Editorial
EDITORIAL
Unfortunately this edition had been sent to the printers before we heard of the departure of Alex McLeish to Hibs, and the arrival of whoever is our manager today. But I have been lucky enough to update this prior to the Rangers game and the appointment of our new manager. My first reaction was that I was not disappointed, or even surprised, that he had decided to leave, I had long had the belief that he would jump ship at the first offer! Otherwise why would he even have the clause built into the contract which allowed Hibs to get him so easy this time.
If we look at the legacy of his reign it is not really much to write home about! He took over a side which had finished third in the League and took them to 2nd the following season – without actually changing anything! His other two full seasons have seen us finish 8th and only survive in all honesty because there was always teams who were even poorer than us – Thistle, Falkirk and Raith! This season we are 9th mainly as a result of Hibs being a side in disarray and lacking direction.
The team itself is full of players nearing the end of their careers, Arnott, Coyne, Martin, Philliben, Davies, Weir etc. Ironically 5 out this 6 was the backbone of the side handed to him by McLean, we wrote then that they needed to have replacements lined up in the next couple of years – three and a half years on we are still relying on them! This is also an indictment on McLeish’s dealings in the transfer market – May, McSkimming, Hendry, Roddie etc – enough said. Young players have never been encouraged as they appear to be dropped as soon as they make one mistake.
Too many players during his time as boss have been guaranteed their first team place no matter how little they did week in week out! We all know who they are, they probably do to. Never mind dropping them, many of them also appeared to know that they would never be substituted either.
His last game in charge at Tannadice summed much of this up in one game;
Eddie May played at Centre Back, a position I have never heard of him play before! But this is with a centre half at right back and one on the bench
Arnott was replaced in the second half by McMillan, and Falconer put up front!! Dougie was at least giving 100% - why not make a straight swap of McMillan for Falconer
When we went 0-1 down, there appeared to be an acceptance that nothing could be done, as he was left with only Big Softie was left on the bench. There was NO attempt to change things.
Lets hope that he takes much of this tactical genius to Easter Rd. with him, and hopefully we’ll have our first win there in a long time! I can’t see what Hibs have seen in him, having already been bitten by hiring another of the “Fine Young Coaches” when they hired Duffy. All we need to worry about now is the success of our new manager ___________(insert name as required!)
Having questioned Alex’s football ability above I would like to conclude this piece by praising him for his PR skills. He raised the profile of the club on TV and Radio through his openness and honesty. I found this to be true when he spent time with me in April last year to explain his philosophy and football direction. Then again when he spoke to me after the recording of “What’s the Score” programme for the BBC, even taking time to comment on my haircut!!
Lets hope that our new manager gets the full backing of the Board that Alex never seemed to have in recent times. It would appear that the speed of his departure confirmed the belief that many had that Mr. Dickie was not his biggest fan, based upon his comments on Friday Sportscene in October. If he doesn’t we will continaully be “Waiting for the Great Leap Forward”
Remember no matter who the manager is we are still Motherwell supporters and should continue to give the team our 100% backing.
Graham Barnstaple
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