Welldaft Mk1

Has anyone mentioned Billy McKinlay?? Might be worth a go.....

No mention of Billy McKinlay ?

Thanks for all the good memories Stuart and there were a good few. I hope he gets his career back on track as soon as possible. Him resigning has probably saved the club £50k + so good on him for doing the decent thing. NO to Leitch. Need a new man with fresh views to come in and turn thjngs around. Sadly 10th is still the target for this season.

McCall will be given time to turn it around and he deserves it after the last 3 seasons. That said there has to come a time (and soon) for the results to come along and for us to show that we will not finish in the bottom 2 positions. Problem is our next 3 games are against 3 of the top 4 teams in the league. Then we play St Mirren away, Partick and Ross C at home in December. Also a Scottish Cup tie in there also. So I think he will get to mid December, possibly Xmas and then the Board will be forced to make a decision. You may also have to pay off the contract of Kenny Black as well as McCall... I hope he can turn things around, but the evidence is sadly lacking and continuing to persevere with Ramsden, Sutton and Lasley week after week, despite continuous poor performances suggests the end is nigh.

This line up - but I would put O'Brien in for McManus. Big Mick has struggled big time this season and his defending for the 1st goal at Aberdeen was abject in keeping with his general form this season. That said Ramsden has not been much better. Maybe Reid back to right back and Carswell into the side. The team above would stave off relegation imho, but we need to persevere with it and not chop and change very week.

Agreed. Both Sutton and McManus need a spell on the bench. Possibly Lasley as well, but of the 3 I would be more inclined to stick with the Captain. Kerr in for McManus to play alongside O'Brien. I think McCall needs to select this side and stick with it for a few games instead of constantly changing things around. This is a huge game as St Johnston have almost been as poor as us this season.

We seem to lurch from one mini crisis to another. We need to see evidence today that the players are prepared to give their all to turn the corner. It is early in the season yet, but we badly need a win and a promising perfromance. I hope I am wrong, but I am not all that confident of either...

I think the same and I would have to see the 1st goal again, but if he is guilty AGAIN of ambling back and it has cost us yet another goal :dash2: the opening one at that Even I will have had enough. He did it v Stjarnan away and effectively ended our european journey We cannot afford luxury players in a dogfight.

For years now we have .......wait fir it....punched above our weight. Well this season so far we are punching well below it. I would imagine we have a bigger playing budget than all teams bar Aberdeen, Celtic, United and possibly one other. Something is clearly not working. We will be playng in the bottom 6 this season and we will probably be in a relegation fight. Not sure we would survive relegation

We need battlers in the team and I am not sure we have that many. Hope I am proved wrong in the next 30 minutes.

Where have I read that before.......

I have pretty much been a happy clappy for a few years now. Hardly surprising given the results and league placings. Without doubt McCall has overachieved and there have been some absolutely guff comments and unwarranted criticisms from the usual suspects. Hell even finishing 2 nd last year had some p1sh spouted about our performances and McCall running of the team. HOWEVER........... That was truly rancid today. The players and Manager should be ashamed. What the f*ck to they do all week. Someone said the team train for 2-3 hours a day for 4 days a week. WTF.... they should be on triple training sessions. Enough is enough. Some players obviously could not give a toss. Ramsden 1st 4 touches were to pass straight to an opposing player. as for the 1st 2 goals. ZFA - where to start. I actually liked him, but have totally changed my mind. He was appalling and his 1st touch was gruesome. Do not want McCall to go but am seriously running out of patience. The squad is better than they are showing. Still believe that but also starting to Q if I am deluding myself.

Seems we have a disliking for plastic pitches. 4 games and 4 losses since the Albion debacle. Was always going to be close tonight. Thankfully I am in Portugal, but when you see we hit the bar and post in the same move you get that feeling. When it went to penalties I also got that feeling. If there is a way to lose we will find it even if they are a lottery. We could have done with a cup run but we seem jinxed since finishing 2nd Here is hoping the players are up for revenge come Saturday.

Went along last night as it is a mere 5 mins away from home. Great wee stadium and excellent facilities. Game took a bit of time to get going. Hibs had more of the possession and Motherwell carried more of a threat. 3-1 probably flattered us a bit but the 2nd goal from Mackin was a belter and every bid as good as Vigurs at the weekend. The goal we gave away came from a very poor pass back - which had happened already a few times, but this time we were punished. Leitch and Thomas showed well in stages. Our goalie was very competent and dealt with with crosses coming into the box. All in all a good night given Hibs had more players with 1st team experience than our side.

