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Penalty incident aside, some of our supporters really need a reality check. JBA has given us a team to be exceptionally proud of, regardless of how it ends. We outplayed a Celtic team for large parts of last night's contest - and this is a team chasing a title. Celtic's first goal was simply a moment of good fortune and an exceptional finish. The second was wonder strike. Yes, the season has not ended how we hoped and yes we may not get European football, but please look at the bigger picture. A squad that now has several very valuable assets - not all will be sold in the summer, but those who do go should fetch a more than decent fee, securing not only our short-term, but long-term future. A brand of football that many in the league envy - and so far distanced from what's been served up over the past few seasons. Crowds on the rise and a proper connection between club and its supporters. All of the above forms a very solid foundation and while JBA will be a wanted man, he will depart with us in good health both on and off the field, so much so we could entice some real managerial talent. Look at others in and around us. Hibernian may yet get fourth, but financially they are in a mess. Falkirk will be under pressure to repeat their efforts this season, and will likely have to do so losing one or two vital players from their squad. Aberdeen are in transition - a bloated squad full of under-achievers on big wages. Dundee, Dundee Utd and Kilmarnock will all undergo a turnover of players this summer, as will St Mirren should they stay up. St Johnstone have momentum and should compete, but for them consolidation will be the main aim. We have a wonderful opportunity to build on the foundations of this season. There is money in the bank, with more coming. European football would be an attractive proposition for any targets, but I don't think it's a deal breaker. JBA will have learned a lot from these last couple of months. Injuries haven't helped, and neither has a few players having a dip in form at an important stage of the season, but when you play all season at the intensity JBA wants, it's only natural some players will begin to feel the effects. A top six finish, a cup semi-final, challenging for European football - all of us would have bitten a hand off if this scenario had been offered to us before the season started. I think back to all the supporters at the start of the season who were critical of this style of play and how it would never work. Time and patience is in short supply in modern football, but for those who can't see what's being built then I feel sorry for you.

Special mention to MJC for his 36 “bookmark this” defeat predictions this season. That type of positivity has spurred the boys on to European qualification 👍

On a lighter note, I just saw a picture of our disabled section the other night and they have a banner saying “sit down and sing for Motherwell” kudos to them, outstanding banner 👍

I thought Motherwell were fantastic tonight. Really, really unlucky in key moments of the game but the travesty of the penalty aside, it is equally a travesty if we as Motherwell fans cannot appreciate that performance tonight That team did not bottle it tonight. They were the better side in almost every aspect of the game and but for two moments of real quality from Maeda and Nygren they would have won the match.

The votes have been counted, and the 2025-26 SteelmenOnline is... Elijah finished 10 points ahead of a congested pack, reflective of so many great performances this season. As always, the scoring system each match was 3 points for 1st, 2 points for 2nd, 1 point for 3rd. Elliot Watt and Stephen Welsh finished joint second on 33 points. Lukas Fadinger was squeezed into 3rd (or 4th depending on your arithmetical preference) by 1 point, ending with a total of 32. SOD finished on 29 and Slatts on 27. Complete list of players who scored at least a point: Thanks for voting!

Former Fir Park favourite Liam Polworth has signed a PCA with Livingston. Perhaps his good lady will enjoy the retail facilities on offer there.

O’Neill has always been a nasty piece of work. Don’t let his doddery auld man act fool you, he has always been able to appeal to the worst element of Celtic’s support. He did it years ago when he was there first time around and he is doing it again with his comments about the penalty against us and the behaviour of their support last week. Deflect, deny and lie through your teeth. That is the Glasgow Celtic way and O’Neill is an absolute master of it all.

I just wish people would stop all this pish about Watt going to Rangers and Just and the manager going to Celtic. The two players are under contract, and if they go anywhere, it's because the price is right for MFC. Let's just wait and see what the outcome is. Whatever way it's got to suit Motherwell.

Absolutely rotten post. The guys have done their all in the last two games and played their hearts out (pardon the pun) against two teams going for the title. This isn't a Motherwell 0-4 in previous seasons in similar circumstances. Woeful post.

