Jim Gannon to be named as Motherwell manager

Certainly as a manager he seems to tick the boxes we need. His first position, after a rather undistinguised playing career, was at Dundalk in Ireland but he became noticed for his excellent work at Stockport County.

The probable next Motherwell manager

In 2006 he saved the team from relegation from the Football League having taken over when they were several points adrift and in his first full season in charge they only missed out on the play-offs on goal difference. The following year brought promotion through the play-offs and then he successfully consolidated in the higher league before leaving Edgely Park for financial reasons.

He has experience working on a tight budget and seems, as far as can be told from his time at Stockport, to be skillful in developing the youth system we live on and prefers playing football on the ground. He will definitely need to bring in new players soon to help fill out our threadbare squad but with money probably coming in for Clarkson, there should be some resources there.

There remains the slight chance contract negotiations between the board and Gannon will not prove successful and that would leave us in a bad position. Let us hope the club has not been too hasty with this announcement and we do not live to regret it.