MJC

A game on that dreadful surface won’t be easy and a point won’t be a bad result. 1-1

Hear, Hear! Opposing someone from joining our football club because of their political leanings, views or associations is very Celtic/Green Brigade type behaviour. Personally I couldn’t care less if we appointed the illegitimate love child of Ian Paisley and Margaret Thatcher, if he came in and did a good job for us then that’s all that matters.

Absolutely. This group of players seem to react well to a ‘boot up the backside’ which inevitably comes with a new manager. Those shouting for Kettlewell to get the job right now would do well to bear that in mind. What we need just now is someone who can instill and maintain discipline in that team and not accept a drop in effort. Tactical nous as well is also crucial.

No, it wasn’t. But then again I thought we’d beat Raith last weekend. I was wrong both times.

It’s pretty clear imo that for whatever reason the players simply weren’t playing for Hammell. Today and on Wednesday night we had McGinn, Spittal, KvV and Goss chasing balls, working their arses off in a way they simply weren’t a couple of weeks ago. The difference in effort and workrate is crazy but welcome.

Incredible result. The workrate from the entire team was night and day to what it was under Hammell. Hearts were awful but that’s not our problem. And get it right up that greasy, flat nosed prick Neilson and that Honey monster headed goalkeeper.

Yes but I think it’s fair to say that a sizeable chunk of the ‘Motherwell’ support that day weren’t Motherwell fans. I know there were plenty Celtic fans in our stands on that occasion and no doubt some fans of other clubs as well. That said I don’t think that our support, or potential support is any smaller than our peer clubs like Killie and St.Mirren, it’s much of a muchness. What I would say though is that we have a lazy element of our fanbase who simply don’t attend run of the mill games yet turn up for Cup Finals, European games and playoffs against Rangers. I’m not just talking about in the current climate either where finances are tough, this has been the case with our support for as long as I can remember. What I tend to find as well with these types and it’s quite ironic and amusing, is that they are usually the ones who are most vocal in moaning about Old Firm glory hunters and how they see themselves as being superior to them in some way. Yet they rarely set foot inside Fir Park themselves.🤷‍♂️

I never said that Hearts were invincible just that they are as strong as they have been in many years. And they clearly are. In their last fifteen domestic games they have only lost three times, twice to Rangers and once to Celtic. They can get results even when not playing at their best and when they are on top form they are capable of punishing sides. They took five off Aberdeen, took three off Hibs home and away so they are more than capable of giving us a sound beating on Sunday especially with our leaky backline. We need to stop giving away cheap goals, work on concentration and start picking up points where we can, that’s why last night was such a crucial result. A game against a strong Hearts side is likely to be too soon for us to keep our (hopeful) revival going and the only way we will get anything will be if they have a big off day.

Can’t see us getting anything from this one I’m afraid. Hearts are by far and away the third best side in the league and are as strong as they have been in years. The squad they have boasts an embarrassment of riches with a tough, combative midfield, strong defence and goalkeeper and goals throughout the team. In Lawrence Shankland they have an absolutely lethal No.9 and the likes of Humphrys, Ginnelly and McKay contribute goals as well. Robert Snodgrass has been instrumental for them this season and you can see why we were keen to land him in August as he is a top player. I would imagine they will bring a good support as they have been travelling in huge numbers of late. Motherwell 1-5 Hearts

Massive win last night in so many ways. Our first home win since August, first win in the league since October and at a time when we badly needed the points to lift us out of the relegation zone. Hopefully it gives us the confidence boost going ahead.

We’re far too deep here.

Bit of both I reckon. The workrate has definitely been slightly better tonight.

HT 2-1 Two really good goals scored and a really poor goal conceded. I reckon we need at least one more goal if we are going to win this.

Defending yet again letting us down.

Here we go 2-1

What a fucking strike. Now let’s not sit back!!!

Beautiful finish.

“Kettlewell, the man for the job”?

McKinstry still can’t get a start Good to see So’D and Slattery benched Going from that lineup it looks like McGinn at CB and Butcher in midfield.

I said as much on Saturday it will almost certainly be Kettlewell until the end of the season and if he gets any sort of positive result in the next two games then it’ll be announced early next week. Its an awkward time to appoint a new manager and with our lack of money (and imagination) then the simple option for now us to hand it to Kettlewell just now and if he keeps us up the job is his in the summer.

He’s been dreadful recently though so have the entire team and perhaps that’s a factor in his dip in form. He won’t be dropped though, only injury will see him lose his place any time soon.

I wouldn’t take anything reported by The Sun seriously, but I wouldn’t be totally against Tommy Wright getting the job just now, but only on a short term basis to try and keep us up. Long term I don’t see him as the answer for us but short term we need to try and safeguard our top flight status so an experienced head like Wright might be what we need.

Terry Butcher was the last Motherwell manager to oversee a league victory over Rangers and I never heard him, Stuart McCall or Tommy McLean use anything like the type of language used by Kyle Lafferty recently either when they were with us or before and/or after. Obviously when we have ex old firm players at our club the media are going to ask them questions relating to it and it is their choice on whether and how to answer it or not. I don’t remember Tommy McLean constantly gushing over Rangers when he was here, Butcher like to offer his opinion on just about everything as did Mark McGhee and Stuart McCall was quite a humble guy who was very media friendly, but he never ‘sooked up’ to Rangers. What he was guilty though of, and the same could be said of McGhee and Butcher at times, was constantly talking us down whenever discussing games with either of them. Yes his record against Rangers was dismal and that 2012 League Cup game remains one of the worst results in our history in my view, but he didn’t fare much better against Celtic in that same time and the least said about his efforts in Europe the better. Terry Butcher was the architect of “we’re punching way above our weight” an attitude that has hampered us as a club for over two decades and many other players, managers and supporters have subscribed to that theory in that same time too. It is therefore no coincidence that we have seen our worst run of results in games against the old firm in that same period. Finally, TB’s celebrations on Skippy Sunday is something you would rather not see again? Perhaps I’ve forgotten or missed something but what exactly did he do? Should a manager not celebrate a win in a match which stops another team winning the league at their own ground? Were the Motherwell fans wild celebrations inside Fir Park that day also something you’d rather not see again? Or what about Celtic fan McDonald’s celebrations? That kind of attitude is one of insecurity about a perceived link between us and Rangers, which is nonsense especially in the context of Skippy Sunday. It’s also something you would read on a Celtic forum and indeed from the likes of John Hartson, Alan Thompson etc who have been dribbling on about how disrespectful we were to celebrate that day.

My thoughts exactly but sadly we have people in our fanbase who’s dislike of Rangers is greater than their love of Motherwell, or so it appears anyway. We’re not unique in that regard as I think that could apply to just about every club in Scotland and it is I believe a tiny proportion of our support who fall into that category but it exists nonetheless. The most important thing for us as a club is to get the best man we can possibly attract and who he previously played for or supports is completely irrelevant. I think the majority of Motherwell fans would feel the same.

He’s certainly not going to come here just now, perhaps if we avoided relegation and he then left his current club but even then I think it would be a big gamble. Apart from anything else he would be on a hiding to nothing straight away with some of our support due to him being a self confessed Rangers fan and ex Rangers player. He’d have some job winning them over. Though as I said last night, some of our most successful managers have been ex Rangers players.