fizoxy Posted December 7 Report Share Posted December 7 5 hours ago, wunderwell said: Defensive Midfielder I like a puzzle. Are they currently unattached? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orinoco Posted December 7 Report Share Posted December 7 14 minutes ago, fizoxy said: I like a puzzle. Are they currently unattached? If they were, surely they would have been signed and in training with us. Maybe wee Al Campbell wants to come back. Probably some lad from abroad we have never heard of Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orinoco Posted December 7 Report Share Posted December 7 Or a Carl Mchugh return? You know how we like ex players. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steelman1991 Posted December 7 Report Share Posted December 7 Calum Butcher?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kmcalpin Posted December 8 Report Share Posted December 8 Ally Mauchlen? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dinnae-punt-it Posted December 8 Report Share Posted December 8 Hakeem Odoffin would be my guess as he’s out of contract in the summer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kmcalpin Posted December 8 Report Share Posted December 8 The January window is fast approaching and we will no doubt be fine tuning the squad. Quantity wise, we are fine, but maybe an opportunity to improve the quality? Given that, we'll probably need to ship one or two players out. Who would you move on to clear the decks a wee bit? Johnny Koutroumbis, who appears to be out of favour; Davor likewise; Stuparevic; Tavares send back to Easter Road? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wellfan Posted December 8 Report Share Posted December 8 We do need to move a lot of the dead weight on to free up space to bring in 2-3 players with some quality. I also think there will be a few unjust and surprising contract extensions gifted as well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiderpig Posted December 8 Report Share Posted December 8 21 hours ago, wunderwell said: Defensive Midfielder Is Rodri fed up at Man City given their current form, will he be fit to start in January? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texanwellfan Posted December 8 Report Share Posted December 8 Change Tony’s loan to a signing 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllyMax Posted December 8 Report Share Posted December 8 4 minutes ago, texanwellfan said: Change Tony’s loan to a signing I would expect DU would be keen to get him off their wage bill. Question is, will Tony see sense and sign for us or revert to previous and end up in the Khazakstan Premier Leage on 10K a week ? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewelllfan Posted December 9 Report Share Posted December 9 Koutrombis, Callahan, Taveres would be the 3 I'd be getting rid of 1 of Robinson/Watt/Ebiye but Robinson out for the season I suspect he'll keep the other 2 as cover. We need a holding mid in January. If we keep Slattery and Nicholson fit I think we'll be fine for an attacking midfielder. Wouldn't be surprised to see Lennon go in January as well so if he does we'll need to try replace him as best as we can. Ox/Heygi Mcginn/Balmer Gordon Casey/Blaney Kaleta/SOD Miller/Davor/Halliday/Paton/Slattery/Nicholson/Sparrow/New Cm Wilson/Seddon Watt/Stam/Maswanhise/Ebiye/Robinson Unless he's planning to change shape I don't see us doing a lot of business. Probably end up 8/9th in the league. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuwell2 Posted December 9 Report Share Posted December 9 On 12/8/2024 at 1:33 PM, wellfan said: We do need to move a lot of the dead weight on to free up space to bring in 2-3 players with some quality. I also think there will be a few unjust and surprising contract extensions gifted as well. I’m going to break this down into three parts dead weights, who exactly are you talking about and who can we move them onto? 2-3 players with some quality, do you - or anybody - think the club hasn’t been trying to improve the squad? Sadly over the last couple of seasons any players with some quantity who we could have potentially signed - or retained - all signed to other clubs who can offer better terms like Hearts/Dundee/Dundee Utd/StMirren/Hibs/Kilmarnock. Unjust/surprising/gifted contract extensions? Are you saying that the club and management are handing out money to existing players rather than getting in better players because of favouritism or just too lazy to try and find better players? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wellfan Posted December 9 Report Share Posted December 9 1 hour ago, Stuwell2 said: I’m going to break this down into three parts dead weights, who exactly are you talking about and who can we move them onto? 2-3 players with some quality, do you - or anybody - think the club hasn’t been trying to improve the squad? Sadly over the last couple of seasons any players with some quantity who we could have potentially signed - or retained - all signed to other clubs who can offer better terms like Hearts/Dundee/Dundee Utd/StMirren/Hibs/Kilmarnock. Unjust/surprising/gifted contract extensions? Are you saying that the club and management are handing out money to existing players rather than getting in better players because of favouritism or just too lazy to try and find better players? 