David

Kettlewell would have brought him on after receiving advice from the medical team that he was fit to play. It's not just a case of the player saying he feels okay and the manager chucking him on and seeing what happens. Same with Slattery. The medical staff would have looked at him and given the manager and the CEO an appraisal that would have been used to decide on signing him again or not. Personally, I wouldn't have signed him again, but I don't think the manager was told that Slattery or anyone else was an injury risk and just went ahead and pushed the move through. The same goes for every new signing we made. There will have been detailed medical reports poured over by the medical team, examinations carried out, all manner of tests and suchlike. All of that will have been taken into account before a contract is signed. As for the current lot of injuries, a lot of it does just come down to luck. There's a lot more goes into what players do on a daily basis these days. They don't just pull up in their Ford Cortina's, stub out a smoke, and wander in to kick the ball about and run laps for a few hours anymore. There's strength and conditioning, there's tactical work, and so on. I'd be very surprised if the relevant personnel at the club aren't looking into the injuries, what caused them, and why.

Every single club, bar maybe Celtic, will face an injury crisis this season. We're just experiencing ours now. I've seen a whole lot of people use this as an excuse to be critical of players who we have hardly even seen as yet. Ross Callachan, Filip Stuparevic, and John Koutroumbis have all been written off as "crocks" by some. No surprises that it's the usual crew, of course, but still. Those players will come back, and we can judge them then once we've seen them on the pitch. I think most of them have the potential to do well for us, so while things aren't great for now, I'm certainly not panicking. I saw someone elsewhere claim that today's game was a game where we "simply had to" get something from it. Two games into the season. Two. Let that sink in. This is a chance for some of the younger lads to step up and show that they're worth a place when others come back. Wilson, Ross, Ferrie and Wells all could get some opportunities to show what they can do, which will be interesting in itself. Can any of them establish themselves as first team regulars? I'm also keen to see how Oxborough, Gordon, Seddon, Sparrow, Stama, Balmer, Hegyi, Kaleta, and Robinson do over the coming weeks and months. Let's be honest, if we're two games deep into a brand new league season with a whole bunch of new players to watch and you're moaning already? Might be time to start going to the rugby or ice hockey instead. This is one of the most exciting times in the season.

I personally think Blaney is more consistent than Lamie, and certainly than Mugabi. Sure, both of those guys were known to turn in a 8/9 out of 10 on occasion, but they dropped more 5/6 out of 10 than Blaney does. I'd rank Blaney as a 7/10 on most occasions, which I prefer.

Stephen Cameron requested that I repost this here for him. It's a post he made on P&B: 'Eye Tourettes' seems to be a thing. Apologies if if made anyone question if I need an intervention. Note to Self: Don't set a timer in the top right of your computer monitor. It's always a tough call to go to the safety of a script to get the whole message across or appear more comfortable speaking from the heart. I'll throw my hat in the ring on here now too. I also checked Google Maps and it appears I can offer attendance and assistance beyond Zoom calls (see above why this may be beneficial). The main thing is the majority of candidates seeking election are capable, bring a good mix of talent, local and can demonstrate they acted to protect the club. My main driver for applying is to ensure any roadblocks, slow walking or kicking the can down the road of true fan ownership do not resurface. Also happy to endorse Derek for re-election. Martin and Gavin will also get my other votes for the all the work done, with many others, in contributing to Our Club, Our Future. Still available on the WS website (Well Society Website - Our Club, Our Future). I was privileged to be asked to draft the Governance page (p17). Please find the link to the presentation I cite in the text and video. Happy to engage with anyone and advocate for anything including the sizeable Asian cuisine lobby .... I will be your champion. Society Season Ticket v1.0.pdf

He only goes to town on the manager and players online.

You often find, at least online, that those who are perpetually critical of Kettlewell are the very same individuals who spent most of their time criticising Alexander and Robinson. And they will eventually be critical of the next guy as well.

Well, not in person anyway. only behind a keyboard.

Didn't you do the same?

