joewarkfanclub

I think when you have a situation where clubs in the English 5th tier can pay more money than our club for players we need to re-assess the model and ask whether trying to sign players from these leagues is of benefit to us. For every Louis Moult and Cedric Kipre that are unearthed, there are another half dozen who are nothing more than journeyman professionals who are doing nothing to improve the quality of our squad/league. The future for clubs our size has to be developing young local talent. Yes, we may lose many of them to english academys before they play a first team game, but it shouldnt stop us trying. Your Cadden, Turnbull, Campbell, Hastie, Cornelius' are the way ahead for us and the only chance we have to try and challenge and improve because there is no ceiling on the level that talent could pitentially reach. We do of course need a core of experienced players to support and guide them, but these should be handpicked, known quantities rather than just the "total punts" we seem to have favoured over the last few years. In my opinion, our next manager has to fulfill those criteria if we are to halt the current malaise.

These things are not unique to Motherwell. Our support isnt any better or worse than any other in that respect. That being the case our best player and Captain would have been better to keep his counsel on that one. The fact that he is our best player and had a blinder yesterday will allow it to be washed over and forgotten quickly. The relationship between fans, players and manager is a 2 way street. You reap the benefits when things are going well, but you need to be ready for when they are not. Robbo got both sudes of that coin and Im pretty sure he would have told Alexander exactly that.

Lamie was great up until his red card. SOD looked better than I have seen him in claret & amber. But there can be only one today. 2 absolute worldys from Kelly and a host of other very good saves, won us the match, no doubt.

Be interested to see who is interested in the job before we make a decision, however, I wouldnt rule Hammell out immediately. Today is only one game and you cant judge anyone on that, but he has a lot things going for him. He knows the club, he knows the players. He will he aware of our deficiences and what needs fixed. He knows our academy talent and has a vested interest in trying to develop it for the benefit of the club. He is also a club legend who will get more patience to get things right than anyone else is likely to be afforded. Whether he has the man management skills and the tactical acumen to succeed remains to be seen, but for most of our appointments Id suggest that is always a bit of a punt. It might feel like a lazy appointment. But I wouldnt be distraught by it.

Great 3 points today. Wasnt the best performance, but considering where we have been and everything thats happened in the last week, its a great feeling to get the win and start the league season on a positive, especially considering we havent won our first league game since 2016! Not sure we can read too much into Hammells influence on the team given he only had 24 hours to work with them. But I did feel that some of the players looked like they had a bit of weight off their shoulders. He definitely made a statement by getting some young players on the bench and giving young Spiers a start so maybe a sign that he is showing the direction he feels the club should be headed. Like others, I thought Lamie was having a great game right up until his red card. I will need to see it again on tv as it was a long way from where we were, but initial reaction was that he couldnt have any complaints. KVV continues to frustrate. I get that the service to him isnt great but he doesnt work hard enough for me out of possession. He is a bit like a spoiled child throwing his arms around every time he doesnt get the ball where he wants it. The guy is a senior pro. He should be trying to improve those around him, not crying about how bad their service to him is. Kelly, as others have already said was absolutely outstanding. 2 match winning saves (one in each half) and several others that were top drawer. Thought it was quite noticeable how much the players looked to give appreciation to the fans today. Clearly aware of how bad things have been and how much reparation was required. Also reinforced.by Hammy post match. Just a small step today, but an important one. Hopefully the worst is behjnd us and we can look onwards and upwards for the rest of the season.

Bringing Robinson back would be a ridiculous decision. The board have bought themselves some time getting rid of Alexander, but they would heap all that pressure straight back onto themselves with such a lazy decision. Weneed a fresh figure that can unite the support and get the best out of the players that we have.

Ferguson has no track record other than his interim manager spells at Everton. He has left Everton however, to pursue a career as a no.1.

It still doesnt hurt to ask again.

I wouldnt be averse to Craigan and McFadden. Whether they would take it or not is another matter. Both know the club inside out and have its best interests in their heart. Both speak intelligently about the game in their tv roles and are very measured in their approach. Craigan was very successful coaching our U21s and has a great understanding of what it takes to develop that side of the business, which personally I feel is the future for a club like ours. I get way more pleasure in seing the likes of Turnbull, Campbell, Hastie, Cadden, Cornelius, Maguire etc develop and come into our first team than the majority of journeyman professiknals we have seen come through our revolving door in recent years. We just cant compete financially for decent established professionals, so rearing as many of our own as we can just makes sense.

