wellfan

Buy cheap, buy twice, seems to be the Kettlewell way. It’s getting ridiculous now.

He’ll be backed further, have his contract extended after winning one game in September, then we’ll find ourselves in an ever bigger mess come January. To think all this could’ve been avoided if McMahon and Co. hadn’t gifted him an unearned and covert extension. I fear we’ve entered the don’t back down, double down phase.

Careful now. The situation we find ourselves in surely cannot be the fault of the man in overall charge of building the squad.

I hope the residents of Mount Florida are preparing for the hordes of mutants about to descend upon them. I can only imagine they’re setting up the holy water cannons and bleach dips as I write this.

I also predicted that we may do well here, so I guess we both need to lay off the glue.

Aye, I guess the overall point is that it's a shame that he's out injured again, but it's troublesome that we still do not seem to have a suitable or fit replacement for Spittal. A player of his type is required to make Kettlewell's system tick and should be a top priority. I guess we can all review and moan/rejoice again come the end of the transfer window.

If I buy a secondhand older vehicle with a known history of breakdowns to a specific part, and I do so because I really like it and it's maybe cheaper than others, it's entirely my fault if it breaks down again on me. If I'm willing to accept that risk, I would buy it as a backup car and not my main car, due to the risk of it being out of action at times. In this scenario, where things break down again after a know history of breakdowns, the buyer carries the can; not the player or anyone else. Nicholson isn't a chancer, but Kettlewell took a chance on him. Add in what @gaz7 said above, which I also watched and was a little shocked at, it's staggering that someone with a known, as well as self-proclaimed history of dodgy knees was brought in on that deal and in such an important position to supposedly cover the loss of Spittal. He was a risky signing and now we're paying for it, as he requires to be replaced this month and at short notice. I wish the guy a speedy recovery.

Signing a 29-year-old, likely as Spittal's replacement, who has a history of serious knee injuries (15/16 & 16/17 knee injury and surgery; 23/24 cruciate ligament injury) was a gamble, and now look who's out with another serious knee injury. This is Kettlewell's most recent faux pas, and there are others. We're going to end up with a massive and expensive squad again, just to replace the donkeys and crocks he continues to sign, which the next manager will have to undo, again. It's so predictable and infuriating, and it's what happens when you let inexperience and stubbornness loose with the chequebook.

There are some excellent, some not so excellent, and some absolute no chance candidates up for election. The outcome being I am struggling to narrow my choices down to four.

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/sam-nicholson/verletzungen/spieler/169573

Colin Park 🤣

With Nicholson now out for the foreseeable, it seems like the ongoing policy of signing injury prone players continues to be a gamble not worth taking. If he was brought in to replace Spittal, it can only be described as madness. Yes, Kettlewell has made us buck with Bair, but at the same time, I wonder how much he has spaffed up the wall on known crocks and duds over his three transfer windows. He's making life really difficult for himself here. Two creative attacking midfielders should now be at the top of the shopping list before the window closes. Anything else is madness, but we all saw last season, so I wouldn't hold my breath.

Kettlewell has had 3 transfer windows and the entire team is almost his now. We can’t keep throwing money at him until he gets it right or we’ll end up with another Alexander-type bloated squad that the next manager will have to clean up. That said, he must still have cash for some creative players.

We're crap and clueless, but I wouldn't be surprised if we beat them at Hampden again.

If the club is serious about increasing its fanbase and, therefore, home crowds and revenue, it seriously needs to consider employing a manager who knows what they're doing. No amount of excellent work by the WS and the new CEO will change that, as fans want to be entertained, even in defeat. This isn't a reactionary view based on the League Cup or today; rather, it's based on a view of Kettlewell's entire tenure, which indicates to me that there's been no real progress made in terms of the overall team performance and identity. He did well with Bair, for example, which I've acknowledged, so it's clear to me that he can coach players at some level and generate success in that aspect. However, a manager needs to be more than that. They need to be tactically astute. I understand why Kettlewell is still here and had his contract renewed, and that's simply because the club board has shown itself to be incompetent in recent times. Asleep at the wheel, perhaps, and taking the easy option due to the poorly managed clusterfuck surrounding Alexander and Hammell. So, here we are, and it's groundhog day. Ultimately, and unlike Alexander, Kettlewell isn't an arrogant prick and he seems to work hard, but he's just not very good at managing a top flight football team, and that's a shame. Taking last season into account, and given there's only one year left on his contract, I think it's a matter of when and not if now. Unless he has a good first half of the season, the calls for him to be replaced as we approach January will be deafening. It's probably fair to say that match day attendances will only continue to stagnate, at best, if he continues to serve up crap and sign duds and crocks. We'll reap what we sow.

