MelvinBragg

Anyone think we'd be talking this much about him if his name was Stevie Goldcastle?

Any idea how he did there?

All this talk of strikers has got me thinking, what happened/is happening with Gary Smith...? I seem to remember him featuring in one first team game and he doesn't seem to have been heard of since. Perhaps not surprising with Sutton, Murphy, Gow, Blackman, Casagolda and McHugh being ahead of him in the queue for the last six months. With three of them away but again talk of us trying to bring in a forward, just wondereed whether he had been discarded...

For what Fitzpatrick brings, he's probably not on a large wage. He's a decent back-up centre midfielder wwith a load of SPL experience. If Lasley or Jennings were to get injured, he'd be able to step in and do a job. Find another midfielder with the number of SPL games under his belt that he has, willing to sit on our bench and with the knowledge of the rest of the team and how the play for the same wage and you can be Motherwell's Chief Scout...

Norway has a population of under 5 million. And it manages to run a 16 team top league. And as far as I'm aware, football isn't quite the obsession in Norway as it is in this country...

Interesting read. One thing leapt out at me though. The U21 rule scrapped is on the list of positives. In a league where fear will be word of the day, to scrap this rule which has gone some way to encouraging teams to blood young players seems to me personally to be the kiss of death for the development of young players. But I'm sure will suit Celtic with their massive squad. Not so much Rangers these days, but I'm sure in future they'll find themselves in a position where they have a squad big enough to consider the U21 rule an inconvenience. I'm sure Walter Smith has stated as much in the past...

To be fair, for long enough on here and in other football forums people have moaned that football is too expensive. You can't then turn round when they talk about reducing admission fees and say "Aw, yer bribing us now...". Not that I'm coming out as a major supporter of the 10 team set-up, just that a reduction in admission fees would address one of the issues that people seem to have a problem with. Seems a bit churlish to dismiss it...

If it's Murphy, let's hope the fee quoted is similar to that quoted for David Goodwillie or we're being fleeced. And no, that last word isn't a hint that I think it's Aberdeen...

Indeed. Were I a betting man, that's where my money would be going...

Should be interesting. Not to see who's leaving. Just to see who's considered one of our top players...

Habit, call it what you will. I still have an interest in what happens to Motherwell. Just wouldn't bother me if I never saw another game again, the way I feel at the moment. I suspect (possibly fear) I may become one of those guys who just looks out for our result in the paper. Anyone who knows me will tell you how worked up I could get at a game, so it's a new feeling for me. As I said, I feel as if I'm coming on here out of habit. .

I'm mental, me. Cos I ain't going. Might watch it on the telly. But right now, even that doesn't appeal to me. Just can't be bothered with it at the minute. And if I can't get motivated for a semi final, god knows when I'll be back...

No show for me. I've missed some cup games over the years but it was always down to work. Sunday, I'm just not going. Fed up with the whole shooting match, not Motherwell. I'll probably have it on the telly in the background but not that bothered about the game at all. Oh, and to answer the question of whether I'll bother should we make the final, not in my current frame of mind. Have already pretty much decided to give the league cup semi a miss. Don't really have the enthusiasm for it, and this thread has shown I'm not the only one...

It is a very ginger management team though...

That would be a strange one... Quite happy with the appointment of McCall. As others have said, we all thought Davies and McLeish were crap in their first management job and both ended up managing in the Premiership. His record at Bradford was not fantastic but there was a great degree of expectation there, being seen as a big club in League Two. A lot of teams raised their game against them. Although he did have a bigger budget than a lot of the other clubs in the division, it doesn't guarantee success... So for gods sake, people, give the guy a chance. Talk of banners telling him to F off already and crowds dropping...

Aye, but with about two replies...

I don't actually mind Hartson throwing his hat into the ring. He's not going to get it. You just have to understand what's happening. He wants into coaching, he knows his CV won't do it for him so he has to keep flagging up how interested he is in every job (did he not do similar for the St Mirren job in the summer?) in the hope that someone takes a punt on him. He's just lucky in that he happens to work for a newspaper who will help him out by making it sound as if he was in the frame when it never really was the case...

Would that be The Sun that John Hartson writes for...?

I would give you that if he'd featured in a couple of sub appearances but to play the guy in a televised game for his debut when there were other more experienced players available struck me at the time as Gannon simply making a point. Brown has been slated here by the Gannonistas for his treatment of our young players. Hutchison and Forbes are the only two I can think of who have gone backwards under Brown. Hutchison has had injury problems which leaves us Forbes, an enigma of a footballer. Can look like he should be playing in La Liga or can look like he should be playing in the Sunday Leagues. Saunders featured regularly under Brown (Brown was constantly talking him up). And Jamie Murphy. My own opinion is that Jamie Murphy has only started looking like a proper first team footballer since Brown arrived. Guys like McHugh and Pollock, for me, haven't shown enough in their brief cameos to be slating Brown for not using them... As I said, Gordon Young can take care of them when they play for the U19s, but we need either an assistant or a manager who can look at a young player and tell whether they have the ability and the temperament yet to make the step up...

Aye, of course. But you want someone on your management team who can bring them through in the right way. Who'll know when they'll burn out, when they're getting too big for their boots, when they're ready for week in week out action. Not someone like Gannon who'll drop Meechan into a game against Celtic and damage his confidence. And I mean no slight on Steven Meechan there, just the way that was dealt with...

Not so much first team and youth team as I assume Gordon Young has got the youth teams well covered. I just remember one of Brown's last interviews with us when he mentioned that Knox did most of the coaching and he did a lot of the other stuff that went with management. Was it now Brown's relationship with Allardyce and Kean that got us Blackman? And Randolph was recommended by Christian Dailly? I think the club are looking for a management team who each bring different things to the table. Possibly also looking for an assistant separately so that when our next manager goes to Aberdeen, the assistant might actually stay to mind the shop...

Given that we'll be going in against Rangers with no experienced coaching staff about the place, might I suggest that most Motherwell fans might want you to tell the gritterman to leave Fir Park well enough alone. Some might be quite happy if Knowetop Avenue is deemed to hazardous for travel on Sunday...

In all the talk, Derek Weir's comments that there were really two posts they were looking to fill has been forgotten. Sbragia ticks a lot of the boxes regards contacts, ability to source players but Weir also mentioned that they were also looking to find someone who could work with and nurture young players. I'm just wondering if he club are taking their time to find the right two people as opposed to finding the right manager and see who he wants as his assistant. Might take a bit longer as they'll need to make sure the chemistry is right...

Not even been quoted this time. Luc's going to one of those "always talked about, never happened" things. Shame, he'd be my pick...

Ask Mitch, he'll tell you I'm actually a h*n Well, I am named after John Greig...