Just when you said there will be no excuses or hiding places, I take that to mean that if and when we hit that period, many would suggest the next step would be sacking the manager. I'm fairly certain we’ll hit an extended winless run this season at some point. The lack of depth when it comes to quality in our squad suggests that injuries will lead to a period where we don't perform well and results suffer. That is unless we're incredibly lucky and avoid many injuries this season, of course. In my opinion, Kettlewell has done a good job thus far. It's sometimes forgotten (or ignored by some) that he's a young manager still learning the job. Before coming to us, he’d had six months as a manager on his own. This upcoming season is only his second full season as a manager, and he’s only just turned 40 years old. Sure, he likes to talk, but I'd take that any day over one of the "boys" who get managerial jobs in this country and can't string two sentences together without resorting to clichés that say absolutely nothing. Sacking a manager should always be an absolute last resort. The upheaval it causes at the club is immense, from seeing fellow coaches leave and player routines being disturbed, to a new manager coming in with different ideas and different requirements regarding the playing staff. Interestingly enough, we sacked Graham Alexander two years ago today, and the chaos and upheaval we've experienced since then hasn't been good. We're only now really getting back to something resembling normalcy.

The thing is, it has taken Kettlewell this long to get the team looking like he wants them to look. If we then sack him a few months into this season, we hire a new coach who then comes in and the whole process begins again. I think continuity is key. The recent chopping and changing of managers has done us no good at all. I was being sarcastic.

Agreed. County is an absolute must-win. If we don't get all three points there we're surely favourites for the drop?

He's played one entire game. From start to finish. Which is what I said. So, calm down.

He's played one game for us. One entire game. Maybe wait until he's played more than that before judging how he's looking in the Scottish game? By your reckoning Henrik Larsson would have looked like he was "struggling with the pace of Scottish football" when he misplaced that pass under pressure to Chic Charnley in his first game for Celtic. He went on to do not too badly. Exactly.

How can you say he’s struggling with the pace of Scottish football when he’s only played one actual match for us? We’ve not really seen him play in Scottish football yet. He’s played one game and 36 minutes when he’s been brought on from the bench. I can understand you perhaps questioning his record up to this point elsewhere, but claiming that he’s struggling with the pace when he’s only played one full game is quite something.

I'm not being patronising; I'm simply asking why you said something that is clearly a bit daft. There's a difference. The club is doing what it always does. They're trying to get the best players they can on a limited budget, while those players are likely receiving similar offers from other clubs and, as they are entitled to do, weighing up their options. The only waiting the club is likely doing is waiting to hear back from the agents or clubs of players they have approached about coming here.

Far from an ideal performance, but it's still early days. Like it or not, we've lost some key players and individuals in the dressing room, such as Blair Spittal and Liam Kelly. We've signed eleven new players, a fair number of whom have been injured before the season has even started. The likes of Wilson and O'Donnell likely weren't considered first-choice players this season, but we've had to rely on them for various reasons. My preferred approach is not to judge until we're about eight weeks or so into the league campaign, as that gives new players time to settle in and gives injured players a chance to come back and make an impact. The bottom line is we're through, and we've got a home game against Killie in the next round, so that's good news.

What makes you think the club are "waiting" until the last possible minute to sign players for key positions? Do you honestly believe the management team are sitting around saying, "We still need to replace Spittal, but it’s fine, we can leave it for a bit longer. No need to worry about it just now"? Yes, we knew Spittal was leaving months ago, but we didn’t know who else was staying or going, so we wouldn’t have known our budget. Also, even if we had identified a player months ago to replace him, what makes you think that player would want to commit to us so early? Any agent worth his salary would be advising his players to shop around and see what other options are available before agreeing to anything. There are many factors that go into bringing in new players. It’s nowhere near as straightforward and simplistic as you like to make it out to be.

Means we can add him back onto the list of potential managers everyone loves to mention if & when Kettlewell goes. Valakari, Davies, Nijholt, and once again Van Der Gaag. the gang is all back together.

Honestly, I'd rather be a happy clapper than a cynical ball of discontent every time Motherwell win. I feel sorry for people like you. It's football. Enjoy it. If it causes you such unhappiness turn it off and go do something else with your spare time.

I'm fairly sure Balmer will be our first choice at the back when the league campaign starts.

Watch the game and see.

What conclusion?

Wells is a winger and Stuparevic is a striker (or potential second striker). Halliday made perfect sense. You might not like the guy, but as a replacement it's fine.

We're already playing with two up front. Paton is...fine... for now. It's still basically pre-season. As I say above, if he's still a regular pick in this position once all our transfer business is concluded I'll be worried. Until then, it's about bedding in new players, getting everyone up to speed and getting through the group.

We're playing with two up front today, so doesn't that represent a change from "plan A" in itself? Paton is there because we have little by way of options in that area at the moment. it's still only July. If the window closes and he's still there? then I'll be annoyed.