Andy_P

Could well be Underboyle, there was certainly a hope that the pitch would have improved by the time we were due to play Aberdeen in early April. I think that's why a wee bit of clarity is required. Lots of room for speculation and guesswork about the possibilities but all we seem to know just is that its the 29th March, not how or who got us there and what avenue's remain for change.

I think a wee heads up from MFC might be helpful here to let us know where we stand. There already has been a fair bit of discussion with the potential for a lot more speculation while there remain a number of things unclear. It would be interesting to know why the 29th was agreed in the first place, who were the instigators of that date, is there a will from us/and/or Dundee Utd and the SFA to change and what is the likliehood of that change taking place. Aside from the quote-free note that was in The Sun a few posts earlier there's not been much mentioned and the STV report hinting at the possibility of the start of the split being delayed makes it that further bit more cloudy.

I don't know if you intend the questionnaire to become an annual or bi-annual feature but some constructive criticism on the point in bold. When I read it would be in the programme, I assumed it would have been on an insert in the programme. I would have thought you might have got some more had it been so, rather than having to "rip" up your programme.

Might not address all your concerns Sieb but you can zap the shoutbox. If you hit the wee "minus" icon at the top right of the shoutbox it'll minimise it and hide it for you.

I was in one of those groups swelled by folk who didn't go regularly or at all to see Motherwell. Most of us were 15 or 16 , mates from school who supported the likes of Airdrie and Rangers and some family and friends who only went very occasionally. Whilst it was a very very special day for my old man and me, and to a lesser extent my old dear and sister for the rest of them it was just a good day out for them. We knew that win or lose it would be back to Fir Park so despite us all being from Chapelhall/Airdrie my Dad ran everyone over to Motherwell to get our bus and so it was straight back there from Hampden. Great celebrations on the pitch and watching the players celebrating in the stand and after that, there was nothing left to do but go back home and watch the full 120 minutes again on video. And after that when the highlights programme came on...... I can still laugh when I think of the anticipation in my mates eyes when the old man declared he would buy us celebratory chips and beer and headed up the street to buy scran and a cargo - and came in with this Pale Ale stuff that I don't think I've ever seen since. That collective look of what the fuck is this? filled the room. Remember a few of my mates stayed over after buying about 27 Sunday papers it was back over again on the Sunday to Motherwell for the open top bus parade. I look forward to doing it all again (with real beer this time Dad) in May

Just as an aside and different rules for different governing bodies may well apply here but I see that Plymouth's game with Southampton has been called off due to international call-ups. How many players could ofcourse be the factor there. But I do think it would be interesting to know who came up with the date in the first place and what scope there is for movement. Not a peep from the club on the matter yet, and whilst that's not to say they aren't enquiring/pressing in the background, I might have thought that some concern would have been aired by someone at FP.

Its surely in the best interests of the SFA to protect the integrity of their own competition no? If we purposely decided to chuck in a youth team for a Scottish Cup I bet that would fall under their remit and they;d have something to say about it being devalued. So it seems only fair then that in this circumstance that they should do what they can to assist the clubs come up with an alternative date that is fair to all parties.

When are Scotland U21's playing? Because we'll be missing Steven Saunders as well if that's, as I imagine it would be, around the same time as the full international games. If that's three, then that's surely sufficient to get it re-scheduled for an alternative date. EDIT: But in keeping with the intended theme of the thread. Well deserved Randy!!

On that front perhaps its a positive that both the Inverness v Celtic game and the St Mirren v Aberdeen replay are both being played this week. Another £80k in the kitty I'm sure would be well received by the club.... ...and has already been suggested will hopefully give the club a bit of breathing space to replicate the tenner a head that was on the go at Tannadice today. On the game I would have been delighted to take them back to Fir Park before it kicked off and still am. There are a few pangs of regret though about what might have been having got ahead that second time....

Thoughts and votes please folks...

I've been happy enough with Dundee Utd picking up points from their games in hand as it dented the hopes of Inverness and Aberdeen in doing so. If it means they'll be a further step towards having secured their top six place by the time we come to play them in April, I'll be quite happy if they pump Accies on Thursday night too. I'll worry about finishing as high as we can within the top six if and when we actually make it. For now its a case of just getting in there. Makes it a bit annoying that we've passed up some fair opportunities in recent weeks to make it a lot easier for ourselves but we still have a decent chance of doing it.

Oh aye, I'd forgotten all about them Seem to remember them being in place around the early to mid 1980's.

Open for voting from 8pm tonight. Thoughts and votes please...

In terms of the "sash" kit I might have originally considered that to be difficult to pull off these days without it being devalued a little by a sponsor - see Super Skippy Sunday strip or the 89'90 away strip as an example. Malaga seemed to pull it off quite nicely the other nicely with a black kit and blue sash unspoilt with a sponsor's logo, which was located on the back under the shirt number.

