experience when he took the reigns at Hamilton and now we can only dream of landing such an appointment . He may lack first team experience but everything he’s been calling out as issues resonates . He needs some budget to move get some of the journeymen out our club and bring in some decent talent - which may need to be premiership loanee types

Completely with you , brilliant post . good luck in the final 4 Mintymac , you make a lot of sense

We all see the game differently . Mugabi for me was never good enough. Granted games where he was big and strong and won lots of balls but most games I watched his general lack of awareness either of where he was or where the opposition was caused all sorts of issues . a big unit of a man who gives his all but lacks footballing intelligence . I don’t believe many if any SPL sides would sign him and from what I can see most other clubs have far better players in central defence

Overall we have 9-10 ok players. one very good player in Kelly . we need to sign/have someone who can create and also someone who can score. we need to operate without players who are likely to cause goals/ ones we get away with fianlly we need to operate and play as a team , better than the sum of all parts . personally believe 4 decent signings together with a good manager will achieve these things and end up being a decent mid table team

Craggs would be my number 1 choice . The issue stopping that is he doesnt went to be a first team mgr . honestly it’s not easy. Ideally we want to find the next Alex Neil who can move us forward over 3-4 years and move on. Easier said than done . if Valakari can bring some other European talent whilst bleeding youngsters into the team im good with that . equally I’m not against hammell - he can see the issues and is currently hampered with suspensions , injuries and need to sign more players . I don’t believe Malky is the answer - why come to Motherwell , we’re similar to county in terms of fan base etc , it’s not a step up for him

We have several first team regulars who belong at a lower level. the positive is we have some decent players. As it stands id keep Kelly , McGinn, S’OD, Lamie, slattery , goss , Cornelius , Tierney and KVV Sadly that means less than half our squad should be retained - the rest should be off loaded asap (not easy to do) we need to get out there and bring in quality and or trust in some of the developing youngsters . Appreciate and agree GA deserves a lot of stick - equally we have a head of recruitment - who’s not doing a great job either . Less in the limelight but not been that many great signings since he arrived

Longer term I can’t see either maguire or Morris being in our preferred starting 11 .

Although getting order I thought we should have signed Murphy - better than most of our forwards

For now suspect we’re playing those closest to match sharpness than our best 11 . some decent players on the bench . 3-4 quality signings would make a huge difference to the team . No matter who takes charge will need to add a bit of quality

McKinnon was excellent . To be fair we had about 20 years of consecutively good left backs . McKinnon , McMillan and Hammell.

Crags would be a great fit , I don’t think he wants the job , thats what I’ve always heard from his interviews . he said the same when he was the interim mgr a few years ago . He didn’t want to be a first green mgr . On many ways can’t blame him . He gets paid well as a pundit and will have a better life balance than one of a mgr . shame as I’m sure he’d be great . The danger for any former player like hammel for example is what happens 2 years down the line when we want to change mgr . Likely they need to move on from the club .

Pretty spot on in terms of what we’ve seen.

Hammel speaks from the heart . Hard not to love this guy and hope he gets the job .

What baffles me Is why don’t we in Scotland start our season earlier and benefit from being 20 games into our season lots of Scottish teams get pumped year in and out - I’d be a fan of finishing the season on Jan and starting back March /April summer football - yes please downside is the risk on international tournaments - I can live with that risk

I’d rather we play a back 3. For this game hoping ojala is back and play McGinn , Solhom and ojala That enables slattery as a holding midfielder to connect play and add width and depth to the misfiled Time is our biggest enemy , not sold 7 days will have been enough time for hammel to make the changes he alluded to

Either or both would work for me . not keen on lambert purely as he comes across as a boring bigger and his teams matched his personality - not too different from GA albeit at a higher level . Valakari has done well and shown he wants it . equally hammel is a good go guy and called out obvious gaps and needs . have them both please

I wish him well for the future and glad he's moved on. No argument from me with what he achieved. The issue was always how, it was ugly but people tended not to mind winning ugly. He'll go on to another role, prob in the 4th tier of English footy.

