Andy_P

I've decided against the radio tonight. Firstly because on the rare occasions I do listen to it, we tend to get pumped. And secondly that total banger Sandy Clark is the summariser. Mon the tweets!

That being the case how much would we have been due Everton seeing as we had a half-fit Lukas Jutkiewicz patched up and sent out to battle on the tattie field for the last three months of last season!

Livingston - Whitburn (22 First), Whitburn - Harthill (14A First) and then Harthill - Shotts (366 Stuarts) Mind and make some pieces first. You leave at 0937 and get there at 1118

Good! The more the merrier if the gate money is pooled!

I'm sure as the week progresses there will be more of a build up of things from the club's side. They'll probably want to focus on the St Johnstone game first before whipping up excitement about the Semi Final. No reason ofcourse why the can't do some stuff about ticket sales though. I think we'll take around the 4000 mark in the end which won't be markedly different from the 4500 odd who were at Tynecastle for the Semi Final there, might have been more the following year at Hampden though. I'd guess you'll be looking at around 20,000-25,000 mark for the crowd as a whole.

My mate and I are on a bus from the Joker. Other mates, John and Tony Bryce (who punt the proggies at the wedding shop) are involved in the running. You can get John on 07922 440242. When talking yesterday he reckoned there was going to be a 85 seater (now full) and a single decker going (seats available). Leaving at 1330 he said.

I thought it was an awkward fixture handled pretty well. We all know the dangers that are there when a team in Hibs position come to play us, we've seen that film loads of times before, but we did pretty well. Was good to see that the team and management played upon Buzz's deficiencies with cross balls and anytime we hurled a decent cross into their box they looked in trouble. Two good, well worked goals. Rode our luck a couple of times when Craggs got into a fankle, though in fairness I doubt he should have been passed the ball at that point anyway, and we can't afford to give teams such clear-cut chances through our own errors as we have this week and last. Hibs missing the penalty was crucial as well. Chucking on Nish and Riordan chasing one goal rather than two would have made it a different game entirely I think and would have tested our mettle a bit. That said McCall didn't allow that to happen. In terms of entertainment value it completely killed the game stone dead but tactically bringing on Meechan rather than the more creative Forbes for Hateley and then sticking Johnny Page in front of the defence too just completely bogged Hibs down. As long as the forsaking of just about anything attacking wise doesn't become too regular a trait I'm happy that its option that we have in our armoury when the need is there to kill a game. Overall pretty happy. Decent debut from Jones. Nice to get a further clean sheet, couple of goals. All in all pretty good.

Hutchinson is clearly a very different style of defender to what Mark Reynolds was. Hutch is a much more in your face kinda player and his physical presence will see him dominate many an attacker in the SPL. And I think in part that's why he makes such an impact when we play is that its so often us who seem to be if not the smaller, but weaker team against many of our SPL opponents. Yet put Hutch in there and he offers a dominance and assurance that hasn't been always been there. Hasn't it been great seeing strikers just bounce off him as he destroys them in the air in the last couple of weeks? The fact when you are defending and attacking you now have Saunders and Hutchinson in there makes a big difference - and if we are going to see more of the likes of Johnny Page and Steven Meechan who again are more sturdy units, then it makes a whole lot more able to go toe-to-toe with other teams when the need arises.

Thoughts and votes please folks...

Yeah, I'm thinking along similar lines too, in particular its the share of the gate receipts that interests me. I think it was Doncaster himself who conceded when talking of "hoped for" increases in TV revenue that for every £1 of revenue taken in twice as much comes through gate receipts. Clearly the bulk of that will be derived from the Old Firm. What percentage I don't know but I suspect it'll be hefty anyway. They'll never agree to it to it but if gate money is the biggest earner for Scottish football then if we could impliment some strategy where gate-receipts were pooled and evenly split then that to me would do so much more than tinkering with the number of teams in the hope that it attracts TV money. I still think there is merit in the level of prize money being greater the further you are up the table and the TV money could still cover that as it does currently. However if the gate money was split evenly the re-distribution of cash should allow for a more level playing field for all and give more chance of achieveing the competition they are seeking without the need to resort to relegation play-offs to again try to attract TV money. If the league is more competitive and the title race is no less of a two team procession who knows it even attract TV companies on the league's merits rather than saddling themselves with games involving diddy teams to allow them to get the 4 Old Firm games. I could never see the Old Firm agreeing to anything which is going to loosen their grip but if they are genuinely interested in making the SPL the best it can be, they surely have to make some massive concessions to the rest of us. At the same time I could never see the SPL board proposing it for fear it could be the spark that pushes the Old Firm to pursue their exit from Scotland more aggressively. But until those tricky questions are asked of the Old Firm we are skirting round the edges here and any change is only going to minimal.

Sad news. Thoughts are with you and your family.

