Andy_P

At the request of the OP I'm closing the thread. She thanks those who have offered backing to the team under it's guise of Motherwell FC Girls but since there isn't the connection with MFC any longer she would prefer that all looked positively to the future rather than getting caught up in speculation about what have or might not have taken place in the past.

A few things I recall. John Wilson was there and he generally does a first class round-up over on FPC of the AGM's. Turnover very similar from this year to last with the exception of the sales of Quinn and Clarkson and McGhee compensation money which turned around a considerable loss to a very marginal profit. No major remedial work anticipated for pitch for summer - at the moment. Pitch will be re-seeded after Celtic game and should look better by Aberdeen game in April. Alan Dick said no worse than 4 other SPL pitches he's been delegate at recently. Pitch had 60% grass coverage pre-Christmas down to 30% now. Heavy sanding was as a result of algae (I thought that was found in ponds ) problem. Talks ongoing about better and more modern training facilities. Hope to have something sorted by the end of the year. Continuing to investigate worthiness of relocating stadium but concede there is no finance to do so. Reckon any prospective sale of Fir Park would only fund anything between 50%-60% of any new stadium based on cost of St Mirren's ground. Club continue to aspire to be best Community Club in Scotland if not UK. Leeann cited examples of people attending courses with no prior connection to club but now holding season tickets - which incidently sales rose 13% this season. Club remain undecided on league reconstruction. Agreement not as close as media suggest. Club would prefer larger league but accept 10 and 12 offers a better financial settlement at present. Apparently winner of SFL Division One will receive in region of £65,000 whilst 12th place in SPL nets £900,000. The new SPL2 is seen as a way of in time developing enough teams of a stature to then build up the numbers of the top flight. The fact that whereas now 12th will see you relegated but under new proposals finishing 8th could see you drop is not lost on board. MFC remain committed to starting league as early as possible in July. Anything else I remember I'll add as an edit tomorrow.

Clearly didn't do enough to win, but unlucky to have lost I thought. Particularly since the ball was heading about six feet wide of Randolph's left-hand post before hitting the divot. But it was a dire game with a very lacklustre display from Motherwell with little creativity or excitement to speak of. Penalty shout, couple of good decent free-kicks from Hateley, shot blocked near the end, struggling to think of much else, which is pretty disappointing stuff. Several of the points I would have made have been covered already. The starting line-up was questionable to begin with and to do all the shuffling around when we had two players on the bench who could have slotted straight in for Lasley. Odd. Speaking of whom. Bit of a joke that Lasley gets a yellow card for two fouls in relatively quick succession yet it took until the 75th or so minute before Goodwin got booked. And what of Forbes? The last couple of games I thought might have gone a little way to restoring the all important confidence his game seems to need. What does that say when he's dropped after doing little wrong, then sees us play musical chairs with the positions before putting him or Meechan on for a like-for-like switch. I was very impressed with the tactical switch at Pittodrie last week, but tonight it didn't work out at all. The worst feeling tonight for me is not so much losing to fucking St Mirren again, God knows we've seen enough of those in recent times, is that it really could be a season changing defeat. If we blow the top six because of that result that's going to be a sickener in itself but we've virtually killed off the relegation battle tonight with that result. Accies could be realistically if not mathematically gone by the time the split comes around so if we do finish bottom six there will be absolutely fuck all to play for. And that's hardly an exciting prospect is it?

Thoughts and votes on the St Mirren shit-fest.....

I've no idea to be honest. I don't know whether its come up at any recent AGM's, I've not been at one for quite a few years now, but there was some chat (pre-administration) about creating a different type of share that would allow you to get the accounts and attend the AGM's but wouldn't have any voting privileges. As I say don't know if that idea has ever been re-visited since. If it does come up in any way tomorrow I'll let you know. If not, and you are interested, fire a letter/email off to Leanne Dempster and ask the question, that's how my old man managed to get a token amount for me when I was a laddie.

Unless you happen to be attending as a proxy for someone I believe you have to hold shares in the club before they'll let you in Ladywell.

