Andy_P

Hmm....not quite everyone. Mate of some 25 years is an Airdrie fan and he just couldn't bring himself to say he hoped we'd win. Put it down to us having a proper old fashioned footballing local rivalry steeped in the finest traditions. Had a look at their forum and even today they are still beating themselves up about whether a Celtic or Motherwell win is worse.

I said in the match thread I felt we got lucky with Cragg's handball but to attempt to defend Murray's decision as regards Majstorovic's handball is quite an eye-raiser. At the time rightly or wrongly I couldn't help but think this was Celtic getting the fruits of their labours with referees over the course of the season. It has generally always been thus when it comes to key decisions in games of importance against the Old Firm where they seem to get the benefit of the doubt more often than not. But Celtic's never-ceasing campaigning against conspiracies and ill treatment has been played out to such an extent that any referee giving anything major against them knows that decision is going to be put under maximum scrutiny and that he'll be put under pressure in the intervening weeks and future games involving them. Do all referees have the stomach for that? You can argue ofcourse that the handball decisions balanced themselves out however its important to remember the timeline of events and that the context of the game would already have been different had Celtic been down to 10 men by the time Craggs hands went a wandering.

It's all in the mix just now isn't it? Very hard to predict how it'll all go. There's not just on the park to consider. Whilst the club have made positive noises about the post-Boyle era, but without having gone into any detail it seems that we are heading a bit into unchartered waters with the ownership and direction of the club. There's also the continued uncertainty about league reconstruction. I'm pretty sure that even though we've had some unexpected additional finance generated by the Cup run, that if bids of a certain amount came in, then the club would happily that extra money to help cushion themselves for any tougher times that might be lurking around the corner. So I think more of the squad remain vulnerable for moving on, than simply those that have come to the end of their contracts. Which, without ofcourse knowing who and how many McCall might have lined up, is a wee bit of a worry.

I'm willing to bet given the times of posts drink has been consumed but Albi and John, whatever your thought be it about singing on buses, Paul Slane or whatever enough of the personal abuse being thrown back and forward please. It stops or so does your ability to post for a few days. Abuse removed and thread tidied up.

I can't argue with the outcome, Celtic were deserved winners. Thought 3-0 was a bit flattering for them and we can point to a few game changing moments, few of which went for us, but I can't argue that they weren't deserving of their win. Gunning's effort coming back off the bar. At that point there had been virtually nothing to separate the teams in terms of chances created. Their long range shot went in, ours hit the woodwork. I really can't understand why Majstorovic stayed on the park after such a blatant handball having already been booked. Would it have made any difference? 65 minutes or so down to 10 men, you really have to wonder. I haven't seen highlights yet but within minutes of making the change to try to take the game to Celtic a bit more they score with from the distance appeared to be a deflected own goal. The one piece of luck we did get was Stephen Craigan's handball which we got away with. About the only thing Murray did seem to give us but a piece of good fortune nonetheless. As I say, we can hardly claim to have been robbed but on another day had fortune smiled upon us a wee bit more it might have been different. Disappointing as it is, I still retain immense pride in the team, support and club as a whole. Whilst the third was a goal too many for some it was heartening that so many stayed on to recognise the efforts of the team over what has been some season. Some time down the road we're going to be in a shitter of a relegation battle and look back fondly on this season and think, fuck me, how well did we do that year? Always proud to be a Dosser.

Just chuck it then......Please?

To steal the Mhankies patter for a bit, let's hope that this is just the beginning. It really is to you guys credit that you've managed to pull this off so spectacularly well. It's worth noting that it was more than simply just putting cards out on seats to hold up - you've managed through positive dialogue to get MFC on board, the SAC too, deal with the people at the SFA and Hampden, organise printers, get designs formulated and set up and secure a team of volunteers to set up the displays which culminated in such a fantastic and positive display today. You should be rightly proud! I really hope that with the display you will have made that breakthrough to the Motherwell support at large and you can be the driving force for more positive backing of the team in the weeks and months to come!

With heavy heart.... ...thoughts, votes, regrets etc. etc........

Nice one shull. No great love for the Saints at this end and quite obviously you feel just the same about us. So kind of you to pass on your best!

I bet you he's out the country by the end of next week.....

Out of interest is it the club, SFA or outsiders selling gear out the "burger vans" next to Hampden and Lesser Hampden? Seemed to have an ample supply of claret and amber bar scarves at the St Johnstone but not a lot else, makes me think it wasn't MFC/Provan Sports sourced with the lack of variety. Just if that's the case its maybe worth highlighting to get any last minute stuff from FP rather than waiting to Hampden.

Officially I'd doubt you'll be able to have a beer from Central to Hampden. They usually have signs up a day or two before big games or events at Hampden saying trains from Central to the stadium will be alcohol free.

Must admit I'm a bit surprised at folk saying they won't buying a strip because it has Cash Convertors on it. I stopped short of buying the home strip when we first got Zoom as sponsors because I thought with the blue and white band it just looked absolutely honking, but the actual sponsor has never really came into it for me. Is that out of place to the overpriced windaes, paint and wallpaper, used cars and bookies we've had in the past?

