Andy_P

Have the SFA responded to the legal outcome that sent their initial punishment of Rangers back to them from the courts? It seemed to be that having already (perhaps foolishly) disregarded the option of expulsion the SFA were left with a dilemma as to what to do when they were asked to reconsider the punishment. It seemed suspension from the Scottish Cup was one of the few avenues left open to them. That seems a bit weak to me and there's an argument to be made that it penalises other clubs - I'm thinking here of the 80k that the Elgins, Stranraers and Clydes of the game invariably get when Sky decide to show their game live. But what about friendlies. Does it remain the case that the SFA require to issue approval for any cross-border or cross-country friendly? Denying Rangers the chance to bring up any English or foreign team of note at every opportunity as I suspect they would try to do to help boost their coffers and retain some degree of profile would I think be a more severe punishment than kicking them out of the Scottish Cup.

I'm not really sure what the breach was so not going to jump in and lambast him without knowing the seriousness of the breach. It was good to see him get some international recognition, you would like to think it might help net an extra few quid when it comes to selling him on, it'll certainly boost Motherwell's profile and we can possibly use it as a selling point that we help forge international careers at Fir Park but.... ....If it does set his back his international career a bit I don't imagine Stuart McCall will be that upset he isn't making 12 hour or whatever transatlantic journeys half a dozen times a season.

Mind though they are playing something like 5 games in 10 or 11 days so I dare say they'll be doing a bit of mixing and matching with their squad.

Old ground now ofcourse but I didn't like that "Zoom" kit at all. I don't know whether the white band was intended to be on that kit from day one or like the insistance of the sponsor to have the Zoom text in blue, was incorporated as a demand to make the Zoom logo stand out more but both together absolutely ruined that strip as far I'm concerned. It's perhaps worth pointing out that blue text on the white away strip also holds that kit back from being one of our best ever away strips too. It was unfortunate that they weren't as relaxed about the colours of the Zoom logo from the word go as they were by the time the "Super Skippy Sunday" kit came around. Perhaps the white band was intended as a modern twist to an essential part of your traditional Well kit, and may not have been just as garish looking had the Zoom been in claret but it just didn't work for me and I think was probably the first home kit in about 15 years I decided against going for. Second and third kits for me are the strips to try your more off the wall designs or colour combinations. I've always quite liked the notion of a second or third kit to reflect our history and I think MFC/Provan Sports/Puma and whoever else is involved have got it just right both in terms of making it a kit to celebrate a particular point in our journey (100 years of claret and amber) and in terms of design. I think when the end result is seen a over use of claret and amber in conjuction with the blue might have been a bit much but this seems to be just right. I really like it.

A wee step forward from my post at the weekend Dave. We do have time on our side though for finding the remainder required. A number of posters have expressed a desire to donate further down the line so hopefully if everyone comes good on those original pledges I don't think we'll be too far away.

Quite sorry to see Clancy go actually. I had grown to like him and rated him considerably more than when he first arrived at the club. I also quite liked that there was a hardness about him occasionally verging into dirty bastard territory, which isn't generally prevalent in our team. He walked a fine line more than a few times granted but I think we may miss his physicality on occasion. McCall was spot on in the comments attributed to him in the Express though. For a short-term deal it went as well anyone could have hoped for, both for player and club. Having said that of the first teamers offered deals for me he would be the most expendable. Hammell, Lasley and Jennings are the key players to be re-signed. We've got Hammell sorted so if Clancy's decision to go allowed the club to make a more convincing case to the other two then I could happily live with that, in the knowledge that we have Saunders coming back. Depth to the squad appears to be a concern at the moment but given we're not out of May yet at least we are getting some clarity early on as to what area's need to be sorted.

Presumably how to its been set up on youtube Browni. No meddling on SO's part if that's what had crossed your mind. The link was sitting purely as a text clicky when I saw it. As I do with most of the 'Well related vids that get posted on here, if it hasn't been embedded I'll set it up so that folk can see right away what they are clicking on and can can play directly on here without having to open up youtube. Unfotunately as soon you click on the clip you get the embedding disabled message and have to click through to open up youtube to view it. Nothing more sinister in it than that.

That makes me smile BB and reminds me of a pair of Motherwell pj's I had as a wean. When I was done with them the skin and blister got them...and then any poor bugger under the age of about four who happened to stay overnight with us. God only knows how these things lasted all that time. If you ran too fast wearing them I'm sure sparks would fly off them such was the cheap and nasty material.