Really glad this has been done quickly. Its bad enough that we went out of Europe without laying a glove on a very average team, but to let it fester into the start of the league season would have done us no good. Not sure who will take the team Sunday, but at least the toxicity has been taken out of the fixture and ironically heaps the pressure back on St Mirren and Stephen Robinson. Sunday is pretty much a free shot now. Here is hoping the players can go out and express themselves

Being fan owned forces us to live within our means. Given our history and that of other clubs in Scottish Football who failed to do that is no bad thing. The Well Society is just our lender of last resort because the banks will no longer give us money and we dont have a rich benefactor to borrow from. The idea that rich benefactors spend their money on a football club with no expectation of a return or at the very least (if they are genuine fans) getting their money back is for the birds. Rich people dont get rich by giving their money away. The fact that both Kilmarnock and St Mirren are both going down that route speaks volumes (albeit Kilmarnock currently have Billy Bowie as their Les Hutchison). These are the clubs we need to compete with to stay in the SPL. That starts Sunday.

I thought that moment was going to be last night and it never came, so I have absolutely no confidence for Sunday. Im going to the game but only because my nephew has come all the way from Leeds for the first game of a new season, and I cant let him down. However, I have no expectation whatsoever. Having read you posts on here today and I presume its you on FB also, I know you are also at the end of your tether with the manager. Do you not think a damaging defeat on Sunday will force the issue? How do you see next Saturday playing out. Im generally with you and Yorkyred when it comes to patience and realism about where we are as a club, but this is a fairly alarming low.

I was the same until last night. But such was the scale of our failure and the depth of the anger felt at the nature of it, I think the scales have tipped the balance. Sunday is a must win, or at least a must not lose and see some sort of reaction / performance, otherwise the first home game will be a hate fest, particualrly given the level of opposition (direct competitors) and the personal connection between our club and theirs. That shouldnt matter as 3 points are 3 points, but we Ll know football doesnt work like that.

Not for me. Outclassed is when the other team have all the ball and rip you a new one are better than you in every department and there is nothing you can do about it. Im not saying Sligo werent organised, worked hard and didnt deserve to win both games and the tie overall. Im just saying they didnt even have to be that good to achieve it. Thats an even more damning indictment on our performance.

As one of the more respected posters on here, Im a bit disappointed with a lot of the content of your post. Sure there are some fans who have irrational expectations and sure there are fans who have never liked Alexander, but thats not where we are at here. Last Thursday and last night we have a situation where the vast majority of fans have turned on the manager. That didnt happen overnight, it was a slow war of attrition as gruelling as watching Alexanders brand of football for 18 months. I normally base things on where my thoughts are. Im a pretty loyal guy and one of the last to turn on any manager. So when it gets to the stage that Im at the end of my tether things are pretty bad. I fully supported Alexanders appointment, I thought it was brave out of the box thinking keeping us away from the usual "jobs for the boys" merrygoround that is Scottish Football. I havent been a big fan of his brand of football, but in the first 12 months I saw teamwork, organisation, togetherness and spirit that made us the highest points accumulating team in the top flight behind the big two. In the last 7 months, that has all gone. The boo boys will always be there. Every club has them. But when you lose the majority of the support, its because something is seriously wrong and it rarely ends well. I dont think most fans do disrespect the league of Ireland. I think most understand it has improved significantly, whilst ours has, in the main, regressed. But no one looking at that game last night can come away thinking Sligo are world beaters. You can talk about standards slipping and you would be correct. You can talk about them being half way through their season and yes, that does make a difference. But you know what, Alexander knew all of those things before we broke up for the summer. He knew the dates of the games and he picked the pre season programme and schedule. Despite our dwindling resources we still have a bigger budget than Sligo, we still have better facilities and infrastructure. One of our outfield players WAS a stand out in the League of Ireland, thats why we signed him, but because we wont play to a system that suits our players, he was invisible last night. So Im sorry, any failure to be ready for these games falls on Alexander, and its just one failure too many for me. He has lost the support, he looks like he has lost the players and shows no sign of accepting this and doing anything about it. Thats what will get him the sack.

Hapless and deservedly dumped, no doubt, but outclassed? Thats just nonsesne. As I posted elsewhere, Sligo were organised, hard working, defended well and waited for our mistakes which duly came. They didnt outclass us. If they had it wouldnhave been 5 or 6 on that perdormance.

