MJC

If Craig Levein was our manager they wouldn’t get away with turning in so many gutless, clueless performances. Just saying.

Time to go. No two ways about it. We won’t replace him with anyone who will change things for the better in the long run but Stuart Kettlewell is done for us. Seven defeats out of eight following the utter shite he signed in the summer can’t result in anything else I’m afraid.

No words.

Right between the two defenders and he still wins the header. Game over.

How could he get his hand out of the way there??

Disagree, there was a notable difference in the workrate of certain players from when Hammell left and Kettlewell took the job last season. Perhaps it was down to confidence of getting a run of good results but there has also been a notable difference in workrate and attitude of several players over the past four or five weeks. And not in a good way.

He is a good goalkeeper, I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. However he has been poor this season and arguably for longer but is seemingly undroppable. If he is continually turning in performances which are below what you’d hope or expect then his position as No.1 has to be called into question, captain and Scotland cap or not.

Arsehole or not he’s still a good manager at this level. Yes of course. He is just a young boy after all and can’t really be expected to play every game.

Biereth and Wilkinson up top, SO’D returns to the starting lineup, still no Miller.

The players can’t be absolved of blame but if they are collectively downing tools then it raises the question of the strength of the management team.

For me this is a big worry because it’s eerily similar to how things were in the last few weeks of Hammell and before Kettlewell took over. In the 2-3 loss v Hibs at home, the losses at St.Mirren and Aberdeen, the home loss v St.Johnstone midweek and the Raith cup tie several players looked absolutely disinterested and disheartened. Then Hammell goes and Kettlewell takes over and you had Spittal, KvV, Slattery, Goss all looking like different players with a much improved attitude. Unfortunately now we are seeing heads drop again and too many look disinterested, disheartened and lacking any direction and unless we get a positive result tonight and again on Saturday then you worry about how and if we can get back on track. Tonight is vital.

I’m a wee bit younger than you by the sounds of it but inspite of how some of my posts may sound at times I’m exactly the same. I genuinely couldn’t imagine life without supporting Motherwell FC and like you whenever I meet my dad for a beer it’s one of the main topics. They frustrate the shite out of me more often than not but outwith family and friends the club is the one constant in life for me and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Absolutely. Woods just kept turning up like a bad penny during his nine long year stay with us. Numerous keepers came in, dislodged him as first choice then moved on and there he was again, as bad as ever.* As for Howie he really came onto a game whilst with us and was even talked about for a Scotland cap. As I remember he refused to sign a new contract, went awol, couldn’t get a club then tried to come back before he was eventually signed by Tommy Burns at Reading. *And yes, I am fully aware that Stevie Woods is now the top goalkeeping coach in the country having worked at Celtic for years and is no doubt a very decent guy who gave his all when he was with us. It’s just unfortunate that his all wasn’t near good enough and he wasn’t half as good at goalkeeping as he appears to be coaching it.

Yes that’s true I did say that and I don’t see any reason to believe otherwise. Unlike the players, the coaching staff and those higher up in the club I am not in a position to be able to properly influence and affect results. The reason I don’t think we’ll ever beat either of them again is because we have the wrong mentality that runs right through the club nowadays which basically shrugs off these games and dismisses them because “we can’t compete with their budgets”. And while that bit is undoubtedly true we are no different to every other non OF side in that regard, yet Killie, St,Johnstone, Livingston, Ross County, Dundee Utd, St.Mirren and Accies have all managed to beat one or both of them since we last managed it. But sadly “we’re just a wee club punching way above our weight” and as long as we don’t get relegated and continue to “exist to improve people’s lives” then all is good and we should just be grateful eh?

It’s certainly not the best circumstances for us and why I felt it was a bad thing for us when the original game was called off, because we badly needed to halt the run of what at that time was four straight losses. Since then that run has become six defeats from seven with only one point picked up with games against Hearts and Celtic coming up. Meanwhile St.Johnstone have sacked their manager, picked up a big win last week and now appointed a good manager. Somehow we just have to find a way of getting a result tonight but it’s hard to see it.

Being an arsehole doesn’t make someone a bad manager. Quite often you find it’s the opposite. St.Johnstone haven’t hired him to hand out werthers originals at training and dance through the fields of rural Perthshire of a summer evening, they’ve hired him to get them out of a relegation battle and Levein will do that imo.

He was a pretty decent keeper for us I thought. The way he left us left a bit of a sour taste though.

Yes, I would. I’ll only quote that part because the rest of your post is long, however it’s a good post which I won’t and indeed can’t really argue with. What I would say though is that in regards to Clarke at Killie and now McInnes, Clarke didn’t win a trophy with them and McInnes probably won’t either, but in Clarke’s case he instilled a winning mentality where they weren’t cowed or fearful of any side. That showed in their record against both OF clubs in the league during his tenure there. McInnes hasn’t taken them to the heights that Clarke did so far and it’s unlikely that he will but he’s already overseen an Old Firm double in just a few weeks this season. Again, could we have done that? I don’t think so.

Yeah a 20 year old to be our entire goal threat and a 17 year old to carry our midfield. Unrealistic and unreasonable but that’s where we are thanks to dismal summer recruitment.

My point was that if we had been in the Championship then there was no way we would have appointed McInnes or anyone of that calibre. Kilmarnock themselves weren’t in the Championship in 2017 when they appointed Steve Clarke, a man who had managed in the English Premier League and been assistant to Jose Mourinho at Chelsea and also been involved at Liverpool. Again that is the type of appointment we just would not make. Likewise St.Johnstone appointing Craig Levein, a solid, experienced and high profile manager in the Scottish game just wouldn’t happen at Fir Park. We couldn’t/didn’t even sign Steven Fletcher in the summer there when we were crying out for a striker, but we baulked at his demands and instead used the money on deals for Shaw, Wilkinson and Bair ffs! I’m not asking or expecting us to be challenging for the top two spots or to be getting to semis/finals regularly, this is the type of retort anyone who dares suggest we show a bit more ambition always gets. I would just like to see us as a club aim a bit higher than simply finishing above 11th every season and not exit every Cup competition early and/or as soon as we are paired with a top flight side.

And if we were in the Championship do you seriously think we would have gone out and appointed a manager who won a cup, finished second several times and took Aberdeen to numerous semis/finals? Not a chance! We would be howling even longer and louder than we usually do about how skint we were and how we would have to cut our cloth and tighten our belts and all that pish. It’s more than just a good few years now, I’d say more like 15-20 and social media has made it even worse imo.

The change kit yet again making an appearance on Tuesday night it seems. We really need a win but the best result we’ll get is a 0-0 draw I reckon.

Six losses out of seven…doom and gloom, realism/to-MAY-to, to-MAH-to. Or perhaps you’d rather hear the story of Goldilocks and the three Bears? Albeit in the Happy Clappers version Goldilocks is wearing a Claret & Amber ribbon when the bears find her asleep in their bed having eaten their porridge and broken their chairs, so for that reason they forgive her, fire up Twist and Shout on Alexa and they all jump about the house shouting “there’s only one James McFadden”…

Who has won two trophys since we last managed it in 1991? Us or Kilmarnock? Who has beaten Rangers several times in the league since 2002? Us or Kilmarnock? The answer to both questions is the same. I’ll give you a clue…it isn’t us.

I don’t see much wrong with what he says to be fair.