MJC_MKI

I was being slightly sarcastic when I said that I never doubted we'd hold out. And I'll happily keep on predicting defeats if it means the team keep on proving me wrong.

Airdrieonians - God rest their souls.

Were they laughing at me because I'd earlier said that "You just know that we'll concede"? I suppose that's what I get for being negative though...

I'm absolutely amazed by the start we've had to the season. After the players we lost at the end of last season I was extremely worried for how we'd fare in the SPL but we look like a team who is hard to beat again AND we are playing some right good football into the bargain. We have a young, raw squad who seem fearless and a manager who knows how to get results and isn't afraid to change things when things aren't going well and seems to have a very good knowledge of the game itself. If (and it's a big IF) we can keep this up, well who knows, but the reality is that outwith the Old Firm, the rest of the teams in the SPL are reasonably well matched so if we could keep up this form then this could, and I emphasise could be a season to remember for us. I know it's still early days but we've got to take every game as it comes but what's went so far has been fantastic.

They quoted me did they?

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaasssssssssss full time. Fucking TREMENDOUS result Motherwell. What a job Gannon has done so far. We are UNBEATEN and we're more than half way through September. I never doubted we'd hold out.

You just KNOW that we're going to concede in the last few minutes don't you.

Can't see us getting anything tomorrow, so I'm going for 2-1 Utd.

The 'intimidation' at games against either Celtic or Rangers isn't as bad as some folk make out. It is there to an extent, but there is never any serious bother at the ground or in the town center, or at least none that I've ever heard of in recent times. I know there's always the odd shout or punch thrown, especially if they've lost - or even if they've won, although I would say that that is more likely to be the case with Celtic fans than the other lot(And that is just my own personal opinion incase anyone takes offense at me singling one of them out), but nothing too major. To be honest, I've seen Hibs & Aberdeen fans causing more bother in Motherwell in recent years than either half of the OF, eg. the Horseshoe's windows getting put in and casuals 'making their presence known' etc. I don't doubt that it was alot worse back in the 70s and 80s when the OF came to town though, when there was a lot more of them and no segregation inside the ground, as some of the older Well fans would testify.

Well, four wins of course. But seriously, I'm not knocking our start to the season, it's a lot better than I expected and considering we have came through a trip to the newly promoted side aswell as Pittodrie and a game against Rangers unbeaten then you've got to take heart from that.

We shouldn't be laughing at anyone else at this stage in the season, as there are no trophies handed out or - of more concern to us - league places decided in September. I don't yet buy into this "We're miles better than Aberdeen and Gannon is a much better manager than McGhee" just yet. The signs so far are fairly good but it's still early days. Of the games so far, we've drawn three and won one. Not a bad start atall and had we converted a penalty on Saturday there it could have been even better. However, on the flip side of that, whilst we played well and were disappointed at a draw with Rangers when our play deserved more, it's worth remembering that we were perhaps slightly fortunate to get a point up at St.Johnstone on day one and again up at Aberdeen a few weeks back when we were clinging on by our fingernails at the end of the game, so it could easily have been worse aswell. What is encouraging for me though is that we seem to have tightened things up at the back somewhat and our defensive display on Saturday when we barely gave Rangers a sniff was night and day to Perth on the opening day when we were at times all over the place. If we just had a bit more of a cutting edge up front it could have been so much better for us. As I said earlier on, I think these next three games will give us a much better idea of how our season will pan out.

This is where the real test will be fore this team. It's no use playing well and drawing with Rangers if we can't take points from games like Hibs and Falkirk at home. These games will be very difficult for us, especially up at Tannadice because United have made an excellent start to the season and are also unbeaten and Hibs also look pretty handy. Realistically, I think the best we can hope for is four points, as I don't see us getting anything at Tannadice but I can see us drawing one and winning the other of the Hibs & Falkirk games at FP. One thing's for sure, we will all have a much better idea of how well this 'new' team is equipped to cope with the SPL come 4.45 on 3rd October.

Something like that. He'd various problems with injuries and eventually he was told to either retire or he could end up wheelchair bound by the time he was in his thirties. He wasn't a bad keeper either and looked like he'd have a good career ahead of him when he first broke into the team at Celtic until injuries caught up with him.

Aye, he's the one who dropped Andy Roddie's volley on to the line to give Ian Ross a tap in for our winner in 'The Jamie Doaln game'.

I don't think there's a banned list, there's just one particular song containing specific lyrics that they have been banned from singing. The rest of them, I don't actually find particularly offensive either. I'm like you, I tend to laugh at Rangers fans more than anything else when they start their nonsense because I think it's absolutely cringeworthy to have grown men singing about the Queen and Battles from centuries ago that many of them know very little about as you tend to find when you challenge them. And why sing them at a FOOTBALL MATCH? What possible connection is there between the 'Battle of the Boyne' and 'Ulster's Cause' and an SPL match between Motherwell and Rangers in September of 2009? If you ask the average Rangers fan that very question, in my experience, they cannot provide a reasonable answer to it. As for 'The Shettleston Harriers', which by I assume you mean Celtic, I don't think they have been banned from singing anything, but they don't tend to sing songs that are as blatantly sectarian as that particular ditty that Rangers fans were banned from singing, so they are not as easy a 'target' as Rangers fans were.

