MJC

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It definitely has, I certainly wouldn’t argue with that. I was sceptical when Burrows replaced Dempster but I feel that he’s grown into the role and has been good for us overall. He hasn’t got everything right, granted, but I feel like he is doing a good job.

Yes I accept that and that’s fair enough. I was just meaning that with Burrows you know that he’s got the club’s best interests at heart as opposed to say, a Vladimir Romanov type at Hearts, albeit I know he’s probably quite an extreme example.

I thought the same at the time but likewise I’m glad to have been proven wrong. Burrows has been excellent for us overall. Yes he’s got some things wrong but that’s part and parcel of the role but to have someone in that position who you know is Motherwell through and through then you know the club is in good hands. His handling of the Rangers ticket allocation for the 2nd leg of the playoff was superb. Many a previous Motherwell regime would have simply bowed down and given them whatever they wanted. The club’s PR and communications with the support has improved tenfold under Burrows. I know some of it can be a bit over kill on social media, but it’s important that the club can engage with the support, especially when it’s a fan owned club.

Have you ever actually seen him play? Fair enough if he ends up being another player who barely features or makes no impact but at least give him a chance!

Clubome to our great wee Welc Sean Goss.

Woods was an occasional liability and a permanent bombscare for us. Even when he was having one of his better games you just knew a major howler was just around the corner ie. that Rangers Cup tie. I have honestly never forgiven him for that. I know people argue that he made over 100 appearances for us but it should be pointed out that he was here for nine years and in that time either played second fiddle to or at best couldn’t hold down the No.1 jersey against five different goalkeepers. That says it all for me, it was clear that none of the managers we had during that time trusted him as a first choice goalkeeper.

I agree with you that we don’t afford young players the opportunity to break through enough, we didn’t even get Turnbull in the team as soon as we should have! But when you look at the current crop of young players on our books like Maguire, Devine, Cornelius you don’t really see any signs that they will be able to make much impact on the first team.

Well if that’s how you choose to see it then fine, there’s nothing I can do about that. All I meant though was that I wasn’t setting the bar as high as expecting a Turnbull/McFadden type player every season, but rather players who could establish themselves as solid, first team players ala Lasley, Hammell, Campbell, Cadden. We have not seen anyone breaking through from the youth ranks that have been anywhere near the level of those four in recent years.

It’s when they shove the camera in one of the players faces after a defeat so that they can say “ahh well it’s disappointing, we gave it our all, loads of effort but just didny get the breaks the day, we pick oorsel’es up and go again” that gets me. It’s okay after we’ve won though.

I agree completely but getting that first win on the board for the season is crucial. There are obviously concerns over our general play but winning games like that against teams like that is absolutely massive for us, just as a loss in a game like that would be disastrous.

You’re not surprised. I am surprised. But it doesn’t matter a fuck either way. We won and that’s all that matters.

Fantastic result.

Some challenge from Grimshaw and some save from Kelly! Holding on here.

You fucking beauty! Watt made it again and Grimshaw does well to get the follow up. Now hold this Motherwell!!

Absolute cop-out from the referee there.

That man again. He needs to be first name on the team sheet every single week! Well in Tony Watt

That’s my worry too. There is still time to get players in but not much. We have seen in the past that it rarely works trying to recruit a number of players at once (Baraclough, Kampman) so any signings we do make need to be absolutely bang on the money and able to make an immediate impact on the first team. Given our recent record on that front I am not confident in the slightest.

Slow, no movement, unable to take advantage of any half chance that comes our way then we concede with the first effort on target against us. That could be describing about 80% of our games over the past two years.

And there it is, this week’s cheap and avoidable goal conceded.

Much more intensity from us so far, need to make it count though.

I said that I’m not (that’s NOT) expecting us to produce a McFadden or a Turnbull every year. You sure you read my post correctly?

Without doubt we need to see more on the park. Despite the apparent change in approach to recruitment we appear to be yet again starting a season with the same areas on the field that have been needing addressed for years still not addressed. The window is not yet shut though so I’ll revisit this in ten days time. As a club we also don’t see enough coming through from our youth set ups and that’s a concern. I’m not expecting us to produce a Turnbull or a McFadden every year but you look at the young players on our books and you don’t see anyone who you believe will make the grade and be a regular, reliable first team starter. Maguire to give the obvious example looks badly out of his depth at our level and you don’t see anything coming through that will make the grade. For a club of our size(not a great wee team, not a big team, just a standard size Scottish top flight club) it’s crucial that we develop and bring through young players and we’re falling badly short on that front.

I think the club’s social media dept to go a bit overboard with some of the things they put out, ie. “a coffee and a chat with x,y,z” but I don’t see anything wrong with this from Alan Burrows re-tweet. It’s all fair enough and nowhere near the dismal self defeating guff about “oor great wee team” and the likes that many on here, Twitter and to be honest Burrows himself has been guilty of on many occasion. The words describing our standing in the game are more or less accurate. I think it’s important and I’m glad that the club do reach out to the community nowadays, it’s something I always felt we didn’t do enough of in the past. The town of Motherwell and a lot of North Lanarkshire has been badly hit by unemployment, poverty and even more sadly, suicide in young people over the past few years and if the club can show its support to that then I’m all for it.

Well, going by our first few games this season, plus the majority of games last season, plus our inability to create goal scoring chances, plus our overall poor record on that plastic pitch(I know we did win there last October) then can you blame any Motherwell fan for not being optimistic going into this one?