wellfan

A one-legged Slattery would’ve performed better than Halliday has this season.

I'm not one to buy into requiring a good pre-season argument unless a player missed it, but Halliday had a pre-season with Hearts last year. His stats from the first half of this season show that he was mainly either 'on the bench' or 'not in squad', which begs the question of why did SK think he was worth bringing in on loan then, and his performances since joining on loan haven't been great. It's clear to me that he's finished at this level and his signing for next season raises more questions than it does inspire hope. Maybe he'll step back or focus on coaching or become Obika 2.0. Who knows.

New goalie and defence requeired.

Erik Barmack has been posting tweets of himself and his family following the games from the US on MFC TV, so I assume he's still interested, but the NDA prevents either party from reporting anything further. On the Well Society proposal, I can only assume they're either still trying to pull a rabbit out of a hat or are busy focussing on the Live the Dream event.

Check the first post on this topic.

You'd like to think that a top-flight manager would consider that before signing a player on a PCA without seeing them perform on their initial loan spell first, but I guess it's a bit too late for that now. Tl;dr - all evidence points to Halliday being past it at this level, yet we've signed him anyway.

And that's just your opinion which, as I've argued elsewhere, represents a pessimistic outlook that will only see us standing still at best or slowly falling behind over time.

No, that's not what I wrote, and you've chosen to critique the top 6 comment in isolation, like others have done. I wrote: "Top six and, more so, a good cup run should be the absolute minimum targets set each season for the manager". The clue is in my adding the "more so" meaning I regard the cup run as being the most realistic and reasonable of minimums.

That's me told. I must remember that I cannot conceive of any other fan of Motherwell to be anything other than a saint, and purely because they support the same team as me.

The Motherwell manager’s annual performance review: Bottom six CHECK Zero cup runs CHECK Dismal winless run CHECK Good guy CHECK Tenth place or better CHECK Congratulations, you've helped the club achieve its annual target of racing to the bottom. Well done, highly effective, now do the same again next season and you have a job for life. - - - And for those who cannot detect the sarcasm in the above, yes, a manager who keeps us at 10th place at best every season has done well to a degree and shouldn't be automatically binned. You can't blame a manager for a club setting shit standards. However, any club with such a race-to-the-bottom mentality as its minimum target for its manager will continue to tread water and achieve nothing other than an annual shit fight for 10th. It's grim that the club budgets for (and seemingly tolerates) pathetic early exits from domestic cups on an annual basis, for example. Such a mentality puts zero pressure on anyone to achieve anything optimistic and is tantamount to rewarding failure. It's a results-driven business, not a job for the boys and good guys club.

The emphasis in my post was on the cup run requirement because I acknowledge that that is a more realistic target than an annual top 6 finish. On your point re. Kettlewell, he's achieved neither, which is shit, but he's kept us safe so is invincible. “we should be aiming for nothing less than the top 6 and, more so, a good cup run”

After getting battered by Aberdeen today, we might be playing a managerless Hibs on Wednesday.

Of course people can shoot at my forthright views, and I'll respond, but I'll certainly re-make my point in doing so as I won't be derided by others in their weak attempts to belittle me or my views. Referring to a nondescript collective as sanctimonious pricks is fine as far as I'm concerned, yet it seems to have touched a nerve with a few members of the forum. I wonder why. Furthermore, I'm sure most on here would agree that it would only be over-egging it if I referred to a particular individual as a sanctimonious prick, which I specifically did not do. Kettlewell obviously isn't going anywhere for the time being, and that's just that. I can still hold my views.

It was both funny and revealing. He was saying that Levein couldn't tell the difference between a tired and an unfit player, meaning he often ran the tired one's into the ground, which is a surefire way to injure and piss off players.

I understand that the 10th spot thing is often cited for budgetary purposes, which can be misrepresented, and I expect and hope the playing targets are indeed set higher. My comment that we should be aiming for nothing less than the top 6 and, more so, a good cup run is in no way linked to me suggesting that we should be irresponsibly speculating to accumulate. I think these targets should be the absolute minimum for us, and it would be more progressive and positive to frame our approach like that instead of pleading poverty about our 10th-best budget position. The latter will never improve until the former becomes a stable reality.

I think we'll batter St Johnstone next weekend regardless. Craig Levein is a fraud of a football manager, and I feel sorry for them having to endure him.

...'sit up and pay attention'...and you wouldn't have had that view in December, according to some.

Yeah. Top six and, more so, a good cup run should be the absolute minimum targets set each season for the manager. I'm sick and tired of the 10th spot less-than-mediocrity crap, as nothing will ever be achieved when the minimum targets are set so low. Some may call that unrealistic for whatever reason. However, given our 40-year presence in the top league, our likely budget, our stature and structure, aiming for anything less is just treading water and hoping for an annual miracle against the odds.

Let's see how Hibs get on today against Aberdeen, but I'd be pleased to leave Easter Road with a draw on Wednesday.

Luton Town have poorly managed him. By that, I mean he should've been recalled from his loan at Millwall in January and sent out on loan to another team that would give him game time. I hope he can recover from this career-stalling year.

Congratulations on producing the most sanctimonious of all posts on this topic. I hope you've enjoyed the victory atop your massive ivory tower. I'm surprised you found the time to enjoy the result late last night while searching for a months-old post of mine written off the back of an appalling winless run on 2 January. Context is key, but petty irony is free.

3 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss since this prediction. Let’s see if we can make it 5 wins, then maybe I’ll change my opinion of Kettlewell.

Because if it weren't for our crap defence/goalkeeping this season, we would be a top 6 side.

You're right about this one.

1-2 McGinn