In an odd sort of way what kinda gives me the fear in all this as someone who could probably get away with going to one away tie, but not two is the dilemma of Champions League or Europa League. I really really want go to Turkey/Ukraine/Greece/Belgium/Denmark to see us play in the Champions League but what if the once in a lifetime trip to see Motherwell play at the San Siro plops out in the Europa League draw three weeks later. Or vice-versa I pass up the chance of seeing Motherwell in the Champions League and we get sent back to Turkey/Ukraine/Greece to play in the Europa League What a happy dilemma to have! I think....

Brown's bid for McFadden just reeks of attention seeking to give the impression that targets of the calibre of McFadden are on his agenda. Aberdeen fans will see through a mile off. Or at least they should.

Fair comment SD, perhaps a poor choice of word on my part using the word boycott. However it be interpreted or whatever the right phrase for it is - folk walking away, choosing not to return or being sufficiently disillusioned not to return, all I was attempting to say that I'm not at the point yet to consider giving the season ticket a miss.

Posted mine away at the start of the week. I have respect for those holding off in principle at the Rangers thing but I have to admit I'm a sap when it comes to things like boycotts. I would find it extremely difficult to carry through a boycott when I knew there was a Motherwell game taking place at Fir Park, that was within my means of getting to. The fact is I'm almost 99% likely to go if I can. Therefore a season ticket makes most sense and does getting it at this time at the best possible price. Perhaps worth noting though I signed up to the Standing Order option of 4 x (interest free) payments. I hadn't clocked that they were intending taking the first payment on 15th May so they are going to take a double payment in June. Maybe worth keeping in mind if anyone was thinking of taking up the Standing Order option.

Folks, Apologies for not updating you for a wee bit but here's where we are just now. Of our £1000 commitment to MFC, we've collected and paid £720 thus far so we've £280 left to go. So not a million miles away. I've sent PM's to everyone who had registered an interest when we first mooted the idea but hadn't followed up that interest to see if there was still a desire to get involved. Obviously people's circumstances are subject to change so its entirely understandable that interest might fluctuate. A couple had decided to sort their own Well Society membership, some were no longer able to commit and a few were still keen but were giving it a little time before donating. A few I also haven't heard back from. If you are new to the forum or are just picking up on this thread for the first time basically we've taken out a Claret Well Society membership for the site to demonstrate our support for the club both as a site and as individuals. We sensed there was a will for board users to get involved in the Well Society but personal circumstances meant that not everybody could commit to a package in their own right. A membership for the site allowed people to make a smaller contribution of an amount of their choosing that collectively would enable us to take up the Claret membership. If anyone wants to contribute that hasn't yet expressed an interest we'd obviously be delighted to hear from you. Details of where to contribute can be found on the sigs of each of the Mods. and the Admin. As ever any questions or thoughts regarding our Claret membership ask away and once more thanks to all have contributed thus far!!

Think it was closer to 17,000 rather than 13,000 last year but there are a few things to bear in mind. 1991 was our first national cup final for decades (can you call the Summer Cup a national cup?) whereas by the time last year came around there were a number of the support looking forward to their 3rd Motherwell Cup Final. I think there was a wider feeling then that the Scottish Cup Final 1991 could have been that once in a lifetime experience so you simply had to go if you could. There was the fact it was Dundee Utd then and Celtic last year with the ticket allocations signficantly different as a result - not to mention the price! I remember for example we took a wee mini 16 seater or something like that to Hampden in 1991. I think on that bus at a push there 3 regular attendees at Fir Park, a couple of 2 or 3 a season types with the rest made up of mates and relatives who followed Aberdeen, Rangers and even Airdrie. At the prices the tickets were last year along with the allocations limits, even if I had wanted to bring a few mates along they simply wouldn't have entertained it at current day prices I don't know if I'd agree about prior results having a bearing on the atmosphere on the day. I'd agree we had a much better run in in 1991 certainly, the Rangers result springs to mind obviously, but did we not lose to Hearts on the last day and get toed by Aberdeen a couple of weeks prior to that? Confidence was certainly higher given it was a non-Old FIrm team we were facing but I'd be inclined to point to the fact that back in 1991 you could stand with large groups of friends on a terracing and move towards where the singing was coming from if you wished. Last year in contrast you were stuck to the seat you were issued with, with the restriction of only being able to sit in groups of four with family/friends because of the ticket allocation. Granted we had the singing section but the word from those guys were that tickets being taken up for that section by those who weren't that interested in singing. But aye 18th May 1991. What a day/weekend/summer!!

Since there's been no new nominations since yesterday evening I've put up the poll as promised listing each of the goals quoted on the thread. Sort of reminded me to get my arse into gear and sort out the Player of the Year poll now too. That can be tomorrow's job.....

