MJC_MKI

It was 1-0 that night, Spencer scored the only goal of the game. Ya_bezzer is probably thinking of the game from the season before that when we beat Rangers 2-1 at Fir Park when Coyle & Falconer scored for us.

Or better still, get a DVD player and screen, put it behind the desk and make every single person that buys a ticket watch Scott McDonald's two goals against Celtic on 22nd May 2005 and watch their reaction. If their face drops or screws up then tell them 'GIRUY ya Celtic bastard, now fuck off'. Either that make whoever asks for a ticket wear a Poppy and while the tickets and payments are being processed.

Maybe not on the park but there will be someone in the dugout, or else the stand should he throw another touchline temper tantrum between now and then who was a mhank back in may 05 and is still very much haunted by that day - Neil Lennon. I've read his autobiography and he states quite clearly that he was bitterly hurt by the events of that day and it stuck in his mind how the Motherwell fans celebrated 'as if their team had just won the Champions League' to quote the yellow toothed ghoul himself.

Why is everyone using this 'we've already beaten them already this season' line? Okay I know it's a statement of fact but it matters not a jot in regards to the Scottish Cup Final. That win in February was a fluke, yes a FLUKE. Celtic rolled into Fir Park that day thinking they'd stroll having just thumped Rangers the week before and playing against a side who'd meekly bent over against St.Mirren the previous midweek. They won't make the mistake of underestimating Motherwell again, when was the last time we beat Celtic twice in the one season? If anything, the fact that we've already beaten them this season will count against us in the final. Mark my words, Celtic will be more than up for this final as they are absolutely desperate to clinch the double 'for Neil Lennon' given all the off field shite that's been going on AND I believe that they will feel that they still owe us one for 2005 and Skippy Sunday. This Cup Final will be their revenge on us for that day, trust me. I will be at the final because Motherwell are my club and win or lose, this will be a special day for the club and reaching the Scottish Cup Final is a big achievement for us. But I am under no illusions as to what our part on the day will be - to merely make up the numbers as runners up.

I have absolutely no belief that we will win this game and see no reason why we should believe we should win this game either. I do however have hope that we can spring one of the shocks of the competitions history but it's a very faint hope and the chances of us beating Celtic at Hampden are slim to non-existant I'm afraid. I'll still be at Hampden none the less because Cup Finals do not come around too often for Motherwell FC so we've got to savour this and just hope against hope that some miracle can occur.

Let's be realistic here, we're not going to win the Cup because we will not be able to get the better of Celtic at Hampden with a trophy at stake, not a prayer. We just do not have the ability or it could be argued the bottle to go to Glasgow and beat Celtic in this type of game. That's not a dig at Motherwell and our team it's just that Celtic are a very good side who on their day can rip teams apart and have more 'big name' players so will be that bit more streetwise than us when it comes to the final. We will either be absolutely humiliated by being thrashed by three, four, five, six or seven goals if Celtic hit the ground running and really fancy it, or we will be heartbroken like we were the last time we played them at Hampden, ie. they'll have an off day but we just won't be able to take advantage of it and we'll either lose by a last minute goal or on penalties. In fact, I have a nagging feeling that they will do a reverse of 'Skippy Sunday' on the day before the sixth anniversary of said event, where we'll be leading them going into the dying minutes and they'll score two quickfire goals to leave us in the depths of despair. I have no way of knowing how this game will go but I am 99.9% certain that however it goes we will not win it. So enjoy these next few weeks and all the build up because the final will not be an enjoyable day for us.

Funnily enough, I used to drink with this boy in the Railway Tavern and his dad said that the reason the Celtic end at Hampden was uncovered was because of 'sinister reasons'. His theory was that the establishment of Great Britain saw the Irish immigrants as being dirty and unwashed, so therefore the SFA put the Celtic fans in the uncovered end because they needed to be soaked by the rain because in their eyes, the Celtic fans, being of Irish Catholic background were naturally dirty and unwashed. And the funniest part of that was that he actually believed it.

This thread just goes to show that Neil Lennon and Walter Smith were both spot on when they said that the bigotry in this part of the world is not just confined to 'The Old Firm'. There are clearly people within our support who are either very offended by the sight of an Irish tricolour and what that stands for and also people who don't like the Union Jack and what it stands for, or what they believe it stands for. Motherwell fans regularly criticise Celtic and/or Rangers fans for bringing politics into football yet that is exactly what people on here seem to want to do. If it's not the Saltire they want to wave in order to wind up Celtic fans then it's the Union Jack! Now I am not for one minute suggesting that either of these flags themselves are offensive, but it's the reason behind why they would be flown at this game that's the issue here. Fucks sake this is our first Scottish Cup Final for TWENTY YEARS and folk are discussing which National flag to wave in the Celtic fans faces just because they can't stand the Irish National Flag. This day for us should be about Motherwell FC and fuck all else. Shove yer Union Jacks, St.Andrews crosses and Irish tri colours up yer hole and get yourself decked out in Claret & Amber and support MOTHERWELL.

I hope that Celtic win the league, and I really hate saying that, but I also hope that they do so before the final game of the season because I just don't like this idea of 'letting them win'.

As long as the Saltires are Claret & Amber then I don't see a problem, but don't just bring 'Scotland flags' just to try and take some moral highground over the Plastic Irish muppets in the other end. This is the biggest game the club has had for twenty years and it's going to be the greatest day out for a whole generation of Motherwell fans, win, lose(which we almost certainly will btw) or draw so let's deck our end out in Claret & Amber and support MOTHERWELL.

