This is an excerpt from this week's Claret and Amber Alert, a free Motherwell newsletter written by Graeme McGarry that goes out every Thursday at 6pm. To sign up, click here.
I know we shouldn’t read too much into pre-season friendlies, and had Motherwell been roundly cuffed by FC Twente and struggled to beat D.S.V.D. (who I can only assume play in the Carluke & District Sunday League), then I would likely be saying just that.
But they didn’t. A very creditable 2-2 draw against the side that finished third in the Eredivisie last season and made the Champions League qualifiers as a result, followed up by an eight-goal thumping of the Dutch Dog & Duck (De Hond en Eend?) has me firmly on the hype train ahead of the new campaign.
On the face of it, Stuart Kettlewell and Brian Caldwell have done a bang-up job of getting the vast majority of the club’s transfer business done early in the window, and more than a few of the new boys look promising. But it is a man who was already in-situ at Fir Park who perhaps caught the eye the most.
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That man is Moses Ebiye, who followed up his brilliant, opportunistic finish from the halfway line against FC Twente with a brace against D.S.V.D.
I will admit to a vested interest here, as the opportunity to work as many references as possible to the big man 'parting defences like the red sea' into my match reports is a tempting one.
And again, the caveat about pre-season friendlies has to be applied, yadda yadda yadda, but I just wonder if the answer to the hole that will be left in the Motherwell attack due to the probable departure of Theo Bair is already within the squad.
Ebiye has gone under the radar since arriving at Fir Park in March as a free agent, a late arrival after the expiry of his contract with Aalesund. His game-time has been limited, partly because Bair was undroppable in that period and partly because he wasn’t quite up to full speed after a couple of months out of the game.
In his six substitute appearances though, totalling just 75 minutes of actual game-time, he managed to bag two goals: the brilliant half-volley finish at Dens Park that kept the top-six battle bubbling along to the final week before the split, and the late goal against St Johnstone in the 2-1 defeat towards the end of the campaign.
He has looked a little rough round the edges at times, granted, but that is a more than decent return across a very limited sample.
It is right then to be intrigued by just what Ebiye can produce with a full pre-season behind him, and now that he has had time to get a taste of the league, the environment, and had a chance to digest just what the manager wants from him.
The Motherwell attack is something of an unknown proposition at the minute for next term. We have an idea of what Zach Robinson can do after his largely successful spells at Dundee, and given what Kettlewell has said about the qualities of Filip Stuparevic – that he has flair, but also a great work ethic – then it appears on the face of it that Motherwell might have quite a potent mix up top. Even if Bair does move on.
Scoring goals wasn’t really the issue last season, of course. Motherwell were the third-highest scorers in the league, so the problems clearly lay at the other end. Issues that Kettlewell has moved to address, and that we will look into in more detail in the coming weeks.
But with the departure of Blair Spittal and most likely Bair, it is encouraging to see that there might well still be some real firepower in the ranks.
I just have a sneaky feeling that Ebiye might be the ace in the pack, and that he might enjoy the same sort of breakthrough season that Bair did last time out. Here’s hoping.
A couple of goals against Livi on Saturday and I’ll have him down as the second coming of Tommy Coyne, never mind Bair. (Steady on now – Ed.)
AND ANOTHER THING…
It was a real pleasure to speak to ‘Well Society board member Sean Baillie during the week after the release of their 28-page document, ‘Our Club, Our Future: Our plan for growth for Motherwell Football Club and The ‘Well Society’.
Wherever you stand on the Wild Sheep investment debate, what cannot be denied is that this was an exhaustive piece of work that set out ambitious, but realistic and attainable, goals for the club to work towards under the current fan ownership model.
The enthusiasm from Sean was evident throughout our chat, but I suspect what will have soothed the minds of some who doubt the ‘Well Society’s ability to take the club forward will have been the depth of expertise that they have tapped into, and will continue to, to ensure the best possible future for the club.
It is now over to Erik Barmack to lay out his own plan and vision, which he has said he will do in the coming days, prior to the voting period kicking off on July 8th.
I think, either way, both parties here want what is best for Motherwell, and the ‘Well Society have certainly done their part in laying out the path they feel is best to follow in order to achieve that goal.
