Goggles & Flippers

To put the Sun in context, their lead story on their Motherwell page was Jason Krones, ex Rangers starlet has been snapped up on a free transfer. Further reading confirms he was released 12 months ago and started training with us in January and he was one of the players offered an extension by Craggs, along with another half dozen. So Sun journalism is old firm reference in (ex player, supported them as a kid, once wore anything green or blue), crow bar into anything non old firm at the expense of other and higher newsworthy stories. Hang your heads in shame you shower of hacks.

Saying that Andy Devlin is at the Sun, you'd think he'd say something at the editorial meeting.

Just to put context into the Nadir/fitness chat. Lionel Ainsworth drifted from engaged to passive in games. That inevitably drove many on here mad with seethe. I think it would be much of the same if he did secure a contract. I suspect his agent knows he won't get anything like he's on at Celtic so potentially see out his contract with more loans. I've seen nothing to suggest he's be willing to take a pay cut to get regular football. If Robinson goes out and secures another unheard of guy like Moult or Main this summer who turns out to be a revelation then all will be forgiven.

In the second post in the thead when I sourced everything, I think the 1.36m for league place included the Celtic UEFA money. I think the 750,000 cited and attributed to Marvin is double what we were in line to receive.

100% Yassin, as a servant to the club and because he speaks so passionately about the club it's for that reason I wouldn't begrudge him a move similar to Reynolds or Murphy. Staying here will stifle unless Robinson changes his ethos and tactics entirely and that may be too big an ask for one summer.

Stephen Robinson is said to be a bit miffed you're potentially limiting him to the standby generator building between the Hunter and Cooper, he has high hopes

Wanted to resurrect this thread now 2017/18 is put to bed and get many of us to look back what we hoped, expected or wished for. I think a few will have a red neck but most will be pleasantly surprised. All the stuff in red, when you look back at the record year for our bank balance over our trophy cabinet and overall progress, recruitment and where we find ourselves could be considered churlish. Its definitely been exceeded expectations beyond my belief. Mid table and a quarter and a semi-final in the cups were smashed out the park on Saturday.

As I've said before if we can replace anyone we have with better then nobody should be considered safe. To progress as a club we have to have that mindset. Carson can leave with my blessing if we get a nice wee bit of wedge and replace him with better. Main as much as I love all aspects of his game, if we can get a striker who brings more, can add more and scores more then ..... thanks Curtis big fella, all the best. That said, I'd like to see some astute business to match our previous dealings. We will have bump in funds last season and expect us to go from the second lowest player budget to at least 10th with Livvy and St Mirren coming up. Let us not ignore agents will be wise to it and try to exploit our success this season. I sincerely hope the Gannon chief scout shite patter is dead and buried after what Robinson pulled off last summer and 6 months ago, you'd say certainly +65% success rate. What I think will happen, Carson has attracted attention and no doubt column inches due to Celtic's stop-gap interest and record 20 clean sheet season (the latter not getting much coverage outside Motherwell except for those who's job it is to collate stats). I see him going and to be fair, he's earned it. I do think he will look upon the move here as a sound one in his career. I think Kipre will stay until at least January and build on his growing CV. He will be a shoe in next summer if not. I suspect one of Campbell or Cadden will get an offer. I think Campbell will see merit in staying as our style suits him perfectly, while Cadden may wish to move as his development plateaued this season (Scotland call up aside) and he may feel a new club and tactics may all it to get back onto course. I have heard many good reports on what Turnbull could bring, how many of us knew anything of Campbell a year ago? I wonder what scoring a teaker would do for Bowman's confidence rather than a shin roller or deflected in off his hip. I do think as others have pointed out that Main who is undoubtedly our primary striker could maybe benefit from a foil rather than a mirror of what he brings. Still think despite the amount of personnel we have, our midfield is our Achilles heel. Therefore I'd be expecting the head of recruitment, statisticians and moneyball aficionados within the club to be focusing on 2 goalkeepers, a left sided defender/wingback, a striker, advanced midfielder to compliment Main (however a fit Tanner may be that solution) and a playmaker. The playmaker being the holy grail of football as they are the most sought after and hardest to recruit. If they pull any more gems out the bag for positions we consider already covered in Louis Moult/Marvin mould then will be delighted in 2020 when the cheque arrives.

