Inthebasement

Marvin's comments to oxford re his last games for Well are really unnecessary and disappointing - what a dick.

Accies - this is going well.

Sorry but considering recent departures it sounds very like there have been boardroom politics at play here, and it is worrying to see the actual fans of the club resign first. I do not want to prejudge, but John Boyle held on to the club for years after he wanted rid of it as there was no other viable option without further damaging the club. Like him or not he stood by the club through transitional years. Concerning then that our petulant billionaire may be taking a 'you've made your bed' approach because, as others note above, he's bored of his toy. Not so much bored actually, my guess is the plebs have not be as grateful or compliant as envisaged from the sunbed. If so, and we ultimately fail, Les cannot escape responsibility for doing real damage to the community he arrived to assist. The 'turn around the club' rhetoric is way overblown, we have seen a few progressive and patchy step changes enabled by a cash injection we couldn't afford. That investment should be entirely written off in these circumstances - many fans have been alarmed by the post-Les extravagance in non-essential areas and the club should not suffer from the mistakes of a self-declared philanthropist. I am not a Society member, and it has seemed to me that the cause was hopeless in the absence of enough fans, cash or any real sense of crisis. How the new terrain is going to impact on these factors is entirely unclear. Steering Motherwell is not a simple matter of the club 'running at break even point' - that approach will see us relegated and downsized over time - football exists in a market where well managed and calculated risk is essential and the measure of ultimate success, and that goes for both buying and and deciding when to sell assets. There is no point in refusing to break budget if you are out the cup and facing relegation in a January transfer window. There is no point is selling a player player for £150,000 who will be worth a million in a year, but there are always risks. Having Les in the background was supposed to help us in this respect, but he has bailed without overseeing one decent sale. All fans of the club are owed a prompt, clear and honest assessment of the situation we find ourselves in.I have great faith in Alan Burrows and hope that in balancing the many factors at play he is able to put us fully in the picture as soon as possible.

BoOOM! Nice timing.

Delighted to see us playing 4-3-3. Baffled to see Marvin in, Ainsworth out.

Good appointment. The suggestion his record is awful can be discounted straight off, it will be as credible or better as the the other 69 applicants. We have been utter pish for what seems like forever, I'm totally fed up with it. I believe McGhee can get a tune from this squad, and get us passing the ball again, and that alone is enough to overlook the guy's slightly aloof manner. You think we can find a manager who wouldn't ditch us for the Hearts, Aberdeen, Scotland, Celtic job - wise up.

I would take him back right now, but that simply isn't true.

Not a lot of love for Presley in this thread but I could see him winning the fans over. Find him quite funny, and we might start trying to pass the ball again. The guy wears his heart on his sleeve and tells it like it is (in his head).

Won't pretend I'm not glad but he'll always be a bit of a legend for 'the battering'.

Have not see one clear idea all season. Hate to say it but he must now go, the length and depth of our woeful form is damaging the club now and into the future.

Managed to sort out a ticket through our helpful ticket office staff. I understand 50 plus tix are going back to Tynecastle for sale at the gate.

Also on the hunt for a ticket if anyone has a spare. Just hoping there will be a few left coming through to Edinburgh. Seems insane in this day and age that the actual location of the ticket is an issue - could easily have picked one up from Tynecastle through the week.

Trialist 14 impressed on those highlights, very sharp in possession. Edit - Sorry, just noticed better insight in the post above. Sign him up.

Is Pearson's long term injury confirmed? Gutting is so, such an important player. We can be thankful I support that it has happened within the transfer window as we will definitely need a straight into the team central midfielder to work with Las. Leitch is much more cover for Las than a replacement for Pearson. The opening of a first team place might help us bring in a quality loan deal.

Was being flippant Weeyin

Have to say we already look a vastly superior side to the starting 11 from last year. McDonald, Pearson and Johnson are a massive injection of pace and proven quality going forward. Credit to manager and club for the most decisive approach to the pre-season business since Kampman.

I recall Faddy complaining that Davie Moyse was always on his back to spend more time in the gym when he went to Everton - Faddy said it wasn't his natural game or something like that. Fast forward a decade and Faddy is injury prone, slow, unfit, still happy to dodge a preseason while he 'waits for the best deal', but released by St Johnstone. The fans that love him (us) debate whether or why he failed to reach his potential, but some want him signed up as a role model for our younger players. The poor state of physical conditioning of Scottish players is a huge part of the football problem in this country, something Strachan has spoken about recently, noting that even in his day the Scotland team would come up against the likes of Brazil and simply bounce of them. We see the same thing when we play in Europe, we looked like kids against Kuban. It's not just weight, but high level base fitness and core strength that's required. So yeah, Dom Thomas probably does need to do a lot of work to an athlete's physique is he want's to progress in the game. Guys like Modric and Iniesta are the exception and probably blessed with pretty exceptional natural strength anyway to survive at the level they do. To be fair though, Dom is only nineteen so early days.

Wonderful little move and pass from Dom Thomas early in the second half vs heerenveen, from what looked like a central pressing position. What a bonus it would be if Dom could apply his obvious skill and trickery as a number 10 position, we have no one else at the club with the ability to give us this option (unless McDonald returns). Josh Law and Ainsworth giving number 10 a go last season are a reminder of McCall running right out of ideas and inspiration.

This thread is a painful reminder of how horrendous last season was before the battering.

Best home top in years, totally ace! Worth around three league places.

Our form after the January transfers bedded in was comfortably mid-table.

Great news on Laing - telling that he was wheeled out to do press before the play offs - the guy has his head screwed on and is likely to get better rather than regress. Agree also that he has a lot in common with Hutchie. Also have to get a bit exited about Louis Moult, just on the basis of the incredible regard his present club's fans hold him in.

Not sure what you mean, I had assumed he was already at the club?

Brilliant news - massively surprised we have pulled this off! If you watch highlights of the Rangers battering every three days like I do, you may have noticed Marvin was probably our most influential player in those games - I half expected him to be poached this close season.

That was a weird and hopeless contribution from Carswell, still not a clue what was going on in his head? Really wish him well but don't rate him. McCall wanted a cut price recreation of the Jennings/Lasley partnership. I personally didn't see anything like the ball winning, passing or cool head required to nail down such a specialist role, and at the same time he offers absolutely nothing going forward. The chair pull-away however was the highlight of two years MFCTV subscription and immortalises his contribution to the club.