Funnily enough that goalmouth scramble was the first time I can ever remember my old man swearing. Have some mixed memories of those Wallace seasons. There was that Clyde game which was just horrible but nothing compared to the 7-0 loss to Celtic, surrounded by tims in the Main Stand a couple of weeks after that 2-2 with Rangers. I can't have made life easy for my old man when I think back. The brickwork in Chapelhall was in the process of closing or had not long shut so he wasn't getting to games anything like as regularly as he used to and when he did he had a then pain in the arse 7 or 8 year old me, attempting to wave a Motherwell flag on a six foot bamboo cane whether we were in the terracing or a stand, winning or losing. Probably the best was that 3-0 win over Rangers around New Year in Wallace's first season. Could even just stroll up to the house on Fir Park street the club had offices in a few minutes before kick-off and buy tickets. Win that day was made all the sweeter as we were in the presence of my Rangers supporting uncle.

I think to suggest what someone has or hasn't done previously is irrelevant is indeed ridiculous. It quite obviously plays a part in the decision making process. McCall clearly sees something in Kenny Black from his past experience or from the advice of others who have that makes him believe he will be a good assistant. That is fair enough and when all's said and done ofcourse I wish Kenny Black all the best and hope that he, McCall and ultimately Motherwell prosper and I'm fairly sure that goes without saying for all of the above who have been likened to Old Firm fans or classed an an embrassment. However I don't think it unreasonable for folk to express any concerns they may have about his appointment.

Whilst the fact he used to manage and play for Airdrie doesn't bother me at all (truth be told I actually quite like the fact that it irked their fans when we've signed Coyle and Gow because of how much they liked then) and Black may well go on to prove himself an assistant of some repute, I can't help feeling there should be alarm bells ringing given horrendously poor a reputation he has amongst my mates, whose opinions I generally hold as being pretty sound.

Nooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!! Cup your hand to your ear and you can just make out the faint sound of laughter and celebration coming from around seven miles away. Kenny Black being appointed Motherwell assistant manager will be the best thing that's happened to Airdrie fans in years. EDIT: Couple of quick bits of reaction from some Airdrie mates when I forwarded on the Scotsman snippet. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!" "Brilliant :nod:" "At least the national team will get better!!!! Enjoy!"

Oh I don't like the sound of that one at all. For much of the last three or four years I've heard my Airdrie mates slaughter him. They don't rate him at all. What was it three two relegations and three play-off defeats in three years?

Indeed, we've netted one solitary goal in our last four games against them!!

Could it be the case though that some of the trialists are coming from countries where their season has yet to commence and that they could be out of contract currently? I'm thinking it might be more difficult to get a Norwegian, Swede or perhaps to a lesser extent someone from Ireland on trial during our summer break when their leagues are up and running and they may be more likely to be attached to clubs. Whereas in their close season.... No idea whatsoever if any of the players are from similar leagues but just a thought.

That perhaps ties in with the fact that the U19's aren't due to resume their campaign until the end of January after their scheduled winter break. No mention thus far of winter training camps for the squad this year so that would suggest that Gordon Young is around to assist more than he might have been otherwise. There's also Bobby Jenks and Stewart Kerr on the staff so whilst I'm sure that McCall will want his own man in alongside him, he's not without backup as it stands at the moment.

Thoughts and votes please...

At the moment I wonder if there's a bit of a conundrum for McCall. Has he been given a target by the board as to where the hope (expect?) him to finish? I'm perhaps making an assumption and a bit of a leap here but I'm guessing that the further up the table we finish, the better off financially MFC will be, however marginally, and in turn the more they might be able to put McCall's way. So does he continue with the recognised thirteen or fourteen for as long we have a chance of finishing in the top six which could help get him a better budget but could be detrimental to the development of the fringe players, or does he gamble with the fringe players and end up with a potentially smaller budget if we continue to slide down the table? Tricky one for him. For tomorrow I expect a return to as close a formation as we were able to field at Dens Park and hope that whoever gets the left midfield gig can offer something close to the same balance that we had in midfield on Sunday. Not really sure how I think it'll go result wise.

I'm not so sure I'd agree with the point about the constant change of manager. There are several of the squad who have gone through 5 or 6 manangers so they know what the drill is. Even someone like Hutchinson had had four manangers whilst at Fir Park. As someone inferred way back deep in the thread, we've a squad of generally limited players who can sometimes rise above themselves as a team, sometimes they are poor as a team. If they are honest in their endeavour then I disappointed as I may be to see them lose then I can live with that.

I'll give it a bit before opening this one to let those that were there get home. And to save Ross Forbes from having it in the bag by half-ten.....

Probably like the rest of us on Radio Scotland where Richard Gordon interrupted Jim Spence and Allan Preston to advise us that George Adams had sent them a text to say "Same money, longer contract".