cooper_no1

Some pretty serious accusations there about not declaring gate monies. While I am sure we are all aware that over the course of history; it would be rather nieve to believe such activities have not went on (at any clubs) it is rather suggestive to insist that Motherwell are both active and complicit in such a trait. Secondly; to suggest that such activity is not wrong, and nothing compared to Rangers is rather incredulous. At the end of the day - tax evasion of ANY kind is clearly something that both HMRC and also Scottish Football will no longer tolerate. Indeed, if Motherwell or ANY club were to be found guilty of tax issues then they would almost certainly find themselves facing investigation and punishment; just as Rangers would have had they not disbanded through liquidation. It would be cheating; end of. Anyway, that aside - without putting the cash into your pocket it is very difficult to publish company accounts when you have excess cash, unaccounted for floating about so the suggestion is rather null anyway......as others have noted.

Motherwell are actually one of the few teams who could immediately benefit from saying 'no'. Motherwell are on a healthy financial footing ad have already budgeted, unless i am mistaken - for Rangers being out of existence. In that case, 'no' may be a vote that would help rather than hinder Motherwell in their current capacity. Teams like Kilmarnock, Dundee United etc with huge bank debts etc do not have such a luxury and therefore may be financially forced to say 'yes'.

There we are, Eddie sitting on the fence as usual......... I laughed

This is exactly what came to my mind anaw. I don't think there is much wrong with the tribute itself; looks nice and modern and has a bit about it. The main problem is that it looks like it's been pinned to the side of a pish stained bedsheet. Rusty piece of corrugated Iron with a nice new shiny thing attached = exactly that. Perhaps if the background to the memorial didn't look so drab the memorial itself would look much better. That's just my 50p. Hadn't seen the memorial until now and expected the worst when i seen some of the comments.

I have no opinion otherwise on the video. I'm not into the orange order stuff and i certainly don't see where it fits into football, but a comment from either of the Old Firm on this matter is nothing short of laughable. Don't celtic claim to be a family cub to - they make a big song and dance about it on the radio often enough. The video is from a club somewhere, not Fir Park - so it's hardly got anything official to do with Motherwell Football Club it is just something some of their fans have done. The one thing that really fucking irks me though - there is a inclination in the text associating the video that Catholics are some form of 'ethnic minority'. They aren't, they never have been and they never will be. So take the big dirty chip off your shoulder and realise that if the Catholic faith was so bloody tremendous it would surely be big enough to rise above the petty greeting that so many of it's 'followers' are determined to bring up. Catholics get more than any other faith group in this nation - FACT! no one else gets their own schools, there is your starter for ten. I like to laugh at these people but deep down it really upsets me that some folk out there are actually thick enough to buy into this bullshit. Doesn't say much for your 'catholic education' if they can't teach simple things like looking at both sides, impartiality or the meaning of the word hypocrisy.

I think Faddy is a fairly good player - i have been surprised at the lack of interest in him shown by championship teams to be honest i thought he is the sort of player they would all have loved to throw their cash at. One that i really WASN'T expecting though is the volume of Celtic fans i have spoke to who are raging. Another lungberg, Roy Keane, Iain Wright etc they have all been saying. Every one of them is spitting about the chance of him signing. " Where does that leave the genius paddy mccourt" they squeal. I shall tell you one thing, after watching that Celtic game yesterday. If they think Faddy is a poor player they better have a word with the boy who's idea it was to sign Bangura......

Heard an hour ago the deal was but the wages I was quotes were phenomonal, apparently £35000 p/w! Could be bullshit just passing on the message

Dont even start me on that pish mate, i would be here forever moaning and grumping about half the fannies dressed in blue. FOREVER! Nothing short of embarassing at times.