1. Koutroumbis, Callachan, Blaney, Davor, Tavares, and Robinson (although now injured so we can’t try to move him on yet). It’s the managers job to wheel and deal both ins and outs when things need to be improved. Not my job. 2. The club has obviously been trying yet often failing to appropriately recruit, which will have resulted in an overspend and bloated squad as the club has had to hurriedly replace the crocks and duds it continues to accumulate. The policy of signing quantity on the cheap and/or projects vs quality in the first instance has proven to be a false economy. 3. Yes, but not because of favouritism or laziness as you put it, but because it’s easier/safer (and stupider) for Kettlewell to extend the likes of Halliday than it is for him to engage his brain and come up with a better system as well as the players required to operate that system. Therefore, I fully expect the likes of Blaney and Halliday and Davor and Robinson etc to be offered new deals when the time comes. Furthermore, perhaps it’s worth considering that our recruitment strategy might just be a bit shit and in need of a new approach. That being the reality would explain a lot of the above. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted December 9 Author Report Share Posted December 9 18 minutes ago, wellfan said: The club has obviously been trying yet often failing to appropriately recruit, which will have resulted in an overspend and bloated squad as the club has had to hurriedly replace the crocks and duds it continues to accumulate. The policy of signing quantity on the cheap and/or projects vs quality in the first instance has proved to be a false economy. It's an approach and model that has us sitting in the top six, currently ahead of two major city clubs and a few others that can afford to outspend us on players. As mentioned in the Kettlewell thread, if we maintain the pace we've set so far, we're likely on track to finish 5th or 6th. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewelllfan Posted December 9 Report Share Posted December 9 28 minutes ago, wellfan said: 1. Koutroumbis, Callachan, Blaney, Davor, Tavares, and Robinson (although now injured so we can’t try to move him on yet). It’s the managers job to wheel and deal both ins and outs when things need to be improved. Not my job. 2. The club has obviously been trying yet often failing to appropriately recruit, which will have resulted in an overspend and bloated squad as the club has had to hurriedly replace the crocks and duds it continues to accumulate. The policy of signing quantity on the cheap and/or projects vs quality in the first instance has proved to be a false economy. 3. Yes, but not because of favouritism or laziness as you put it, but because it’s easier/safer (and stupider) for Kettlewell to extend the likes of Halliday than it is for him to engage his brain and come up with a better system as well as the players required to operate that system. Therefore, I fully expect the likes of Blaney and Halliday and Davor and Robinson etc to be offered new deals when the time comes. Furthermore, perhaps it’s also worth considering that our recruitment strategy might just be a bit shit and in need of a new approach. That being the reality would explain the above. I'm not Kettlewell's biggest fan and don't understand multiple signings we made this summer, Callaham, Taveres, Koutrombis, Stuparevic, Vale to name a few. Our budget massivley limits what quality we can sign, I hardly think the manager and the recruitment team are trying to waste money. On surprising contract extensions. Halliday has started near enough every game so will be given a deal. Davor I can see us letting go. Blaney also probably will be let go unless he performs to the the level he showed yesterday more often. Our recruitment strategy this summer was very different to that of previous. Guys like Koutrombis, Stam, Stuparevic are not your typical Motherwell signing in recent years. For what it's worth I think most of the window was decent. Seddon, Gordon, Watt, Kaleta, Balmer, Stam, Maswanhise all been good signings. Robinson I rate but many in here don't so clearly splits opinion. As I said previously barring a change of shape I can only see 1/2 signings being made and 2/3 being moved on/loaned out. With Lennon probably being likely to move on as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joewarkfanclub Posted December 9 Report Share Posted December 9 As I said elsewhere, Kettlewells strike rate on the recruitment side of things is no worse than most