Andy_P

We beat Hibs 4-0

I'm not quite sure whether discussion of the events of today takes away from the overall purpose of the thread by focusing one on incident or whether it illustrates it perfectly. From our perspective at the back of the stand there appeared to be up to 100 or so singing and dancing 'Well fans whom several stewards moved in on. In my mind it was fairly clear that it was their intervention that sparked things kicking off as they did. Ofourse the law states that it is illegal to stand in a football ground, I can't contest that, but what I think warrants further discussion is the difference in how that offence is viewed and dealt with by different stewards and police in different parts of the country. Or as we've seen before and indeed today in different parts of the ground at the very same time. Little more than 100 yards away from where were trying to manhandle folk barely out of their teens a group of a similar number Dons fans were offering their team support in much the same fashion as their 'Well counterparts at the back of the top tier of the RIchard Donald Stand. Signficiantly when a dozen or so Motherwell fans were being ejected not once at any point in the game were these fans even made aware their conduct was similarly inappropriate. The whole pointlessness of it all today was illustrated in that once things had eventually settled down; after the stewards through their actions had caused about 20 minutes of mayhem, resulting in about three times people getting to their feet as those who they sought to originally target; they retreated up the back and let everyone carry on as they had done at the start of the game. Surely they have to ask was that all really worth it?

Fantastic result! I kept quiet as I had a bit of the fear about the game. For one thing we've lorded it over Aberdeen for so long now that they must have been due a result against us, even if it was one they totally fluked. There was also the fact it was my first away game since St Mirren in August so after all those successive impressive away results I thought it was a stick on I'd catch a defeat. But no!!! Couldn't have asked for a better start with the early goal. Another superb delivery from Hateley and another goal for Higgy. Should have been the platform for us to on go on and dominate but we hardly kicked a ball as an attacking force for the rest of the half. Thought Hateley was a bit too easy beat and Vernon was left unmarked for their equaliser so it didn't cover us in glory at all. Thereafter we had a fair bit of possession but they had us squeezed deep and were either forced to go to long or simply kept passing it until we lost poseession so quite a frustrating half. Nice to see Omar get off the mark on his first start. Lead the Dons defence a merry dance so he did before firing home. There seemed to be a couple of opportunities for him to shoot earlier and I think there were a few folk screaming "shooooooooot" as he saw off defender after defender before he put it away. After regaining the lead, one superb save from Randy that he turned around the post, I thought we looked fairly comfortable. Heard an Aberdeen fan claim that we had played pretty well but I'd say I've seen us play a good bit better myself. What you simply can't praise them enough for is the teamwork, character and knowledge that's instilled within that group of players that enables them to get the job done and eek out the result even when things aren't going as smoothly as they might. This continues to be a season to savour!!

Thoughts and votes please folks.....

For me if we are looking at the mascots it would be more a case of how can find ways to get them to interact with their target audience rather than finding a replacement for them. I only ever notice them going around the perimeter of the pitch or or dancing on it. Why not get them to go into the stands to meet the weans there for example? Do something in one of the unused boxes early on a Saturday pre-match doing painting or drawings or some such creative/artistic shit like that and have them loitering in the background then you are doing your community bit. Hopefully the weans and parents will then kick about in the Cooper enjoying the pre-match build up (and spending dough) when said fun session has finished before going to the game itself. But aye, nothing wrong the mascots as they are I think. They do the job.

The STV Sport people on Twitter have been trying to spark an interest in their SPL Disciplinary watch feature >>> SPL Disciplinary Watch Not sure how accurate it is but they believe Clancy will get a two game ban and the table of bookings is along the lines of.... Keith Lasley 3 1 Shaun Hutchinson 3 0 Tim Clancy 3 1 Steve Jennings 3 0 Stephen Craigan 2 0 Steven Hammell 2 0 Ross Forbes 1 0 Michael Higdon 1 0 Jamie Murphy 1 0 Team total 19 2

