MelvinBragg

Just wondering if we're all waiting about for nothing. On the BBC, it says that Falkirk will find out their fate "later in the day". Could be it's going to take some time to sort the groups out... EDIT Ignore me...

Hmmm. Going to announce it on the Wednesday and hope we get the new manager effect for the European game? As much as I'm glad we're trying to find the right man for the job, we seem to be taking an awful lot of time over it...

I'm more jealous of the fact they have a 25 man squad...

Nae idea. Seems kind of complicated by the fact they need to sort which of the first round seeds they were going to seed for the second round (us being in that category). Glad I'm not the one having to work it out...

We'll have a bit to wait, we're in group four...

See, I'm hoping for anywhere but Llanelli>given I don't have a valid passport, it takes away even the remotest possibility of going and Llanelli would tempt me into a domestic argument regards cost of childminding/going to the game against being sensible and hoping it's on a telly channel somewhere...

Therein lies a question. Are we going to stretch the definition of first team player and Hutchison and Saunders will be first team players or will they be among the four young player...?

Cheeky bassa. Just be thankful my brother is a Rangers fan then cos he's about two stone heavier than me. Which probably makes him weigh as much as you and Mitch put together...

Anyone else expecting this site to crash under the weight of users around 12:45 today???

You misread me, big fella. I am excited. But not by the draw. I'll be excited about the game when it rolls around (only cos I'm always excited at the first competitive game of the season). But at the moment, I'm too focussed on who the new manager is going to be and who we might bring in player wise to think too much about the European draw. Don't get me wrong, I'll check this afternoon to see who we get, but I'll be looking first to see if a new manager has been appointed...

I know I should be excited, but I'm not. I'm afraid the draw is being overshadowed by the fact we don't have a manager and barely have a squad to put a team out for these games. Don't get me worng, I'm not depressed as GazzyB suggests that this is making some Well fans. I'm excited. I'm more excited about who's going to be our manager and who we'll add to the squad than 4 games which will be our pre-season...

Clearly the silly season has commenced. Sandy Clark, John Robertson. Who next, Jimmy Sandison?? To quote the likes of fatcalf and SteveDiggle, away and bile yer heid...

I see from today's Sunday Herald that Luc Nijholt has said that he knows he is a candidate and will come for an interview if asked. For me this means one of three things; 1. The quote is a few days out of date as we appear to have started the interview process 2. Nijholt will not be getting an interview or 3. We are not as far along the interview/selection process as we might have hoped. My gut instinct is telling me number 2, Nijholt will not be in the frame. Which is a bit sad really because I think he was definitely one of the candidate who would have brought something new and fresh to the table. Lobey Dosser stated on the 'Latest Rumour' thread (which thread are we supposed to be using??) that he felt that he understood that Sanchez was top of the list by some distance. I've certainly got the impression from the forum that since Sanchez's name came up, a lot of people seem convinced that he's the best candidate for the job. I've not seen any evidence that John Boyle thinks that (he is playing his cards very close to his chest, so I don't know how anyone could definitively say who is leading the race). Personally I'm not sure he's the best man for the job, but he's certainly a good candidate. Given that Nijholt appears out of the running to me, my prefered candidate by some distance would be Gary McAllister. Not because of his previous ties to the club. In our financial situation we're going to be relying on loan deals from bigger clubs and bosmans from the english lower leagues. For me, McAllister has the best group of contacts for the former and the best first hand knowledge for the latter. We don;t really have time for a new manager to go and have a look at players he might be interested in. I also think in our predominantly Scottish squad, he would immediately command respect. Sanchez would not horrify me. Staunton would make me apprehensive. McAllister would excite me...

I think you might be right about Sanchez though I don't know how much of an impact the Setanta debacle will have (as with any appointment). If Sanchez outlines plans in his interview that sound a wee bit on the grand side, impressive as he might be, Boyle might be inclined to go with a guy who sounds more youth orientated/long-term in his interview. Could Krivokapic be the dark horse, not mentioned til the end, then unveiled two days later? Possibly. His record with Philliben, as others have pointed out, wasn't terrible but that was some time ago and for those complaining about Nijholt's lack of experience, Krivokapic has been working at an even more junior level of coaching. The thing that John Boyle will know is that McAllister, Nijholt and Krivokapic will have an advantage over the two Irish guys. Their previous association with the club will buy them more time and goodwill with the fans. If we are going to be working with a thinner budget and squad than previously thought, this might be a factor in any appointment...

Accurate summation. And who'd have thought two years ago we'd be saying that about Clarkson...

Time for another poll!!!

I don't know enough about Sanchez to say if it would be a good appointment. When his name first came up, I think a few people were simply impressed by the name, the Premiership and international experience. If anything makes him a good candidate for the job, it would be his Wyncombe experience. The only thing about having managed a Premiership side is that it was Fulham, similar to Motherwell in that they were trying to compete with teams with a much larger budget. All in all, it makes him sound like not a bad candidate. He wouldn't be my first choice but I wouldn't be unhappy with his appointment...