Yaay, I'd really missed the weekly Humphrey propaganda machine in action...... In all seriousness I don't think it's such a bad thing for him and the team to be on the bench just now. Humph's clearly a good option in our armoury but in the last couple of months it hasn't quite happened for him. Whether that's because he's been jaded (it has been his longest spell in the team as a regular starter since he arrived), lost form in keeping with the rest of the team, or been found out by opponents - or a combination of all of the above. I'd be quite happy for him to recharge his batteries a bit and offer us the option he did on Saturday of driving at team in the latter stages of a game when they are feeling the pace.

Aye, there's definetely something in that. Granted I think Albion Rovers have never beaten us in a competitive fixture but both Airdrie and to a lesser extent Hamilton have got often results against us that their league position might not suggest them capable of. All part of the challenge of the derby and being the one they all want to beat.

We made quite heavy weather of it but it was a well deserved win. Even the poison dwarf conceded as much after the game. As Ya Bezzer says it took a little time for us to build some momentum but when we did we were fully in control as the first half wore on. Pleasing to see the same patient passing play that was present in Aberdeen in evidence once again - and that for the most part the team were allowed to do so without pressure to hoof it coming from the stands. Looked a fairly clear penalty so not sure what the dwarf saw when pretty much everyone else saw it as being clear-cut and nice to see us finally beating that bugger Cerny with a spot-kick after his previous saves. Another spot of "exercising" done.... Second half we never really got into our stride yet still have several opportunities to make it a whole lot more pleasing on the eye, particularly towards the end of the game. Could have been different if McCalister had done better with his free-header early on in the half but for all their huffing and puffing I don't actually recollect Randy having much to do at all. Tricky fixture, pretty well negotiated and the garden looks a lot more rosy than it did at this time last Saturday that's for sure!

Thoughts and votes please.....

Don't forget the new rule that must have been added to the ground regulations that you aren't allowed to take your shirt off in the stands. Mad as he must be to want to dispense with his jaiket and shirt on a winter's day in February, to see a steward actually come up and instruct someone to put their shirt back on is absolutely fucking ridiculous.

Would take that! On the point of the attendance though, one or two on the Accies forum were doing a bit of rabble rousing to encourage more to travel quoting their previous supports.... I'm sure on at least two of those occasions (League Cup tie) and one of the league games there were prices cut or family promotions on the go too. As for the game. Maybe they are just paying it lip service but there does appear a determination to take this derby game a bit more like a derby game than previous games, and an acknowledgement that there are wrongs to be righted. The formation and subsequent display at Pittodrie caught me quite off guard and at a stroke, on Tuesday's evidence at least, has opened up a whole new range of tactical possibilities for us and for other teams to concern themselves with. Probably say it before every Accies game but play anything like we can and we should have enough to get the points.

Do they still have the bells that they ring to alert the old firm fans when they've cracked a joke?

The two things are seperate for me. I agree with the point the OP is making. To be honest I don't wish any fines issued, suspended or threatened or any SPL investigation instigated the way we had but there is a very marked difference in the stance that was taken with us in comparison to the likes of United, St Johnstone and Accies by the authorities and media alike. I don't think it unreasonable if anyone involved with Motherwell should query the reasons why our fellow SPL competitors appear to be getting almost sympathy whilst we were receiving calls to be chucked out the league, points deductions and play all games away from home. When Boyle talked of the Lanarkshire micro-climate that was hindering us even when remedial work was going on, people pished themselves laughing and mocked him. Last night we had Peter Houston and Steven Thomson talk of the unusually high rainfall that had hit Dundee but it was all sympathy. They even commented on a corner of the ground that "has always been a bad bit" and nobody thought to question if the knew it was bad then what had they done to remedy it. That said there are a hundred and one different avenues I'd use to get my point across rather than one where Hugh Keevins has any involvement.

Got an assist setting up Blackman to score.

Open this one in a wee while once the North East troops get home. Thoughts and votes thereafter please folks...