I can't help but feel slightly aggrieved that we've come out of that with nothing. I thought we deserved the point and there was little separating the sides on the day (apart from their winning goal obviously!) After a slightly hesitant opening few minutes I thought we started the half brilliantly and to getting the goal was no less than we deserved at that point. Crucially though we weren't able to let the pressure build on them from their supporters. Another five - ten minutes perhaps with us in the lead and who knows what their mentality might have been. Sadly though they got the goal and thereafter we bore witness to the kind of tactics that really embody their manager, snarling and whingeing in the face of the referee after every challenge, looking for the foul and embellishing every foul that was committed against them. Truly a very unpalatable lot both on and off the park. Some inexplicable officiating from Richmond and his assistants didn't help. Are Celtic really never going to be penalised for handball against Motherwell again?. It seems a laugh and smile is all the punishment that's needed for that offence. Their Swedish defender afforded a luxury of persistent fouling without rebuke whereas Lasley and Jennings were pulled up. I thought it was offside at the time but the word from those watching on TV with the benefits of replays and the like suggest not, though that doesn't lessen my frustration any I must admit. But disappointed as I am with the result the performance from the team as a whole was first class. A wee bit more creativity would have been nice but the tempo was good, there was no hint of fear out there whatsoever and we matched them for aggression and will throughout. A nice touch by McCall in dragging as many of the team together as he could at full-time too - they deserved that collective round of praise from the crowd, much as looked rightly gutted at the outcome.

Your thoughts and votes please folks...

I can't claim to know what price we might achieve in the current climate for any of our players. We've moved on from even relatively recent posers like when and how much to sell on Scott McDonald and Mark Reynolds. But based on all the talk in the Well Society launch meeting about working towards the point where MFC dictate what is the optimum time to sell and the number of longer of term contracts the club have been signing and re-signing players on this just doesn't seem like that optimum time for Randolph for me. Could be wrong but it would seem to me that if Randy doesn't want to extend further in the summer then that will be the time to do business. I just can't see that, unless the club's hand is forced by a ludicrously large bid in January, they wouldn't have the savvy to realise the implications of selling on the cheap given that the number two is going to be out for a few months, the club has enjoyed a great start to the season and that they are looking for supporters to imminently invest a considerable amount of cash.

That was irony about his injury on Saturday. It's not that often he hasn't been available for selection over the years, then when the race between him and that Killie player to overtake Severin to become the player with most SPL appearances gets a fair bit of coverage and seven days later he's carried off on a stretcher. I seem to remember Boyle making some presentation to him in the past - could have been the 300th perhaps, but aye any recognition is well deserved. No mean feet collecting that many outings in modern day football, particularly when you think he had an 18 month sabbatical down south.

I quite liked the fact that when the goals were first put up on Saturday they were from a non-TV feed (as in that it wasn't Sky/BBC/ESPN etc.). Was good seeing the goals from a different perspective - and more so seeing the celebrations from the Dossers behind the goals.

Generally the only time I'll watch Sportscene, outside the odd live Scotland or League Cup game, is when they cover the Scottish Cup on a Saturday night, when I believe the highlights should really be on. The explanation that was put up previously that Setanta, with their investment in the SPL, had to have the opportunity to show their live games and goals before anyone else is surely obsolete now, When you have Alba showing an SPL game as-live less than an hour after full-time and Sky Sports News showing the SPL goals only shortly after then I don't see a reason why we cannot have a return to a highlights package on a Saturday night. At the risk of drifting into sad old bastard territory thinking back it seems like a golden age in the 1980's where you could watch extended highlights of a game - and not necessarily a top flight Scottish game - First Division 'Well were top billing on several occasions, then latterly in the decade highlights from the other Premier League games, then in the same programme get action from down south. I remember when they used to show proper highlights of Scottish sides in European competition too home and away, going up to bed for an hour and the old man waking me up and watching the Swiss, Germans and Irish being put to the sword by Aberdeen and Dundee Utd. Not an 8-1 win squeezed into sixty fucking seconds on the news!! Stick it on BBC2 or even Alba an hour before Match of the Day starts if you don't want to interfere with the English stuff on Match of the Day but I yearn for the return of a decent Scottish highlights programme on a Saturday night, highlights of the SPL, goals from the First Division and even the odd feature further down the leagues. Until then though I'm pretty much a lost viewer for Sportscene.

Thoughts and votes please folks....