of our managers in my lifetime. It just comes down to the pool we can fish in. We need to find players that are willing to play for what we pay AND come to Motherwell. We can try spending a bit more money to get more quality but our competition in that regard then becomes Hearts, Hibs & Aberdeen instead of Dundee, Killie and St Mirren. Given current league positions there is no guarantee that a change of policy is going to be more successful, and it comes attached with a lot more risk. For me Kettlewells balance sheet this season looks like this Good - Kaleta, Gordon, Seddon, Maswanhise Jurys Still out - Koutroumbis, Balmer, Stama, Watt (although I believe both of them will come good) Injured/Not good enough -Callachan, Robinson, Tavares. Koutroumbis not being given a chance in the last few weeks makes it kinda look like he isnt going to be good enough, but much like the decisions to bench Kaleta and Maswanhise, there could be reasons behind the scenes that the club dont want to go public with, so not gonna write him off without having seen him play. Balmer is probably serviceable but he needs to concentrate on his football instead of getting wound up by the opposition and officials. Given we have Paton, Nicholson, SOD, Slattery, McGinn and Vale all to come back by January, I dont see us really doing a lot of business unless we can identify a holding midfielder and/or a physical target man. It should also be noted the SK has been very good at getting players out the door that werent contributing / part of his plans. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steelman1991 Posted December 9 Report Share Posted December 9 I think I'd be inclined to add Tom Sparrow to the "good" list. He brings a bit of energy to the midfield. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joewarkfanclub Posted December 9 Report Share Posted December 9 1 minute ago, steelman1991 said: I think I'd be inclined to add Tom Sparrow to the "good" list. He brings a bit of energy to the midfield. Oops! Forgot about him! I agree! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smiddy Posted December 9 Report Share Posted December 9 21 hours ago, thewelllfan said: Koutrombis, Callahan, Taveres would be the 3 I'd be getting rid of 1 of Robinson/Watt/Ebiye but Robinson out for the season I suspect he'll keep the other 2 as cover. We need a holding mid in January. If we keep Slattery and Nicholson fit I think we'll be fine for an attacking midfielder. Wouldn't be surprised to see Lennon go in January as well so if he does we'll need to try replace him as best as we can. Ox/Heygi Mcginn/Balmer Gordon Casey/Blaney Kaleta/SOD Miller/Davor/Halliday/Paton/Slattery/Nicholson/New Cm Wilson/Seddon Watt/Stam/Maswanhise/Ebiye/Robinson Unless he's planning to change shape I don't see us doing a lot of business. Probably end up 8/9th in the league. 8/9th. Id settle for that right now👍 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smiddy Posted December 9 Report Share Posted December 9 Oooops i also forgot bout jack vale who i thought was decent last year but depends how he recovers from his injury ( cant remember what it was ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewelllfan Posted December 10 Report Share Posted December 10 4 hours ago, steelman1991 said: I think I'd be inclined to add Tom Sparrow to the "good" list. He brings a bit of energy to the midfield. I also forgot about him but he's been great. Thought he'd be a Parker type signing where he's just been signed to have a longer look at him, but he's been good and we've missed him badly in there in recent weeks 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smiddy Posted December 10 Report Share Posted December 10 12 hours ago, thewelllfan said: I also forgot about him but he's been great. Thought he'd be a Parker type signing where he's just been signed to have a longer look at him, but he's been good and we've missed him badly in there in recent weeks A yaccies fan i work with said he was shite for them , i actually told him he has been decent fir us and he couldnt beleive it ? Said he was mostly a sub with them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joewarkfanclub Posted December 10 Report Share Posted December 10 3 hours ago, smiddy said: A yaccies fan i work with said he was shite for them , i actually told him he has been decent fir us and he couldnt beleive it ? Said he was mostly a sub with them Maybe says more about Accies than Sparrow! 😆😆😆 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stv Posted December 10 Report Share Posted December 10 37 minutes ago, smiddy said: A yaccies fan i work with said he was shite for them , i actually told him he has been decent fir us and he couldnt beleive it ? Said he was mostly a sub with them To be fair he probably plays better on grass than recycled plastic bottles. 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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