Alexander.

[ppower]

1 win from the last 15. Scraping into the top six with a ping pong goal in added on time.  If there are not questions from the board about the performance then it is them that should resign.  I don't think he has put out the same team twice.  Guys play okay and are dropped to the bench, others have a nightmare and play in the next game. I am not for dropping players willy nilly but there is no consistency in what be does regarding team selection. We have about 6 players worth the keeping.  If he is sacked or he walks Motherwells first port of call should be to Paul Hartley.  Knows the Scottish game inside out and has achieved minor miracles.  He has taken Cove Rangers from League 2 to the Championship in 3 seasons.  Hartley led Alloa Athletic from League Two to the Championship in his first managerial job, before taking Dundee up and into the Premiership’s top six.  Ok he is operating with a part time team at a low level.  His team are always in the front foot scoring 73 goals in 36 games. By contrast we have managed 39 goals in 35 matches.  I am tired of us going for managers who have not a clue about Scottish football and continually trawl the lower leagues in England and with Robinson Ireland for players without scouting what is outside their front door.

[fizoxy]

Hiya Paul

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

[prideoflanarkshire]

2 hours ago, Yodo said:

Board meeting at 7 

Not at Fir Park. All locked up

[steelboy]

5 minutes ago, fizoxy said:

Hiya Paul

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk
 

More likely Hiya Gordon. 

[smiddy]

20 minutes ago, grizzlyg said:

Spelling is bang on  b o b b y     lol

see grizzly a new a was good at england in skool

[smiddy]

16 minutes ago, ppower said:

1 win from the last 15. Scraping into the top six with a ping pong goal in added on time.  If there are not questions from the board about the performance then it is them that should resign.  I don't think he has put out the same team twice.  Guys play okay and are dropped to the bench, others have a nightmare and play in the next game. I am not for dropping players willy nilly but there is no consistency in what be does regarding team selection. We have about 6 players worth the keeping.  If he is sacked or he walks Motherwells first port of call should be to Paul Hartley.  Knows the Scottish game inside out and has achieved minor miracles.  He has taken Cove Rangers from League 2 to the Championship in 3 seasons.  Hartley led Alloa Athletic from League Two to the Championship in his first managerial job, before taking Dundee up and into the Premiership’s top six.  Ok he is operating with a part time team at a low level.  His team are always in the front foot scoring 73 goals in 36 games. By contrast we have managed 39 goals in 35 matches.  I am tired of us going for managers who have not a clue about Scottish football and continually trawl the lower leagues in England and with Robinson Ireland for players without scouting what is outside their front door.

ffs naw that would mean bringing back craig broons flunky       YOUNGY 

[smiddy]

13 minutes ago, prideoflanarkshire said:

Not at Fir Park. All locked up

the board meeting is in tim hortons                  or the villa connection           or mc  Doo Doos

[grizzlyg]

21 minutes ago, smiddy said:

see grizzly a new a was good at england in skool

love it

[grizzlyg]

1 hour ago, smiddy said:

see grizzly a new a was good at england in skool

I was good at history.......or was I?.......so long ago  

[joewarkfanclub]

11 hours ago, David said:

One thing that's worth considering, although I'm perfectly aware that certain people won't, is the Covid situation up until recently.

At the start of the season, Alexander and other managers mentioned the fact that they suddenly had to increase the size of their squads due to the rules around Covid. This didn't mean they had a larger budget to play with though. They found themselves in a position where they had to stretch their current budget to incorporate another load of players who would act as cover if there was an outbreak and players were ruled out due to isolating and suchlike.

The fact that virtually every team outside the top three has been playing like they don't know what a football looks like tells us something. If it was just us, we could point at the manager and ask the question of why all the other clubs are coping fine. But it isn't. It's every club almost. 

So in short, we're probably sitting with a squad a good bit larger than that Alexander would have wanted, and due to that we've had to stretch our budget to accommodate that. 

I imagine that the likes of Victor Nirennold, Justin Amaluzor etc will all quietly disappear. 

