star sail

I thought Mark McGhee was an exciting appointment first time round. A manager who had success in England and who was a fairly big name at the time. His first six months were fairly sensational. I don’t think that can happen these days. The gulf in pay is so vast between the bigger names in England and the incentives that we could offer that I just could not see a big name manager coming to us to either resurrect a career or see out there days for the love of the game. Somebody mentioned Neil Warnock somewhat jokingly before. That is the kind of name that would be exciting but it would never happen. I am not sure that Mark McGhee in his post Wolves days and Neil Warnock now equate but it does seem as if the days of big name managers have passed for teams like us.

Fair enough. I am sure that you don’t have a prejudice against mental health issues and you have said that you have no problem with his Celtic connection. It is a bold statement to make to write to the club in protest about a potential manager so I think that more than anything was what maybe caused some misunderstanding. I remembered Leeann Dempster saying that she very much regretted the circumstances surrounding his leaving Hibs. I got the feeling that it was an admission that it was not all Lennon’s fault but I know little to nothing about it. Bolton were a shambles of a club financially and were very poorly run so again I am not sure if it a true reflection of his management abilities. He may not even be in the running so let’s not waste any more of a sunny Scottish afternoon arguing about it.

Well said.

You have mentioned nothing of a very successful first spell. I think as a person he has his demons. He has talked about battles with depression and he did indeed have a hard time after his second spell at Celtic. The board of Motherwell would have to decide which version of Neil Lennon we would be getting. On form and in a good mental frame of mind he would be a coup for our club. I suppose there is always the possibility of a man that could self implode but this is life. I don’t doubt that there would be an element of risk attached. All the names mentioned have risk attached for different reasons. If we were to accept that Neil Lennon was the biggest risk, he may also produce the biggest reward. I must be as bigoted as the next man however because the mere suggestion of a Barry Ferguson/ Bob Malcolm dream team made me want to be sick! For what it is worth I am tending towards Simo Valakari. A young manager with a love for the club that has proved himself in Finland. That he has no association with Rangers or Celtic also does have it’s merits. With Neil Lennon it would never be boring good or bad. Not long before we will know.

What are your objections? I understand that he can be an abrasive character but if he had the skill set to turn the team around and bring a bit of excitement football back to Firpark, would that not be a good thing? My worry in these situations is that an ex Celtic man would be less palatable to small sections of our support than say a Terry Butcher ( a man that was also fairly abrasive in his time) or a Stuart McCall. I always defend the club to Celtic fans in particular who make the claim that we are a mini Rangers. Our support is generally mixed and it is a source of pride to me that we don’t carry the religious baggage of either of the OF teams. Appointing a polarising character like Lennon would underline all the more that we are a club that is not shackled by religious and political prejudice. It is not a reason to appoint him but I don’t think his football history should be a reason not to.

Lennon would be a great option for the club. I don’t think it is possible to successfully manage players like Scott Brown if you are a dud. If Craigan rates him and thinks he would be a coup for the club, I would go with that endorsement. I have not heard Craigan speak so positively about a manager since Jim Gannon. Lennon gave Celtic some great European nights against bigger teams with better resources, eg Barcelona so he can motivate a team when they are underdogs.

I have no axe to grind here. I like O’ Donnell as a player and he seems like a decent guy. I was very proud of his achievements in the Euro’s and would love to see him regain his form. I am not protecting GA either. The Sligo result is one of the poorest in the clubs history and he had to go. I would say though that it is splitting hairs to argue that the issue is not that he was dropped to the bench but that he was not reinstated. Mugabi’s confidence was clearly affected by the Hibs sending off. Up until that point I don’t think anybody would have argued with Mugabi’s inclusion. If he continued to show well in training is it not possible that GA stuck with him so as not too shatter his confidence completely? Maybe, maybe not. The point is that we have no idea what goes on behind the scenes. Shoehorning conclusions into a situation because it suits a particular rhetoric is all well and good but it does not make it fact. The other point I was making is that as a group Motherwell fans should be the very last people to criticise when it comes to poor treatment and a lack of backing for Stephen O Donnell.

