Fairhill

Like to be a fly on the wall in Barbados next week. Come to think of it I'd like to be in Barbados but will have to settle for Florida!! There's really only so much you can do with the defenders we have, so January will be important, but we really need to score more goals as well. The cupboard is bare, and I don't fancy our chances if we have to play Hibs in a play-off. Can you tell I'm feeling less confident that the crew IB signed just aren't up to the job. Woe is me, need to go lie down on the beach!!

Motherwell beat a Brazilian team, think Santos, 9-3 in the late 50s. Think Ian St. John scored six, Remember the tv reporter on late news saying it was "the best thing since sliced bread."

3 things: 1. There is nobody prepared to step up and take charge of a game on the field. 2. Somebody needs to tell the players where the goal is. 3. None of them took the owner seriously when he told them what he thought. This is NOT the Motherwell we all knew, and even Crags must be wondering what to do with them. Dynamite comes to mind!

I'm afraid I'm leaning with the out crowd, but only because of results rather than not liking the man himself. With all the changes he's brought about it's now down to him not getting results from the players. Yes, some of them are not pulling their weight, but it's up to the manager to get the best out of them, and to sit them if they won't work. Just wondering if Ian St. John still has a pair of boots because he could probably still knock as many in as anyone in the line up at the moment. This really has to stop, never mind Morton or Partick. When you see Hamilton being the premier team in Lanarkshire you just know the universe is out of kilter, and I was born in Hamilton. It's just not right!!!!!!!

How many at the game?

3 points!!! WOW!!! From a grand total of 3 shots on target. Relieved, but it would be more comfortable if somebody gave them some idea of where the goalposts and the crossbar actually were, and if somebody told them that's what they're supposed to aim at. Sorry guys, just get a bit frustrated that we haven't excited us positively since Rangers.

There's absolutely no excuse for what's going on. This was such an important game to win and the team has not shown up. Make them walk home to Motherwell, manager included.

This was such an important game to win. How can the team not show up for it? Make them all walk home to Motherwell, manager included. There is simply no excuse for what's going on here, none!!

Also thinking Albion Rovers. Surely the manager made them watch that game a few times. Also have to wonderer how he's prepared them for this game.

19 minutes and it's EF that get the first shot in. Looks like a long night!!

Chomper, you're right of course, but the manager is paid to get the best out of the players, particularly those he's scouted and brought in. Regardless of how Killie played today, I watched them against Celtic (we get live games in Canada), and they're quite capable of a really good game. So, unless we start to do something different playoff is very possible again this year and I don't fancy our chances against Hibs.

We've brought in so many players in the last year, yet, part from a couple of early bits we're getting the same results, so...!!. As an old guy think we need an Andy Paton to shut the gate at the back and take charge, and an Ian St. John who can actually put the ball into the net, not around and over it!! Just sayin'!!

Ugh!! 2-1 Saints. But you have to have staying power, AND, you've got to be able to score more than 1 goal in a game to have any chance against anybody in this league. We're getting lots of shots, but not on target. Over to the manager!!!

Game was live on Canadian television.Very encouraging compared to the Aberdeen game that was also on. Let's hope we can get a few more like this and stay up.

I saw him play a few times in the late 50s at Fir Park, and I can tell you he had no fear. But I can also tell you that it was a thrill to watch him, even when playing against us. In those days the best games were Motherwell v Hearts, and the crowds were always 2-3k higher than normal. But I can also say he wouldn't last five minutes in todays game, and it would not be 2 yellows but a straight red because he took no prisoners. That was the way the game was played back then before the wimps took over. Andy Paton never took prisoners either. Todays players are perhaps fitter than they were back then, but there were some great players back then that todays bunch of mamby pambys couldn't touch, and Dave Mackay was one of them.

We will need to get a few more points because if either St. MIrren or RC get a few we are done on goal difference. We've got the worst GD in the entire Scottish system and -61 to Celtic: that's just catastrophic. We haven't been able to score goals and we've not been able to stop them either, so the situation is desperate. Stop splitting hairs about whether we're the worst team or not, the point is that id either of the other two catch up on points we are done because of the GD. And either Hearts or Rangers will eat us alive. It's now up to the manager to get a team together that deserves to be in the Premiership.

