Season starts at Perth

Jim Gannon
By grabar
August 13 2009

Motherwell start their SPL campaign at St. Johnstone on Saturday with a side unrecognisable from last season.

Jim Gannon has been forced to build a whole new side after Mark McGhee had allowed the squad to become depleted before he left.

So far he has managed to bring in five players, with Ruddy, Jennings, Humphrey and Coke already featuring in the Europa League, while Gannon has snapped up Tom Hately from Reading (yes he is the son of Mark Hately).

This added to the emergence of youngsters Ross Forbes, Shaun Hutchinson, Paul Slane and Jamie Murphy has also complemented the squad.

The players go into Saturday's game at Perth with six comeptitive games behind them thanks to the European exploits. The Saints have had one competitive game, v Stenhousemuir in the CIS Cup. Jim Gannon took in this game as well as the friendly against Burnley last Saturday.

As a result he is expecting a tough game, particularly as they will be presented with the First Div Flag.

The best I think we can achieve will be a draw and I am sure that many Well fans will be happy with that given the turmoil over the summer.