The Gaffer...

[Davie boy]

Thought an assessment of the job SM is doing was due up, while we are at an exciting point of the season and when we are on a high......

 

Am delighted with how hes done/doing. Love the attacking and the "never give the opposition time" philosophy he adapts, the players seem to be enjoying him too, looks a great togetherness within the squad.

 

We are, and always will be, an up n down team, thats part of the job description supporting the `Well.

 

Looks to have an eye for a player also, 4 good additions been added (Granted Mo Ross has only played 90mins and there all poss short term), but obviously the summer is when he will be properly judged on that front. Very honest in his post match anylasis too.

 

Even the folk that doubted him must be happy at how hes done.

 

Has the chance of giving us a very unique season!!

 

SMWA!!

[something else]

Delighted with the job Stuart McCall has done up till now. Sick hearing of people talking about how good a job Craig Brown did here but i doubt we would be sittin 6th and in another semi under that wee rat.

 

Players seem a lot happier as well, with Hutch and Murphy gettin a decent run in the team.

 

The style of football we're playing is also a joy to watch at times.

 

And finally Gunning, Jeffers, Jones and Ross are already looking like very shrewd signings.

 

Keep up the good work gaffer.

[Special aka]

Word from within is he works very hard and has the players on board. Arrived at a very difficult time, with many at a low ebb, (myself included), but to his credit we seem to have stabilised.

 

Nothing but praise from me so far.

[siebsbarmyarmy]

I think he is definately finding his formation, players and tactis right at the moment and it seems to be coming together nicely.

 

I like thecut of his gib and how he comes across in the media and emails. Doesn't appear at the moment to have an agenda which is a bonus!

 

Some tactical naivety in his time so far and a couple of truly awful performances but progression wise I would say it appears at the moment to be going in the right direction.

[underboyleheating]

If he can add a greater level of consistency to our results I’d be a lot happier. As has been said, he came in at a difficult time and we won’t know until next season the sort of manager we have got. Top six is always the aim at the start of the season, it’s now in our hands so you can’t ask for anything more than that.

[Haggischomper]

Certainly seems to have made some astute short-term signings. Even Magilla Grella seemed a good shout pre-red tape. Be interesting to see who he has an eye on longer-term.

 

Any thoughts on getting Jones set up for a longer deal? Maybe another year? Think he is a free agent at the end of the season, no?

[Shaka]

a little worried at how much up + down we are, yes were inconsistent but its scary how good we can be and how awful we can turn within a few days.

 

Its easy getting the team up for the big games,the test for him is getting the team up for the easy or smaller games and its a task he has failed miserably so far,

 

On the plus side,he has us playing good football,his signings have worked real well,he is pretty honest in his summarizing of games, seems popular with the players and has us doing real well against the big teams in the league.

 

So in summary, for me, he has a way to go but is doing a pretty good job so far,certainly better than I thought he would be. Still,the acid test is summer when he gets to mould his own team

[star sail]

I was less than impressed when he signed up for two main reasons. One his record at Bradford was poor and two his Rangers connections. As some on here will try to trip over themselves to call me a bigot, I should deal with the second point first. There was always going to be a media love in with the Rangers thing when McCall joined us as it turned out to be with the cringe worthy McCall/ McCoist lunch interview before the CIS Cup game and constant references at other times.

McCalls reaction to this has been excellent however. I thought that he looked uncomfortable during the lunch interview. He has never welcomed questions about his Rangers past and I thought it was a really good move to try and distance himself from these questions in one of his e-mails.

 

On the first point he has gone some way towards persuading me that he could be a good manager. I thourougly enjoyed the Cup game last week because of the dynamic style of play and the obvious fight and togetherness within the squad. He has made some decent signings and made tough decisions when he had to (eg dropping Craigan).

 

I still think that the jury is out but a top six finish and a Scottish Cup Final would go a long way towards converting me. The true test will be in the summer when he has to rebuild the team but we have to remember than Brown did not make a good job of that last summer and McGhee made a total arse of it two summers on the trot so we have to be aware of the precedent with this. Gannon's summer signings were in some ways an exceptional set of circumstances.

 

There has been the bad too, ICT away, Hamilton away, Killie away, St Mirren home but again those types of performances have been present under any manager you could mention.