Hopefully we see the club take the wages that were spent on the larger squad for Covid purposes condensed and used to bring in quality over quantity this season. 

For me, Alexander deserves immense credit for not only saving us from the relegation mire we faced when Robinson left, but he also navigated the incredibly tricky waters of a season where Covid was wreaking havoc with our game and ensured we not only avoided relegation, but that we're going to secure 6th place at the very least, and the bump in money that finishing 6th over 7th, 8th, or 9th provides. 

With that said, the reset button is hit come the end of the season. He knows what needs to be done to get us back on track, and it's on him to do it. He's got a summer transfer window where he can bring in players based purely on his desire for them to be in his team and not based on needing extra bodies for Covid emergencies, and if we're still playing shit and we're down near 10th come October or November, he'll be facing the sack like any other manager would.

But, let's not kid ourselves on that we're going to start playing like Man City. We all knew what Alexander's teams were like when he came into the job, and more importantly, so did the board. That they hired him in the first place tells you that they place results over entertainment, so we shouldn't expect them to bin the guy due to him not playing entertaining football.

Gary Neville got rid of Alexander at Salford looking for something more easy on the eye, and has since admitted he got it wrong:

"Last season, to be fair, Graham Alexander should have never left this club last season. I should have never made that decision that I made."

And for those claiming Alexander is clueless or a total mug, his record in management doesn't suggest that to be the case at all:

Fleetwood Town - Won promotion via the playoffs in his second season

Scunthorpe United - Took them to the playoffs and narrowly missed out to Millwall, who were promoted to the Championship

Salford City - Won promotion to League Two in his first season, got to the final of the EFL trophy which wasn't played due to Covid.

He knows what he's doing. It may not be pretty on the eye, but he's got a history of getting results and accomplishing what he's hired to do. 

Aye.  Fair point.

[real dosser]

Not impressed with what I am seeing at present but I think we should step back a little and look at this season as a whole. Alexander said he wanted a smaller squad and that went out the window due to Covid meaning we had to expand the squad to cover illness and isolating. He had no extra money for that so we ended up with some inferior players just to make up the numbers.

We could have played some of the younger guys coming through the system but again because of Covid  there is nowhere for the guys below the first team to play and be assessed by the club. In order to give some of the prospects some game time they were sent out on loan to lesser teams where the would get some experience e.g O'Connor at QOS who seems to be doing all right from what I've read.

Up until the split at Christmas we were doing OK  then the wheels fell off and we have been dire since then but that applies to everyone except the gruesome twosome, Hearts and Ross County.  Every  team in the league has been dire and some have made the change that folk on here are asking  us to do. It ain't worked at Hibs or Aberdeen so I think we should be careful what we wish for at present.

[Great Balls of Shire]

15 hours ago, fizoxy said:

Some valid points, but where did the losing the dressing room chat come from? It looks like the players are following instructions, as we know they wouldn't be in the lineup otherwise. On Saturday during a break in the game, Slattery and Alexander had a lengthy discussion and seemed to be in agreement about whatever it was, are they just playing nice in public for the kids?

We lost one prima donna and two jobbers to PCAs, it's hardly a players revolt.

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk
 

its a well worn cliche when things aren't going well to say " list the dressing room" ....fits the narrative. 

an earlier poster also mentioned about going for coffee in West end of Glasgow...big deal , they can do what they like in time off.

Also their comments  re Saturday game, that wasn't the problem,  by and large we played that one well 

[Great Balls of Shire]

13 hours ago, El Grew said:

Like many others, I’ve been a critic of our present players and manager however I’ve reviewed how our club has performed in the league since I became a fan in the mid-1960s. 

Now I know folk get switched-off by statistics but in Scottish football especially, they are an indisputable representation of past performance and a strong indicator as to future performance.

Since I started supporting the ‘Well the accepted wisdom was that our city clubs dominated the league and always would.  As a demonstration of this, since season 1960/61, only 1 non-city club has won the league.

