bobbybingo

You simply can't compare Tommy McLean's time with today. In those days a manager could attempt to buy his way out of a really bad spell, there was no transfer window to tie his hands. If a club is stuck on a losing run now, the boss better pray it happens in December. Otherwise, him getting the boot is the only change that can be made. I doubt any manager would actually want to stay at Fir Park for 10 years these days. Building a successful team has become almost impossible when any decent player is off within 6 months or a year. Look at the countless duds Tommy brought in before he got there with a couple of sides. We haven't seen his like again and almost certainly never will.

I think we're past the inspirational stage as far as fans are concerned. Anything he said after the game was gonnae piss folk off. It's simple - Kettlewell and the players need to start picking up points, whatever way they can, because words are literally pointless now.

Take it McGinn will be out. Kettlewell was talking about a possible fractured cheekbone - and 2 broken hooters (Butcher and?)

I'd be interested to hear what would you like to see happen at Motherwell to change the club approach and mentality. Specifically.

Allan Campbell's Millwall loan isn't going too well, not getting off the bench under the caretaker manager. He must be hoping Nathan Jones gets the job.

I thought he didn't want to come here.

He's certainly experienced enough, but I'm not sure what he ever achieved in management that would make you think he was up to it.

Who would you go for? I know it's not our job, but if you want Kettlewell binned right now you must have somebody in mind.

And that's what I said. It seems awfy harsh on Biereth to say that based on one game, especially with that line up and those tactics.

Yeah. So in your original comment you weren't actually referring to them as "so called strikers"?

He might be now, but he previously played, and scored reasonably often, at a higher level, as folk pointed out when comparing him to Bair. Right now, there's hardly a player in our squad who looks better than pub level, so he's far from alone.

He'll be getting Santa's sack for Christmas.

Based on one game, a guy who's scored 3 goals despite hardly playing has become a so-called striker? We're all pissed off, but come on.

As pointless complaints go, who gets subbed first between Bair and Wilkinson is right up there.

4 times, including the St Mirren League Cup game. Bair was subbed 4 times, Wilkinson twice. So clearly not every time.

How often have they started together?

He was subbed on Wednesday. Are you just making stuff up now?

Is Biereth a so-called striker now?

At least the butter fingers will make ramming it easier.

Are you Santa?

They have to be working on his distribution, because it's awful. Between that and coming out for cross balls etc, he looks increasingly nervous to me - as does the whole defence. The Stevie Woods effect? His form's definitely not what it was, but will Kettlewell drop him if he's not totally convinced about Oxborough? We saw where chopping and changing goalies got Dundee Utd last season.

We kept quite a few clean sheets and rarely lost more than 1 or 2 in the games after Kettlewell took charge. Van Veen was banging them in, but we only scored more than 2 in 3 games. We've just scored 5 in 2 at home and only taken 1 point, whereas under SK last season it would probably have been 6 points. Fixating on our - admittedly - shit strikers is missing the point. Unless folk think we should be winning games 4-3 or 5-4.

We're on 74 mins as the average time of our goals, the latest in the league. Every other team has scored most of their goals in the second half (apart from St Johnstone, funnily enough), most of them between 50 and 65 mins. We're 7th top scorers, so it's the goals we're conceding that are killing us. 30% of all SPL goals so far have been scored in the last 15 mins. Most folk seem to see that as a positive sign, obviously you don't.

I know what you're saying. My point is, most teams, including us, can't afford to spend much of their budget on back up goalies they hope won't be needed, so you'll probably find they're not on a par with the first choice guy. A decent goalkeeper like Mark Gillespie might be content to sit on the sidelines and watch his career drift away at Newcastle, but you won't see anyone of that standard happy to get splinters in his arse at Fir Park on our wages. I said earlier, Kettlewell doesn't have many sellable assets, but Kelly's one of them. We'll see what he thinks of Oxborough if/when he's sold, which could well be in January.

My bosses don't have a back up for me. That's probably due to the fact they're not gonnae pay someone to sit on their arse doing hee haw as long as they know I'm doing my job adequately. Obviously, I'm not a professional footballer, and in that industry the bosses are obliged to employ people who may only ever be back up. I doubt they want to shell out a fortune in doing that, so there might be a big difference in quality between the first choice goalkeeper and his back up. Personally, I couldn't name you the second choice goalies at most Scottish clubs because they very rarely play, barring injuries. As long as Kettlewell thinks Kelly is the better option, he'll pick him, unless he's actually trying to lose his job.