MelvinBragg

Aye, Reynolds would go with my best wishes, but it does mean that the team for next week is starting to look like... Fraser Saunders Craigan Hutchison Hammell McGarry/DL Smith Lasley Fitzpatrick O'Brien Murphy Sutton with the only recognised first team subbie being whichever of DL Smith or McGarry doesn't start...

...is the reason I can't really get excited about next week's game. At this rate, it'll be the first Motherwell U19s game I've attended. Either we've decided that Europe's not worth bothering with or we're being very dismissive of Llanelli's chances...

Aye, it's a different four names every day. It's like they phone JB and say "Is it this four?" "Naw" "Well, how many are wrong?" "Two" "OK" and then they come back the next day and try a different combination. You don't need to buy a paper, everything is repeated on here buck shee...

Just to clarify, when I mentioned Michael Jackson, it's when I thought you'd need to be stone mad to take the job not stone deid. Clearly the pressure of waiting to hear of he got the job got to him...

A Premiership club, well done to the guy. Coyle will do well for him. I remember thinking when he took the young guy from Dundee (McDonald??), that he would disappear without a trace down there, but he hasn't. Would certainly be a steep learning curve for Reynolds. As with the proposed sales of Clarkson and Quinn, the real questions are going to be: what are the fees involved? And how much will any new manager get to rebuild what will be a depleted squad? I expect JB to be playing down the answer to the second one, we don't want other clubs thinking we have money burning a hole in our pocket. Our moves in the transfer market are going to have to be quick and discreet in order to avoid bidding wars with other clubs. After the way he has dealt with the management appointment, I have faith in JB to be discreet not so sure about quick. Not a criticism, as the management appointment is a crucial one. Just hope that our moves to bolster the squad are done quite quickly, as we will hopefully have a few new players to try and knit together...

If the BBC has the names right (I say if because JB has pulled a blinder in terms of misdirection on this one), then Gannon or Boothroyd please. As others have stated, Staunton must have given a hell of an interview given he's the only man on that list with zero experience of being a club manager. I'm kind of disappointed that McAllister and Nijholt aren't on that list. McAllister represents, like Boothroyd, good contacts down in England, with the added advantage of a knowledge, however our of date, of Scottish football. Nijholt represents the fresh thinking, new start approach that we appear to be going with by slashing away at the squad. As others have said, we seem to have attracted a very high calibre of candidate to the job. Perhaps just as well given the size of rebuilding job that the guy is going to have to perform in a short space of time...

I take your point, Al, that invariably it would be the key players that would be sold. I don't imagine clubs are queueing up to pay £800,000 for Steven McGarry or £600,000 for Darren Smith. And you're right in that some of the players at Fir Park had become too comfortable in their roles. But I think you need to be wary of throwing the baby out with the bathwater here. As Malky says, evolution not revolution might have been a way to go. One or two of the players who are leaving (McLean, Hughes, Reynolds, Klimpl) were either not good enough or had gone stale. But Clarkson in particular had come on leaps and bounds in the last two years. We would have lost him for nothing next summer, sure. But it would have bought Muprhy and McHugh a year, and it would have meant losing him at a time when we weren't losing 5 or 6 other players. There has to be some degree of continuity. I feel there is something to be said for having people around the club who have a fondness for the club and know the club and the fans. Listening to Craigan earlier in the week state how he'd do anything to help out, clean boots whatever, reinforced that view. One of the most moving things in the aftermath of Phil O'Donnell's death was the way that the club and fans were almost as one. I don't know if you would get that with players with no feel for the club history and it's place in the community. I do hope you're right, I'm pinning my hopes on Gary McAllister bringing passing football to our lovely new turf or Juan Kerse's vision of a Nijholt inspired total football team. They'd be hard as nails like him obviously too. One thing's for sure. This is not a dull close season, even by Motherwell standards...

Have to say I haven't actually voted in my own poll. I'm caught on the horns. I know the new guy will want to fashion his own team, and as far as Quinn and particularly Reynolds are concerned, I can see them getting relatively simply replaced. My concern is Clarkson, or rather how we are going to find someone who can be our link man and score as many goals as he did the last two years...

I do take your point, Al, about a new guy having a blank canvas to work with. But I s'ppse my concern is that it's a hypothetical question, and we're going to have smaller squad and no increase to the budget...

Then you misunderstand my question. If you were sitting waiting on hearing about the job at the minute, would you be like "That's good, Clarkson, Quinn and Reynolds are being sold. More cash to spend..." or would you be thinking "Aye, all well and good giving me money, JB, but I need to replace these three as well now..." See what I'm saying...?