Given that the good lady and I are in London that weekend I'd been quietly hoping this one might get moved. Only trouble being I was hoping for the Monday night rather than the Friday which still means I'm goosed. I think I've seen Motherwell play games every day of the week, including Friday nights on a few occasions and in recent seasons because of postponements, live TV games, rescheduled matches down to Europe that we've gone weeks at a time without a Saturday fixture at Fir Park. I think all that has made me a little indifferent at the prospect of the occasional league game on a Friday. Preference for me will always be a Saturday at 3pm certainly but football on a Friday is not without some benefits.

I got that message on Saturday when I joined up and tried to log in. Seemed to be a password/user id issue as the password I chose was different from the one on the confirmation email I got. I thought I must have filled it in incorrectly at first. I used the password they had listed in the email and got the same error message you quoted. It was only when I put the details in I had actually selected did it let me in.

Thoughts and votes please folks....

Albi, was that really the best you could come back with?

Have you tried to be Mr Smart Arse with your reply and missed the point again? The OP doesn't make any claim about how special or otherwise the supporters are, its the club as a whole he's referring too. If anything the proceeding posters have shared your view that as fans we aren't so great. In the context of this thread nobody really cares whether you are a happy clapper or a Grade A negative shite or whatever. It's pretty obvious the OP is referring to our achievements and standing in the game. Its a fact that we've done comparatively bloody well in our history when set against our peers. I stand to be corrected but I think we are the only non-city club to have won the top flight league and both cups. More recently you've 25 years now of sustained top flight football and the bulk of our history has been played out in the top flight. You've had European campaigns aplenty of late and a regular flow of talent that comes out of the club thanks to its youth development set up. You compare to that the likes of Hamilton, Ayr, Dumbarton, Airdrie, Dunfermline and Raith Rovers to name but half a dozen similar non-city clubs. Doesn't look bad does it? There was a question posed a few months back about what makes Motherwell a family club. For me the question of what makes us special goes in hand with that. Clearly behind the scenes there's a set up and an atmosphere that has prevailed throughout several generations that makes people feel comfortable and at home. From Bill Dickie and his however many years on the board to Alan McDonald in the kitroom to John Porteous in the physio's room to Craigan and Hammell etc on the park there are people throughout the club who have given it decades worth of service. So aye, when you have nutters like Colin O'Neill getting Motherwell badges tattooed on them, people like Luc Nijholt happy to head to Scotland whenever the function commands it, when you have the likes of James McFadden speak in glowing terms, or in-comers with no previous connection to the club like Terry Butcher or Stuart McCall refer to the club as special I have no doubt they are speaking genuinely. I share your view Albi that I don't feel comfortable with the self-congratulatory, best fans in the world tone some teams fans refer to themselves to, well OK mainly Celtic fans then, but that's not really the point here. But us? Special club? Damn right we are!!

I was quite impressed with Killie when we played them, second game of the season, particularly he of the flowing golden locks on the wing and reckoned they might well be in direct competition with us throughout much of the season. I actually felt that as they continued to add depth to that squad apace throughout August they might even have something of an edge on us over the course of the season. I certainly didn't see us having double the points they did after the first round of games. I still see them as a threat for one of the top half places so its one of those games that can do much for us if we want to keep things rolling on nicely, whilst damaging their chances at the same time. Early days but I'm sure that's not lost on the management either. I'm really hoping for a stand-out (in a good way obviously!!!!!) performance from Clancy against his old team too. He might be well be due a wee wry smile of late when he looks at Killie the number and style of goals conceded recently when he's been bumped for seemingly not been good enough to hold a place down in it. Definitely a very hard one but one I hope we come out the other side of with another three points.

I don't really care how they feel right now. Faddy's free from the clutches of the Old Firm for another six months at least and that's good enough for me just now. Ofcourse hopefully he'll win them over - and most importantly Moyes - over during that time though.

Talk in Twitterland that Faddy has passed a medical with Everton ahead of a proposed move there.

Your thoughts and votes please folks...

Gonnae give it a bye with this shite about the Jennings song please and especially the abuse getting flung back and forward about something so trivial.

I'm sure that's just a rotating advert. It bounces between various different club adverts depending upon what's on the go - 'Well Society, Christmas, Hospitality etc.

The lengths the authorities will go to, to unsettle a pesky team like Motherwell splitting the Old Firm.... tsk In all seriousness I endorse Lobey Dosser's view that we as a club should give him whatever backing is appropriate until such times as he's been proven guilty if charges are brought.