Keep taking yer meds

Clarke definitely took a shambles of a Scotland outfit and turned it around into a team that was difficult to beat and that the players wanted to part of. And no doubt he did well to qualify for our first Euros. The way we performed in those finals was embarrassing and 100% down to his tactics. I would have punted him then, but was prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt given it was our first Finals in 200 years or whatever. When we got to our second Euro Finals our performance was even worse. Literally no lessons learned from the first debacle. That, for me, was when Clarke absolutely had to go. Fair play for what he had achieved, but he had more than reached his limit as a coach by then. Anyone who watched or World Cup qualifiers could see were dead lucky to make it. Outplayed in multiple games with only moments of individual quality rescuing us in spite of the insipid tactics played. In that last game against Denmark, they battered us for most of the game. As happy as I was to see us win, and with some cracking goals, our 30% possession in must-win home tie says it all. Even with 10 men, they were the better side. It was a miserable performance with miserable tactics once again rescued by 3 moments of individual quality. A classic Clarke approach, and with no change in approach to squad selection, I expect every game to be a grind in the US regardless of how far we do or don't get. Now was the time to bring in someone more progressive and take full advantage of some of the more talented players we have available.

You can see Watt just loves being in among it. I can imagine him when he's 50, down Strathclyde Park for a kickabout, knocking the weans out the way to get the ball.

Cheapest club in the World. If they were a person they’d be Tam from Still Game

I’m a bit surprised by some of the negative posts. Yes, we have faltered a bit down the home Stretch but we have managed to create a team that plays good football, has been able to go toe to toe with any team in the league amd with a wee bit of luck could have been in an even higher position. I’m disappointed too but I think phrases like “this is not good enough” is a bit over the top. So much has been fixed from previous seasons and there is still plenty room for improvement but I’d rather have seasons like this than the ones we’ve been subjected too for the last umpteen years. no reason we can’t keep our 4th position.

STAND UP AND SING FOR MOTHERWELLLLLLLLLLLL. STAND UP AND SING FOR MOTHERWELLLLLLLLLLLL. STAND UP AND SING. STAND UP AND SING........STAND UP AND SING FOR MOTHERWELLLLLLLLLLLL

Don't panic guys. Spoke with Dougie who confirmed it was a hoax call by someone he knows who is a bit of a practical joker and SSB fell for it hook line and sinker as has the Daily Record. Wouldn't like to be in his shoes when Dougie gets a. hold of him.

I don’t think hearing the audio from that night will tell us much that isn’t already pretty obvious to be honest. VAR saw a ‘potential’ handball which obviously wasn’t but Andrew Dallas or whoever it was likely knew that John Beaton is too scared to give any big call against Celtic and would take the ‘safer’ option by giving them a penalty. And it took Beaton literally seconds to watch that and give it when it would have been impossible to be able to determine that in that time. Celtic run the show and the whole thing stinks. I’m not talking about daft conspiracy theories like lodges, dodgy handshakes and knowing nods, I’m talking about that club having such a hold on football, media and society that they are running it through fear and intimidation. Celtic caused a refereeing strike in 2010 for far less than what happened at Fir Park earlier this month and since then they’ve had almost everything their own way. And on the odd occasion that they haven’t the officials in question have been absolutely hounded by them, their fans, the managers and their media stooges. John Beaton being the most obvious but there have been others. The reality is that Celtic Football Club are an absolute cancer on Scottish Football.

Should be a good final.

How much did Celtic ask for?

He will be in deep mourning, in a darkened room just now as his big team got fukd.

Not one person at the time in the stadium or the viewing public saw that as a penalty. No one person had a clue why the match had stopped. There was no clear or obvious error. There’s a list of about 20 other things to argue it’s not a penalty. beaton and nepo baby Dallas deserve every single bit of criticism and both should be banned from ever officiating any more senior games. It’s not a one off for either of them, both have been totally incompetent for years. And yes….. I’m still not over it

Would love to finish the season with no old firm victories at Fir park this season. C’mon Motherwell let’s make this our best performance and result of the season!!!!

