The Year in Review 2022 (2)

Summer 2022 arrived with the hope of a return to entertaining football. The new season came with a bumpy start. - External Link

I always take time to read the YTD reviews JWOK.

Interesting the things that are forgotten - then remembered - on reading them. Hat's off to you Sir. :D

Thanks for that and here's to a better 2023.

You look back on a year that saw us finish top six, qualify for and play European football and that sounds a fantastic achievement. But anyone who watched us will know that that only tells part of the story and papers over some massive ever growing cracks.

If anything finishing top 6 and getting Europe is doing us more harm than good because I believe that had we not snatched that last minute equaliser at Livi in April and finished bottom six then Graham Alexander would have been gone at the end of the season and we would then have had time to bring in a new manager who would in turn have the chance to do his own recruiting over the summer. And we would have been spared the absolute embarrassment that was the Sligo Rovers tie.

I don’t know what 2023 will bring, it may well bring relegation, it may not. However if it doesn’t then it will only delay it because we are heading for the lower leagues and it is a matter of when and not if, unless we see a dramatic overhaul at the club, on the park, in the boardroom and in our scouting department and youth development.

We are a rudderless, sinking ship of a club. But hey, “We exist to improve people’s lives”.

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Originally Posted by LawSteelman

You look back on a year that saw us finish top six, qualify for and play European football and that sounds a fantastic achievement. But anyone who watched us will know that that only tells part of the story and papers over some massive ever growing cracks.

If anything finishing top 6 and getting Europe is doing us more harm than good because I believe that had we not snatched that last minute equaliser at Livi in April and finished bottom six then Graham Alexander would have been gone at the end of the season and we would then have had time to bring in a new manager who would in turn have the chance to do his own recruiting over the summer. And we would have been spared the absolute embarrassment that was the Sligo Rovers tie.

I don’t know what 2023 will bring, it may well bring relegation, it may not. However if it doesn’t then it will only delay it because we are heading for the lower leagues and it is a matter of when and not if, unless we see a dramatic overhaul at the club, on the park, in the boardroom and in our scouting department and youth development.

We are a rudderless, sinking ship of a club. But hey, “We exist to improve people’s lives”.

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Yep, pretty much my view also.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LawSteelman

I don’t know what 2023 will bring, it may well bring relegation, it may not. However if it doesn’t then it will only delay it because we are heading for the lower leagues and it is a matter of when and not if ...

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That's absolutely true but it has been true since 1986 and we're still here. It is also currently true for Livingston, St Mirren, Kilmarnock, St Johnstone and Ross County while even Hearts, Hibs and Dundee United have shown they are not immune.

You recently got your wish that the scouting department was changed and the promotion of Hammell and Kerr means you can tick changing youth development as well. Do you really think replacing Burrows and McMahon will dramatically change things (for the better)?

We are - as a club - fundamentally well run despite the inevitable sporting mistakes being made. It doesn't seem like that when the team is rubbish but this is the nature of the professional environment we're in. A good XI shouldn't distract from basic problems (see the Dempster era) and a bad XI shouldn't distract from the fact we're basically solid.

Previous relegation battles were much bigger than this one because they were verging on being existential for us whereas that is now no longer the case. If we get relegated now, we will be angry over summer but fans will rally round and an enthusiastic crowd will be at Fir Park in August hoping to cheer us back up - this is just what football fans do.

And while I'm not one of these people who claims relegation will be good for us - it most definitely won't - a new impetus will almost certainly breathe fresh life into Fir Park. It's not failure which kills clubs our size but apathy and a promotion fight or even the chance to cause a cup 'shock' will definitely avert that for a couple of years.

If we end up going down and staying there for three-plus years then there might be more significant long-term changes a la Falkirk. Could it happen? Of course...but it's such a long way off and would require so many things going against us there is little point in getting overly worked up about it now. St Mirren and St Johnstone were down for years and came back, Livingston returned from the absolute depths - doing a Falkirk isn't impossible but even you have to admit on the balance of probability it's not likely.

So on the basis Motherwell will be here fighting away for us all to moan about in 2023, 2024 and well beyond, it's not so bad, really...happy new year when it comes.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Handsome_Devil

That's absolutely true but it has been true since 1986 and we're still here. It is also currently true for Livingston, St Mirren, Kilmarnock, St Johnstone and Ross County while even Hearts, Hibs and Dundee United have shown they are not immune.

You recently got your wish that the scouting department was changed and the promotion of Hammell and Kerr means you can tick changing youth development as well. Do you really think replacing Burrows and McMahon will dramatically change things (for the better)?

We are - as a club - fundamentally well run despite the inevitable sporting mistakes being made. It doesn't seem like that when the team is rubbish but this is the nature of the professional environment we're in. A good XI shouldn't distract from basic problems (see the Dempster era) and a bad XI shouldn't distract from the fact we're basically solid.

Previous relegation battles were much bigger than this one because they were verging on being existential for us whereas that is now no longer the case. If we get relegated now, we will be angry over summer but fans will rally round and an enthusiastic crowd will be at Fir Park in August hoping to cheer us back up - this is just what football fans do.

And while I'm not one of these people who claims relegation will be good for us - it most definitely won't - a new impetus will almost certainly breathe fresh life into Fir Park. It's not failure which kills clubs our size but apathy and a promotion fight or even the chance to cause a cup 'shock' will definitely avert that for a couple of years.

If we end up going down and staying there for three-plus years then there might be more significant long-term changes a la Falkirk. Could it happen? Of course...but it's such a long way off and would require so many things going against us there is little point in getting overly worked up about it now. St Mirren and St Johnstone were down for years and came back, Livingston returned from the absolute depths - doing a Falkirk isn't impossible but even you have to admit on the balance of probability it's not likely.

So on the basis Motherwell will be here fighting away for us all to moan about in 2023, 2024 and well beyond, it's not so bad, really...happy new year when it comes.

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Good post.

Our recruitment needs to be seriously looked at. We have had a real batch of duds in the last couple of seasons come through the door.

I wasn't impressed by the Hammel appointment but recognise he has been hamstrung by the aforementioned duds.

I suspect we will narrowly avoid relegation, maybe through the play offs. That will give H two transfer windows to sort things out and then we will see what comes out of it.

Ahh ... so we've finally found out who 'H' really is. Martin Compston n Vicki McClure will be relieved 👍