A draw or a narrow win for Motherwell is my prediction. WHEN WE LEAST EXPECT IT!!

He could probably earn 2-3 times his wages here even as a No 2 in the Premiership, possibly more. Even if it did not work out his stock would be quite high up here or elsewhere. My big concern however is that if he goes we take the low cost option and promote Kenny Black to Manager. No evidence to suggest that would be a disaster, but we all remember only to well what happened the last time a No 2 was promoted to Manager. the Malpish years. Of course it could be the Sun putting 2+2 together and coming up with 7 as per usual.

Delighted with that result. More so because they had a new Manager and would have been more difficult to playagainst. Shows what happens when you have a go from outside the box. I will enjoy the evening. Some on here will not because they are negative whatever we do ot the outcome..... Mon the Well

I would have expected for one of Ojamma and Ainsworth to play...

Time to bump this thread since we have 2 weeks till the away game at Ross County. Sad to see Shaka's post from the St Johnstone match day where he is basically saying he cannot be bothered paying to go and watch MFC at the moment. Judging by recent attendances he is not alone! I have a season ticket, so will go to home games come what may, but yes I will be and am more selective with away games if we are performing like we have been of late. That and I would rather give my money to Motherwell and not the other clubs, especially seeing the attendances of away fans at Fir Park. Q is are we more critical of our team and players than most other clubs. I get the impression we are. Finishing runners up virtually 3 years in a row has meant expectations increase, somewhat unreallistically given our budget and crowds. The key Q - is McCall the man to get us out of our mini slump or is 3-4 years the optimum time before we need a change. Wenger and Ferguson aside most managers last a year or two. It strikes me that McCalls man management is more of the friendly camaraderie and this has paid dividends in recent years. But is it what is needed when the team and certain players hit a slump?? Injuries have not helped and until we can see a semblance of our strongest starting 11 it is hard to gauge whether we will turn things around. Steelboy posts invariably are critical but there are also (imho) some valid points. The trip to Portugal did not seem to make the players that much fitter and our preparations for Europe were baffling. I would rather the players came back early, even by a week and get more meaningful games. It may not have made the difference, but we seemed unprepared for Stjarnan, despite knowing we stood a good chance of drawing a team well into their season. McCall has most definitely earned the opportunity to turn our season around. Hopefully that starts sooner rather than later as a loss to Ross County (probably with new Manager) followed by inevitable loss away to Celtic could leave us rooted at the bottom of the league

Valid points Shaka - will probably respond in the "where do we go from here thread" as straying from the match thread discussion, which in itself may not be a bad thing...

If you were not satisfied with last season then the sad fact is you never will be. If i was McCall or players reading your posts Steelboy - I would think about putting my head in an oven. Yes there were poor games and we got lucky with more than a few results. But finishing on 70 points was almost miraculous. Most sensible fans realise this, the others well you know... Season ticket prices had to go up. They were and remain some of the most competitive in the league, especially given the squad we have. Ya Bezzer is right. if you stop backing the club now, because of a few poor results the outcome will be a lot more damaging for all of us in the mid to long term.

We were not great but better than recent performances and deserved a draw. maybe it is blind faith, but i feel we have a better squad than most in the league outside Celtic, United and Aberdeen. Ojamma is still off the pace and we have had injuries week to week to contend with including Zaine today which probably cost us the game. I am confident we will turn it around but believe top 6 might be beyond us - certainly if we dont pick up wins v Ross County and Hamilton at home. The international break is welcome. Hopefully we can get our near strongest side out v Ross County. Sadly i expect them to have a new Manager in place by then, which will make them more difficult opponents. O'Brien looked good today and hopefully ee can stay

Good to know the players can count on your support Dewell

Just seen the highlights on Sportscene. Dan has come in for some criticism. Yes he should have done better for their opener BUT he could have saved that and let in the other 4 or 5 shots on target. Give him a break. Other than that we should have had a penalty. the Sutton incident could have gone either way, but I would hardly call it a stonewall red card . Kerr was a red card.

A narrow win or a score draw is my prediction. St Johnston blow hot and cold, whereas we are freezing right now. But I think we will see a better effort next week. A lot depends on who is fit enough to start, but hopefully Erwin will be. 2-1 Motherwell. Ojamma and Vigurs for us and McLean for them.