Ye make an opinion and that's the way folk speak to ye, so ye deserve the same back. Away ... ya grumpy c**t

ye can create an atmosphere without getting into bother, reality? reality is going to the football to enjoy yourself, i agree completely but as i said, it's no coincidence that time and time again when someone gets removed from the stand, it is from that wee corner. Aye it,s their wee 'area' and good luck to them,serious i have absolutely no problem with what they do. If more people were as enthusiastic as them guys then there wouldnt have been a shit load of empty seats in the motherwell end yesterday(granted, there are a lot more reasons for that than a lack of enthusiasm, times are hard). It's not about ME having to 'get a grip' - i'm only pointing out the way the police clearly view it,otherwise they woldnt be taking people out. The guy wasnt removed for the banner(a meare excuse of a reason and a shit one at that, hence the 'warning' - nothing to do with age). The reason he was removed was to make an example and the lad was nothing short of the unlucky one that was made an example of. They removed him to put the shiters up the rest of the lads down in that corner - plain and simple. To an extent it worked however the scoreline mayby done as much to dampen many spirits. As i say,personally - good luck, but clearly the police dont share that view and they have made that abundently clear on more than one occasion now.

Not here to discuss the complexities of sectarianism, to be honest i no longer know what constitutes the word to be honest. The shash? is that sectarian - hard to say, is the word h*n sectarian - hard to say. That's the major problem,noone REALLY knows what sectarian is anymore: 'Fuck the Pope' is that sectarian or a matter of personal opinion? The whole thing is a farce, a total and utter farce. As for the boy who got chucked out,he was an easy target. Everytime i go to Fir Park i think the same thing, see yon wee corner in the East Stand - there is nothing wrong with a bit of atmosphere but sometimes i think they rip the arse out of it. At times it looked that if motherwell were to score there would be a crush down that wee bit. I dont stand there, never have,never will however all i am saying (without trying to be a c**t) is that sometimes it looked like that wee corner get given a yard and take a mile. There is a difference between having a laugh and creating an atmosphere without looking like a genuine hazard and at times it looks that way: aggressive boysterous behaviour. Personally do i give a fuck> nah...but do i see why the police target them? Yes. Anytime someone gets fucked out of fir park it is from that wee corner, it's no a coincidence.

Rangers are very poor just now. There is absolutely no width in the team at all therefore everything needs to go through the middle meaning the play is very narrow - this wouldnt be so much of a problem if there were better players than Edu/Mcculloch/Ness in the middle who have no real pace. The midfield is very static and remarkably uncreative. The big boy Goian(SP) at the back is solid enough - he can provide a decent outball too if given the time and space at the back. The obvious problem is jelavic, if he is allowed any kind of space and provided with any kind of reasonable service then it will 9 times out of 10 end up in the back of the net. Keeping him quiet is the obvious key. In saying that, from what i have seen on motherwell this season they certainly have nothing to fear - to be honest i can see this either being a draw or a Motherwell victory. Aside from the lack of creativity in the Rangers side right now they will be coming on the back of an away fixture on the Thursday night. Now that shouldnt be a problem so early in the season but another observation of Rangers thus far this term is they appear remarkably unfit and some of them look to be carrying a few pounds. How this is possible i have no idea but it looks fairly evident. Anyway, does anyone know the definitive seating plans for this game? Ok so Rangers have the south stand, Motherwell have the east and the cooper? is that correct? It's the main stand that looks strange, do Rangers have the full North and South sections of the main stand with hospitality in the middle??

I think referees get an increasingly hard time of it.Granted the do not make life easy for themself with some of the dougie-gate scandle that has gone on but as far as on the park decisions go i feel they get a raw deal. People are quick to have a go at a ref for 'getting it wrong' but let's be honest - how many times do we see things at the game or even first time on TV and then find out we were wide of the mark. The amount of coverage these days on refereeing decisions, the close up camera angles and the slow motion view all make it easy for us to criticise ref's for their decision forgetting that they were not privvy to such analitical viewing. Willie Collum has made a few bad decisions this season - especially in big games. However over the piece he hasn't had that tragic a season. All the sendings off that he has made have been legit - he was following the rule book. It is something else to disagree with the rules but on the other hand he would have got his baws booted if he hadn't made those decisions. That's the way of it. Our referees are far from perfect,but either is the system. Englands referees are no great shakes either because human error is always going to come into play. The game is getting faster(well...) and players are getting better at falling over - it's not always easy to tell on first viewing. until someone grows a set of balls and introduces some form of technology then it will always be the same.Unfortunately Football - probably the worlds highest grossing sport - refuses to spend money in this field and is left in the dark ages of sport technology.