There's easily room for both forums. Some prefer FPC some prefer SO and others frequent both. As long as there's a sufficient online presence for Dossers to air their views then more power to both.

Sadly there are plenty who do, from the gullible ones in the Celtic support he's trying to whip up to the lapdogs in the media who hang on every word. I've said it several times before that much as it pains me Celtic have one of the finest PR machines in the business when it comes to deflecting bad news. Its sickening the number of times they have their backs against the wall for their indiscretions yet somehow wriggle out of it and end up looking the ones being wronged.

Already being discussed over guys >>> here

Thoughts and votes please folks... EDIT: Sorry folks in my excitement forgot about Las

Funnily enough happened to catch the goals round-up and when seeing the Dagenham & Redbridge v Bournemouth goals I immediately thought, excellent, no longer the worst looking pitch in the country I like this game though. On Another Positive Note.... No Shaun Maloney tomorrow so no danger of those harsh 3mph winds blowing him over like they seem to do every time he visits Motherwell. Next.....

You always hope for the best going into any game but I find it hard to see anything than a comfortable Celtic win tomorrow. I hope there's some complacency in their play tomorrow after seemingly now having a clear edge over Rangers and that their players are distinctly underwhelmed at a half-full Fir Park on a shitey surface having just played an Old Firm game in front of 60,000. Unfortunately they have such strength in depth that even if a few of them have a shitter of a performance there will be a bench load that can slot straight in. It's a tall order at the best of times but with potentially several of the more experienced players its a concern that we could easily have a repeat of Ibrox a couple of weeks back on our hands. Yet there are always some days where it doesn't click for them, its only six weeks ago that they nearly lost at Hamilton, and I hope tomorrow might be one of them whilst we come up with something a bit special.

Up to 1200. For someone who rarely buys papers I've somehow managed to see we've had adverts in the Daily Record, Sun and Evening Times over the last couple of days the 1200 close has stuck in my head.

I sort of agree and disagree. I don't think the change in expectation level is a recent phenomenon by any manner of means. We're going to be celebrating the 20th anniversary of winning the Cup this year (by winning the Cup ) but 91'92 season after that was a horrible experience supporting Motherwell because of the increased level of expectancy that winning the Cup brought. The atmosphere was horrendous. It wasn't helped by the displacement of the choir across the East Stand but there were shouting matches all over the place as people struggled to come to terms that we hadn't reached the same levels as the season or two before. I'm really not so sure about the relegation thing though MJ. You are but one of several posters who regularly speak fondly of those First Division years - I remember them too albeit I was just a wean at the time - but I think its a different world now and I would much rather we rebuilt our squad in the manner that say Tommy McLean did two or three times whilst we remained in the top flight. I think your point about mid-table obscurity is an important one though. We have been fortunate, if you could call it that, that the bulk of our seasons over the past two or three decades have had a purpose keeping us interested right to the end of the season. Mostly relegation battles granted although in more recent times, happily up the other end of the table. I think having a mid-table nothingness season whilst pleasing that you don't have any relegation fears is much less inspiring and lends itself to the type of ho-hum display on Wednesday and in turn winds up those who feel we should be doing better even more. Its a difficult one. I agree that a bit more balance and perspective could be adopted by many before lashing out but I think I would rather encourage people to try to view things slightly differently than having them experience relegation.

Don't panic Jonesy - well not at this stage anyway. They didn't make any suggestions at all of going with a St Mirren style ground or in fact any other stadium for that matter. They used their ground to give a comparison between how much they might expect to receive for Fir Park in relation to how much even a basic ground like that would cost. They believe that even to afford a Greenhill Road style effort would require a considerable black hole to be filled after any sale of the land FP lies on.

It was put across at the AGM that they believed Boyle's presence as majority shareholder/chairman had reached a point where it was detrimental to future investment. A kind of feeling whereby people who may have been interested looked at Motherwell, thought that's Boyle's gig, he'll have it coverered there's no place for me. I presume they have to have got that notion from somewhere? The road going forward was less clear. They appear to want to follow the routes of the Scandanavian clubs with no one single dominant board member but a more even spread of ownership and investment through a variety of means - shareholding, subscription, membership They went on to say to attract this investment they hoped to offer some form of return, though they couldn't really say what this might be other than ruling out a monetary return on shares. One suggestion was that a business could provide services for the club and the club repay in kind by say advertising, use of suites. I envisage similar to an example that Yabbas Turd mentioned on the boards a while back here about work in the Main Stand. They did say that once the dust had settled on Boyle's news that they would re-group as a board and the course they aim to plot will become clearer.

Guy is entitled to his opinion. God knows MJC's largely been a dripping tap of absolute despondency stretching back to Welltrust FC forums (remember the infamous Clarkson must go post after we beat Hearts in the League Cup Semi for example) but I'll give him his due he's always been able to argue his point. In this instance, as in most I disagree, but I certainly don't believe he's fishing.