No offence is being commited in the sense that they have not been categorically told that they cannot sing those songs as those are not the ones that are deemed to be 'offensive and sectarian' by the authorities. The only song they have actually been banned out and out from singing is the one which contains the lyrics 'Up to our knees in f****n blood'. However, that doesn't detract from the fact that both of the songs mentioned above have absolutely no place in a football ground in the 21st century.

I don't think the Main Stand ones got out did they? I know that plenty of them in the South Stand started pouring out in their hundreds as soon as the penalty was awarded so there were obviously a few of them on Knowetop Ave immediately afterwards when the Well fans were leaving, but there was a lot less of them than there has been over the past few years out at that time.

Aye it's the one that they shout 'Fuck Bobby Sands, he's deed" in. Quality lyrics for a football match. I didn't hear their support atall until after the penalty was missed then they found their voices again for the last few minutes. Saying that I don't think our support were much better to be honest. The atmosphere at a Motherwell v Rangers game isn't a patch on games against Celtic IMO, because their away support tend to sing a lot more and our's in turn respond and sing aswell. As for the game itself, well there's no doubt it was a very good team performance and we gave them absolutely nothing in the second half especially. Hateley's passing was absolutely sublime at times and he looks like a real find, as does Giles Coke who had another fine match and young Saunders did well against Boyd at the back aswell. At full time yesterday I was gutted that we hadn't won, simply because we missed a penalty with only a few minutes to go, it was hard to take, but the reality is had that not been given, we would all have walked out of FP chuffed to bits at taking a point against Rangers and more than matching them for the majority of the 90 mins. We looked like a team who is hard to beat for the first time in a long time yesterday and that is a big positive to take from it. Two clean sheets in a row and still unbeaten in mid September, that sounds good to me.

Why?

Maybe once I've had time to think it through and see the bigger picture I'll feel better and realise that we actually did play very well against a stronger side and worked tremendously hard to shut them out at the back while we looked good on the break toward the end of the game, but I'm sorry I can't help feeling absolutely gutted just now. Are we EVER going to beat Rangers again? We get a penalty(soft as it was, IMO) three minutes from time, they get a player sent off and we miss it. And as if that wasn't bad enough we miss two clear chances after that. It honestly feels like a defeat just now and I really cannot celebrate that result at this moment in time.

That's right, January 2007 was the last time they won a league match at Fir Park. In fact, Rangers have not won at Fir Park in the league under Walter Smith since January 1997 when they won 3-1 and Owen Coyle scored his first Motherwell goal, so although our overall record against them is shocking(considering how pish Rangers have been in recent years), our recent home record against them isn't as bad as it would first seem so maybe there's some hope... However, Rangers, under ANY manager have not lost at Fir Park for nearly seven years and have only failed to win on four occasions since then. I just can't see us getting anything from tomorrow but I'll be absolutely delighted to be proved wrong about that.

Rangers haven't come to Fir Park and 'gubbed' us for a long, long time. I think the last time they really gave us a doing at FP was when they won 5-1 against us at the tail end of 1999 when Andy Goram punched Amoruso's free kick into the net. Since then they've usually sneaked past us by the odd goal, while we've given them a decent enough run for their money. That's what makes this winless run against them all the more frustrating because they never have to play well against us, but they usually walk away with the points.

Are the Cream Buns getting the Main Stand north section like they used to before they got the Cooper? I'm happy with the decision to give the DC back to the home support. I know we probably won't fill it, but I'd rather have the home fans/family stand half or three quarters full of Motherwell fans than of Rangers/Celtic fans. It is our home game and it just doesn't seem right to have the away fans at both ends of the ground. It will also increase safety before, but more especially AFTER the game, particularly if we manage to take something from the game. We've all seen how fans of both Rangers and Celtic react when things haven't gone their way. For example, folk in wheelchairs being assaulted by Celtic fans on 22/05/05 aswell as the usual bully boy tactics, and Rangers fans trying to pick fights with random folk like they were the last time we beat them in 2002...and so on and so on. That will still happen to an extent, but at least the fans can't meet each other head on immediately after leaving the stadium anymore. I always thought it was a recipe for disaster to have both sets of fans coming out at the same time and walking right into each other on Knowetop Avenue.

If we manage to avoid defeat on Saturday would that not make this one of our best starts to a season for a long time? I can't remember the last time we were unbeaten in the first four games of the season and into mid September aswell.

I just hope that we really go for their throats and have a real go. Unfortunately I think we are far more likely to concede than to score. It'll probably be a typical Motherwell v Rangers game and finish 1-0 or 2-0 to them with Kris Boyd scoring one or both goals, although we might just sneak a draw as we did last season against them, but I think it's unlikely.