Yes i agree, however i put the word 'organised' in such brackets because i wasn't having a dig at the by the book ones you are describing - an excellent way to get fit by the way for those that find the gym boring. I was more pointing at the other ones that exist in abundance and remind me of something out of the Karate Kid movie with some power hungry 'tutor' teaching the art of hurting folk for nae reason.... sadly plenty of these places also exist, i've seen them.

Anyway, who the fuck would wanty wear a jakit in the sun......

Don't understand why anyone would defend that kind of behaviour. As Jay i think said, i've also no problem with two sets of folk meeting up to batter the shite out of each other, fuck if it's ok in these 'organised' MMA classes then it's ok in the street if you ask me. long as that's how it goes down. It's behaviour like that - if it were to happen inside the stadium that would get the whole club a nice wee slating from UEFA. Wouldn't that be nice - winning the cup final - place in europe - game behind closed doors. If need be, there is a time and a place for these kinda actions - and fair play on it. A busy pub with normal fans out to enjoy a beer and a good day is not it, nor should it ever be.

The rebranding is defo a good idea becase the 'live the dream' thing has never ended well.....ever.....

Yeah,general consensus is that its done and dusted.sensitive matter though and will need to be delt with before a publuc press release.

That's quite a wild wild statement to be making - online forum or not mate. Wrong person reading that at this moment of time and they could kick up quite a shit fit about it. Baring in mind the fact it's factually incorrect at this moment in time anaw........ Personally, couldn't really care less however i'm not everyone. It is a fairly wild statement to be making. Just saying likes....

Really confused by a lot of the posts about McCall. Fair enough if you don't think that he is the 'man for the job' if you like - that's opinion. The lack of a possible replacement is what worries me. Calderwood is a name that has been mentioned and a good suggestion, my worry would be that he has perhaps been approached before for this job, and rejected it. Again that's just opinion,i may be wrong. No matter what happens between now and the end of the season Motherwell will still be playing SPL football next year. McCall will need to alter his squad this end of season and be judged on what he manages to do until Christmas. Realistically he will not be given any money to spend this summer, he may be given about £600/700 per week for wages that is free from departures in January there but i don't see any transfer cash coming in. This will limit his possibilities further. To be honest i think any SPL job right now is a poisoned chalice,an impossibility. If you can keep a steady squad for next year you will be ok but Motherwell don't really have that. Some decent players yes but nothing steady. The standard in Scotland is getting worse by the year and next year,for me, will be the worst yet. Give McCall till christmas but look around whilst your at it and see whats happening elsewhere.I think you'll find that answer to be : not a lot.

I really cannot see where the McCall out chat comes from. He just won the last two games - infact if someone had offered you 6/9 points over those three games most Well fans would have jumped on it. Yes,granted - losing to St Mirren was not fun and nor should it be because with the exception of Hamilton and St Mirren - Motherwell probably have one of the weaker squads in the SPL, St Mirren are of course the exception - so a victory is not unrealistic to expect/hope for. Like it or lump it there isn't a great deal of quality in the Motherwell team and one thing that they certainly lack - is a goalscorer. Franny Jeffers was brought in, i would hope;on a small salary. He can do a bit of moving etc but putting the ball in the net has never been his forte so to speak. The problem is there is noone else to fill that goalscoring gap, not enough goals from other areas of the pitch at times. Motherwell are a decent SPL team, finishing 7th/8th is by no means an underachievment this season: yet top 6 is neither out of the question. You cannot lose players of the quality Motherwell have without replacing them and expect to compete for the European places. Effort? yes it's always nice to see 150% but all the effort in the world will not make up for a lack of quality over the course of the season - look at Hamilton, noone could accuse them of not trying like fuck yet they still find themself rooted to the bottom of the league. The lack of signings isn't particularly McCalls fault either - there was a few folk branding about idiotic figures of cash available to him during the transfer window. A realistic figure would probably have been about £750/850 a week. Go replace players for that wage budget. Bringing in players for the sake of it isn't going to help, you need players who can add to what you have. End of the day - give him until christmas. If he brings in some of his own players and things are looking drastic by then i would agree he has failed. Right now he has stepped into a job that noone else seemed to want and for that people should probably be grateful no matter how convenient it was for him. Taking on a team with virtually no money to spend and losing it's top assets is hardly a envious or easy role to take. However if there is a better candidate - bring him in. I just fail to think of one.

