El Grew

Same old same old.

In 4-4-2 Kelly Mugabi Johanson Lamie O’Donnell Slattery Cornelius Goss Efford Van Veen Tierney

Sad news indeed. Along with John “Goldie” Goldthorp, Kirkie was one of my favourite forwards back in the 1970s. Thoughts and prayers for his family. RIP Kirkie.

Fair play to Alexander and the players yesterday. The game had all the ingredients for another hapless display and probable defeat but for once that script went into the bin. We really played quite well and I think having 3 recognised midfielders who can pass the ball made a huge difference - no howitzer deliveries for the front 3 to deal with. Sure we lost a poor opening goal but the important fact is the players didn’t chuck it. They simply reset and started again and scored 2 goals in a minute to turn the game on its head. The 2nd St. Mirren goal was the result of a misjudgment by Liam Kelly but you can’t pillory him for that as he has kept us in a lot of matches this season with some fantastic goalkeeping displays. But yet again, the players reset themselves and went again and deservedly went in front through young Cornelius. I think St Mirren dominated most of the 2nd half but without causing too many difficulties for us. Van Veen’s lead up play for our 4th goal was fantastic and it was great to see somebody beat players and drive into the heart of their defence causing mayhem in that manner. I thought the side had a balanced look about it yesterday that has been absent for a while. Each of the players seemed to understand their individual role and their role in the collective unit. I think this was down to the midfield 3 where Cornelius being there seemed to give Goss and Slattery the confidence to look forward and link with the front 3 each of whom I thought were very good. Efford’s running, pace and persistence was a constant problem for the St. Mirren back line and they were never able to contain him. Shields too with his willingness to make runs into the inside-right and inside-left channels caused problems for the St Mirren defence who couldn’t seem to work out how to play him. And Van Veen was at times simply unplayable and when he’s in this kind of mood he is a fantastic attacking spearhead. The weaknesses were mainly in defence but then that maybe that’s the first time these 4 have played together in these positions so I’m not going to slaughter them. Same starting 11 next week please.

As I’ve said on here previously, young Dean Cornelius is one of the best midfield prospects we’ve had at FP since Phil O’Donnell. A real old fashioned box to box wing-half. Took his goal so calmly. I just hope he’s on a long-term deal.

Jim Goodwin wants Charles Dunne at Aberdeen?! Surely that must be an April Fools joke!

Say what you like about Stephen O’Donnell but since he arrived at FP he’s been a model professional. He doesn’t moan or bad mouth the club or manager if he gets dropped and always puts 100% in when called on to play. Refreshing in this day and age.

I see Dunfermline beat Partick 4-1 tonight with 3 of our ex-players in their line-up - Stephen Lawless, Liam Polworth & Don Thomas.

I did put a “health warning” on my post about the website in question. Anyway, prior to signing for us, Darragh O’Connor was at Leicester City where he was on £2,400 per week. For an English Premiership side that is chicken-feed.

I don’t know how they get their info or how accurate it is but this website carries details of players’ wages at a number of SPFL clubs including ours. https://salarysport.com/football/scottish-premiership/motherwell/ Our highest earner is reported as being Liam Kelly with £4K per week and our total wage bill as £39,910 per week.

As Hamlet said “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”. I fear bad times may lie ahead similar to those which occurred in 2006/07 under Malpas. Having only won 1 of our previous 10 games, we got humped 4-1 away by bottom of the table Dunfermline. The following week we had St. Mirren at home and contrived to toss away a 2-goal lead to lose 3-2. Fortunately, ICT beat Dunfermline to send them down. But it was a close run thing.

You beat me to that.

That’s it in a fucking nutshell. The key phrase is “the manager is responsible”. So let’s mark his report card in the areas you identify. Recruitment: Fail. Brought players that are no better than what he had and brought players on loan and hasn’t played them. Tactics: Fail. Has none. No midfield. Defenders pelting passes forward from deep like cruise missiles. Team Selection: Fail. Doesn’t know his best 11 and as a result there’s no consistency in selection leading to inconsistency of performance and poor results. Shape: Fail. Obsessed with 4-3-3 which is failing miserably - seems determined to stick to this like a lemming going over a cliff. Since beating Livingston 2-1 at FP on Boxing Day we’ve played 11 league games and only got 5 points (5 home: 3 draws; 2 defeats and 6 away: 2 draws; 4 defeats). On that form we’d be bottom of the league as Dundee in the same period got 7 points. We are quite clearly in relegation form.

Club Press Release 10th Jan 2022 Graham Alexander has signed a deal that will keep him at Fir Park until at least 2025. “I’m delighted to sign a new contract here at Motherwell and continue the progress we have all made in the last 12 months. Chris and I have received nothing but great support from everyone connected with the club, which has certainly helped us concentrate on our work. I have a brilliant relationship with the people I work with every day and the environment that we’re allowed to develop here to produce results is particularly rewarding. I also want to thank the chairman and the board for showing the faith in us from day one to be a success in this role. We know we have much more to achieve here. We will strive to work as hard as ever to serve Motherwell in the best way.” Appointed on 7 January 2021 he has presided over transformation of the playing squad. The team’s points tally of 59 in the 2021 calendar year was the third-highest in the top flight, with the club also currently occupying 4th spot. Statistically he ranks near the top of the modern-day Motherwell bosses with a win percentage of 47.8% and a league points per game record of 1.55. He is also the first manager outside of Celtic and Rangers to win 3 Premiership Manager of the Month awards in a calendar year, with only Neil Lennon (4), Steven Gerrard, Alex McLeish, Brendan Rodgers and Gordon Strachan (3) for company. Chairman Jim McMahon said “We have been absolutely delighted with Graham’s contribution since joining the club 12 months ago and we are excited about what he is trying to build with us. He is talented, hard-working, dedicated and fully buys into the multifaceted role at Motherwell. The board will continue to back him to help us achieve our goals both on and off the pitch.” I for one would be glad to be rid of him but given this mutual love-in was only about 3 months ago it’s extremely unlikely we’ll be getting shot of him any time soon!

