MJC

I know Van der Gaag was heavily linked with the job in the media and with the bookies at the time Baraclough got it, but was he actually seriously in the running for it? Was he even interviewed for it?

My views exactly. As Ian McCall said of his team last night even though they’d won “we were dugmeat” and have been dugmeat for most of the season and regardless of today and whatever happens in the last five games, Graham Alexander needs to go. However, that’s for another day. Today was massive for us and a top six finish, regardless of how it was achieved is important for the club, both on and off the park.

No more or no less ridiculous than the post he was quoting to be fair. Motherwell fans giving the GIRUY to other Motherwell fans is pathetic.

Perhaps although maybe it can be argued that Livingston deserved it more. But it’s irrelevant whether we deserve it or not, the only thing that matters is we got it, somehow. I think that was hugely important to us as had we lost and finished bottom six then the season would be as good as over and the crowds would have dwindled badly for the last five games. As it is we actually have something to play for now which is great. I make it that we should be at home to Hearts, Rangers and Dundee Utd and away to Celtic and Ross County?

Well, we don’t deserve that….but I’ll take it. It’s utterly incredible how poor we’ve been yet not only are we top six we actually have a chance of qualifying for Europe!

True McCall was a good guy to have around the club and in the dressing room and he was clearly very popular with the players and staff. As a manager though he was very one dimensional and couldn’t get the players to raise their game which cost us time and again in big Cup ties. He carried on that tradition against us in the playoff and I’ll forever be thankful that he was in Rangers dugout and not ours for those games as there was no way we were winning them with him in charge. He would have had us beat before a ball was kicked, just like he did in that 2012 League Cup debacle. Obviously the league performances and high placed finishes in McCall’s tenure were great, but he did benefit greatly from having one of if not the best group of players outside Celtic in the league at the time.

I really enjoyed Robinson’s first full season with us. Two Cup runs with some big wins in both and a team that although not easy on the eye was competitive and actually looked like they enjoyed playing for us. Like McCall he stayed on too long, he should probably have moved on in summer 2019. McCall did well for us with a much better set of players but was a complete bottle merchant in big games and a poor coach.

Fancy a draw on Saturday. 1-1

Well I never! A win AND an enjoyable game. Brilliant stuff. See what happens when you play your best players eh?

Slattery actually starts today!

We won’t be relegated this season. As poor as we have been/are we are not going to lose every single game between now and the end of the season and St.Johnstone & Dundee aren’t suddenly going to go on a crazy winning run either. It might be a bit less comfortable than we’d like for a couple of weeks and it certainly wont be pretty viewing but we’ll be fine.

2-1 to us, based on nothing more than optimism. One of those games where we go 2-0 up then concede meaning it’s a nerve racking last 20-30 mins. But this time we’ll see it out. Hopefully.

Davie Cooper’s anniversary today, 27 years. RIP

Mmm, I’m not even convinced that that would happen. If we managed to scrape into the top six then that would almost certainly ensure a ‘6th placed’ finish with two pumpings off both halves of the OF, one point(if we’re lucky) against the Edinburgh sides and more awful, eye bleeding football. Football is meant to be an entertainment business and we offer absolutely nothing in that department. The grumbling of the fans both at the ground and online over the past few months would suggest that the support as a whole are absolutely scunnered with the fare on show.

Likewise. I don’t think there’s any way back for him with the support to be honest.

The thought of a Stephen Robinson led St.Mirren side with several ex Well players coming to Fir Park and beating us is horrible, but it would sum up our season if it happened.

That’s just it he doesn’t appear to have a plan, either long term or short term. At least if we could see what he was trying to do but it just wasn’t coming off he might look as though he did, but there is nothing. His team selections and use of subs are mind boggling. We have players like Slattery who can’t get a look in for whatever reason. We brought in Tierney in January and Shaw on loan from Celtic and both have hardly featured. What’s going on there?? And when it’s not working he waits until about 70 mins before making any changes most weeks. I don’t know what, if anything, the manager is trying to achieve but whatever it is it clearly is not working and some of the players are looking increasingly more frustrated week to week.

Did he actually say that “we have had some good draws”?

I see where you are coming from and there is some merit in that, but in the long term it would be detrimental to us because as long as we weren’t relegated he would almost certainly be given the job on a permanent basis. And that really isn’t what we need right now. Pardon the cliché but we need a ‘new broom’ to come in.

100% this. Lasley is a club legend but giving him the managers job would ensure ‘same old, same old’ that we’ve seen over the past few years. A drastic change is needed at the club, not just in the dugout.

I don’t think we will be relegated this season, purely because I don’t see St.Johnstone or Dundee being able to sustain the kind of run to overhaul us. But I do think it’s going to be a lot more uncomfortable than many of us thought even four weeks ago. Whatever happens though, Graham Alexander absolutely cannot be allowed to take us into a new season, new contract or not. If he doesn’t walk away of his own accord and our wretched form and performances continue then the support will start to split between those who will vote with their feet and just don’t come to games and those who will become vocal in their calls for him to go. In fairness to the club, whenever we’ve reached that stage in the past, with Malpas, Baraclough and McGhee second time around and supporters were calling for the managers head they have acted pretty swiftly and made the change. We’re not quite at that stage yet with GA, but it’s not far off imo.

Because we weren’t really doing that well before Christmas. We were pretty dismal to watch then as well but the difference was we had Tony Watt who could grab goals at crucial times to get us out of jail. That we haven’t won since he left tells you all you need to know.

For us to be heading into April looking for our first league win of the year is scandalous. I’ve seen enough, it’s time to go Alexander.

No one is forced to buy it but nonetheless the club/kit maker want people to buy it and indeed they know that people will buy it if a new kit is released. There are people who like to buy every kit so as to have the most up to date version, or to put money into the club, or just because they want to. People who have young kids who want the latest kit and will buy it for them every time a new one is released. You’re right it is the going rate it seems for most clubs to have a new kit every single year and perhaps that’s part of the contract with the kit maker, I don’t know. I’d just like to see us keep the current home kit for another year if it was possible.

I’d like to see us keep our current home kit for another season (assuming we are staying with Macron?). It’s a nice kit and as has been said in these tough financial times asking fans to fork out for a new set of kits every single year is pretty steep. I’d imagine we will change the away kit or at least bring out another change kit. I’d like to see another mostly white effort, similar to 19/20 which was our best change kit in recent years.