I think now is the right and proper time for me to say; HOTD for this pish

Wrong again

All this over confidence on here I reckon we're in for one of the biggest anti-climaxes in the club's history here today.

Beating Celtic is ALWAYS a bonus, as was beating Rangers back in the day when that used to happen. Why were so many Motherwell fans absolutely delighted about and still to this day talk about 'Owen Coyle day' at Ibrox in 97 when we went to Ibrox, beat them and ruined their 'NIAR' party?, or 'Skippy Sunday' of 2005 when we beat Celtic to deny them the title? Why? Because beating Celtic, or Rangers, to a Motherwell fan IS a big thing, a bonus and something to celebrate, especially when it ruins their party or denies them the league title. That is our chance to really get it up one of the 'Old Firm' and our fans relish that sort of thing. If we beat Celtic and deny them the league title on the final day of the season then I will be delighted about it as will I suspect the vast majority of Motherwell fans. What will it mean in the long run for Motherwell FC? Nothing, but as things stand we could yet be in a position to secure a European place should we win the Scottish Cup the following Saturday.

Well that's a bit of a double edged sword because IF, and I can't emphasize this word IF enough, if we do reach the Scottish Cup Final and are to play Celtic then they would more than likely beat us regardless of whether they'd beaten us the week before or not, which I'm 99.9% sure they would do if the title was at stake. But anyway, you could easily argue that playing Celtic on the back of them winning the title would see them go into the final on an almighty high with confidence soaring and they would be unlikely to get caught out the way they were at Fir Park in February. But this is all ifs buts and maybes and HOPEFULLY if Celtic are to win the league they will have done so long before we go to play them on May 15th.

What's it got to do with anything? If we beat them in the Scottish Cup Final then we will be in Europe regardless of what happens at Parkhead on the 15th and we will have qualified because of what WE had achieved. We'd have won the Cup! That would give me much satisfaction than qualifying for Europe because we just bent over and took it up the arse at Parkhead. And aye you're absolutely right, IF we make it to the final then I'll expect us to get beat but I do that most weeks anyway so this game won't be any different.

Of course Europe's a bonus, and so would beating Celtic on the final day and denying them the title be a bonus. But to talk of 'lying down' against Celtic at a time when we are still in a position where we could qualify for Europe on our own steam by winning the Scottish Cup? That is ludicrous talk and that certainly makes me cross! If we are to qualify for Europe then let's do it for ourselves, not relying on Celtic or anyone else doing it for us. We should never, ever lie down to any team in any game no matter what the circumstances. Not that it will matter what we do at Parkhead mind you, if Celtic need to win to win the league then they more than likely will but I'll not be 'cheering them on' as they do it.

And I'd be ever happier to be part of a much bigger band of 'Well fans inside Hampden Park singing 'we're all going on a European tour!' after we'd just beaten them in the Scottish Cup Final....and if we did it on the back of stopping them winning the title the previous weekend then I'll go through the rest of my days satisfied that I will die a happy man. But whatever floats yer boat...

Speak for yourself because I won't want them to win.

Absolutely no way I would want Motherwell EVER to lose against Celtic, no matter what the circumstances are. If, and it's a big if we go into the final game of the season and they need to win in order to win the league then I would absolutely love it if we drew with or beat them to deny them again. I don't care if that meant we go into Europe at an earlier round, we're not going to do anything of note in the Europa League so it really doesn't matter where we enter it. If Celtic need to beat us in order to clinch the title on the final day then I hope they fail to do so and I don't give a fuck about what that means to our 'European tour'. Europe is nothing but a bonus to us, what happens in the SPL is what really matters. And let's not forget, if we win the Scottish Cup then we will be in Europe anyway and I'd much rather qualify for Europe on our own steam than rely on someone else doing it for us. But lie down and let Celtic tickle our bellies? Away fuck off and throw yourself intae the Clyde!

Is it just me or is this week absolutely dragging in? I can't wait for Saturday and the nerves have already kicked in.

Personally I couldn't give a flying fuck how Brines performed tonight in the St.Johnstone v Celtic game as that has absolutely no relevance to us or our semi final on Saturday. It doesn't matter a jot who the ref on Saturday is because frankly, they're all hopeless so whoever we got for the semi we wouldn't have been happy with.

Whoever loses this game on Saturday, whether it's us or them, is going to be absolutely kicking themselves because this really is one that could go either way. Forget the fact that St.Johnstone are currently on a poor run of form and couldn't buy a goal, up until a few weeks ago our own form was pretty dire with the exception of the Celtic game. Nope this game is too close to call right now and I think it will come down to who holds their nerve better and who makes the least mistakes on the day. Can't wait for Saturday though.

Surely we're talking about the 70s and 80s here but? The internet wisny around in those days!

No you're not, I've never bought into this bitterness toward them that some of our fans like to wallow in either. I enjoy beating them as they are a bigger club than us but no more so than I enjoy beating Aberdeen, Dundee Utd or Hibs. If anything I dislike their Edinburgh rivals more than them as Hibs travelling support seem to cause more bother than anyone else, outwith Celtic or Rangers, when they come to Motherwell. I know someone will probably come on and remind us how the 'Fuck Hearts Wankers' fans used to massacre innocent Saturday afternoon shoppers in Motherwell town centre sooner or later but, hey ho...I've never had any grief of Hearts fans. Fact do you know what? this 'FHW' nonsense on this board over the years has almost seen me develop a wee soft spot for them. But in all seriousness, back to today's game and hopefully we can take something from this as we haven't secured a top six place quite yet but Tynecastle is never an easy place and we'll do well to come away with a point against what is a good Hearts team.