If this accepted wisdom prevailed, and I accept it hasn’t always, then the best we could hope for was to finish 7th and if we bettered this, it would be considered a good season.  Since season 1960/61 and including this season but excluding seasons when we were relegated, we have finished higher than 7th place 20 times. That’s 20 from 62 seasons or just over 32%.  I don’t have statistics for the other non-city clubs so I’m unable to say how that compares with them but I’d be willing to bet it must be close to being the best of the rest.

I certainly do not enjoy watching the football we are serving up at present, however upon reflecting on the above review, I think perhaps my criticism has been a little over the top and that I should put things into perspective.  Others may and likely will disagree but then that’s democracy and we are all ‘Well supporters.

Great Post and some perspective 

[grizzlyg]

My opinion  of him hasn't changed but you know what today is not the day for that . It's about having only my 2nd Saturday night this year where I can celebrate a league win and share loads of jokes with Mrs grizzly.....(as she gets stuck into a bottle of prosecco to numb the pain)  lol......enjoy yer night folks....COYW

[Yodo]

Doesn’t change a thing he has to go for the benefit of the club 

[Ped_MFC]

He's only going to leave if he decides he wants to.

[Ya Bezzer!]

First of all pretty much every club that replaced a manager this season went backwards or at least didn't improve any - Aberdeen, Hibs, Dundee, St. Mirren.  You could even argue Rangers went backwards, at least in terms of their league challenge when Gerard left.

The idea that you replace the manager and things get better just doesn't stand up.  The context of the Scottish league is such that the major problems for any manager don't actually change any by replacing one for another, especially when the main thread of criticism is 'better style of football'.  The players just aren't there to play good football.  Across the league we export anyone with a hint of talent almost immediately.  Season after season after season of sold off talent is why we are where we are.  At Motherwell and pretty much across Scotland.  Only Rangers and Celtic have the millions to replace who they sell.

Secondly if you look at the clubs that actually got top 6, they were all managers that were supported by their clubs through quite severe criticism from fans that, quite frankly, often are more concerned about cathartic output than level headed analysis.

Hearts fans were desperate for Robbie Neilson to start badly this term so they could continue their Jettison The Manager campaign.  Ross County waited till round 11 of the season before they got a win, Dundee Utd had the second worst run of defeats (6) and had a run of 2 wins in 16 mid season.  Yet by sticking by the manager they all achieved top 6 finishes.

Meanwhile, outside the Top 6, Hibs and their clown owner fired two managers and are currently 8th in the league on a run of 2 wins in 16.  The same record Aberdeen currently have although they are even more lowly in 10th.   Dundee sacked a manager and haven't won a game since, while St Johnstone stuck with Davidson, despite 8 losses in a row (the worst run of any team this season) and they might well survive.  Certainly they have a better chance.

I've been arguing for year and years about the steep decline of Scottish football.  When we do relatively well people don't want to hear because they feel it is a sort of attack on the achievements of the team.  When we do poorly folk make the usual reflex kick at the managers and pile 25 years of game wide mismanagement across Scottish football on a provincial coach a season and a half in.

It's time supporters start actually talking a wider view on the poor standards of Scottish football.  Every single manager in this league, newly appointed or not, is swimming against a tide of decline decades old.

 

[MJC]

7 minutes ago, Ped_MFC said:

He's only going to leave if he decides he wants to.

Yeah regardless of whatever side of the ‘Alexander Out’ debate you sit on, he will not be sacked any time soon. We are never in a million years going to sack a manager who has got us a top six finish and the potential for European qualification. You can argue, justifiably so IMO, that that does nothing more than paper over ever growing cracks but the reality is GA is going nowhere and we need to accept that.

Personally what I am pinning my (faint) hopes on is that somehow after a good summer and pre-season we can get some better fare next season, both with performances and consistency. 

[Yorkyred]

1 hour ago, Yodo said:

Doesn’t change a thing he has to go for the benefit of the club 

It’s no longer a conversation after today in my view Yodo,  not that I thought there was a chance of him leaving anyway.