Only too happy if folk are able to do exchanges and swaps in this part of the forum. If you can sort something out here then ideal! What the Cup Final section was set up to do, by nature of its entry criteria, was to take away an element of risk for those looking to buy/sell/swap and in a small way try to reduce the chances of tickets ending up in the wrong hands. There's no danger of say someone popping up from nowhere registering and concocting some story about their undying love for Motherwell having in an attempt to get a ticket, when all the while they're sitting in a green and grey hooped shirt in Coatbridge and talking their way into buying a 'Well end brief. But there's more than that in there. Aside from a little fundraiser for the site whilst at the same time adding a little extra side issue to the final, there was space created to allow the organisers of the display on Saturday a wee bit of privacy to sort their plans out without letting the cat out of the bag. And there's also something we hope to have in place that will help those that can't make it to the game on Saturday. Sorry if you haven't got the 50 necessary posts and/or joined after December last year but the entry criteria has been done with the best of intentions. If you do, then all you need to do is PM a Mod or Admin who will happily give you the password you need to enter the Cup Final section.

What ever happened to those mysterious Caped Crusaders whose heroic efforts at bidding high on ebay on behalf of Dossers everywhere at the CIS Cup Final were brought to the attention of the nation by The Sun?

If its the place I'm thinking of its been on there for quite a while now. Has caught my attention in the past. Always just assumed it was a Roma scarf given its an Italian orientated place.

Rightly or wrongly for me there are a few things that I think would be in people's minds when attributing the title to us. There's the size of the club itself or at least the number staff. There have been a number of players who have referred to the "family atmosphere" within the staff due to the fact that they are relatively few in number, several of whom wear a few hats in the jobs, and some of them have been there for yonks. Take Bill Dickie as a director going back to the 80's if not 70's, JP the physio has a decade plus service, Karen Paterson must be hitting two decades worth as a couple of examples and that's not even including the players. The continuity and atmosphere created by that has meant that its been likened to have a comfortable feel about the place, making newbies feel a bit like they've been welcomed into the family. There's the network of former players that are either in positions within the club like Stevie Kirk as community officer, Dougie in the bar and several former players that do or have done coaching for the club. There was and may still be the Former Players Club which ensures that former players contributions are noted and they'll be warmly welcomed back. Well perhaps Paul Slane's application might have got lost in the post.... There's the support. Not so big that even if you don't happen to be well kent face there is a good chance you can quickly build up a fair number of folk you can count as acquaintances and friends through watching the team and on places like this. There's the club's attempts to develop links with the community at large through those Fitness schemes, through the stuff with the college and through schools. Justifiable family club tag? Suppose that's up for debate but there's a few reasons that might be why they've earned the tag.

I suppose you can look at this one in several ways. Taken in isolation I've seen plenty full strength Motherwell teams get pumped 4-0 or 5-0 in there before - as recently as about twelve months ago in fact, so 4-0 today with the team that was out isn't going to cause me any sleepless nights. In fact in an odd sort of way I'll feel much more reassured if we need to use Hollis again having seen him today, assuming they re-new his contract and having only seen Carswell for a minutes during the week, quite liked what I saw of him too. The bigger picture is ofcourse whether you believe McCall's selection policy since the split has been beneficial or detrimental to our chances next week. There seem to be two clear schools of thought on that one but I can't really say whether I think it's definitely been good or definitely been bad. What I would reckon though is that he and his coaching and fitness team are likely to better placed than I am to judge who's in need of putting their feet up so I suppose I'm putting my trust that what they've gone with is right.

Perhaps they know there's already a thread about the final and know there's not really a need for this one?

Thoughts and votes please folks....

Well that's it, in the grand scheme of things Lennon's a very minor side issue. There's so much to be excited about without giving him any undue attention. Lap up the fact we're in the final, the build up that'll see us get some positive coverage as we're splashed across the media for a week, that the town and even a bit further beyond will get a lift from us being there through the feelgood factor amongst its Dosserminded citizens - already demonstrated by the bunting and shop displays, the coming together of 'Well fans for events like Tuesday and the stuff a few places have on the night before, the excitement there will be in Motherwell and its surrounds will be next Saturday morning and afternoon. And that's before we even get to Hampden!!

Not one that'll stay too long in the memory. Thought we started well enough and could have added to the opener, albeit we got the help of the deflection for the goal, but I thought Killie then went on to have the bulk of the play in the first half. Some nice play from them but Randy was comfortably equal to what chances they did produce. Again as has been said had the second stood then you don't know how much desire Killie would have shown to try to fight back from 2-0 down in a nothing game in the pishing rain. Their equaliser, disappointing to lose as it was, wasn't undeserved and as we had in the first they completely dominated the opening spell in the second half. A much better contest in the last half an hour when Jeffers came on and either side could have nicked it.

Thoughts and votes please folks.....

Lots of material souvenirs up for grabs which is fantastic if you're a collector of such things, but what about some of the more off the wall items that were talked of when the initiative first began like travelling with the team on an away day, getting into the dressing room on a matchday or stuff like that. With school holidays co-inciding with pre-season what about folk bidding for the opportunity for their kid to join in on a training session with the team etc. Could appeal to a different section of our support that signed programmes or shirts might not neccesarily appeal. I say that as someone who when I was laddie couldn't resist kicking footballs about - even if they were signed by Motherwell players. Saving them for posterity and to treasure when you are older is the last thing on your mind when you're an eight years old and need a ball for a game of fitba.

From the official....