"If he is allowed to sit and dictate play then he is a great player" - aye so would we all be. Seriously though,he's not a bad player but you'd go a long way to expect him to be a superstar(Like some folk seem to) so see what happens and let it be,the manager will notice before anyone else if he has a better option - something i think most fans of most teams forget. Plenty time to be a superstar yet but the SPL can be a yukky yukky place to hone skill.

I don't understand this need for people to support, 'one or the other'. I understand in work etc you are probably more than inclined to ask "what about sunday" if you don't know what team the person supports,end of the day 9/10 people in the West of Scotland probably WILL have a preference on tommorrows result. When someone turns round and says, " to be honest i couldn't care less because i am a Motherwell/Hamilton/St. Mirren/Airdrie/Albion Fucking Rovers fan. The next question should be," aw aye, hows you feel about your team this weekend then?" not, "aw c'mon ye must prefer one". Pointless, yes i understand that Rangers or Celtic will have more people in Ibrox or parkhead on any given Saturday than every other Scottish football ground combined - but it doesn't mean that EVERYONE cares about them. Big Fish always think they are the talk of the town, they believe their own hype. If you pick up a Sun Or Record(the two most purchased papers in Scotland) you wouldn't think there was anything else happening in the World as the Old Firm take up both the front and back pages. Crazy world.

The education thing is a brilliant idea, there is nothing in this world can replace natural talent, nothing - however having someone with a decent level of intelligence and hard work can go a long way. Quite a number of our footballers in this country cannot master basic English, i'm pretty sure they have SOME talent but if they mayby had a brain that worked a bit better they would inevitably improve as a footballer. Look at that game last night, some of the quick thinking was brilliant. None of our footballers in Scotland have a brain with that level of sharpness and intelligence. For me, education is a massive part of football and general intelligence CAN and WILL make people better players,even those will masses of natural ability. Also interesting to note the fitness techniques,get players to get fit while having a ball at their feet. Anyone who has played football at any level in this country knows fine well we concentrate on doing circits and running the legs off ourself to get fit. Aerobic exercises or good old cross country running up steep hills. Yeah that's great and it DOES get your fitness up - but why not do ALL of that,but with a ball at your feet. It makes basic sense to me and look at how comfortable every player is with the ball at their feet, i don't just mean Barcelona etc i mean any Spanish club - even their second division players have far more comfort with the ball at their feet than anyone in our country. It's like the balls a hot tatty half the time - passes are more often than not knee high than across the ground - and players need about three touches just to control the fucking thing. It all seems very basic and inexpensive ways of training people - wonder if Mcleish had simple training methods like that in his report.

Your right - go anywhere on the continent Spain/Italy/France for example and go to a supermarket. Inside there is huge freezer sections but they are filled with perhaps frozen fish fillets,prawns,pork,beef etc to preserve them. Not like this country where everything is frozen CRAP, ready meals or bits of reconstituted fish with breadcrumbs or batter on it. Even the refridgeration section of our supermarkets has premade pasta meals, or the like that are full of utter utter crap. Now, i cannot take the high moral ground personally but our country has allowed itself to become a place of absolute crap food that take just as long to make as a fresh equivalent. The whole lifestyle is different and yes that has many different reasons for being but you are right - we are essentially a nation addicted to absolute crap and weaning ourself out of it will not be difficult,if at all possible in the great capitalist game. Shame tae, cause we produce brilliant food as a country but it's so fucking overpriced you need to be of a excellent standard of income to afford it.