MJC

If Hammell goes it’ll be Kettlewell or Clarkson that gets it.

No arguments there but we aren’t blessed with any other better options from the bench. Our squad is absolutely garbage and we have little to no depth and even less quality.

Cornelius on for Goss

That’s the way it is for the majority of the league to be honest, it’s “Survival of the least shittest”.

Well we’ve finally managed one from Johnston but Carson saved well.

Only a matter of time before they score again I reckon.

Hammell won’t be sacked, we can’t afford to pay him off but I don’t know how much longer he’ll stick around for before he decides to chuck it. We are basically doing the same things week in week out and not surprisingly getting the same dire performances and results.

Half time 1-0. Another gormless and dismal display from us. We might scrape a draw yet but in yet another game where we need a win we aren’t getting it. Its all just so depressingly familiar.

Ross County winning as well which means as things stand we are joint bottom with them, Dundee Utd and Killie.

This is our problems in a nutshell, we just cannot do the absolute basics of football. We can’t defend and we can’t score goals and that’s why we are almost three months to the day since our last league win and have only recorded one home league win all season.

That is just pathetic. Another uphill struggle to just get a point here.

Depressing right enough. Mandron being injured just sums up our fortunes this season.

Danzaki not involved as clearance not through. Mandron not involved as he’s injured so Shields starts.

We don’t have anywhere near the support and fanbase that Hearts do though. Not just numbers either, I would go as far to say that the Hearts support is second to none in Scotland with the way they support and back their club through thick and thin. They united together and saved their club from the ruinous state that Romanov left them in and now they are reaping the rewards. If any club could make fan ownership work, it’s Hearts. I admire them for that and am more than a wee bit jealous of their support. For us there probably are ways to improve the way the WS functions but sadly we just don’t have the numbers.

Riku Danzaki confirmed pending international clearance which if granted will make him available for today. He will wear the No.14 jersey. How do you say “Welcome to our great wee club” in Japanese”?

Well given that we are frequently told that clubs in the Championship are able to pay more wages than we do then you would have to think so yes. If and when we are relegated then I’m afraid it will be a pretty dark picture for us as a club.

I think there is a very real possibility that we will end up going part time if/when we are relegated, especially more so if we have a sustained period in the lower leagues. We have been a top flight club for almost 40 years, qualified for Europe several times, finished 2nd and 3rd on more than one occasion, won the Scottish Cup and reached four finals in that time. But all we ever hear from the club is that we are on the bones of our backsides, so if we are relegated then it is inevitable imo that our cloth will be cut even more accordingly. The idea of the Well Society is a brilliant one, but as has been said we don’t really have the size of support to sustain it and in these current tough financial times it’s even harder. The club certainly is at a crossroads and perhaps this is why Alan Burrows has decided it is now time for him to move on. Whatever happens the next few years are going to be very difficult for us as a club.

We’ve got them a week on Saturday though…

It’s a bit concerning, in my opinion, the lack of updates regarding our youth system. Other than when they are loaned out to lower league clubs we get little to nothing in the way of information regarding what is going on about who is standing out, who is showing promise and who is the promising hope for the future. As a club we really need to be bringing through youth players who can make that transition to the first team but we don’t see enough of that. Obviously this season we have seen Miller, Luca Ross, Speirs, Ferrie being either involved in match day squads or getting game time, but Speirs is now out on loan and we’ve only really seen Miller being involved, albeit on a limited basis, which is understandable as he is only 16/17. Even Max Johnston spent the first half of the season out on loan though he is now appearing for the first team. But for a club that puts a lot of emphasis on communication with the support we hear very little about who is making the grade at youth level and that is a worry for me.

Going by the social media promotions of this game it looks as though we will be wearing our ‘Shivute’ kit again this weekend. Not that I’m complaining as it means we will be spared our home strip for another week.

Are there currently any Brazilians kicking about in the English conference leagues? If so there’s every chance we will sign him as that is ‘our market’.

Full time: Darvel 1 Aberdeen 0 😂 Utter humiliation for the Dons!

Not a home draw but that, is Sooo-effing-perb! A winnable tie and a great away day potentially!

I see what you mean but surely even we wouldn’t lose to Elgin/Drumchapel/Linlithgow at home? Obviously Raith would be a potential ‘banana skin’ but you’d like to think we would have enough against them? But I would be much more comfortable facing Accies or Thistle away from home than I would be at Fir Park.

If we want to progress then we need to avoid Celtic, Rangers and Hearts. We pull any of those three and we would be as well asking to forfeit the tie straight away. The best draw for us would be a home draw against Elgin/Drumchapel or Linlithgow Rose/Raith Rovers. But Cup draws are never that kind to Motherwell.