Reasons To Be Cheerful
So another plan to attract more fans has failed. With crowds falling during a record period of investment, you could forgive John Boyle for considering it easier to entice a herd of cows to a disused airfield than Motherwell's latent fans to Fir Park more regularly. Having witnessed more departures than Glasgow Airport in the last few months, they are hardly likely to rush back as we play out the rest of the season against the SPL's diddy teams (apart from Rangers). And in all the false dawns that have worn us down over the years, the promise of spending money to try and make Motherwell Scotland's 3rd team, so quickly followed by a mass exodus of our most important players encouraged a gloom that needs little encouragement. At least in the past, when players such as McClair, Walker and O'Donnell were sold and then proclaimed their lifelong love for the club they'd just signed for, we could get angry about the betrayal. We could console ourselves with the knowledge that we were the good guys, we knew what loyalty really meant. We knew that soon enough we'd get the chance to revel in the moment when Motherwell turned over our departed stars' beloved new club. It's hard to feel anything but resignation when three of your best players sign for Wigan Athletic, a club famous for not being as popular as the town's rugby team.
But being both a pessimist and a 'Well fan offers about as sensible a pastime as being a kamikaze bomber. So are there any reasons for optimism? After the apparent backward step in recent months that elusive Great Leap Forward looks even more distant. But is it all that bad?
Hopefully, with nothing left to play for, Billy Davies will have taken the chance to blood the most promising youngsters at the club. Some performances this season by the likes of Wood, McFadden, Ramsey and Lasley have been encouraging. Everyone buying this fanzine knows that young players need encouragement. They also need games. Aberdeen seem recently to have benefited from putting a group of young players into their team a year or two ago and coaching them through the difficult period of adjustment. This is the perfect opportunity when there's relatively little pressure. Of course for every Phil O'Donnell there's a Neil Candlish, a Stevie Bryce, an Innes Ritchie and many others who fail to realise their potential. But if we don't give them a decent chance we'll never know. Hopefully the gap in youth development created by the vision-less Mcleish era has passed. A lot of the cash that Mr Boyle has ploughed into the club has gone into that sphere.
Reasons to be cheerful no.2: at least the players we've brought in have international backgrounds. Chiba and Okoli, though I've only seen them once when I write this, look reasonable. There's no point filling your team with mediocre foreigners, but players of quality can pass on their experience and good habits, like Luc and Mio.
Thirdly, did we actually spend that much of the £9m on players? A lot went in to the youth system and the stadium. After the purchases of Spencer and Brannan, Billy Davies has spent not much more than £1/2m. That poor cash strapped "manager with great potential, Charlie" managed to dwindle away about £2.5m without much of a return after O'Donnell left. Disregarding the injury situation this season there has been improvement - McLeish dismantled a good team and the fare at Fir Park got steadily worse. Okay, an unprecedented amount of money has gone on wages, but high wages haven't necessarily brought top performances. Out of the top earners Goram was injured half the time, Goodman's work rate, if not his hairstyle, can be replaced, Brannan went missing too often, and Spencer, although brilliant at times, hardly yielded a particularly high return of goals. Provided the manager spends his money wisely, we can replace these players without spending too much.
So we didn't spend that much on players. We have even less to spend now then? Perhaps, but being forced to search for talent and trade in the transfer market can do more good than harm. I'm sure Tommy McLean achieved what he did at Motherwell because financial constraints meant he had to spot potential where others might not. Being a coach is about doing just that - coaching, improving, moulding players into a team. Davies has three years experience and will benefit from Philiben and Krivokapic's input. He talks sense, and doesn't make excuses for players like others. He has taken some stick for his tactics but knowledge comes from experience, and he was always one of the more tactically aware players: he always went looking for the ball and made space, and tried to find team-mates when others were hiding during the tactically inept McLeish reign. He also tries to play attacking football, which takes a lot more nous than sticking men behind the ball. He's bound to make mistakes but McLean's astuteness in the transfer market wasn't immediate. Remember Gardiner, Reilly, Kinnaird? But he went on to get the best out of players who no-one else would gamble on, such as Lambert, McKinnon and Martin, and helped turn them into internationals, and unearthed others like Nijholt and Dykstra.
And surely it's more satisfying to watch a team grow, to see players develop, to revel in a team spirit that comes from more than nights out at Chinese restaurants, that comes from playing together for years, and having a bond with the fans. Crowds have risen at Fir Park, after 1989 when the team started playing some really attractive football. I remember when 3000 was a healthy gate in the mid-80s. So we can attract more fans - the away support in McLean's last season shows we have got a base to work on. And we don't have to spend outwith our means to do so - the cup-winning team included guys like Griffin, McCart, Boyd, Arnott, who had been around for years - that was part of what made it so special. The 1994 team that challenged Rangers had been slowly built up.
Indeed surely it's better to do it this way? Perhaps the reason we've become such a critical bunch is because we are exactly that - critics. We turn up to see guys being overpaid to play in the Claret & Amber. We know they're earning a fortune - so we naturally moan at the first sign of underachievement. I, for one, am looking forward to watching Billy Davies building up a team, getting the time to do so, and hoping that he moulds them into a successful one. Being a fan is all about identifying with the players on the park - watching their progress gives you a sense of pride when they do achieve. Perhaps we can once again be supporters, who continually back, instead of barrack the team, as a few are wont to do. And I happen to believe that we are on the verge of building a decent side, and hopefully being a Motherwell fan can be fun again.
Well, I've convinced myself anyway. Let's hope the team can convince a few more over the next season or two. Come on ye Well!
by Gavin McCafferty
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