Pepper

For every Alex Ferguson there are a thousand Ian Baracloughs. Your argument doesn't make any sense.

Listened to the latest podcast last night and thoroughly enjoyed it as usual. I get the impression that Les isn't the most popular amongst the podcast team! The points about him sacking the manager without consulting the chairman and making possibly damaging statements were both fair however in his defence I think he has also made it clear that until the club moves into Society hands there may be tough decisions that he as owner has to make. But I find the whole Hutchinson, Club, Society and fan relationship a fascinating one in general. The comparison to Berlusconi did make me lol though! Good discussion about Baraclough's sacking , the players and the Heavy Hands Empty Stands campaign which I won't spoil for anyone who hasn't listened yet.

I'm a big supporter of the Bois and all they have done for our support but I find myself agreeing with a lot of what Gilmor has said. If people think the stewards and police were reacting solely to what happened at the game on Tuesday night then they are being very naive. Our card has been well and truly marked for our previous indiscretions and we now have a reputation a certain element of our support will have a hard time shaking off. The bois will always tread and fine line and I understand that's part of the appeal but I hope the senior members of the group can reign in some of the antics that are simply a red rag to a bull when it comes to stewarding and policing. The fact that the opening statement in this thread doesn't even acknowledge we have had genuine problems in the past suggests to me that the group are somewhat in denial.

About bloody time.

This is his team now, if they're not the buck stops with him.

GTF Baraclown!

I would imagine the reason it was all ticket (up to the last minute) may have something to do with the Police given the trouble with our fans/flares and general unruly behaviour is recent games at NDP, so in this case I have sympathy for both clubs.

The drummer is freestyling oot his nut!

The most balanced we have been set up that I've seen us so far was in the first hour of the Dundee Utd game. Hammell, Chalmers, McDonald and Fletcher all linked up really well and it looked like there was a real understanding between them. There was a definite route out of defence via the midfield which we have been badly lacking since. I think Chalmers can feel really hard done by for not seeing more game time since. When he went off and we reverted to two traditional wingers it was the start of us losing our shape entirely. Funnily enough I actually came away from that game feeling more positive than I did yesterday. We have got to drop the idea of playing two wingers and revert to a more traditional midfield, whoever it may consist of, as IMO the formation first and foremost is not working and is actually making the players look much worse than they are.

I may be wrong but the way I read the statement was that the club and society are jointly in agreement to repay the the loan to Les. Unless the club has suddenly moved into profit, Id image the loan could only ever realistically be repaid by Society funds. If the repayment hasn't been made, then I can only guess it's because the Society doesn't have those funds either, due to the lack of numbers signing up. No matter what scenario is correct, the defaulted payment must be a concern.

Fair point, I should have said sufficient appetite amongst fans to ensure fan ownership is sustainable. I agree with ur point about moving the goal posts as well.

Some very interesting points. ‘Les Hutchison does not want to own a football club’, no matter how fond he is of Motherwell. What if that's how Motherwell fans feel? At least he was asked. It doesn't matter if we have 2000 fans who are all on the dole or 10000 who are all millionaires, if there is no appetite for fan ownership amongst the fans (and I genuinely think at present that is the case) then nothing else really matters. The question they should be asking themselves is how do we create that appetite? I don't think the hard sell is working, and I hope to see a different approach with the upcoming campaigns.

Reshuffling the defence when it was coping fine caused us problems. Laing didn't look comfortable at right back at all. I would have had Mcdonald off before Leitch.

Dreadful game but a win is a win and we badly needed it. We looked pretty comfortable truth be told until Baraclough made some bizarre substitutions, bringing Laing on at right back who looked totally out of place and putting Law into midfield. At that point we didn't know what the hell we were doing and caused ourselves all sorts of problems, but thankfully Killie are absolutely dire and couldn't take advantage. Moult is starting to grow on me but he really needs someone up top to support him. McDonald had the killer pass at his feet a few times and screwed it up, he seems to be struggling at the minute. Would agree Dom was MOM again. Even when the defender reads what he's doing and takes the ball off him, he just tries again the next time and more often than not creates something through sheer determination.

I dunno about anyone else, but my phone is practically useless inside Fir Park. Checking the scores is pretty much impossible. I'm with O2 though who are particularly crap around here! In general terms, we do seem to have fallen off the radar a little, although the media now have Aberdeen, Hearts and what appears to be a half decent Rangers team to occupy them this season, so it's not a big surprise.

I don't think I've ever seen a reaction to signing a player quite like this, it seems to have just about everyone scratching their heads. If anything, it shows the lack of faith we as a support have in the manager's judgement, even the Baraclough supporters seem a bit perplexed.

The comparison was between Ripley and Taylor, which was unfair. If you wan to compare Dan and Ripley go ahead, as for why people didn't take to Dan that's entirely up to them. The fact he is small in stature may have something to do with it, or it might just be because he isn't, in some peoples opinion, a very good goal keeper.

It's not really a fair comparison though is it? Ripley has made some real clangers yes but has kept us in games at times with some great saves, so people can see there might just be a player there worth persevering with. What have we seen from Taylor? An empty jersey and a red card for diving. He seems to be really struggling with the pace of the game, if he doesn't get up to speed soon we can't afford to keep him in there.

Back off from what? expressing an opinion and then defending it?

Which I hope I've explained. It seems we all agree that there is room for discussion regarding Baraclough's future at the club. Mine is actually a fairly moderate one, he has earned time to get things right by keeping us up. However, I don't think that extends to Christmas or even past the first round of fixtures irrespective of result or the difficult run we have had at the start of the season. We are a better team than we were this time last season, yes 100%, but there's something all too familiar about certain aspects of our game that I just don't like.

So if you don't agree with someone's opinion, then you should just remove their platform to voice it then? There's always the option not to read the thread and leave it to those who do want to discuss the manager's position. The cringeworthy comment was aimed at Andy's thinly veiled dig at me for using the term "Baraclown".

I see what you did there. FWIW no one needs to justify anything on here, it's a football forum for goodness sake. The only thing cringeworthy is the fact that this thread was ever locked in the first place. Football fans discussing an under performing manager getting the sack, whatever next.

...... If he's reading this thread I hope he's thinking I better get my arse in gear or I'm gonna get the sack! East Fife away and the shambles that is Kilmarnock at home next. Anything short of two wins and he's pretty much used up all of the good will the play off performances have earned him. In before the lock!

Just watched the highlights. Josh Law getting squared up far too easily for the first goal. McManus losing his man at the first goal. Everyone not closing down or stopping the crosses as usual. In saying all of that we made more than enough chances to be taking something from that game.

Scoring first and not even taking a point is a worrying trend. We seem to be an all or nothing sort of team and grinding out even a draw, as cliched as it sounds, is something I'd love to see us do once in a while. Take the point, stop the poor run, and move on with a bit of confidence. Fletcher is probably the player I've been most impressed by so far this season, the sooner we get him back the better.