Lambert has been available for +18 months, be interesting to see if he wants to come north of the border . he often comes across as a bit dull as have many of his teams . Re Simo Valakari - I’m sure he was on the short list before and narrowly missed out . Had he not played for Motherwell his credentials would still be strong . He’s managed in 2 countries and proved successful . Having knowledge of European market could be a different avenue. Add to that he does know Motherwell is a huge bonus . Having people who already care and understand is a big plus for me . Hence if someone like Craggs wanted the job I’d hire them in a heartbeat

Great share - that’s the first article that I’ve seen that’s not just lifting the names from these types of forums . can see what Duncan Ferguson has been counted as purely a rumour. If he was moving north of the border suspect it would have been the Utd job . Overall sounds a sensible approach from the club - fingers crossed

Given he's only had 3 games and come in at a terrible time you're right, Morris will need some time. Compared him to Goss as a left midfielder with a bit of skill. FWIW I rate Goss, I think he's a lot to offer as long as we don't expect him to track back , win second balls etc. Morris for me is a strange signing, someone who's kicked around the English 4th tier for +10 years without doing much. GA signed a few people like that, people he knew, brought into the club and often didn't even play them but he knew he could work with them. Hopefully Morris can kick on and add value to the team.

I've got some sympathy for our midfield. Playing 3 has led to 1) being up against a much better midfield 3 against top 6 teams and 2) being outnumbered against bottom 6 clubs. If playing with 3 generally they all need to be good both defensively & offensively. I don't believe any of our players are all round midfield players and I doubt our budget can afford it. This is an over simplification but all players are limited. Maguire. Best attritibutes are as a defensive mid. Lacks pace but can be used to break up play and find a simple pass. Spittal. Too early to tell, looks an ok worker who can break up play and work hard. Slattery. Closest to our best all round player but tires quickly in games. Decent ball skills and be good player to collect ball from defence and join up to attack. Goss. Best on the ball player we have but don't expect him to protect left back, win balls or put in a hard shift. Cornelius. Great work effort and looks better moving forward. Morris. Early days but similar attributes to Goss albeit of a lower quality. Tierney. Most likely to score and should play in the hole between midfield and attack. Point being there's no combination I can see that suggests a 3 man midfield would work. Personal view is we need at least 4 of them in different roles to make the midfield work and if being brutal would only have Maguire & Morris as back up players.

As a club I'd like to see us nudge forward and have a longer term plan. I first started watching us in early 80s and we progressed into the top league, spent a few years battling relegation and steadily improved brining in better quality whilst bleeding youngsters. Bringing through players like Boyd, O'Donnell, McCart, McMillan, Faddy, Pearson, McCulloch, Lasley, Hammell, Reynolds, Quinn Murphy, Hutchinson, Cadden, Turnbull, Campbell. Whilst being able to attract some very decent players who stuck around from - Russell, Cooper, Coyne, Lambert, Martin Craigen, Sutton. Recent years we've been able to show in patches the same approach to youth with some exceptional players, our attraction of quality players has generally been poor. Over this period the quality has got worse, the fan base reduced. As club be great to see us move forward sustainably. Reduce the squad size, bring in better quality who are likely to stay a few years whilst bringing through youngsters. The Faddy's, Turnbulls, O'Donnell's are perhaps once a decade type player but even to get back to the quality of McMillan, Lasley, Hammell, Reynolds, Cadden etc should be within our gift and their likely to give a damn. Appreciate this means we'll lose out on some 16 year olds having their head turned but I can't see any other obvious way forward. Really don't want to accept we've come as far as we can and every year it's a battle for mid table. Really want to see us slowly but surely progress - even a most increase to gates to get 5-6-7-8k people through the door would be great. With this is mind it may be more than a new manager we need.