O’Donnell is a really strange one with our own support and also the Scotland support in general. I had a conversation with a Celtic fan during the Euros where he stated that SOD should be nowhere near the Scotland Team and that Patterson should be playing. When I asked him if he had seen Patterson play he answered no. That was a Celtic fan backing a Rangers player he had never seen play. Stranger still, there were Motherwell fans arguing the same thing. At a time when we should have been proud to see a Motherwell player in a Scotland shirt, we seemed determined as a support to undermine our Captain. Having not backed him in a Scotland shirt and having been almost vitriolic in their criticism of his performances in a Well shirt it is all the stranger that SOD being dropped from the starting 11 is now used as proof positive of Graham Alexander’s poor man management skills. If SOD has suffered a crisis of confidence that has impacted his form in recent months there is a very obvious reason for it that could have nothing to do with Graham Alexander. The beauty of being a football fan is that we get to absolve ourselves of all responsibility, no matter how badly we behave at times, whilst pointing the finger at anybody and everybody we whimsically wish to blame instead.

I don’t know if Hammell is the man for the job or not but what today has shown me is the short term, reactionary thinking that is all too prevalent in football. Last week Hammell was the man for the job ( with some) because we won. This week he is not because we lost. What if Collum had awarded one or both of the penalties yesterday and Motherwell had won the game? Would Hammell get the job on the basis of six points from two games despite the fact that it is fine margins ( a decision from a referee etc) that often win and lose these games? The club will know the qualities and abilities of Stevie Hammell and that will not have changed regardless of the results both this week and last. My suspicion is that the club don’t see him as being ready just yet. If they did they would have given him the job before the St Mirren game. I think they will consider him as an able assistant very much like Lasley. In many ways the results of the last two games are irrelevant. As Spit it Out has just said above Malky MacKay is the best we could hope for. I can’t see that happening sadly.

Agreed. I am sure everybody would wish him the very best but it would be a horrible thing to watch the support turn on him if results went against him. If football clubs were really serious about youth development his current role is one that should be highly paid and highly valued. Maybe not as highly paid as first team manager because of the responsibility involved but it should be a prestigious position held by a first rate coach. I think the point I am making is that if this is not the time for him to take the top job he should be nurtured and rewarded for his current role and backed all the more to make youth development front and centre of the clubs philosophy.

A Herald article this morning with Paul Lambert with a couple of quotes from him. Speaks very highly of the club and definitely implies that he would be open to an offer. I think he would be a great option if we could afford him.

I think Van Der Gaag was the one that got away when we appointed Baraclough. He was the fans favourite at the time and his career path since suggests he is a highly regarded coach. Sadly that ship has sailed. I think the fact that potential candidates are former players does have some importance. For one thing they know the club so will have realistic expectations of what to expect. Secondly they will have connections within the club that may be beneficial. I have always been a big fan of Paul Lambert. He was a great player and captain. Hard working, tough with vast amounts of experience. I think he would be a great appointment. My memory however is that he left Motherwell under a bit of a cloud? Did he not fall out with Tommy McLean over contract negotiations? Valakari is a manager with good experience who has proved he can be successful at the clubs he has been with. Again I would be happy with this. My reservation is that Harri Kampman struggled to make the step from managing in Finnish football. Would history repeat itself in that regard? Anybody thinking that these names are not worthy of our great club need to consider that we lost comfortably to an Irish side last week and are far from a football superpower. Malky Mackay would be my first choice however even with the baggage that comes with him. I can’t see him moving from RC to us however unless it is was for purely geographical reasons.

I think the people at the club have worked very hard to make Motherwell a good club to work for and I don’t think that reputation will be tarnished. Alexander himself said how much he enjoyed working with the people at the club. There will be many clubs in both Scotland and England that will be far less supportive to work for. Fans are the same at every club so that is a constant. A new manager should have the confidence in his ability to get the fans on side. Regarding Alexander himself. Once again he was the right man at the right time for our club. The primary aim for our board is to pick a man that will keep us in the top flight. I have said many times before that it is a minor miracle that we have maintained our top flight status for so long. The board of MFC deserve huge credit for this. I scratch my head when I read the negativity towards Alan Burrows. He does a great job in very difficult circumstances. David I know from reading the threads that you are a defender of the club and board so quoting you here is not to counter your opinions. Alexanders stats are impressive. He was an honest man doing an honest job and deserves our thanks. He was never going to produce fireworks. His time at Salford told us this. It will be interesting to see in a years time if we regret letting him go in the way Salford did. Ultimately though the Sligo result was really poor and he had to go. I do wonder however if he was the problem or if indeed Scottish Football is now so bad we should not be surprised by the result. Sadly I think the latter may be true. I remember a debate raging on here a few years back about not reading anything into pre season results. For me when a Full time professional team is struggling to beat the likes of Gateshead, even if it is pre-season, the warning bells should be ringing. Scottish Managers, pundits and players have been making excuses for over a decade now as to why we are so poor when we step out of Scotland. Sadly the facts don’t lie. All the best to GA. Hope he has a long a successful management career.