Voted by their peers. So it may be a confident foreign manager playing better football than everyone else, on a much smaller budget, isn’t particularly liked by certain old school managers throughout the country. Not a massive surprise.

I hope Lennon MIller wasn't planning to play in the 2030 Finals: "The Scottish FA has announced that Steve Clarke has signed a new deal, extending his stay through to the 2030 World Cup" As terrible SFA decisions go, this must be one of the worst.

25yrs too late

I bought season ticket as thought he would be here another season. Thinking of asking for money back now.

Most definitely not. But certainly our most exciting manager since Mark McGhee first time around and a much more likeable character than McGhee and Alexander who also got us European qualification. And a much better mindset and attitude than longer serving managers who also had success for us like Stuart McCall. He had us going into games against Celtic and Rangers believing we could beat them and lo and behold we record wins against both for the first time in over twenty years. Compare that to the meek, subservient pish we got against those sides under McCall’s management where you had key players like Stephen Craigan admitting that they were ‘scared’ to go to Ibrox etc. JBA changed our play and our mindset and that was brilliant to see.

You'll never guess who I bumped into on my way to the opticians last week... Everybody! 😬🤪

Yep, a GIRUY to all of us who care about Scottish football. It will never happen but the clubs should unite to force a complete overhaul of the refereeing system in our country. Its cosy and incompetent, self-serving cabal needs to be removed. I can't remember Jens's exact words in a recent interview but it was along the lines of "Why bother playing football at all when there are decisions like these?" Our game is rigged for everyone to see now.

Ten mins to go at Parkhead. Will be a nervy last 28 mins for Hearts....

Sparrow's best game in a Motherwell shirt. Maswanhise was miles off it.

There weren't meany streams available at the time for this game. The only one I was able to find was Celtic TV. The commentators were loving life when they were 1 - 0 up, distraught when Skippy scored the first and cut the mics when he scored the second. Glorious.

Any walloper that sits in well end supporting sellik would get exposed if they score or have chances. I just worry my mates will tell stewards I am a sellik fan just to get me evicted and give them peace and quiet ! 🤪🤪

Just has been targeted for a while now yet, despite looking like a frail teenager, he gets up and gets on with it, to his credit. The game today doesn't have a giant like "Tiny" Wharton who would have sorted out a team like Hearts who simply and cynically shared out the fouls on Elijah to stifle him yesterday. As Grumpy hints, I doubt this treatment would be tolerated if he played for either of the OF, just another hurdle a team like Motherwell have to cope with in the Scottish game. I'm going to go full Kevin Keegan now and say I would love it, really love it if we beat the Seat-Smashers on Wednesday, mainly because they seem to think both JBA and Just will inevitably end up at Celtic Park next year. Their sense of entitlement really gets on my nazzums.

Any game we dont lose, we are outstanding, especially against the potential champions tonight, we were always trying to get forward and were in their faces, and looked threatening when we did, we defended very well, Ward never had a difficult save to make even when Hearts were pressing hard we looked solid. So all in all i think an outstanding performance is a fair assessment of how the game went

In news that will surprise no-one, Kofi Balmer will be leaving to join Bristol Rovers on a permanent deal. Good luck to the lad. His impending departure also frees up a squad place.

Talking of away allocations. Given today’s ruling effectively banning Rangers fans from Celtic Park in case the Bears get their hands on tickets, can we now inform Celtic they will be getting no tickets for Fir Park unless they can guarantee none will end up with the Green Brigade. Precedent now set. And given their record of damage and pitch invasions, player confrontation who could argue. Wonder how that would play out in our wonderful, unbiased media? Guaranteed the Authorities would step in. Re Falkirk Hibs and others of late, great to see our increased support feeding into away matches. But as you say it has its drawbacks. If ST sales increase substantially I guess MFC will need to look at some system to ensure everybody who wants a ticket gets a fair crack. The implications of being a big team! 😃 A themed thread would at least register what us fans think.