It was made clear at the outset that Burrows was not getting the Dempsey position as she had overall responsibility. There is also no question that the ownership situation complicated matters, and more complication was added when the manager resigned. Ultimately through all of that the Board is responsible for the overall management and direction of the corporate club. So, if we are to assign blame, most of it surely has to lie there. However, I think most of us have felt the team was punching above its true level for the past few years, probably starting with Craig Brown, and we have made it into Europe one way or the other since then. McCall did a reasonable job with the same crew until this season, and you have to ask what happened. Seems to me the tank has finally started to empty and the energy just isn't there. Players are older, players have left, few exciting players have come in, and here we are getting the right results for the quality on the books. The entire responsibility is due to the model we have had of being a selling club, without due consideration to building a stable to keep that concept going, and that is down to the board, that in itself has not been clear on what its role is. Let's hope the ownership gets sorted out soon and Hutchison instills a real sense of managing all aspects of the business where roles and responsibilities are defined, and results are measured. I don't know what the schedule is for the due diligence that's going on, but I hope the plan moves forward quickly once it is completed. I feel for Flow, and I'm not sure many people would want to be in his shoes with all the abuse he's been getting.

I agree there have been examples of outsiders who have been disastrous, Rangers being a prime example, but if the club and the society weren't fully aware of that danger I'd be very surprised. I'm also not sure who approached who to start the talks, but I don't think LH is in this for any reason other than helping the team survive. I'm not aware that sports ownership is very high on his bucket list. My point is simply that Motherwell needs to be brought into financial stability, and the previous ownership failed to do that, other than during administration. The losses over the last couple of years have been in spite of the team playing beyond its skill level, so it is easy to wonder if a new approach might be needed going forward. There is now an opportunity to see a different approach. Given that the intent is still fan ownership, it might be best to let the new owner select new board members. I think the society should sit on the board, provided their nominees are qualified to practice football management more than just the lads in the stand. We've all been loyal supporters, some of us for a long time, but a professional team is fundamentally a business in which decisions have consequences, and ultimately it's the quality of those decisions that will determine whether or not the team survives. In the short time I think the new group, having put up the money, should have the freedom, as well as our respect and thanks, to mould MFC as they see fit. If they are wise they will seek opinions from others as I'm sure they already have. It will be interesting to see how the board unfolds. More importantly it will be interesting to see whether enough people start to show up for games to make this new investment worthwhile.

Are you for real??? It strikes me the more strings from someone who knows how to succeed, and who is prepared to step up, the better. Not to belittle the work done by the society, but it seems obvious the current business model is not working. I'd rather have an appointed board of people who have proven skills than an elected board of people who have gotten us into this situation in the first place. You can bet the new money will come with measurable conditions that are intended to see the club survive and prosper, and I hope one of those conditions relates to the number of supporters who attend home games once the performance on the field gets straightened out. I don't know much about our benefactor, but he does seem to know how to measure success, and that also implies he knows how to deal with failure as well. Regardless, the one thing that should be understood is that expectations will be different than they have been in the past.

Well done lads, enjoyed that!!

Live tv coverage in Canada today. So far only 0-1 but think it will get worse the way the lads are passing the ball to Celtic so far.

Either Flamenco or Santos!

I remember watching Sammy and Billy in the late 50s. Bobby Ancel created one of the best football teams in our history, half of whom were internationals. They were a pure football team, and some of the best games were against Hearts. But they also had a great record in friendly games against some of the world's best. I remember Ian St John scoring six in a 9-3 win against a great Brazilian team. The commentator said it was the best thing since sliced bread. Weir , McSeveny, Holton, Aitken, Martis, McCann, Reid, Hunter, St John, Quinn, Weir.

Really are worrying times, but the club is facing stark reality. No matter how well they have played in recent years the crowds have gone down, and now the team is struggling, so chances are that attendance will go down even more. Not having Rangers, Hearts, and Hibs is part of that, and I can't see us staying up if we have to play off against any of them, so next season could be even harsher. It's funny how just about every other team has strengthened from last year and we haven't, so is it any wonder we are where we are. Fact is we have been punching above our weight for a couple of seasons, and now we have been found out. We just don't have the depth. When Accies and ICT are top of the league at this stage and we are 2nd bottom, the chickens have come home to roost. The club is being badly mismanaged at all levels at the moment and I don't see that changing any time soon. Who in their right mind would want to buy the team? If the "supporters" don't show up when the team is doing well surely an investor would question what it would take to change that. The SPFL will be about Celtic, Rangers, Aberdeen, Hearts, and perhaps Hibs in two or three years, and then perhaps the revenues will increase somewhat, but if we are not in that league the game will be over. If you can get to a game in Glasgow or Edinburgh that has some atmosphere, why would new supporters come to Fir Park. My earliest memory of Motherwell is the cup in the early 50s, but those days are long gone, and the future is at best bleak. Unless some person is out there with no money concerns I'm afraid we really are in worrying times.