Jay

As much as I liked the big man when he was at the 'Well, I couldn't give a fuck about him from the moment he was no longer a Motherwell player. I don't dislike him or anything, but any footballer who knows anything about Scottish football knows they take a risk when they join Hearts and they need to accept the consquences if it all goes tits up.

Cracking day on Saturday, from a win in the Dunfermline bookies and making a profit on a bridie thanks to the idiot kiosk guy, to the great result and fantastic atmosphere. Didn't think the atmosphere would have been as good on Saturday after reading on Pie & Bovril about how Dunfermline and their stewards/police had been all over stopping standing. Quite early on in the game, one of the stewards told me and a mate to sit down and when we refused, he claimed the police were being called up and we'd be "the first ones chucked out". He then went to the end of the row and stood talking on his shite walky-talky for 5-10 minutes. At this point, he was either talking to no-one in the hope the 'Well fans would shit it and sit down, or he'd radioed down only to be told the police couldn't give two fucks. Either way, he pissed off soon after and wasn't seen again. It was the exact opposite reaction from the police that I'd been expecting after reading P&B.

I wouldn't say it's a good draw (compared to some of the other teams in there) but it's certainly not a disaster and I'm perfectly content with it. Hibs are absolutely ganting and Calderwood is clueless, there's no reason why we shouldn't be doing them at Fir Park. That said, I did fancy an away day to Ayr.

Glad to hear it went well, had hoped to make it down over the course of yesterday at some point but couldn't make it unfortunately. So does that make it seven years since the first ever game against FPC!? That's terrifying.

Looking forward to Saturday, always enjoy an away day to a side that's not been in the SPL for a few years. 11.14 train from 'Well via Waverley. I'm going with a 2-1 'Well victory. Higdon and Hutchinson the scorers.

Just leaving for Daniels for a few jars before the bus. Quite looking forward to tonight, I'm going 3-0. Catch some of you there.

Fucking laughable.

Have you actually contacted Clyde or are you just going by what it says on the official site? I may be wrong but I'm sure the same rule was in place at Hampden until a couple of years ago, yet it was never, ever enforced.

First time in a while I've seen the Fire Safety Certificate issue regarding flags at the football. An absolutely laughable rule.

It is an absolute joke that the police will throw out a kid with a banner yet the guy responsible for playing that horrendous Kings of Lion/Stereophonics tune is left to go about his business.

The "hordes of bigots" did as much wrong as the child with the banner.

A few of the individual shouts from the Rangers fans closest to the end of the East Stand were interesting, and in the usual spirit of "if you're not one, you're the other". And if a banner with the word "h*n" on it is deemed as offensive enough to merit a banning order, I don't see why King Billy and No Surrender flags should be deemed as acceptable at a game of football. To answer your question though, nothing the Rangers support did should have merited the police intervening in my view, the same way as nothing the 'Well fans did - including the h*n banner - should have merited the police intervening.

I've got to agree with this. In the grand scheme of things, the word "h*n" (like "Tim") is nothing. It's used regularly by everyone, including Rangers fans describing themselves (and Celtic fans describing themselves) as well as on things like Only An Excuse. By all means, if we finally rid the country of the cancer of sectarianism apart from the use of words like these (if they even count as sectarianism, which I'd dispute), then fair enough - maybe then it's time to start taking a serious stance, but c'mon to fuck, let's not start pretending like the word is in the same bracket as the "n" word when it comes to offence. I noticed the banner when it was first held up before the game and saw a handful of Rangers fans pointing at laughing at it. That was the entire response to the banner. I assume it was then brandished again later, given the wee guy wasn't chucked out before the game - presumably someone was off Googling "h*n" to see if they had a reason to chuck him out or not. However, whether or not the actual word on the banner is offensive or not is irrelevant and not the issue. The issue is that the police, as usual, completely ignored the hordes of bigots in the South Stand and either side of the Main Stand, yet waded in to lift a child who was a bit naive when making a banner. It's absolutely embarrassing and yet not remotely surprising.

Yer talking shite.

I'm not particularly bothered about today - maybe I've just gotten used to not bothering when we lose to Rangers due to it being a regular occurance, I'm still perfectly happy with things as they are so far this season and there was nothing today that has me genuinely worried. However, the one thing that did annoy the fuck out of me was our complete lack of interest in taking advantage of the young Rangers right-back being on a booking. He'd already been spoken to by Craig Thomson for talking too much before he picked up his booking - that combined with his lack of experience and youthful enthusasim should have ensured us running at him every chance we got in the second half. Instead, we were continually trying to go down the right which was beyond belief.

Has it been confirmed exactly why he was chucked out? It was only a few rows in front of us - we'd noticed a "We've got the Law and he hates h**s" banner earlier in the game, and heard mumblings afterwards he was lifted as it was his. Not that makes any real difference - we all know for a fact that the police, stewards and clubs themselves will give it big licks over this sectarian crackdown, and yet the only fans that'll be constantly penalised will be those without the problem.

Motherwell fans, like all football fans, will pick and choose who they want to slag off. Jamie Murphy should have gotten pelters on a few occasions today for having no interest in even attempting to anticipate a flick on from Higdon, yet it was Higdon who was getting moaned at for presumably not flicking the ball straight to a 'Well players feet. Higdon's ability to hold the ball up and flick headers on could be a very valuable asset, if the other attacking players bothered their arses to put it to use. But they haven't bothered yet.

I'd go along with this. McCall's refusal to make changes during games suggests that he is yet to be convinced we have any players on the bench capable of doing a job on the park. Hopefully he gives a few of them a chance on Wednesday and they impress enough - even against a lower league side - to make things a little more competative in the first team. I'd also play Higdon - A. Because I don't buy into this "he's shite" nonsense; and B. All strikers want a goal early on at a new club to settle them in. Randolph Hateley -- Hutchinson -- Craigan -- Page Lawless -- Carswell -- Forbes -- Law McHugh -- Higdon

Well that took long.

Don't be daft.

Motherwell 4 (Murphy x2, Higdon, Hutchinson) Rangers 0

Funnily enough, that was the first David Kelly related memory that popped into my head when I clocked this thread!

That was a decade ago!? Fucking hell.

There's been arguments for and against the idea of Faddy coming back being a possibility, but just to put another slant on it... The idea of him finishing his career at Motherwell certainly isn't a secret. He's told numerous people over the years since he left Motherwell (as recently as when he was training at the club during the summer) that he plans to do so. Obviously whether or not you believe him is a discussion in itself, but given he has no real reason to tell people he'll finish his career at Motherwell (while he's playing for Everton or Birmingham) yet has done so frequently and openly, I'd personally be surprised if it doesn't come to fruition (career ending injury or ban or something permitting). But with that in mind, and assuming that James McFadden truly does plan to finish his career at Fir Park and has planned to do so since the day he left for Everton, surely signing for us just now would be an acceptance that his career may be over, at least at the top level? I'm not saying it would be - he could put himself in the shop window for a couple of months and get a good move - but for a player of Faddy's belief and arrogance, he strikes me as the type who would never play for Motherwell again unless he genuinely is finishing his career here because, by joining the team he has ear-marked as where he'll finish his career, there is a tiny bit of doubt that it's game over.