[Yorkyred]

11 minutes ago, Ya Bezzer! said:

First of all pretty much every club that replaced a manager this season went backwards or at least didn't improve any - Aberdeen, Hibs, Dundee, St. Mirren.  You could even argue Rangers went backwards, at least in terms of their league challenge when Gerard left.

The idea that you replace the manager and things get better just doesn't stand up.  The context of the Scottish league is such that the major problems for any manager don't actually change any by replacing one for another, especially when the main thread of criticism is 'better style of football'.  The players just aren't there to play good football.  Across the league we export anyone with a hint of talent almost immediately.  Season after season after season of sold off talent is why we are where we are.  At Motherwell and pretty much across Scotland.  Only Rangers and Celtic have the millions to replace who they sell.

Secondly if you look at the clubs that actually got top 6, they were all managers that were supported by their clubs through quite severe criticism from fans that, quite frankly, often are more concerned about cathartic output than level headed analysis.

Hearts fans were desperate for Robbie Neilson to start badly this term so they could continue their Jettison The Manager campaign.  Ross County waited till round 11 of the season before they got a win, Dundee Utd had the second worst run of defeats (6) and had a run of 2 wins in 16 mid season.  Yet by sticking by the manager they all achieved top 6 finishes.

Meanwhile, outside the Top 6, Hibs and their clown owner fired two managers and are currently 8th in the league on a run of 2 wins in 16.  The same record Aberdeen currently have although they are even more lowly in 10th.   Dundee sacked a manager and haven't won a game since, while St Johnstone stuck with Davidson, despite 8 losses in a row (the worst run of any team this season) and they might well survive.  Certainly they have a better chance.

I've been arguing for year and years about the steep decline of Scottish football.  When we do relatively well people don't want to hear because they feel it is a sort of attack on the achievements of the team.  When we do poorly folk make the usual reflex kick at the managers and pile 25 years of game wide mismanagement across Scottish football on a provincial coach a season and a half in.

It's time supporters start actually talking a wider view on the poor standards of Scottish football.  Every single manager in this league, newly appointed or not, is swimming against a tide of decline decades old.

 

My views exactly from start to finish, many supporters are still not seeing the real picture, it’s not the managers.

[Spiderpig]

1 hour ago, Yodo said:

Doesn’t change a thing he has to go for the benefit of the club 

What benefit will the club get if they sack him then?

[Yodo]

4 minutes ago, Spiderpig said:

What benefit will the club get if they sack him then?

You been going around wae yer eyes shut 

[Ya Bezzer!]

1 minute ago, Yodo said:

You been going around wae yer eyes shut 

You could have answered the question.

[Spiderpig]

8 minutes ago, Yodo said:

You been going around wae yer eyes shut 

So what benefit will the club get then ? Or is it just your usual shite patter with nothing constructive to back it up 

[joewarkfanclub]

Ya Bezzer makes a fair point, and its that kind of realism that has kept me from calling for the managers head despite the atrociously poor fayre we have had to endure this season and the very poor run since xmas.

All that said, there are some things to like about this team. They definitely do appear to have a certain mental strength about them. Numerous times this season we have gone behind and come back to snatch points that appeared gone.

There were certainly some games in the first half of the season when we won games by the sheer force of willpower. That level of grit and determination forged a pretty strong bond between the fans the players and the manager early on in the season. Its a shame it was mostly undone in the second half.

The last few weeks though I have seen hints of a change of attitude from Alexander in respect our style of play. We played a lot more thru the midfield last week and the little bits I saw today seemed to be the same. That is encouraging, and with some of the things he has said in interviews this week it it clear he knows fine well what we have all been saying and appears he seems minded to address it.

Thats all I needed to see and hear. If it continues for the final 2 games and there is a clear plan in place to improve the squad for hopefully a tilt at europe, then he will have earned my respect back and the right to go into next season with my full support.