mothman

On Johnny K, going from what Frail is saying here - just sounds like he hasn't managed to get enough match practice in since the injury in pre-season to be considered. Signed a 2-year contract in the summer so hope we see him playing at some stage. Marvin Kaleta was obviously loaned in because of JK injury and has done quite well. I imagine the original plan was to run with 2 right-back options in SO'D and JK. The club must have seen some potential in him, otherwise could have easily picked up another RB from this side of planet earth! Here's an interview with him from the other week - https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/motherwell-star-johnny-koutroumbis-opens-34221744

Yeah I agree, a bit of an ambiguous message and quite late in the day seeing as it's a 3-4 hour drive. Could have put something out to supporters yesterday based on the weather warnings. Safe journey to anybody making the trip

Noticed in this weeks press conference when asked about the injured players progress, SK made no mention of Filip Stuparević - then also noticed he is no longer in the squad list on our website... Wonder if he's offski 🤔

It did have stickers inside aye. Would've happily posted to you but gave them to a lad sitting in front of me on Friday, sorry!

A brilliant night and atmosphere that will live long in the memory. Travelled down from Inverness with my Dad for the match which we only manage a few times a season - he's Motherwell born (in 1949..!), so visited some of his old haunts around town the next day and he was absolutely chuffed at the game. We both enjoyed the new beer garden pre-match. Sat in the PO'D stand, Louis Moult actually received a bit of a ''Louis! Louis!' chant from the home fans as he made his way up the tunnel at full-time. Well done to all the players and our support, never gave up. Nights like that make the rollercoaster worth it I'd say!

I agree - Jack Vale was decent enough for us but doesn't make much sense unless we are planning to offload one of our forwards tomorrow, otherwise we're completely overloaded in that department. Not including young Mark Ferrie in that as he would probably benefit from going out on loan anyhow.

Alex Lowry would certainly be a great addition, but could see him heading down to England maybe. Ryan Jack if he's fit, would be a good signing as others have said. I wonder if we have kept an interest in Scott Fraser after he chose to go on loan to Hearts instead of us last season. Didn't exactly set the heather on fire there, but didn't get too much game time to be fair, started 4 games in 6 months.

See the club also have a WhatsApp channel for supporters to follow now for club news, team line-ups on matchdays etc. https://www.motherwellfc.co.uk/2024/08/09/were-now-on-whatsapp/

Sounds as if Filip Stuparevic can play as an advanced midfielder/second striker, similar to the role Spittal had for us. Quote from an article this week - "Jasmin Jeric, who was assistant manager at NK Domzale during Stuparevic’s time in Slovenia, knows all about the new Motherwell player’s ability. The Steelmen play a three-at-the-back system, usually deploying a striker with an attacking midfielder, or a striker playing off the main number nine. There’s a system that Stuparevic is best suited for in boss Stuart Kettlewell’s plans. Jeric explained: “Considering Motherwell's tactical formations, I believe Filip could excel in both systems. His versatility as a striker allows him to adapt to different formations and play effectively in either setup. However, personally, Filip might suit the 3-5-1-1 formation better, as it provides more support behind the primary striker and allows him to link up play with midfielders.”

Former Motherwell chairman sends stark warning over deal with American investors By Gavin McCafferty, PA July 08, 2024 at 8:56am BST Former Motherwell chairman Brian McCafferty has urged fans not to risk the financial future of the club by handing control to American TV executive Erik Barmack. The Motherwell board recommends shareholders accept a £1.95million offer from Wild Sheep Sports, a firm created by Barmack and his wife, Courtney, for a 47 per cent stake. However, the board of the Well Society, the fan-run majority shareholder, has urged its members to reject the plan in a ballot which opened on Monday morning. Their decision will decide the outcome. McCafferty, who previously chaired both the Motherwell and Well Society boards, said: “The Wild Sheep offer would put fan ownership and the financial future of Motherwell at major risk. “The revision to allow the Well Society to retain slightly more than half of the shares is largely symbolic as the deal immediately hands Wild Sheep effective control. “Although both groups will have three representatives on the board, Erik Barmack will have a casting vote as chairman and the deal stipulates that Wild Sheep will develop overall strategy in conjunction with two club executives. The Well Society is only entitled to ‘discuss’ these key decisions. “Much has been made of the independence of the two club employees on the board, but people come and go at football clubs all the time – especially if they disagree with the chairman – and Wild Sheep could appoint any replacements. So it’s unquestionably boardroom control. “There are other factors that risk fan ownership, including what happens if the Well Society misses its financial obligations to almost match the Barmacks’ investment. This remains unclear, and I’d expect many fans would stop paying subscriptions if control is handed to an overseas investor. “Fans would have no say over other investors Erik Barmack has talked about introducing and Wild Sheep could be entitled to take a share of the club’s profits after year six.” Both the Well Society and Wild Sheep unveiled business plans last week. The fan group is focused on growing support in Lanarkshire and becoming a “community anchor” while utilising “strategic partnerships”. The Barmack plan is focused on growing the global fanbase through marketing and media strategies. “I find it strange that there is a drive to rush this deal through when the club is financially stable,” said McCafferty, who brokered a takeover deal with Les Hutchison in 2015 that saw the latter avert a financial crisis for Motherwell and steer the club towards fan ownership. “The Wild Sheep plan outlines almost £4million of spending on projects inside three years – yet the Barmacks are only investing £900,000 during this period. “The nature of many of the plans, such as spending £600,000 on pre-match and post-match entertainment, casts major doubt on the financial viability of the project. There is a real chance the club would need further funding which could leave it in serious trouble or again dilute fans’ share. “The deal was always going to be a gamble. Fans would be putting their own money and the club’s finances in the hands of someone with no track record in football. By the looks of the Wild Sheep plan, it’s a massive gamble and I urge Motherwell fans to reject the offer. “The Well Society plan is a highly considered approach and I know there have been alternative financial options emerging during this process that could provide some security for the club without the risks inherent in the Wild Sheep offer. There is absolutely no need to rush into this deal.” In a statement on Friday, the Motherwell board said: “Within the Barmacks’ and the Well Society’s business plans, there are lots of interesting ideas. We welcome both. “Having studied both at length, it is our view that combining these ideas, locally and internationally, gives us the best chance of broadening our reach and appeal, and therefore generating additional revenues.”