 

Pleased to be proved wrong (yet again). I thought McGhee was good (got that wrong), Gannon was good (probably wrong), Brown I got about right (filled a gap but dull as dishwater) and McCall (proving me wrong once more). Long may it continue.

[johnstone]

When we have a fully fit squad we can beat anyone. As soon as we get a few injuries we struggle. This is down to our paper thin squad.

 

All I can say is that when McCall has had a full squad to pick from we have really impressed.

 

As for signings. All have been very good so far. Jones is an effective sub and likes to get forward - reminds me a lot of JOB.

 

Jeffers when fit is brilliant.

 

Gunning has been a revelation in the CB role.

 

Mo Ross had a very impressive debut.

 

Overall very pleased so far with what he has done and I think the inconsistent results has been down to the fact our squad is so small.

[MJC_MKI]

At this point in time the jury is out for me. I say that because I was far from happy with his appointment and after some absolutely dreadful results and performances, I firmly placed myself in the 'McCall out' camp as I believed that he was not the man for the job and still do to some extent.

 

I have to admit to backtracking on this view ever so slightly over the past week because yet again last Wednesday night we raised our game and turned in an absolutely superb display, just as we did when we beat Celtic 2-0 at the end of February, when it wasn't just the results that were so good, but the performances that went with them. Also, McCall has guided us to the Semi Finals of the Scottish Cup despite a difficult series of away draws which included the Cup holders and inform Dundee United, so that has to afford the manager credit, and more time to prove himself, whatever I or anyone thinks of him.

 

The big test for McCall now is to get the team playing with more consistency and more importantly, better motivation in the more 'bread and butter games' against sides of similar stature to ourselves. The performances against St.Mirren, home and away against Killie, Utd away in the SPL, Rangers at Ibrox and Inverness away were simply shocking and cannot be overlooked. However, under McCall's watch we have on the flip side of those debalces turned in some excellent displays so as I said, for that he deserves to be given credit and support.

 

Like I say, jury still out...

 

 

[Guest]

I'm really interested where the club as a whole is going. The constant insistence in all the press going out is that there are 'big plans' in the pipeline is pretty intriguing. I assume the plan is fairly heavily centred on bringing through kids and selling them, which is going to lead to bouts of inconsistency, but a lot of excitement too.

 

Re: McCall, he's doing well. The Caley away game was a right kick in the teeth, but I guess its better seeing how you bounce back from that rather than dwelling on it for too long. The number of young kids kicking about is pretty exciting, as well as some shrewd transfer business in Jeffers, Jones, Gunning, Ross and Devlin. All look like they're more than capable of doing us a job and I'd be pretty happy to have them here next year.

 

The summer is a big one, I think its fair to say that of the fourteen that played in the United game:

 

01 Randolph

03 Hammell (Craigan 83)

19 Hutchinson

22 Gunning

06 Hateley

07 Humphrey (Jones 79)

08 Jennings

14 Lasley

09 Murphy

11 Sutton

24 Jeffers (Forbes 75)

 

Those highlighted could easily be gone by the time the season kicks off next year, so business will need to be done, given how important those players have been.

 

I'm generally delighted that the club always seems keen to give someone else a bash. Theres a bunch of average/bad Scottish managers floating around the game who turn up, seem to add nothing and produce nothing in or to the game. I'd far rather take a bit of a chance and give a McGhee/Gannon/McCall a bash rather than Calderwood/McPherson/Hughes.

[gullane]

Like everyone else on here so far, I rate him. Good to see a positive reaction. It's a tall order to make both the top 6 and the cup final, so I won't judge him on that. It will be interesting to see what sort of side he builds for next season though.

[Busta Nut]

where's the Lip?

[LadywellToi]

I have to admit to backtracking on this view ever so slightly over the past week because yet again last Wednesday night we raised our game and turned in an absolutely superb display, just as we did when we beat Celtic 2-0 at the end of February, when it wasn't just the results that were so good, but the performances that went with them. Also, McCall has guided us to the Semi Finals of the Scottish Cup despite a difficult series of away draws which included the Cup holders and inform Dundee United, so that has to afford the manager credit, and more time to prove himself, whatever I or anyone thinks of him.