That Daily Record article has three or four spelling and grammatical mistakes. If they can’t even spellcheck the English, I doubt that they will have spent any time investigating the facts. Click bait. Beauty is, we all click so it works.

Malky MacKay would be the most experienced and most successful manager we could hope for but there would be major barriers to overcome to appoint him. Would he fit the club ethos given his history? I suspect compensation would be a major issue and is Motherwell a step up from RC these days? He would have the Craig Brown quality of steadying the ship and may actually be able to take the team forward. Would be a major risk from a PR perspective.

And yet you slaughtered Robinson for better results and performances? I have generally supported managers Gannon/ Baraclough/ Robinson but this guy has to go for no other reason than that he thinks we are the better team every time we lose. There is absolutely no excuses and no place to hide with this result.

This last page alone really shows how out of touch with reality some fans are about Motherwell true'place in the football food chain. It is a minor miracle that Motherwell finish 4th/5th in our league, end of story. It is a minor miracle that Motherwell have retained their top division status since the mid 80's. Baraclough took over a team that was heading for relegation when he took over in December and saved it from relegation, thumping one of the two biggest teams in the country 6-1. A superb achievement!! Ask Hibs fans, ask Aberdeen fans, ask Dundee Utd fans, ask Hearts fans what it really feels like to underachieve. Alexander has saved us from relegation in his first season, attained a top six finish (with European football) in his second. He has earned our backing. The notion that Motherwell have historically been a free flowing attractive football team untill this season is complete make believe. What is not make believe is that for a small club, we have massively over achieved spanning the last 4 decades including this season. Cause for celebration and congratulations to every single board member, manager, player that has contributed to what should be a very proud history. Look at our European qualification record since the turn of the century. Something that many Scottish football fans can only dream of. We really need to enjoy these times. We will not always be so successful.

What a difference a penalty and a clean sheet makes. A week ago there was talk of sacking the manager and now we are one victory away from what would be a very successful season. Fine margins indeed. Outwith the OF games it could be argued that we could have won every game we lost and vice versa. Yesterday was an example of this. I think the only thing that has really been missing this season is one stand out performance where we won at a canter playing the other team off the park. These types of performances help us forget about the many poor performances sandwiched in between. We just have not had that type of performance this season. I have the feeling that the Alexander reign is going to be a slow burner but ultimately a successful one. We just need one showcase performance this season and I would be very happy. Hearts on Wednesday would do nicely.

Bevis Mugabi is assist king of the season. Trick shots for both goals. Needing snookers and passes it off the bar for the second. High drama. High excitement. Poor quality. The SPFL in a nutshell. Springtime chasing Europe is a good place to be. Enjoy your Saturday evening all. We have to celebrate when the chances come around!!

