Jay

I assume it'll be the same for the pre-sale as well then? Surely not £2 per ticket though? So that'd be £32 when we go to buy our tickets if so - no chance! Or is it just one ticket per person for the ballot? So how do people sit beside each other? This is going to end in tears!

Aye, and it's only right that if Aberdeen had made the final each side should only have gotten about 5,000 tickets each (based on Aberdeen's attendances this season). Rather have 40,000 empty seats than day trippers. What a spectacle that could have been.

Ye'll no be happy with one or two of the folk coming with us then!

I'm obviously assuming that it means four tickets per voucher, but just thought I'd double check. If I turn up with, say, two vouchers I assume I will be able to buy eight tickets? Or will the season ticket holder have to be present even if they're working or unable to make it over? As I said, I naturally assume X vouchers = 4 x X tickets regardless, but thought I'd just make sure! There's going to be myself and Joe heading over with four season tickets and the intention of purchasing sixteen tickets for the troops on Monday.

What's that got to do with what I posted?

It's fucking shite that not only are we getting screwed out of a chance to sell 50% of the tickets, but that they are trying to justify it by lying about segregation issues, but every 'Well fan will quite easily get a ticket. If we were given half the tickets, we'd sell about 16,000 anyway. But that's irrelevant - the point is that, once again, the Old Firm are treated entirely differently than everyone else. Neutral my arse.

Thank God it's not an Old Firm final, segregation problems would reak havoc on ticket allocation plans. Oh wait... EDIT: Wellfan1984 made the point first!

If it's just about people getting special treatment because they know a season ticket holder, surely the number is irrelevant? Four is perfectly fair and there'll be about half our allocation left for the general sale which is more than enough (especially when you remember there'll be plenty of 'Well fans not in the public sale due to getting 'special treatment'). Really fail to see the issue and I reckon it's more just anxiety or worry about getting tickets, which isn't going to be a problem in the slightest anyway. Hopefully there's an official announcement soon and we can get with the proper build up!

Still don't really see the four per season ticket holder as being unfair. For instance, I'm the only one in our group who has one so the extra tickets I buy will be folk who'd be going anyway. I'd bet plenty of other folk are the same - 'Well fans who don't bother buying a season ticket getting an early brief because their mate has one. Granted, there'll be a few folk who'll bring friends or family who don't normally go, but not enough to stop any 'Well fan who wants a ticket being able to go. As I said earlier, four per ST holder is fair IMO. Any less and some folk will undoubtedly have to be split up from their mates, any more and it's unfair. I'd assume the number four has been picked for a reason, not just plucked from the air.

Four briefs per season ticket is pretty much spot on IMO. Any less and mates who sit together at games are going to end up split up, any more and it becomes unfair. As posted many times before, any 'Well fans who want a ticket will get a ticket.

That's the main issue for me. Most of the Celtic fans in the Motherwell end on Skippy Sunday got a doing from 'Well fans (I think my favourite was the Celtic fan who celebrated Chris Sutton's goal up the back of the East Stand, only to vanish underneath 'Well fan after 'Well fan), and the stewards were quick to eject them. However, problems could be caused if the police or stewards wade in heavy handed after a few Celtic fans get lamped. I'm not advocating violence at a football match, but everyone will be up for this, booze will have been consumed, and if any 'Well fans are near a Celtic fan who celebrates a goal or whatever, it's pretty safe to say said Celtic fan will get an absolute pasting. Riots could then ensue depending on how the police/stewards react. That said, they obviously shouldn't be there in the first place. But as steelboy points out, a simple online ballot will have the link being posted all over Celtic sites and forums.

I really hope it's not as simple as just signing up for a ballot, although I fear it is. That could be an absolute disaster.

6-2 against Hibs, decided to leave, went to the bogs on the way out, 6-3, stayed. 3-0 against Hearts, decided to leave, went to the bogs on the way out, 3-1, stayed. The lesson is always listen to your bladder.

Motherwell win the cup and a handful of Celtic fans get an absolute kicking in the 'Well end?! That's not a problem, that's outstanding!

I don't have problems with two groups of like-minded individuals meeting up and leathering the shite out of each other away from everyone else, but doing it in a busy pub before a game is just out of order.