I think your facts here on Theo Bair's appearances/goals record prior to joining us can be a bit misleading to be fair. If you take a closer look at those appearances - he only averaged about 35mins over the 90-odd games with many coming off the bench. So if going by 'per 90-mins' - he actually averaged a goal every 4.5 games, give or take. My point being that up until this season, he has never had a proper run of games at pro level. He's been on an upward trajectory, personally I'd prefer if we managed to keep him at Fir Park and try to extend his deal on improved terms with a view to sell after next season.

Great ball in from O'Donnell and super header from Nicholson!

Unlucky not to be 1-1, but we've been far too slow moving the ball forward. Livi pressing well to be fair. I'd hook Devine if Gent fit enough for 45, at least O'Donnell has been getting some crosses in from the right. Nicholson has been anonymous so far, needs to step up if still on 2nd half.

I see Ewan Wilson has come back to us from loan at Stirling Albion - possibly a result of Buyabu's mysterious departure. He looked quite promising in the league cup matches pre-season I thought.

Jeezo, that feels like a defeat. Had to watch on mute the "commentary" was so one-sided. Kevin Clancy very card-happy towards us, got nothing off him tonight. Arsehole. Doesn't take away from the fact we blew it, the players workrate and organisation once we were 3-0 up looked like they thought the game was won after 30 minutes. Really, really poor game management. The defence needs an overhaul, Butcher has not been great since returning and McGinn has looked a bit out of sorts at LCB - maybe time to move him back over and get Casey, Blaney or O'Donnell (did well on right of the 3 when asked) in there. Not seeing much wrong with our disallowed 4th -thought it had to be a clear error? VAR will hopefully GTF, re-refereeing the game it's a shite addition to football. Also thought a potential foul throw in build up to one of their goals, need to see it again but don't think I can re-live that game. Jesus wept...

Big game, would take a scrappy 1-0 to the good guys. I don't envisage too many changes from Saturday's lineup although maybe we'll see more minutes for the subs as it was quite a physical game v Killie. Imagine Miller might start one of the matches this week at least as you say grizzly. Wonder who'll be first to get the Jordan White elbow treatment tomorrow... COYW

Aye a pity on that situation, Gent looked good pushed forward too although against lower league opposition it has to be said. On another note, how many loan signings have Ross County brought in now?! Noticed one of them is ex-Dundee Utd bombscare Loick Ayina. Glad we are not in that situation with Deek Addams (family) at the helm, be better off with Uncle Fester...

I agree, I don't think we should deviate from our wage structure (albeit I have no knowledge of what this is) for anybody, just personal opinion. Spittal has been an excellent signing, quite an underrated player I think. Good luck to the new signings - if Devine can play on either side that gives us some good options in wide areas. I'm quietly optimistic for the remainder of the season, be good to get another forward in before the deadline..! One more would give us a 1st team squad of 23 presuming nobody departs. As others have mentioned, Kettlewell and co. have done a pretty good job of trimming the squad down.

Is that photo not the young lad Mark Ferrie who's back from a loan spell?

Reports that we might be looking to bring James Scott back to Fir Park from Exeter (who themselves are apparently going for Joel Nouble). The report saying that St. Mirren, Dundee and Ross County are also interested. Would be pretty happy if we managed to sign him personally.

Mika Biereth is offski, just have to move on. He turned out to be a great signing by the club - a bright spark in a difficult first half of the season. When you look at the real outstanding players that have departed during Stuart Kettlewell's reign to date (Max Johnston, Kevin Van Veen and Mika Biereth) - he's had a tough job on his hands. Always going to be difficult to replace players like these on our limited funds compared to many, if not most of the clubs in our league. It was great to watch them while we could. If you take the past season or 2 for example, I don't think many of the comparible teams have been fortunate enough to see players of this quality turning out for them and equally have not had to deal with the loss of such influential players (off the top of my head Regan Charles-Cook at RC, maybe Nicky Devlin at Livi). Hopefully there's another gem out there to be had..!

Slightly concerning report surfacing that Championship side Sheffield Wednesday are keen to take Mika Biereth on loan. Would obviously require Arsenal to terminate his loan with us if they deemed it a better option for his development. Apparently they have done this before with loan deals, but who knows if they have a recall option. Fingers crossed this is just speculative journalism with no substance to it..! Also looks like Curtis Main is signing for Dundee.

Alan Nixon, football writer for critically acclaimed newspaper The Sun... 😅 has linked Motherwell, Dundee and St. Mirren with interest in bringing Curtis Main back to Scotland. If true, I would be in the "thanks, but no thanks" category, but given the paper he works for, I'm inclined to think this may be another instance of lazy journalism.