It's always difficult to suggest A,B or C should happen too much without really knowing the parameters McCall and the board are working within. Not that they are ever anything different but its an interesting summer this year. On the face of it, if a deal had been offered to Craigan which was subsequently declined and McCall has spoken publically of his hope of keeping the existing squad in tact then I suppose the assumption would be that we are already a bit up on McCall's starting budget. How it goes throughout the summer? Who knows. The club have spoken about getting the Well Society up and running and getting to a position whereby they can better dictate the times and terms on which we sell. Are we anywhere near that point yet? I don't think where there yet but hope that we might come across a bit more resolute than how we appeared to handle Blackpool's bid for Murphy in January which I think left us open to accusations of being a bit overly keen to accept what was an offer at the lower side of most people's perception of Murph's worth. If we don't perhaps have the finance we might like we do have much going for us in terms of looking an attractive option for players. Obviously we have the Champions League and to a lesser extent Europa League carrot. But beyond that a constant feature of the last season has been a number of good news stories that painted the club in a good light - from the atmosphere off the park, to the Well Society fan ownership angle, from all the community work done, to the often mentioned team spirit amongst the players. We have a reputation for bringing players through the ranks whilst at the same time a guy like Nicky Law could be a great selling point to players considering making a move from England. In short there are lots of ways to sell the club as a positive progressive place to play your fitba at, at the moment. But as I say we'll see how it goes once we start getting to the nitty gritty of bids being made, contracts expire and players have to bite the bullet and make decisions.

Fair shout fat_tony but how about we give it until say end of Tuesday to allow for nominations and any listed in the thread go into a poll starting Wednesday?

I guess Well 4 Europe's wee compilation illustrate the dangers of rather smugly suggesting people take greater notice of your posts!

It is to the team's credit that all the hard work was done beforehand by the team so that win, lose or draw the scoreline today didn't matter hugely. I'm sure they would still have liked to have won it all the same but it wasn't to be. Thought we started reasonably well without being overly threatening but lost our way for a good bit of the half when they got ahead and when Hammy went off injured. That actually had some eery overtones of Martyn Corrigan's injury which I think also came in a meaningless last game of the season against Dundee Utd at Fir Park. Towards the middle point of the half though I felt we got back on top and whilst you might say we'd be pushing our luck to have deserved to been ahead at that stage, we certainly didn't deserve to go in behind. Second half we started with purpose but looked to have ran out of ideas midway through the half and United began to look increasingly threatening on the break. We ended up with quite an odd formation towards the end in an effort to get back on terms but it didn't happen. But with Hammell recovering sufficiently to be able to walk around the park at the end it seems no harm done, other than at worst United arguably claiming a bit of a psychological edge over us for when the battle recommences again next season.

Your thoughts and votes please...

Was slightly wary of adding more than the normal RIP you would wish to any departed 'Well fan, because I know of two or three Jaffa's without actually knowing any of them but I think I've just clicked who it is. I remember Jaffa from the association meetings of the early 90's and the impression he left me with from those Thursday nights in the Centenary Suite was indeed, as Special says, a guy who always had a big smile on his face. Impressive stuff at those meetings when so often they got bogged down in trivialities. I mind his contributions were always valued as he came with a different attitude to most. It was all about the troops going to the game and having a laugh. If in doing that they stayed within the boundaries of the association rules, great, if not, ahh well a smile and a laugh it was all in the past now anyway and on to the next time. Sorry to hear of his passing and thoughts are with his family and friends.

For general difficultie I think there is a helpdesk where you can contact the people that host MFC TV. If you haven't got a code I'd through the Well Society I'd contact Alison Wallace >>> Clicky

Good work Flow. Judging by the regular praise dished out by the media types via the radio and twitter and the considerable efforts made to make the club easy to deal with continue to be well received.

Wasn't there but Stevie Kirk and Scott Leitch I'm sure were mentioned on the club's Twitter account.

I don't know if it's been discussed in the written press, or indeed if there was a further discussion on the radio but when making my way to Tynecastle there was an remark by Chic Young on Radio Scotland about Craigan chucking it at the end of the season whilst discussing the Motherwell squad. The comment was something along the lines of "almost inevitable" and said in a manner if it was common knowledge that Craigan had weighing it up. Certainly it was the first time I had even heard such a suggestion mooted publically. I think you have keep in mind it was Chic Young talking, hardly someone you consider authoritative on anything other than how consistently talk shite. But as Brazilian speculated yesterday with Craigan having an association with him through the media you wonder if its something that Craggs has perhaps said in the studio not intended to go further and Young being the consumate professional he is....... I dunno, I suppose if there is anything in it we'll find out in the days ahead.