I don't think that'll be a problem, I envisage a Dream Team style finale to the campaign. The Motherwell first team bus on the way to Celtic Park on the last day of the season will be involved in a fatal car crash which leaves the coach completely gutted by fire, firefighters struggling to tackle the blaze, and the confirmation that there could have been no survivors. Despite this, the SPL will force Motherwell to play the tie due to their strict regulation that all the top six games must kick off at the exact same time, not to mention the hassle it could also cause Sky. So the 'Well will send an emergency squad of U19s with a few Motherwell fans who happened to be in the vicinity of Fir Park at the time thrown in to make up the numbers, and 'Flow (who will have been at Celtic Park uploading photos of the park and some rolls and sausage onto the club's Facebook since half 6 in the morning) will be placed in charge. Queue a disasterous yet understandable defeat that clinches the title for Celtic and sends Motherwell into Europe. Then, upon reaching Fir Park in the aftermath of the game, 'Flow and his merry band of players will discover that the first team squad were never on the coach that burst into flames and had, instead, spent the day as hostages of an absolutely mental, angry and AK47-wielding Jim Gannon in the Centenary Suite (with Dougie Arnott tied up behind the bar) - Gannon having been left enraged by Stephen Craigan using his name on Soccer AM's Crossbar Challenge a few weeks previous. As 'Flow (hiding round behind the bar) Tweets ongoing updates of the hostage crisis and just as Gannon looks like he's about to wipe out the entire squad, Esteban Casagolda will pounce from no-where, wrestling the psychotic former manager to the ground, and manage to prize his loaded weapons away from him. The rest of the squad will then rush in, beating Gannon to death under a volley of fists, boots and empty pint glasses, while 'Flow sends picture messages of the bloody events to delighted ex-players such as Jim O'Brien and Marc Fitzpatrick. And so, with a fired up first team squad saved by the actions of Esteban Casagolda, and an increased feeling of team spirit after the ordeal, the mighty 'Well will take to the field at Hampden and take Celtic to pieces in the Scottish Cup final, running out comfortable 3-1 winners, with Stephen Craigan hoisting the cup aloft in slow motion as the credits start rolling. I'm supposed to be finishing writing an essay and it seems pretty obvious I'll do anything to avoid it.

What a terrible thread this is as a whole. We're in the Scottish Cup final for the first time in twenty years, turn up and support the team like you normally do. All talk of bringing saltires to make a point or Union flags to noise up the Celtic fans is a load of bollocks. The idea of folk actually going out of their way to bring some form of Union flag for the sole reason of irritating some Celtic fans (who, in the real world, probably couldn't give a fuck) is particularly laughable. I couldn't give a fuck about the Celtic fans, this is about Motherwell. As for h**s in the 'Well end in full regalia, I don't buy that for a second. No one is that idiotic surely?

Aye, thought so.

Win and there'll still be some of the guys on here pointing out the error of his ways.

I don't think anyone's writing off St Johnstone as if it's a foregone conclusion. This is a forum for discussion about football, mainly relating to Motherwell. Wherever we like it or not, the subject of potentially playing Celtic on the last day of the season needing a defeat to qualify for Europe is currently possible and relevant. Discussing it doesn't remotely mean the writing off of St Johnstone on Saturday.

Going by what all the players have been saying on the official site, I don't for a second believe we'll remotely underestimate St Johnstone.

I'd agree with that, most non-Old Firm fans love to get it up the Old Firm. However, I would seriously question if any Motherwell fan really values beating Rangers or Celtic in a one-off game over securing European qualification for another season. It's all very well stating the obvious that if we win the Scottish Cup we'll be in Europe, but that doesn't change the fact that if we make the final against Celtic the odds will heavily be stacked against us and the chances of us losing the game will be far greater than winning, obviously. Therefore, I really fail to see the big deal in preferring to lose another game at Celtic Park (one that means absolutely fuck all to us, apart from getting to laugh at Celtic fans if they don't win the league which, although fun at the time, I don't really look at as being a particularly big thing) in order to secure European qualification, before going into the Scottish Cup final planning to try and win both the trophy and European qualification anyway.

Well aye, I do understand how it works. My point is though, that as far as the last game of the season goes - before the outcome of the Scottish Cup Final - I would happily lose and secure Europe for the following season. It doesn't mean I'd appreciate winning the Scottish Cup any less. Even if Rangers win the league and our only way into Europe will be by winning the Scottish Cup, that will be far from my mind at the Final (if we get there) - for me, it's all about the silverware, getting into Europe is an after thought. But it's an after thought that gives us something to look forward to and earns the club a few extra quid. That, for me at least, is worth more than winning a game that is meaningless to Motherwell. As I said, I'm not genuinely championing the idea of going out and purposely lying down - for a start, we'd probably get into trouble for it. But I certainly wouldn't be sending out our full strength side out fired up for the win. Anyway, the very fact we're discussing securing Europe before the end of the season and the possibility of winning the Scottish Cup sums up just how good this season has actually been so far!

What's beating them in the Scottish Cup Final got to do with anything? Funnily enough, I'd be ever happier to be a part of that much bigger band of 'Well fans as well. And to be honest, I couldn't give a rat's arse about stopping them winning the title the previous weekend, because it would just mean the other side of the Scum would have won it. I couldn't care less what Old Firm side wins the league, unless it benefits us. That said, if we made it to the final you'd be on here proclaiming we were about to get slaughtered anyway. I don't genuinely think we'd conceed nine goals, nor try to. However, if we decided to rest a number of first team players, just like we did at Tyncastle, and purposely didn't fly into tackles and the like for fear of being injured before the final, then I wouldn't be particularly bothered and, in all honesty, it would probably lead to us losing the game which I'd be perfectly happy with. For me, qualifying for Europe for another year and enjoying the benefits that brings - from the fans getting a trip or two, to the club making more money - beats picking up a completely meaningless point or three at Celtic Park when our league season is already done and dusted. I enjoy stopping one side of the Scum winning the league as much as the next person, but not at the expense of more money and another European spell for Motherwell.

I will happily be a part of a small band of 'Well fans inside Celtic Park singing "we're all going on a Europe tour!" as Gary Hooper rolls in Celtic's 9th of the day.