A friend got his son a picture with a certain former player .... he will always have a special part of my manlove I thought only Tommy Coyne could own fully

Celtic will get another Ronnie Deila. Prior to the summer of 2016 Radio Scotland rightly pointed out 10 non OF teams won either cup in the previous 10 years. What we see now is a legacy of the Champions League cash disparity and glory hunters leaving Lanarkshire, Edinburgh , Ayrshire, Perth, Stirling, Dundee, Inverness and Aberdeen to bus it to Govan or Parkhead every second week. The one's in Lanarkshire no doubt calling up NLC screaming "Ma cooncil tax money is bein used for claret and amber buntin, disgustin!"

I appreciate that and Grimshaw's stock went up significantly in the semi against Aberdeen when it had been mixed before. To be fair with him too we had seen that a run in the team was needed as before he left for PNE it was seen as a bit of a loss when only a month to 6 weeks earlier he was mediocre. The big dilemma for me is McHugh, pulled at 60 minutes as club captain, no doubt has many of the qualities needed but there's definitely 1 or maybe 2 midfielders who have been consistently better this season. The armband has undoubtedly given him more game time than he deserved.

Everyone who brings up what the GB did in the 70th minute gives them a little win, especially on here. A vacuum rather than an echo chamber would serve their stunt better.

It's amazing what 30 minutes of purple against a team shifting down into third gear does for someone's standing. He was one of the first signings made and came with a lot of expectation. I had high hopes as did many as what he would bring. He hasn't featured either due to other players fitting Robinsons mould/style better or he hasn't done enough in his limited chances/training to justify a start. I think if he was bringing the goods week in week out like Campbell, Carson or Main there would be no debate. I take no joy in his indifferent first season and I'm sure he hoped for more too, but being a glimmer of sunshine in a overcast day does not justify the new love/lets look at him again chat. 8 or 9 players in the current squad have had extensions or renewals before today ..... maybe consider that.

Felt better about this game than in November behforehand, sadly when you let a team with better players stroke the ball from left to right outside your 18 yard box with impunity looking for a hole or mistake then you are gonna get punished. The gulf in the two squads is massive both in terms of playing budget (20x or there abouts) and composure. When we get into trouble and under pressure we hoof it out or up the park. They do on occasion too, but inevitably there is a guy in green & white standing waiting on it or able to challenge to retain possession. I can't feel that bad about today's game compared with the League Cup as they beat us reasonably fairly, Brown still waltz's through games with a "Whit me?" puppy dog look every time a referee looks at him. I think rather than Bigi making a difference, I put it down to Celtic taking their foot off the gas. We can beat Celtic on individual player fitness or desire but not on footballing ability as money does talk. Overall, fantastic season from where we were and personnel we brought in. Achieved much more than I expected and coffers are full even if the trophy cabinet isn't.

Tom Boyd: “My heart will always be Green and White” Don’t ever darken our door again

I'm missing one ticket for the shed, if anyone has ordered spare or now has someone who has to meet in Hampden please let me know

You are Jammy, return flight on Monday is with a skipper and cabin manager I'm good friends with. Martin is the cabin manager on the way back. Same story.

Sorted, premium upgrade organised. Get jaked for free, but not too jaked.

Because I work for them and I'll see about getting you an upgrade since you're making an epic journey. Give me the flight number and I'll check who the captain and cabin manager is

Who are you flying from LA with?

Yeah strange move to make him more expensive and curtail his wages if his agent knew of interest

For my two cents, I cant put my finger on it but the crest looks a bit cartoony, I think the Craig towers are sweet, and the trees actually look like trees. Don't like the font. It would be a step in the right direction if we decided to go down the simplification route and I can think of nobody better than UBH to step up. I personally don't like the stripping down of badges, West Ham (done to get "London" on it), Arsenal (done for copyright reasons), etc. It seems a trend that many commercial departments wish to pursue.

The Touchables #metoo

You'd hope Provan occasionally reads through these as surely theres no better market research. Everyone loves retro.

Has he signed a pre-contract with the OF? Because that's the only way he's gonna get a nod. Murphy is a shoe in.