These issues shouldn’t happen and I suggest you and others continually bring them to the attention of the CEO until he makes it right. brian.caldwell@motherwellfc.co.uk

Same shit, different season, on multiple fronts, all because key issues haven’t been addressed from last season and capable management and players haven't been identified to move the club forward.

Caldwell speaks some more: https://www.glasgowworld.com/sport/football/motherwell-fc/brian-caldwell-motherwell-vision-huge-potential-ml1-safe-standing-4724345

Yep. I found it last night. It’s seems to have had a recent soft launch. https://thewellsociety.uk

We desperately need a fit Balmer and McGinn, as Casey and Blaney in the same defence is our weak spot, which we already knew. I don't think Kaleta is the answer to our RWB conundrum yet. On yesterday's showing, it wasn't that he looked unfit or unskilled, but that he looked completely lost. It was almost embarrassing to watch. At one point, it appeared that SOD gave up passing to him or expecting runs from him. Lot's of positional holes appeared when he came on. And he also kept wandering about random areas of the pitch during set plays instead of putting himself in the zones that his position is meant to occupy, particularly during our corners. I'm not blaming him for this at all, as he's clearly not ready yet and his coming on as a sub was probably not planned for, but I would hope he can be coached into something useful before he's utilised again. Wilson has the attributes and just needs to start battering down the wing and taking players on. He's also got the strength to be a good defensive wingback. This is his chance and if he doesn't take it, he'll be back down the pecking order, unfortunately.

The difference is I’ve generally referred to a collective group of posters of a similar viewpoint as sanctimonious pricks, and not targeted anyone individually unless specifically provoked by them. Whereas, I am consistently and directly called a pant wetter etc by the same few posters for expressing a view they don’t like, which is fine, but it’s not overly constructive and is just annoying, so I call it out. But that’s a football forum. Most of us deal with it, give as good as we get, and move on to the next game. Now, since you’ve asked me specifically, if you want to talk about the difference, let’s not forget that it’s you who often gets personal by sending unsolicited direct messages to folk on this forum harassing them because you disagree, harbour a grudge, or have a personal grievance. I thought you would take my lack of response to your posts and direct messages to me as a hint to stop engaging directly with me, but here we are. However, I won’t tell you or anyone how to act or what to publicly post or direct message to others, but some self-policing (including by me at times) before reaching for the keyboard would be wise. You’re also free to ignore me and others.

Here's our run of games across August and September: Ross County (H) Rangers (A) Killie (H; League Cup) Hearts (H) St Johnstone (A) International Break Aberdeen (A) Lease Cup QF St Mirren (H) If we lose to County in the opener, it could be a long couple of months for Kettlewell as he panic signs 3 more wingbacks and 3 more central midfielders at the end of August and gets a red card at the end of September for telling Stephen Robinson to fuck off. Or, he signs Stama this week, which sees the Aussie score 10 goals in 2 months at the same time as we concede 20 through Blaney and Casey, which inspires Jim McMahon to secretly give Kettlewell a 4-year contract extension as his parting gift to the fans.

It’s only daft to have said what I said if you subscribe to the view that Kettlewell knows what he’s doing.

He should’ve been gone following the dreadful run in the first half of last season, but he’s not and we’re stuck with him. It’s the same shit, different season, but maybe some of his biggest fans may finally start to realise that this season.

Because the league campaign starts in six days. There’s no need to be patronising.