MJC_MKI

I can't see us signing Ferguson but he would be a pretty decent signing for us as long as he stayed fit. He may be 35 but he was/perhaps still is a top class midfielder and given that we have badly missed Jennings this season, then this could be just what we need. Him and Lasley in central midfield allowing Law to move out left where he is far more effective. Like I said, can't really see this happening but if it were a straight choice between Barry Ferguson or Tom Hateley playing in central midfield in the second half of the season then I'd choose Ferguson any day of the week.

Sad to hear, Rest in peace.

Think a draw is a stick on for this one. Our record against St.Mirren is something you just never can predict but then our recent away record is excellent. Think a close 1-1 draw is on the cards here.

Absolutely remarkable result today.

I'm not a big fan of the way McGhee ended up leaving and his conduct during his final season where he publically whored himself for other jobs, showing a complete lack of respect for the Motherwell support. However, during his first season in particular, we played what was without doubt the best football I have ever seen in my time watching Motherwell. For him to come in during the summer of 2007 after the disaster that was the Malpas season and transform us into a side capable of playing fast flowing football which ended up with us finishing 3rd was an incredible achievement. He wasn't perfect and yes, we had some poor Cup results under him, but we also won a good few important games aswell. The Hearts Cup tie just after Phil O'Donnell's death where we were 2-0 down in the first game and came back to 2-2 and won the replay, the win at Parkhead with 10 men, the win against Aberdeen to clinch third etc. Yeah that's a great idea, ban folk who don't toe the party line and have opinions which are different to the majority. Pretty sure that's one of the ways how Nazi Germany got off the ground. Contrary to what some believe, I'm not winding anyone up. I've honestly got better things in life to do than wind up a bunch of monikers on an internet web forum. Apart from anything else, I've been a user of this forum for nine years, since it was first formed as welltrustfc.net and yes, I'm more than often negative but that's just how I am. I don't sit at Fir Park and abuse the players although I don't resort to abuse on here, I often do use this board as a sort of a relief valve to vent frustrations about the team or the club from time to time. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who does that either. Anyway, no one is forcing you to read my contributions on here, in fact is there not an 'Ignore User' option which prevents you from reading posters you don't like reading?

Mark McGhee.

I wouldn't put it as bluntly as being 'a sackable offence' but I think he has taken us as far as he possibly can and can do no more. Like I say, he's been lucky over the past two years but he is not the man to rebuild the squad, in my opinion anyway.

Yes I fully accept that. However I repeat again that under McCall's watch we never seem to learn our lessons and make the same basic mistakes over and over again. We have played in six domestic cup matches in 2012 and won only two of them, against lower league opposition. In that sequence we have been bumped twice by an Aberdeen side with several key players out, conceded a preventable last minute goal at Pittodrie when we had one foot in the next round and had shite visibly running down our legs when we took on a 'Rangers' side in the League Cup who's best players were sitting in the stands. Do you not see what I'm getting at here? We make the same basic mistakes time and again and we never learn from them, and all of the above have happened under McCall's watch.

Aberdeen, Hearts, Hibs & Dundee Utd have double our resources, but we manage to get results against them in run of the mill games. Take Aberdeen for example. They are a far bigger club than we are with a support which dwarfs our own and far greater resources at their disposal. Yet they haven't beaten us in the SPL since 2008, which is quite an incredible statistic. However, in arguably the two biggest encounters in that time we have failed to turn up and they have got the better of us. Why is that then? Could we not handle the pressure with a Semi Final at stake last year and a very winnable 5th Round tie this season? Who knows, but I wouldn't be atall surprised if we beat Aberdeen in the league on Boxing Day.

No way we'll get pumped in the way we did at Fir Park against them. That was a farcical night on all counts for us but I honestly didn't think Hibs were anything special. Think Saturday will be a different game altogether.

Yes I know, the Dundee Utd Cup replay and the St.Johnstone Semi Final and possibly the 2-0 win over Celtic in 2011. But apart from those three, our record in big games is awful. Like I say, for those three triumphs, I raise you, the 2011 Cup Final, ANY game other than February 2011 against Celtic or Oldco Rangers in the SPL, last season's Quarter Final, last night, Europe this year when were like rabbits caught in headlights or the worst one of them all IMO, the League Cup fiasco against Newco Rangers at Ibrox this season, which summed up everything that is wrong with our approach to games like these. We looked terrified of them from the off, and why? They weren't that great, as Inverness proved when they thumped them 3-0 a couple of weeks later. We just do not have the right mentality or mindset for 'big games' and alot of that is down to the manager.

Tactics? Motivation? Maybe better success at picking up a few decent bargains here and there?

On the whole, yes, in my opinion. Any team can lose any game to anyone, especially in Cup football. However, we fail to perform in Cup game/big games time and time and time again and that's my gripe. We never learn any lessons, from the dire showing at Hampden in May 2011, to the Aberdeen Quarter Final last season and then to our feeble efforts in Europe this season and then the utterly pathetic and embarrassing showing at Ibrox in September, and finally to last night's debacle. And there have been many more.