 

You also omitted to say you started the "McCall out" thread, amazing what a few weeks and a few good performances do for your credibility and standing with the fans even from the leader of the lynch mob.

 

Unfortunately for us, consistency is something a much higher wage/transfer budget than we have affords. So far McCall has generally performed and brought in results that cement our on paper status as the 7th/8th biggest team in the country in terms of fanbase and turnover. 3 years of European qualification (one of those years a freak rather than due to footballing prowess) and league placings of late have spoiled us, to the extent it's now where we believe we should be every year. That level of expectation would be hard for Mourinho to overcome let alone Stuart McCall.

[MJC_MKI]

You also omitted to say you started the "McCall out" thread, amazing what a few weeks and a few good performances do for your credibility and standing with the fans even from the leader of the lynch mob.

 

Unfortunately for us, consistency is something a much higher wage/transfer budget than we have affords. So far McCall has generally performed and brought in results that cement our on paper status as the 7th/8th biggest team in the country in terms of fanbase and turnover. 3 years of European qualification (one of those years a freak rather than due to footballing prowess) and league placings of late have spoiled us, to the extent it's now where we believe we should be every year. That level of expectation would be hard for Mourinho to overcome let alone Stuart McCall.

 

 

Could you have been any more selective in quoting me?

 

I clearly said at both the beginning and at the end of my earlier post that in my opinion, the jury is still out on Stuart McCall and also that as yet, I am not convinced that he is the right man for the job.

 

However....

 

Whatever I or anyone else thinks of Stuart McCall, you cannot argue with the fact that he has taken us to the Semi Finals of the Scottish Cup, knocking out the holders with an absolutely tremendous display in the process. That is why I also say that I have backtracked "ever so slightly" on my earlier stance that he was most definately NOT right for the job. I remain to be convinced, but I'm not quite so against him as I was.

 

When I call for consistency, I want to see more consistent performances rather than results. I fully accept that Motherwell cannot be expected to win week in week out, however the manner in which we have gone from being brilliant one week to awful the next, to brilliant the next week, to awful the next, is what concerns me the most. Against Celtic at Fir Park, against Aberdeen at Pittodrie and against United in the cup replay, we were superb and we gave a fairly good account of ourselves against Rangers at Hampden in the League Cup. Yet in and around these matches, we have turned in performances which were as shocking as the above ones were excellent and these have come in games which would be considered less high profile, against the St.Mirrens, Killies and ICTs of this world. That to me could suggest that McCall struggles to motivate the team for, for want of a better word, 'lesser' games and that is a major concern to me.

 

I know I started the 'McCall Out' thread and did so on the night of the St.Mirren defeat at Fir Park and did so because the performance that night, combined with performances before (and also now since) were simply unacceptable. However, we then beat Celtic four days later and have since reached the Semi Finals of the Scottish Cup, so I admit that was somewhat premature in calling for McCall's head when I did, BUT I still remain unconvinced by our manager.

[TheLip69]

where's the Lip?

 

 

I'm here.

 

My opinion, I think people are getting a wee bit carried away because we won two games on trot. A home cup tie against a Dundee United side that failed to tiurn up and against an awful Aberdeen side that haven't turned up all season. Conveniently forgetting that we had lost our two previous league games to Kilmarnock, and ICT, shipping 6 goals in the process and looking dreadful. I gave my opinion on McCall BEFORE he was named manager. Nothing I've seen or heard since then has altered ny opinion. It seems to me the people on here claiming he's done a marvellous job are the same ones who said we should give him to the end of the season, seems that's no longer an option.

We've got three games in 10 days that will make or break our season, Dundee Utd on Wednesday, Hearts on Saturday and the semi-final against St Johnstone on the 16th. Simply because of our inconsistency I'm not confident going into any of those games, if I was I'd give McCall his due.

[star sail]

Hi Lip

 

I don't totally disagree with what you are saying and like MJC at least you are giving good reasons for your views but I think you are being harsh about the Utd game last Wednesday. Dundee Utd are the form team in Scotland at the moment and we held them to a draw on their patch and took them apart on ours. They did not turn up because they were not allowed to play by a Well side that did not give them a second. There were signs in the first 5 mins last week that Utd were very much up for the game. Motherwell were simply too good.