There's probably a combination of reasons, but there's no doubt in my mind that a segment of the voters chose McGlynn over JBA because they wanted to nominate a Scottish manager rather than some upstart foreigner trying to modernise the Scottish game. You don't need to go too far back in the season to find all the criticism doled out at the start of our project. McInnes will win it anyway, and JBA will be on the sportswriters' nominations no doubt.

There definitely was a mental block that ran right through the club for far too long when it came to these types of games. IMO it could be traced all the way back to Butcher and then Alan Burrows banging the “punching above our weight” drum for years and numerous managers, coaches, players and supporters fully bought into that. Before the March ‘24 win at Ibrox I genuinely thought we would never beat either OF side ever again but breaking that duck gave us the shot in the arm that we had been in desperate need of for years. On a side note and I know this doesn’t matter much to many, but it does to me…I was delighted to see us beat Rangers at Ibrox for the third year running but this time wearing our proper C&A kit. The last three league wins there we’ve been in our change kits going back to Owen Coyle day in ‘97. So Sunday must have been the first league win at Ibrox wearing our first kit since 94 or 95. 🍻

All you need to know about The Record is that they proudly announced van der Gaag as our new boss about an hour before we formally announced JBA.

I seem to be a lot more relaxed about JBA's departure than almost everyone else. Last season was thoroughly enjoyable and all credit to him for transforming us on the field. However when I looked at his CV last year, I noticed he had had 7 coaching/managerial jobs in 8 years; the longest lasting about 2 years and 4 months. On that basis, I never expected him to stay very long, and I doubt he'll stay long at Toulouse either, for whatever reason. Our board now has a proven long term system in place and I have faith in that.

"I'd like to make an appointment for an eye test." "Good idea - I'm the butcher"

Listening to Jens dressing room speech last night, he didnt sound like a guy preparing to move on. Ive thought for a while now he comes across as having a 2 year plan in his head and is committed to it. Clearly, if an offer comes in thats impossible for him to ignore, then things could change very quickly, but I dont think we are there yet. Re players, we know Slattery, Gordon, Balmer, Halliday and possibly Hendry are away. Nicholson, Robinson and Stama are also likely to move on. JT is probably a certainty to move on and I would imagine Eli Just already has many suitors and a good World Cup probably makes it very difficult to hold on to him. Beyond that, the manager and chairman have both said we will manage squad turnover carefully and incrementally, so I wouldn't expect too many other outgoings. Welsh is an interesting one. He still has a year on his Celtic contract to go. Would Celtic let us buy it out? If rumours of his wage are true, £500k is a fairly big fee for us to pay, and he would need to take a pretty big pay cut to sign a new contract with us. Seems a bit of a stretch, but he has clearly loved being part of this team. Would another season long loan be possible? The single biggest thing we could do close season is hold onto the manager. If we can do that, I have every confidence that this is just the start of something. Not the end!

Also delighted to have proved all the old dinosaurs wrong who said this style of football wouldn't work in the Premiership for a wee team like ours.

In that case the season ticket holder is out of order

Noticing a trend recently with opposition targeting Just for 'special' treatment. Were all three Hearts bookings for fouls on him?

Not as harsh as your opinions on Callum Ward.

you'd think we were due to play Celtic soon ........................................

It doesn’t have to be one or the other. As I’ve said, if you can’t grow or maintain grass, you’ve no business in the top league. That applies to us as well. We’ve had to spend heavily to fix past mistakes, and others should be expected to do the same. It’s not fair that some clubs effectively gain a bigger playing budget because maintaining a plastic pitch is significantly cheaper than grass or hybrid surfaces. And if you underinvest in your grass surface and ignore drainage issues, leaving tattie fields, there should be penalties to discourage it. This is a spectator sport. We wouldn’t accept a pockmarked cinema screen, so why accept substandard pitches? There should be a level playing field in the top flight for all. Pun intended.

All valid nominations, but I know who I want as MFC manager next season, and it’s none of the above