MJC

Absolute hammer blow to lose Biereth, the only quality attacking option we have. As others have said I have absolutely no faith in SK to bring in an adequate replacement in this window and his dismal transfer business last summer is going to get us relegated. This season cannot end quick enough. The end of this season may very well bring with it the end of our top flight status but if that’s what’s going to happen then we just need to deal with it however we can. There is literally nothing to look forward to between now and May. Our team is shite, our manager is out of his depth and relegation is looming.

Well that post by me was obviously shite and I would have hoped been quite clear that I wasn’t being serious and having a thinly veiled dig at a certain section of our support and a section of Scottish football fans in general, but I realise that sometimes you need a smiley or a * followed by an explanation for some people to ‘get it’. On a serious note I’m not overly keen on us signing a 32 year old who’s hardly kicked a ball for the best part of a year and is well on his way to establishing himself as a pundit on Clyde 1 Superscoreboard alongside Gordon Dalziel as his main gig. But I do accept that we are short of options and need reinforcements so if we do bring Andy Halliday in then he’ll get my support.

I don’t want us to sign Halliday because he is a Rangers fan and ex Rangers player. We’ve already got a strip with a sash on it so can you imagine what the Celtic fans will say if we sign Staunch Andy?

I can see both sides of that argument. On one side KvV had a terrific spell from February to May last season, heights he will likely never reach again in goal scoring terms. He is 32 years old and as far as I know has never had a season or a run like that before in his career. He is ‘on the pedestal’ with the club and the support now and it would be a shame to see him go the way of Faddy 2nd & 3rd time and Moult last season where he’s not delivering but nobody wants to admit it. However the other side is that he is clearly a better option than anything we currently have up front and would give us something in the way of goal scoring threat for the second half of the season. I would take him if we could get him on loan until the end of the season. I don’t think for one minute he would be as prolific as he was Feb - May 23 but he would get goals. I don’t see us being able to get him though.

Adam Montgomery loan until the end of the season confirmed.

Never mind me, this isn’t about me. Do you have any views on Slattery’s injury? How well fare without him? Where this leaves us?

Slattery out for the season, confirmed by club social media. We just keep lurching from one crisis to the next.

Can I provide any evidence of the club being run in an amateurish fashion? Yes, I most certainly can. The video that we’re talking about on our official media platforms begging Taylor Swift for money for starters. You want evidence of our professional top flight football club being run in an amateur fashion then there’s Exhibit A right there. Then there’s the failure to appoint a replacement for Burrows who left eleven months ago. Our transfer and scouting system is diabolical and yet our club who are forever pleading poverty have people in post who are happy to squander whatever meagre resources we have on the dross we signed last summer. That enough for now or would you like me to go on?

I don’t know, as the saying goes “actions speak louder than words” so while the accounts on paper may look okay, the amateurish way the club is run alongside this plea for cash investment (and make no mistake, that’s what this production is) would suggest otherwise. We have been without a permanent CEO for almost a year, the club has no vision or direction and our support is fucking shite bar from a small faithful core of regulars. I think if we are relegated, be it this season or next then we are almost certainly looking at part time football and administration would also be a distinct possibility.

All that abomination of a video has done is show the world just how much of a tinpot no-mark pathetic excuse for a professional football club we really have become. Even by our standards and with the amount of absolute cringeworthy guff that has spewed out of our social media dept this is a new low. The way it combines the "we exist to improve people's lives" pish with the begging for money and ends with a wee lad name dropping Taylor Swift is peak cringe. I don't even think Tam Cowan could put a humourous or positive spin on that. I think we as a club are well and truly fucked and Admin 2 isn't far away.

Think so yes, there’s certainly Cup replays in this seasons FA Cup. It’s a much better idea, imo, not having Cup replays as it cuts down on fixture congestion and teams know that every cup tie is a must win game.

Yip, there’s been no Cup replays since before Covid.

1-1 beat on pens.

We’ve got a Scottish Cup tie against Alloa before this one. That one is equally as important for us as a Cup run would be hugely beneficial to the club and the support.

Wasn’t a huge fan of hers but I’d take her back right now. If nothing else it would be an experienced head running the club. I’d be surprised if she came back though. Obviously the big stumbling block would be her salary which I doubt we could afford now, plus Tam Cowan on Off the Ball earlier said that he spoke to her during the week and one of the big reasons for her stepping down at Queens Park is because she was “knackered” with the workload and hours so I can’t see her jumping straight into a job straight away.