[Tweed]

So to be honest I knew naff all about Bradford City and how he did there. A little bit of research would show that he perhaps underachieved but if you look at that team they have been in decline with lots of different managers really since Jim Jefferies got there. Neil Warnock (arsehole but good manager) said that McCall would be a good manager and should never have touched Bradford with a bargepole. Therefore I decided to go in with an open mind as I knew too little to pre judge him.

 

Hamilton away was his first game but in two days on the rebound from a double Old Firm loss hard to judge him and came away with a point. So for me his first acid test was Dundee away. I think from that game it was obvious that McCall favoured a more expansive and pressing style to Brown. I think its a more energy sapping game and the lows have very often come because we have run out of steam. St Mirren, St Johnstone, Dundee Utd have all beaten us with late goals and even on Saturday you could see us deteriorating just due to energy levels towards the end.

 

At the moment he is playing his system with a team that mainly consists of Brown's players and limited numbers. He has also had an unusually high number of midweek games due to our success in cups and December's shocking weather. I think without that additional burden we may be in an even better place. I think given a summer when he may lose some players he can bring in the ones that he wants and he sees in the system he favours. I think at that point we can judge more fairly.

 

However the players he inherited have clearly bought into his way of thinking and what has impressed me is the way the ones on the fringe of the team have adapted when asked to adapt - Forbes (not played every game but when he appears has been better).

 

He does need to work on an alternative plan for when teams flood the defence and we need to work ourselves in because when they do that (ie at Inverness and St Mirren at home) they forced us into playing either sideway passes or hopeful but hopeless long balls. And whatever you say St Mirren, Inverness, Kilmarnock will still play that way next season especially at Fir Park so he will need to adapt as these type of games have not yielded enough points. Brown was better at digging out results in that sort of game.

 

But I like his ethos, I like his fan centric attitude, I like the formation we play, I like that we try to play football and generally I enjoy what we are trying to do now more than three months ago. Very hopeful he will be good but not signed off as a success yet.

[bladesman]

I have to say that I for one was certainly underwhelmed by McCall's appointment, this being mainly due to his poor track record(and if I'm honest his tenure at Castle Greyskull!), however since taking over I have been impressed by his attacking mentality and his ability to gel the team. Compare the team's style of play in recent weeks with the mind numbing dross we were served up at the end of Brown's reign and I'll take that any day. Noone can deny that inconsistency has always been a problem at Fir Park, and this in the main has been down to a small squad size and not solely the manager's shortcomings. With potentially a top six finish, 2 semis and who knows what else, I'd say that Fir Park could be the place that McCall builds his reputation. And with some of the loyalty he showed at Valley Parade, this MIGHT be the start of something special..... or not.

 

 

[superwell87]

Delighted with what McCall has done so far.

[steelboy]

 

 

The big test for McCall now is to get the team playing with more consistency and more importantly, better motivation in the more 'bread and butter games' against sides of similar stature to ourselves. The performances against St.Mirren, home and away against Killie , Utd away in the SPL, Rangers at Ibrox and Inverness away were simply shocking and cannot be overlooked. However, under McCall's watch we have on the flip side of those debalces turned in some excellent displays so as I said, for that he deserves to be given credit and support.

 

Like I say, jury still out...

 

a wee run through the games you mention.

 

the home game i bolded against killie was a really good performance in flash flood conditions.

 

mccall fucked up at ibrox and tannadice but he's clearly learned from that. 3 at the back won't happen again and when we went back to tannadice in the cup we went with two up front rather than trying to match them in midfield.

 

the st mirren and st johnstone matches were nothing games where we were unlucky. at perth sutty cleared murphy's shot off their line and then they get a strange pen. against midden we were denied a stonewaller on las and higdon's shot bounced over randy. you get shitty games like these every season, sometimes you win (falkirk home oct 09, accies home feb 10), sometimes you lose them (hearts home feb 08, killie april 07).

 

ict away was probably the poorest performance. we went up there thinking we would play a bit of football and outpass them and they completely out fought us and put our defence under a lot of pressure.