How good was it when 'Well scored that many goals that they had to put the figure in text just to make it clear it wasn't a miss-print. If you weren't able to get to the game seeing something like... 1650 . . Clydebank 1 Motherwell 7 (Seven) - - ....on Grandstand's vidi-printer was pretty good consolation!

Way back in this thread or the game thread someone made the point about viewing such results in isolation. Go through all the teams in the league and you'll find some similar horror stories. I recollect Kenny Miller scoring five for Rangers first time around when they beat St Mirren 7-0 at Ibrox, Aberdeen ofcourse lost 9 at Parkhead this year. I think Accies lost 8 and 7 in the one season against Celtic in the 80's. Just a few off the top of my head and you've already cited United yourself (might also have been similar in a recent League Cup Semi too actually). I think its all about trying to view it in context thought. Motherwell losing 6-1 at Tannadice when we we were 2nd in the league and they were fighting relegation, you can put that down as a freak result. Much the same as Dundee Utd at Ibrox last season you could argue. Motherwell conceding 6 at Ibrox given our absolutely horrendous rate of conceding goals in there, when you've won league game in twelve, haven't scored an away goal in the league since what Love Street was it, is unfortunately not so much of a freak result. In fact its a bit of worry and no amount of laughing it off as jolly good rollercoaster fun is going to make that any easier to stomach. I fully accept that there was little chance of taking something on Saturday and unless goal difference comes into play a defeat is a defeat whether its by one goal otr six. But the warning signs should be flashing. The next few games are pivotal as to how this season is going to go.

I personally think the board are marking time for as long as they possibly can to see how things pan out in terms of league reconstruction and how things go between now and the end of the summer transfer window. I don't believe its a policy that's just suddenly been adopted either with some whispers as far back as the close of last season that Brown and Knox were weighing up whether to remain in charge given the course being plotted by those in charge of the finances. Whilst several of those at the club around the administration period remain with the club I can only ever see us erring on the side of caution rather than speculating to accumulate. That's perhaps no bad thing as the survival of the club is paramount. As has been said though a few posts up there's a very fine balance to be struck between looking after the finances and being overly cautious to the point that it really starts putting the team in jeopardy and we seem to be edging closer and closer to that point. The consequence of that is that when you have such a threadbare squad that results such as yesterday are always likely and not even just at the hands of Rangers either. We've an average squad who lack consistency. All it takes is a few of them off the boil or injured or both at the one time and you are asking for trouble. There are some quirky similarities to the last few months of Malpas reign and this season. Swap Reynolds for Foran and you have your £150k banked and we also saw off a couple of lower league teams on a Scottish Cup run. I'm not sure what the difference in points is from now to then, and I'm not suggesting we are going to get as close to being dragged into it as we were then, but the warning signs are there. That said I'm also fairly certain that this time there won't be the same clean slate with a new manager coming in as was the case with McGhee coming or that there will any the same speculated subsidy of salaries by any individual on the board either. The AGM this year is before the St Mirren game next midweek and that's going to be very interesting to hear how the club aim to proceed in the short, medium and long term.

Thoughts and votes please....

You can buy them at Ibrox. See the official for details. As for the game. It wouldn't surprise me if we pulled off a sneaky draw or something given the near universal lack of expectancy. Its odd how sometimes you can pull a rabbit from the hat when its least expected. It wouldn't surprise me either if it was a repeat of last December in there too granted.

The Evening Times on a Saturday night with the scores and match reports.....of the first half!!! And the wee box on the back page LATE NEWS that had the odd second half goal squeezed in.

I'm not so clued up these days as to who's in the defensive positions in the U19's that could fill in, on the bench, but I think it was the OP himself who said in the past that the loanees could be recalled if and when required, so I presume if it came to it Dario Quinn or Jordan Halsman might get recalled.

Yeah there was a Paul Burke who came through the youth set up at the same time as uncle Phil and Mowgli. Alex Burke was the punter who played with Killie.

I would contact the club in advance of your arrival to make arrangements with them for a look around the stadium on either the Friday or Saturday. I wouldn't imagine that they will have enough time or staff to be able to help you on the day of the game.