Regards one of the above posts, I don't think any genuine Motherwell fan would have a leaning to either side, but it is possible to dislike one more than the other, as to be honest I think most people probably do for one reason or another. I know that it is the accepted and perhaps safest thing, especially on forums like these and social media, to say "I hate both Old Firm clubs equally". It is slightly less acceptable but still acceptable to a degree to say "I hate them both but I hate Rangers more" but it is absolutely taboo in my experience to say "I hate Celtic more than Rangers". We've even seen it on this very thread itself as to why, a Motherwell fan saying that they "were getting strong vibes of Rangers being their big team". A Motherwell fan saying that about other Motherwell fans. That's ridiculous but it's the way it goes in this part of the world and it's another example of Celtic driven manipulation, because such is the hold that club have on society never mind football, it is now seen by many that to merely voice dislike of Celtic suggests underlying anti Catholic/Irish bigotry/racism. I think that that's fucking ludicrous when you stop and think about it but there it is anyway. I think there are also a lot of football fans out there, decent people who are only interested in supporting their club who also feel the same way about Celtic but for the sake of a quiet life just say that they hate Rangers more or that they hate them both equally. It's a sad state of affairs but I get why they do it. I've always said this, I don't like Rangers and find them as a club to have a weird, warped even attitude to life with their dated views, WATP mentality and their 'loving cup' etc. As a support I don't like some of the songs they sing but away from the games I find most of them are okay, if sometimes a bit thick. Celtic on the other hand are a cancer of not just football but society as well and even the decent fans normally show their true colours eventually and show themselves up as obnoxious, paranoid, bigoted, hateful arseholes. They are far, far worse than Rangers.

That was long before my time so I’m not going to dispute what you’re saying, that may well have been the case back then. But like I said that has absolutely no relevance to what goes on today. Celtic clearly, in my opinion, have a lot more clout than any other club, including Rangers nowadays, in football, the media and in the political spectrum.

Firstly, I’m not upset about anything and I don’t see anyone else getting upset. Secondly, it is quite clear that plenty of people do give a feck otherwise it wouldn’t be being discussed on here and there wouldn’t be all the hysteria about Rangers getting penalties on social media and forums like Pie & Bovril. Like it or not, the ‘Old Firm circus’ is something that a lot of people take an interest in.

Give it a rest with that patter. That type of attitude is yet another reason why Celtic are able to control and manipulate everyone, because anyone who dares speak out is immediately labelled a Rangers fan without the bus fare/a bigot. And that’s not even just from Celtic fans either! You see that pish trotted out on here all the time whenever anyone goes against the grain and calls Celtic out for what they are. Both clubs have their faults and both sets of supports certainly have faults, but Celtic are way out in front of Rangers imo, and you don’t have to support or even like Rangers to see that. All it takes is a little bit of thinking for yourself and forming your own view based on that.

I hadn’t to be honest so I had to google search there. It seems that his last involvement with the SFA was in 1957 and I would hazard a guess is now probably deceased? So that being the case how can he have any influence on the game and what goes on in 2024?

This is how Celtic get away with their control, manipulation and bullying of match officials and the wider Scottish game… attitudes like yours. People with their heads so deep in the sand that they can’t or won’t see that Celtic are the real problem. People that are so bitter and obsessed with Rangers that they can’t and won’t see Celtic for what they are. There may have been a great deal of vilification by Rangers towards officials, governing bodies and other clubs in recent times, but it’s nowhere near on the same scale as the other mob and they certainly don’t have the same clout and control that they do either. Like I say, Celtic and Celtic alone caused a refereeing strike and managed to get a referee thrown out of the game for overturning a penalty decision. That was just once instance in a long line of Celtic driven bullying and manipulation of the Scottish game and to suggest that Rangers are anywhere near the same level as them in that regard, or more accurately have the same power and influence as they do is, to use your words “preposterous nonsense”.

Ah our old friend the ‘undisclosed fee’… That aside best of luck to Wilkinson. It clearly didn’t work out here and was one of many poor pieces of business in the summer but we move on.

I haven’t seen it so can’t say either way but I’ve always wondered if this constant “Penalty to Rangers” and conspiracy nonsense sometimes plays a part, perhaps subconsciously in the backs of officials minds. They’re only human and I reckon that this is what Celtic, their supporters and cheerleaders want - to get match officials to think twice before giving Rangers a favourable decision or one against Celtic. Ever since the 2010 referee strike - an event which was completely Celtic’s doing - Celtic have had it more or less their own way and we’ve all seen on numerous occasions that any referee giving big decisions against Celtic is then often subject to vilification, harassment sometimes even threats to them and their families so it takes a strong referee to officiate their games.

Bair is a ‘confidence player’. His effort is never in question and his ability is limited but he does have something to offer when his head is up. He’s delivered both Saturday and today and scored a couple of really good goals. Saying that we really could do with signing a ‘proper’ striker type player in this window.

Context is everything with draws. We’ve snatched four draws at home this season with last minute equalisers and they may well be pivotal for us come seasons end. They felt good at the time because of the nature of how they came about. On the flip side conceding a last minute equaliser feels utterly gut wrenching.