That though is the whole problem. There is no consistency whatsoever. Look at the Mugabi and Roberts tackle. Same game, same ref, same tackle different outcome. No conspiracy theories just inconsistency. I have not seen the Celtic players tackle but different game, different ref different outcome. People pay their money to watch a cup tie of 11 v 11. If a ref is to make a decision in the first minute to change that he has to be confident that he has it right. The fact that he did not send of Roberts suggests to me that Collum was not as confident about the first decision. My own theory there is that he actually showed a moment of genuine compassion about the teams situation. Not right but certainly not the actions of a man out to get us. I am not really understanding the OF levels of paranoia comments either however. It is a legitimate debate and just because a few are very confident in there opinion that it is as a red, does no mean that anybody who disagrees with that is showing OF levels of paranoia. That is a strange conclusion to come to. Was Kenny Miller showing OF levels of paranoia. He thought the decision was harsh. I thought a yellow would have been enough but I can see why the red was given. It comes as part of a growing trend from a small minority to dismiss anything and anybody that actually tries to defend the club (I have quoted you Yorkyred but I don't mean to implicate you in this observation) the players and it's own fans. It is like a bias against the club. I thought that the role of a football fan was to be biased and blinkered in favour of your own club not against it. Is that not part of the fun of it? Within a minute of the sending off on Sunday there was a few tripping over themselves to blame Graham Alexander. He was standing in the dugout. It was 50 seconds into the game. How does that work? It is almost like the red card provides a platform to justify deep seated frustrations and opinions about the club and its fans. Mugabi made an honest mistake and yet the clammer to vilify him started instantly. Could you imagine if it had been SOD, the player that was been slated by a minority of Well fans last summer in the Euros for keeping Nathan Patterson out of the Scotland team.? Ultimately it was a red card and the vast majority of Well fans would agree that the ref made the decision as he saw it at the time for good and honest reasons. He was influenced by the reaction of the Hibs players and he was influenced by the fact that Doig was upended because of the weight difference between the two players. He is bound to be influenced by those factors because he is human. In his quiet moments after the game he may feel he got it right, he may feel he got it wrong. As fans we should have the opportunity to discuss it without being brow beaten one way or the other.

I don't think there should be a free for all at any stage. A dangerous tackle should be treated the same from minute 0 to 90. The timing yesterday just highlights how important it is that the decision is the right one. The game was over for 8000 fans after the first minute. The ref has to make a split second decision. It is a big big call and the referee's need help to make them. We need VAR. I would rather sit for 2 mins so we can get the right decision rather than sit through 89 mins of a game that is effectively over. I also think our refs should have mics. Transparency is really important and it is something that Scottish football in particular could do with. I have never understood why refs would not welcome that transparency. If they can explain an on field decision at the time I think it would help with trust in our game. I don't think this decision was as clear cut as you suggest Busta. I think a yellow card may have been enough but I can see why the red was given. I wonder if it is just a matter of time before slide tackles of any sort are outlawed in the game.

I don't think I did say it was ridiculous. I just asked what the rule was. Also I gave three possible check points, not just the one you quote. The rule you have quoted basically means that it comes down to interpretation of what constitutes excessive force. In rugby there is a check list of what constitutes a high tackle. You hear the refs talk through the checklist on the mics. It appears there is no checklist in this case so your opinion against mine as towhat constitutes excessive force. Nothing ridiculous about it.

I would be interested to know from people that know the rules better than me , what makes Mugabi's challenge a red? I have looked at it in slow motion and actually Mugabi reaches the ball first. His trailing foot is on the ground so he does not have both feet off the ground and he makes contact with the centre of the ball in a one footed challenge. If the red card is given for forward momentum thereafter then the laws of physics are going to have to be re-written. Jim Duffy said it ticked every box for a red card. I would like to know what those boxes are? Are we saying that he was not entitled to go for that ball at all or that by going to ground it becomes a red?

I thought the players put in an excellent display today. It is very harsh to criticise Mugabi. It is a split second decision, fired up with adrenalin in the first moments of the game. No malice, no intent to injure. It was fractions away from being a great tackle that could have set the tone of the game in a very different manner. He got it wrong ultimately and paid a very heavy price. The talk about sacking the manager is absolutely crazy. The defeatist attitude is staggering at times. All the talk is about us finishing 10th and yet we could equally finish 4th. I saw nothing in Hibs today to suggest thatthey are any better than us. Hopefully the pain of today galvinises the team to produce a strong end to the season.

I would rather have the honesty of Gordon/ Miller than the lies and deceipt of Young/Keevins any day of the week. It is the hidden loyalties and that causes many of the problems in Scottish football. The OF still get the lions share of coverage on the BBC just the same. Somebody mentioned the Craig Reid game above. I remember driving to Aberdeen that day with my Dad. The talk all the way up on Sportsound ( I think coverage started at 2pm)was about a potential Rangers take over. We got out the car at ten to three and there had been no build up or team news for our game. That was back in the Jim Traynor days admittedly (remember the Airdrie man!!!).