 

killie away isn't much to worry about either. we were in control until saunders went off, mccall probably made a mistake by taking hateley out of midfield but i think we would have been up against it either way. look at the team we had out that day, 7 out of 10 outfielders 21 and under. our subs were forbes (21), a clearly unfit jones and casagolda (self explanatory.) is a defeat against a bouyant killie side really that much of a big deal under the circumstances?

 

apparently just listing games we lost is enough to damn a manager. does anyone forsee a season where we don't lose daft games and put in a few shocking performances? mccall has a record of played 19, won 8, drawn 3, lost 8. considering the small, inexperienced squad he is working with it's an extremely solid start and should be enough to keep even the manic depressive squad off his back.

[David]

My opinion upon his arrival was that we should have appointed an interim manager until the end of the season, when there would have been more choice out there.

 

I'm glad to say that I've been proved wrong in thinking we should have done that. I'm thoroughly happy with the job McCall has done thus far.

 

Even as things stand, a semi-final slot and top six is more than enough to keep me happy.

[gordy]

My opinion upon his arrival was that we should have appointed an interim manager until the end of the season, when there would have been more choice out there.

 

I'm glad to say that I've been proved wrong in thinking we should have done that. I'm thoroughly happy with the job McCall has done thus far.

 

Even as things stand, a semi-final slot and top six is more than enough to keep me happy.

 

 

When judas Broon left I thought any body coming in would have a difficult job.

 

I thought the players we had were good but not good enough to get us, (or keep us) in the top six or a Scottish Cup semi final.

 

I know we cannot ignore the bad results, however, the Killie away game for instance had circumstances which would have affected the best teams performance.

 

Lasley (our best player imo), out suspended, Hammell out injured the day before, Jeffers (looks a good signing), injured in the warm up and then Saunders went down injured very early in the game.

I wasn't at Inverness,but heard we were poor, Rangers was a freak result and St Mirren again we did not seem to have a clue.

 

Having said that, McCall was / is trying to change the formation and playing style of the team and it can't happen overnight.

 

What does surprise me is the speed in which this is happening.

 

The game at Dundee, a potential banana skin, was a great performance and result.

The Celtic game at Fir Park, a great performance and result,

Dundee Utd Quarter Final at Tannadice good performance getting a draw after being ahead twice.

The replay at Fir Park was another great performance and result.

Aberdeen game was one that I thought we were going to lose but another solid performance got us the win.

 

The guy has came in, his CV is not impressive but at least he seems to be trying things different and playing players in the right positions always helps.

I slagged Jamie Murphy earlier in the season for his finishing but he is now playing out of his skin as is Sutton, Randolph, Hateley, Saunders, Hammell, Hutchison, Gunning, Craigen, Humphrey, Jennings and Lasley.

The full team are all playing with renewed confidence and energy levels are fantastic.

Jeffers looks to be a very good signing and Mo Ross looked OK on saturday and he is an experienced full back

I am not convinced yet about Casagolda, Jones, Forbes, Page or McHugh but that could be down to game time that these guys have had.

Meechan seems to have fallen out of favour or is he injured?

 

To sum up in my opinion Stuart McCall has came in and taken over a squad which looked stale, he has freshened them up got them playing up tempo crisp passing football, (at times), pressing when we lose the ball and threatening when we have the ball.

I like what he is trying to do and I like the e-mails,

Top six and a scottish cup semi - final, in the words of a 91 legend, "Ya Beezer".

Onwards and upwards boss.

[Stu]

Anyone wanting McCall out after an initial few defeats were silly because he can't be judged fairly on a few games with someone else's squad.

 

Anyone trying to claim McCall is a an excellent manager after a handful of victories is silly because he can't be judged fairly on a few games with someone else's squad.

 

As far as I'm concerned, he's doing very well in the job so far. He does look like he's stabilised us after some traumatic times. His signings so far appear to be very shrewd. Things look promising. It's a credit to him that he appears to have won over a number of our support.

 

However, let's not kid ourselves, if we get beat by St Johnstone, the "McCall Out" thread will be right back in focus...

[CoF]

Canny argue with whats been said so far. Still early days but seems to be on the right track. Aside from the fitba really like the way he conducts himself, there is a clip of him on youtube apologising to Bradford fans after a match and thought that took some guts, not something many managers would do.