I felt my eyes watering when I read this!

Aye and not just at football manager level!

It won’t be the first time Hibs have f*cked up with their managerial selection. Prior to being made Hibs manager Sean Maloney had zero experience of being a club manager. Yes, he was assistant coach to Roberto Martinez but there’s a world of difference from being an assistant coach to becoming the manager outright, as we witnessed when Malpas succeeded Butcher.

We’ve got a young 18 year old out on loan at QoS at present - Max Johnston. He’s been getting really good reviews recently, so much so that both Sheffield Utd and Luton Town have both had him watched regularly this season. Also, we signed 22 year old Daragh O’Connor in July 2021 and loaned him out to QoS in January. Wtf is the point of our bringing in these young players then not giving them game time?

Can we afford not to sack him? No matter how much it may cost to buy him out of his contract, it could be the most economic option for the club because the financial cost of relegation either this season or next would mean a massive loss of revenue.

It was absolutely brutal. We don't have great players but Alexander’s non-footballing tactics aren't doing them any favours. He needs to be shown the door and pretty quick. Tonight preferably. We cannot possibly countenance allowing him to take us into another season.

In 4-4-2 formation: Kelly O’Donnell, Sondre, Lamie, McGinley Woolery, Cornelius, Shaw, Efford Tierney, Van Veen Subs Fox, Mugabi, Carroll, Ojala, O’Hara, Donnelly, Slattery, Roberts, Shields.

Our all-time league record away to St. Johnstone reads: P74 ; W25; L29; D20; F110; A117 Our last win in Perth was 1-0 in September 2019.

Whether you think this league season has been good or bad will all depend on your viewpoint. Do you believe that our first priority should always be to ensure that we retain our top league status and that if we do so even by finishing 10th this is acceptable? Or do you believe that our first priority should be to aim for a European place by finishing 3rd/4th but be prepared to accept a top 6 spot at worst? If you believe that it should be the latter, then the club would probably need a significant financial injection to to afford better quality players than we have now and pay bigger salaries to retain them. However, remember this was tried before (by us and a number of other clubs) and it ended in tears and administration.

Whilst I appreciate your opinion, I would say that the time when a foul is committed is irrelevant, whether it be in the first minute or the last and it must be adjudicated solely on its merits as a foul whether minor or otherwise. Further, if VAR had been available yesterday and it confirmed the referee’s red card decision, we’d still have had to sit through 89 minutes of a game that was effectively over. VAR, as has been well demonstrated in the English Premiership, is far from being a panacea to help football make “the right calls”. Consider how many pundits and fans (from both clubs including many on this forum) forensically analysed the same TV replays and freeze-frames of Bevis Mugabi’s tackle yesterday. Now consider that having done so, opinions are still divided between those who think it warranted a red card and those who think it should’ve been a yellow. My point is, that referees only have a split second in real time to make a decision based on what they’ve seen and that even with VAR, there’s still room for doubt or debate as to the “final” decision. For my own part, when I saw the tackle in real time, admittedly from much further away than the referee, I thought it looked a bad one and risked a red card. Having reviewed it on TV, and, whilst I’m absolutely certain there was no malice on Bevis Mugabi’s part, I’m sorry to say that I still believe that it warranted a red card. What pissed me off yesterday, was seeing a number of Hibs players running at the referee waving their arms and demanding he send Mugabi and then later, Roberts off. This is despicable and has no place in football and I hope the referee has the guts to make comment in his match report on the conduct of the Hibs players involved at these incidents and that the SFA take appropriate action towards those players and send a message that this kind of conduct won’t be tolerated. If he fails to do so then Motherwell should raise the issue with the SFA direct.

Our chances of winning were in doubt with the manager’s team selection and went right out the window when Mugabi was sent off. We gave away 2 really cheap goals. At the 1st, McGinley and Ojala both culpable. McGinley was too easily beaten to let the Hibs winger get the cross in and Ojala allowed the Hibs striker to get in front of him on the near post. At the 2nd, one long ball over the top took out both of our centre-backs. At 1 goal down it was an uphill task but at 2 it became a lost cause. Credit to the guys for coming out in tbe 2nd half and making the game competitive and with a wee bit of luck might even have got back level. With 4 at the back I thought we seemed better balanced. Solhelm looked more comfortable with Lamie beside him and O’Donnell gave us width on the right. Efford, Van Veen and Roberts worked their socks off up front and gave the Hibs back line plenty of scares. However, my man of the match was young Dean Cornelius, who I thought was outstanding and our best player by a mile. The failures for me were McGinley, Ojala and Donnelly. Where we go from here is anybody’s guess but the manager must surely be under scrutiny by the board.