Football Season Guide

Motherwell endured a frustrating 2023/24 campaign in which a long winless run – during which they suffered tremendous bad luck – condemned them to the lower half of the table. They admirably struck by manager Stewart Kettlewell and easily avoided any significant relegation battle. Home form was a weakness last term they will look to address this time around. Even when they performed well towards the end of the season, four of their last five victories came on their travels. A poor Fir Park pitch may not have helped in this matter. What was apparent, though, was that they simply conceded too many goals. Indeed, their tally of 56 scored ranked this in the league behind only Rangers and Celtic (albeit 10 of these came after the split and were thereafter against the weaker teams). They face a challenge to replace much of their attacking corps. Top scorer Theo Bair, who exceeded expectations enormously, has departed to Auxerre in France, while they have also lost the creative force of Blair Spittal in midfield (he scored seven and created nine last season) and the experience of Liam Kelly in goal. These are three notable blows to the spine of the team. In has come Zach Robinson, who scored only three times for Dundee last season. He is the only familiar new face in attack, with Apostolos Stamatelopoulos joining from Australian football and Filip Stuparevic arriving from Slovakia. Motherwell’s offensive recruitment last season, though, was on point. Similarly, Motherwell have raided English youth teams for several new signings; all are unlikely to prove hits. There are some more familiar faces they will be able to lean on. Liam Gordon and Andy Halliday join from St Johnstone and Hearts respectively and should be solid additions to the team, while Ross Callachan comes from Ross County having missed much of last season injured. Well have benefitted from the League Cup. It has given them time to gel in a competitive environment, with their results steady against weak opponents. Hitting the ground running in the league will, however, be tough.