MJC

Another excellent move by the MFC community trust. You’d be hard pushed to find another club that does so much for it’s local community these days.

We can’t read too much, if anything into yesterday if we’re being honest. That said looking at the squad we have, with our rookie manager and the way we have played for much of this season then I have grave concerns for our chances in the second half of the season. We may or may not be relegated, it’s impossible to predict that just now, but I don’t think we’ll be too far off 11th or 12th come seasons end.

He’s been injured for five years. As it should be if he can’t get fit enough to make an impact.

Hard to call this one. Needless to say we really need to be winning games like this and the Killie game on the 23rd. That said though I can see it being a frustrating draw. 1-1

I suppose if we’d opted for a proper Motherwell FC home kit for this season this would have been a perfect opportunity to introduce a mostly Claret 3rd kit, but it is what it is I suppose.

Eliphas Shivute is the first thing that springs to mind having seen that kit. Great message behind the release though it has to be said.

Was a great moment at the time but it did us more harm than good in the long run. Had we lost that we would have been rid of Alexander come the end of the season, a new manager would then have had the chance to build his own squad and we would have been spared the dreadful ‘European tour’ and the Sligo disaster.

Genuinely one of the worst players ever to pull on our jersey, regardless of how good he was or what he achieved elsewhere. He offered absolutely nothing for us and like Karl Ready, Andy Dow and Eric Black he is just one of those names that instantly reminds me of our final plunge into administration.

I was there too, a ‘relative’ youngster back then! The thing that sticks out was that the tannoy was even worse than the old East Stand tannoy at Fir Park and it was hard to hear the announcement about the game being abandoned. I remember the guy in front of us turning round an asking my dad “did he just say that the game’s been abandoned there”? and then word spread more from folk who had actually heard the announcement and the ones who had radios. There was a lot of shouting/bother with the police if I remember correctly. Something else that sticks out from this game was the whole away end chanting “No fucking merger” in response to midweek reports that John Boyle was planning to buy Airdrie and merge them with us to create ‘Lanarkshire United’. Thankfully that never came to fruition.

Correct it was January 2000 and the entire tie was absolutely mental. As you say abandoned at half time due to high winds howling in right off the North sea when we were 1-0 up. We then made a pigs ear of the re-arranged game in midweek and drew 1-1 and the Fir Park replay was then postponed at least twice due to water-logging and we ended up playing it on the same weekend that the (then) 4th Round ties were meant to be played. For the ‘Romance of the Cup’ and as January Scottish Cup away days go this tie is absolutely perfect. It is though a potentially very tricky one so hopefully we are up to it on the day.

The draw for the 4th Round takes place tonight after the Ayr Utd v Pollok tie live on the BBC Scotland channel. Hopefully a kind draw to give us at least something to look forward to this season.

I hope so too, because a fit Louis Moult will be invaluable to us this season but sadly so far the signs regarding his fitness aren’t promising.

It’s a good suggestion but there’s been nothing from the club as yet that suggests we’re even looking at this as an option. With the injury/potential injury list we have I reckon there will be more of a focus on getting everyone fit for the restart. I would say that a training camp abroad is more likely than us arranging a series of bounce games.

Aberdeen beat Dundee Utd which is a plus point for us as it keeps Utd five points behind us.

We haven’t beaten Rangers in the league since 2002 and we haven’t beaten them in any competition since 2017. We have lost our last 15 straight matches against Celtic and haven’t beaten them since 2015. If there is another top flight side who has as bad a record against them both as that in recent times I’d be amazed, especially so seeing as I know for a fact that there isn’t one. Even Accies have managed to beat Rangers twice in the league at Ibrox since we last managed it in the 2017 LCSF.

Perhaps but I would imagine that the TV money from SKY covering the game would have been the main factor.

Well let’s hope so. He clearly still has ability and his workrate is first class but his injury record and fitness are the big concern.

Apparently both clubs requested this a while ago, it says as much on that link.

I hope you’re both right about Moult, but so far the signs aren’t good.

They are different types of players though. Phil O’Donnell was able to adapt to being a kind of holding midfielder or lynchpin type middle player and that eventually came good for him and us. He was never going to be the energetic box to box player that he had been in his first spell but it was clear that he was able to fit into his new role in that team. It’s different for a player like Moult who is a striker and a goalscorer by nature. He relies on his fitness and his instinct and from what we’ve seen so far he just doesn’t have that anymore.

I know that. But I also know that he has been here since September and is still nowhere near the required fitness that we need to make a meaningful contribution. Like others have said he worked his arse off today, his effort isn’t in question but sadly he just doesn’t have the fitness, the endurance to do what we need him to do anymore.

Sadly true. Moult, like McFadden is one of my all time favourite Motherwell players from his first spell with us and like Faddy I was excited to see him back, but hoping that he would be fit enough to actually make a meaningful contribution. The sad reality is that he has been here over two months, has started one game (today) and contributed very little when he has actually made an appearance. His only goal came from a penalty. As I said he still shows flashes of his old self and he clearly has ability, but he is done.

Well a point isn’t a disaster but with Killie beating Hibs we are now only two points above the playoff spot. The first two games after the break are absolutely massive for us.

He’s not far off it. This is what I mean about his Faddy-esq cult status with the support giving him far more time than he would otherwise have got if he were anyone else. Had we signed Leigh Griffiths, for example, and he had contributed what Moult has so far in two months then he would be getting slaughtered.

He is fucked. It’s like Faddy 2014 onwards, occasion flashes of his old self but no longer has the fitness to make a serious impact but his cult status with the support means he’s basically immune to criticism.