My feelings exactly, I also expect us to come away with a win here because Hibs are dire and our away form is much better as we don't have to force the play and take the game to the opposition. Plus it's not a 'big' game so the pressure won't be on us. 2-1 to us.

No you're missing my point entirely. In Butcher's time we had some right exciting games and two memorable cup runs. We had a raw side which you just never knew what was going to happen next with, ie. 6-1 v. Hearts, Fitzpatrick's late winner, Skippy Sunday. We've had nothing in recent times that has come anywhere near matching that and under McCall have become predictable on the whole, except for always falling short in so called big games. I watch football for the enjoyment and excitement, not for predictability and disappointment.

Exactly, he was able to bring in Ramsden and Kerr so there must have been something available to him. He just didn't use it very wisely and that is a worrying sign for us. If he has to completely rebuild the squad next summer then we will be in big trouble.

I have to agree completely with the second paragraph. It's crazy I know given that we finished 12th that season but think back to that season. We actually had some terrifically exciting matches and some great nights at Fir Park. Beat Celtic, beat Rangers, thumped Hearts 6-1, in fact we beat every side in the top six whilst our record against the bottom six was awful. Also we had a superb Scottish Cup run and should have reached the final after playing a Rangers side awash with international stars off the park at Hampden. We had a rawness about us that was great to watch and that was there for most of Butciher's time. We just haven't had anything like that in recent seasons and to be honest, I'd swap finishing 3rd whilst always falling short in cup games and 'big games" for a bottom six finish and a Cup win/run any day of the week. On the subject of finishing 3rd, the above poster who said we were too feart to go for second is spot on. It was there for us but we just didn't push ourselves enough to get it and that is down to McCall. He is the manager, it's in his remit to motivate the team for every game and he fails on that count regularly and that is just not acceptable. He has been exceptionally lucky in his time here. He inherited a decent squad of players when he arrived but he has largely failed to replace the ones that left and that is showing now. The fact that we have had two top six finishes, a 3rd placed finish and a Cup final under his watch is very commedable but they paper over some massive cracks because if you look closely you will see that for a bit of belief, a bit more tactical shrewdness then we could, and arguably should have had more.

No. I'd put the 'good work' down to good luck rather than anything else.

@Wellfan1984, I'll say it again, what we've done in McCall's time here has been inspite of him not because of him.

Obviously options are thin on the ground and there would be the obvious issues of who we could afford etc. However I would like to see Jimmy Calderwood given the job. He is a proven SPL manager who's track record suggests that he knows how to get the right players in and how to get the best out of them. His record at Dunfermline and also at Aberdeen fully supports that view IMO.

Well his transfer market record doesn't fill me with much hope and it gives me the fear to think of him having to undertake an almost complete rebuilding job of the squad in the summer, something which is a distinct possibility. Players like Ramsden, Daley & Kerr have been poor signings for us and all three by McCall. Ojamaa has been largely 'hit and miss' mostly 'miss'. I'm sorry, but we need radical change at the club, starting at the management level.

No doubt I'll get the usual standard responses to this but I stand by what I say and mean it 100%. Stuart McCall is a poor, poor manager who is tactically inept, struggles to motivate the team and for the life of him cannot change a game when things aren't going according to his 'Plan A'. His line ups and tactical set ups are largely predictable and as soon as soon as things aren't going to plan he has absolutely no idea what to do to change things. Ask yourself this, in Stuart McCall's time in charge, has he ever been able to change a game, ONE GAME, that has been going against us? I think you'll find the answer is no. We did well to reach the Cup Final in 2010/11 and we did well last season, but we were lucky and we did what we did in spite of McCall, not because of him and the longer he remains with us, the more backward we will go. And finally, I know, I KNOW, that "we aren't Barcelona/Real Madrid/Man Utd, or even Celtic" and nor do I expect us to be. But what I do expect is for the team and the manager to give their all in every single game and not make the same, predicable and basic errors time and time and time again. I'm sorry to anyone whom this 'offends', but I've had it with McCall and it's time for a change. To whom, I don't know, but we need a change of regime and soon.

Can't disagree with the original post, there are some Motherwell fans out there who just cannot accept any form of criticism whatsoever against the manager or the team, whether it's merited or not. At the same time mind you there are some right negative supporters who always fear the worst no matter worst, a bit like myself. However, I genuinely don't believe that we are in any way unique as a support for that kind of thing.

This x 100

We looked 'better' in the first half because Aberdeen were happy to let us have a bit of possession safe in the knowledge that we could do fuck all with it, whilst knowing that they were always going to get a chance or two at the other end. At no point tonight did we look as if we were going to win that game or even get in front and Aberdeen knew, that we knew, that if they scored first that would win them the game. Hence the collapse after the 1st goal.