Absolutely. No hunger, no desire, no hurt or anger at last weeks defeat. Whether thats feeding off the managers comments and attitude, whether they simply dont have it in them, or whether they have downed tools on him, I dont know. But as professional footballers you would think their own pride would have stirred something in them. Simply unacceptable.......

I did look for the no one button, but as it no longer exists I voted for Goss on the basis that 2 of his crosses found their intended target. How do we tempt Craigan out of the commentary box and into the managers office?

Its hard to know where to start with a performance like that. With the greatest respect, Sligo arent even that good a team. All they had to do was be organised, work hard and wait for our mistakes. The sad thing is, that was more than enough and they thoroughly deserved to progress to the next round. We have been none of those things since Christmas and it cant all just be down to losing Tony Watt. When I saw Tierney in the team I thought that maybe GA was gonna change things up a bit, but alas no. Just more round pegs in square holes. No surprise really when the same level of performance was served up. The substitutions equally as mistifying. Given how little of the ball Sligo were having, why not take a defender of and put an extra midfielder or forward on? Bringing Shields on for Spittal made absolutely no sense, and his triple substitution? The only positive out of that was that Goss provided a little better quality on the cross ball, but by then it was too late. Its taken me a while, but I dont think GA has any intentiion of changing his tactics/philosophy, so reluctantly, I cant support him any further. I dont think he will be sacked before Sunday. But he should, and I dont think he can survive a defeat in Paisley, with a home game the following week.

Well, its taken a while, but he finally got me there. Im usually the last to turn when it comes to sacking a manager as I dont believe that chopping and changing all the time gives you the stable platform you require to build a successful club. But that tonight was the final straw for me. Last season was a brutal watch, especially the 2nd half from December on, but I honestly felt that he would be shrewd enough to identify the issues and do something about it, both in the transfer market and tactically. All it would have taken for me to remain on board would have been evidence that lessons had been learned and a plan for improvement was in place. However, last week and tonight has blown all of that out of the water. He persists with 4-3-3 despite it clearly not being effective with the players we have, and his substitutions are just mind boggling. He is the very personification of madness, doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results! I could be wrong, and I know our squad isnt the greatest we have ever seen, but I honestly dont think they are as bad as they currently look. It looks like none of them believe in what they are being asked to do and it is seriously effecting their confidence. Most of them look as if they are just going through the motions. I dont expect him to be sacked, not immediately anyway, but it just feels like a matter of time. If he loses to Robbos Motherwell Rejects on Sunday, the pressure on the board will be immense. I just dont see how he survives this. When it comes, it will feel like a relief......

United signed Stephen Fletcher. I know he is coming to the end of his career, but he is still a very good player. I could see him and Watt forming a very good partnership. Certainly much better than we have at the moment. They had the edge on is last season in overall league standing and I cant see that changing unless we do some late business that bridges the gap. Not impossible, but unlikely.

My predictions...... 1. Celtic 2. Rangers 3. Aberdeen 4. Hearts 5. Dundee United 6. Kilmarnock 7. Motherwell 8. Hibs 9. Ross County 10. Livingston 11. St Mirren 12. St Johnstone Based only on the early league cup games and our first outing, I think the top 5 are a stick on. Hibs should be the other top 6 club as they have the resources but Im not sure there owner hasnt had another brainfart in his choice of manager. The rest of the teams are much of a muchness for me and it will come down to who can grind out the most points over the season.

Not a lot as they rarely get the chance!

KVV is certainly the best striker at the club and one of the few players we have with real technical ability. Its also true that he has been played without being fully fit too often than is good for him / the team. But I still find him a frustrating figure to watch. A lot of the time he appears disinterested and he is very greedy when it comes to his use of the ball. I know all strikers are, but he almost never passes to a team mate when he is anywhere near the box regardless of whether that team mate is in a much better position. I guess thats why he is with us and not Ajax! Glad he has extended. But it would be good to have someone who could genuinely challenge him for a first team start. That way we might get a bit more consistency out of him.

I actually thought the brand of football had changed towards the end of last season and on Thursday, in that, we played the ball on the deck a lot more. We were just so painfully slow at moving the ball around, it was easy for Sligo to retain their shape and defend. When anyone tried to zip a pass quickly (Morris/Spittall/Slattery) the recipients first touch let them down badly. Maybe thats why GA was reverting to hoofball in the first place? I agree with the refresh thing. Continuity of squad and selection is the hallmark of most successful teams. We have had precious little of either in recent years.