Sorry if it sounded like I was having a go. Not at all, just sounded like you knew what you were on about. Some of the "definite, 100%" folk, I wouldn't give two cents for their posts...

Source? If he's being interviewed tomorrow, I would hope he isn't the first to be seen. I would have hoped that the process had started already. And do we take from this that anyone who has been interviewed so far hasn't been up to scratch or has knocked the job back? Or is John Boyle pushing the boat out to find the very best man for the job...?

I like your penchant for understatement, Dave . "Very short up front"??? We'd have John Sutton and that would be it. When I mentioned Murphy and McHugh, I was talking of them being ready to play a bigger part in 2010/2011. Let's be honest here. If Murphy isn't ready to be a regular first team starter by then, his progress will really have stalled...

I think we all know that there is a good chance that Colin Calderwood would be the least popular appointment possible. Including John Robertson. Not for footballing reasons, but fans have long memories and I think John Boyle would surely know better than to alienate a large chunk of the support on such an emotive issue...

I take your point, Dave, but at least in terms of David Clarkson we have to take that gamble. Quinn is a very good player, but I feel we could replace him without overstretching our budget. However any fee received for Clarkson would have to be counted against the cost of relegation. Could we replace him right now with a bosman or loan signing? Frankly no, everything we did the second half of last season went through him and I don't see us being able to acquire a player of his calibre on our budget. We need to gamble that by this time next year, if he leaves for nothing then others such as Murphy and McHugh have progressed sufficiently that replacing him, while seeming difficult, is not the impossible task it seems at the minute... EDIT: Or to paraphrase someone else: if Clarky were to leave, it would be best to place all sharp knives and shoe laces out of my reach.....

I don't think McAllister's record at Leeds was that bad. Expectations are unrealistic at that club. taunton, to me, seems a bad idea. Nothing against the guy and not necessarily due to his lack of club management experience, just my gut instinct telling me that it would be a bad move. Sanchez, I don't know if he's even interested. If he is, he's worth a look. Having managed at Wycombe he would be used to working on a reasonably small budget. But given the general feeling that the club will not have much to work with, my instincts are leaning towards either Craig Brown or Luc Nijholt. Brown's best days were with Scotland when he had to work with what he had, which is what might be the case at Motherwell. He would make us hard to beat and while it would not be pretty, he would probably keep us up. Nijholt has 3 years experience of managing a very small club who had to rely upon youth and very little resources. This counts in his favour. I'm a gambler. I'd go with Nijholt...

This pretty much sums up my feelings in a nutshell. If I believed every rumour that I've heard/read over the last couple of months, then we would have a first team squad of Hammell, Craigan, Fitzpatrick and Sutton going into the new season. So many people have heard so many things "definite, 100%" that as a club we must have more leaks than a sieve. It strikes me that people have heard that Gary McAllister has apparently knocked back the job again and have taken from that the fact that the club will be selling all our assets. Having said that, things are now dragging on. I don't expect the club to come out and refute every story doing the rounds (Flow would have his hands full with half of it) but it's now less than two weeks til our first competitive game and frankly while Europe doesn't bother me that much, I would be concerned even if the European games weren't there. To start pre-season training and be in a situation where 6 a sides is the only match practise that we have enough first teamers for seems alarming. John Boyle knew that in every likelyhood Hughes, Smith, Malcolm and Klimpl would be leaving this summer. He knew Sheridan was going back to Celtic. It was clear to many of us on here, therefore should have been to Boyle, almost a month ago that McGhee would up sticks and leave. None of these issues have been addressed, it would seem. I'm sure the club are working hard behind the scenes to get a new manager in place but as of now concern is spreading withing the support. Were I Gary McAllister, I would have concerns about taking the Motherwell job if Clarkson, Quinn and Reynolds were being sold, arguably depriving me of the 4 or 5 most important players of last season's team while it being unclear as to how they were being replaced. Having said that, again this is all based on internet rumour and a throwaway comment by Sheepy McShovelface on his departure on how we might have to sell a couple of players. Will we never learn not to believe everything/anything he says? I find talk of a cash crisis puzzling. Since the folly of administration, Motherwell have run a reasonably tight ship. I find it hard to believe that we are in such a state that despite a large compensation settlement from Aberdeen, despite the SPL paying out the Setanta money for this past season, despite selling Porter, despite getting three of our highest earners off the book, that we will have to sell our best forward and our best defender and have no funds to replace them. New pitch, new strips, all very nice. All we need now is a team to run onto this new pitch wearing said new strips...

So have we any confirmation from the club that Beevers and Boyle are on their way at all? I've seen nothing from MFC about these guys so I'm wondering if it's the usual rumour season starting...?