I touched upon this in the Reynolds thread. General consensus seems to be that JB is trying to generate a budget for the new guy to work with. But surely a bigger budget is one thing but the sales (alleged and proposed) of Clarkson, Quinn and Reynolds, leave him with three more shirts to fill eating into said budget. So do we think the new manager (whoever he may be) has specified he wants a blank canvas to work with or would he rather have more of a team to work with. If it were you, what would your thoughs be...? Just cos we've not had a poll in a while...

Thing is, if you're the new guy, do you want nothing of a squad and a bigger budget or do you want a budget that's slightly smaller but you've got more of a squad to start with...?

Aye, but McFadden and Clarkson are players of a different level. I was just trying to suggest that Cardiff already have Chopra, Bothroyd and McCormack and I don't really know what Bristol City's striking options are. So I was hazarding a guess as to why Clarkson might favour BCFC over Cardiff. Not looking for a fight. For a change...

He may, however, have learned the lesson of McFadden and has decided that he has more chance of first team football at Bristol City...

Terms have been agreed but nothing signed as far as I'm aware. Medical tomorrow. Remember we snaffled Porter from under the nose of Dundee United? Go on, JB, you know it makes sense. Any other chairman wouldn't entertain you, but I get the feeling Massone would have no qualms about going back on his word to Dundee...

In a few of my posts this morning, I've mellowed my thinking. I still think DC will be a major loss, but IF the new guy is given some of the Clarkson and Quinn fees to spend (and the way the squad is, that has to be the case or no one will want the gig), then it could work out fine and dandy. As it is at the moment, no clubs have any money to spend. If we can get in some cash it puts us ahead of the rest of the SPL (two clubs excepted obviously) in terms of bargaining power. The only thing I would say is that any new manager would have asked about money to spend and now he may get it. Maybe the guy didn't know he'd have to do without his best striker to get his money to spend... If we use the cash to get 4 or 5 decent signings for at least a couple of years, hopefully we'll not be in the same boat next summer. I'd still rather have kept him in the hope that Muprhy was ready to make the step up for 2010/11, but due to Reynolds form tailing off, Clarkson was the main marketable asset. If you need to rebuild a squad, you need cash. Just need to hope that the new manager spends it wisely. And can get us putting crosses into the box all the time. Cos at the moment, John Sutton, you're het...

I think someone started a thread before the split last season how we should play a lot of the kids for the last 5 games to have a look at them and see what they could do. I can't think who that was...

What are you doing to do if it is over a million??

Aye, I get angry. Aye, at the football. But just cos you cannae get a ticket? Lighten up...

Well, what was the purpose in mentioning it? "I've been a Well fan for 35 years, I'd never want to see us lose". Y'know, guess what, it's a Motherwell forum, the rest of us never want to see us lose, so what exactly were you trying to put across?? Honestly, give me one solitary reason it was relevant...

The highlighted section, has that ever been confirmed or is it just rumour and hearsay? If not confirmed, a bit silly to get worked up about it. A lot of people will not see Motherwell's first away tie on European soil. Financial reasons, work commitments, domestic situations, clashing with a holiday booked over 6 months ago, the reasons could be many. Most people are dealing with it with a shrug and a "ach, well...". You're lucky that you can be "quite prepared" to lose money on this when there are others who couldn't afford to go. Sorry for going on, but you seem to be getting really worked up over this and quite frankly, the petulance you're showing, if it was quoted on any other club's board, we'd all be laughing at...

Even having clarified it, you sound a bit petty. So it would please you that any Motherwell fans going to Airdrie next week would have to sit and watch us toil to a 1-1. Oh, and, what are you trying to prove by telling us how long you've been a Motherwell supporter. I was wondering how long before we got the "I'm a better supporter than you..." nonsense. THIS is why I hate ticket scrambles...

I think the point that was being made that seems to be passing you by is that most folk would be buying a season ticket regardless of any of these things happening. Most people buy a season ticket irrespective of who the manager is or who's in the team, they buy a season ticket because it's Motherwell...

I know, I apologise. I was a bit grumpy this morning. My point still holds though that we really shouldn't be getting billy big time about this and anyone who booked travel right after the draw assuming they would have a ticketmust have known there was a risk involved. Or have real memory issues, because Nancy should have been the lesson there...

The tone of my posts has changed, I'll grant you. The anti-depressants must be kicking in...