Andy_P

I thought he was pretty decent last night. I do agree with Finlay in that last night can't be viewed in isolation in terms of offering extended contracts, but it did seem our midfield looked as balanced as it has been since Las got injured. Forbes and Hateley both strike me as players best suited to a central midfield of three whereas Fizzy last night was much more in the Lasley mould and provided the solidity to allow Humph and Murph to do their thing creatively. Key few weeks for Fitzpatrick now he's managed to break into the side. Whether it turns out he gets a deal or not, I hope we can benefit from him busting a gut to win one.

Thoughts and votes please folks....

Scottish Cup Semi Final 2003, Hampden. Turns to my Old Man not long after kick-off: "If we can keep it tight at the start, don't let them settle you never know"..... Motherwell 0 Rangers 1 Konterman (1min). "Fuck!!"

Thoughts and votes please....

Interesting post East Stand Screamer. Other than catching the odd U19 game, I've go no first-hand experience of how youth development systems operate but from an outsiders perspective the promotion of youngsters has always struck me as being something that's far from an exact science. My perception is that its always been the case that you generally only get two or three from every group that get professional deals. I think that was why the club made a bit of a noise about Quinn, Halsman, Smith, Lawless and Meechan all getting deals in the summer, because its such a rarity that so many got promoted from the one side. Ofcourse that makes it hugely difficult for the youths trying to win a deal and I think there has to be an element of sympathy for both player and club when it comes down to the choosing who to keep on. There are loads of factors I would imagine would come into play. There's obviously finance in terms of what the club can offer and what kind of squad they are looking to carry, the strength of the existing first team in that player's position. There's there's the physical stature of the player. Has that player fully grown, is there more to come. And if the teams, as is the case of Motherwell's, been fairly successful and are of a good standard it must make the job the coaches and manager attempting to look into the future to make a best guess at who has the best chance all that more tricky. I don't know whether its viewed as a positive and whether the club point it out to prospective newcomers but it I think the smattering of players in the lower leagues who have a grounding at Fir Park is to our youth set up's credit - the idea that if you don't make it with us, it'll still stand you in good stead that you've been with us.

464 in the South Stand with claims of another 50 spread across the Main Stand/hospitality etc.

Echoing the disappointment. A derby game is not the fixture you want to turn in one of your worst displays of the season. Thought it was a fairly even first half to start with prior to Accies taking the lead. It was superb turn and shot from Hasseilbank and had they been a bit more composed when both Goodwin and reject Mensing blazed wide/over we could easily have found ourselves three down. Wasn't convinced about the penalty award at the time but gratefully received nonetheless. Was a sickener then to blow the opportunity. No complaints about Hateley taking it, he hadn't missed previously but it in keeping with the first half display it was a desperate attempt at a penalty. Pleased with the response in the second half which we completely dominated but we were really lacking in guile and struggled to break them down. I was disappointed that we took so long to make changes and that we didn't deviate from the starting game plan. It just seemed incredible to bring on Sutton and not play him directly up front when we are chasing a game with 20 minutes left. It perhaps takes a game like this to question some tactics and highlight the deficiencies in the team which can be overlooked or papered over when results have gone our way. We seem to have become a bit bereft of ideas and inspiration when it comes to throw-ins for example with our throw in taker, generally waiting and waiting for movement and then at best repeating the same about 10 yards further down the park. Question marks too over the requirement to have everybody so far back at corners. Time and a place for it I think rather than as standard as seem to do. Would it really hurt to have say Humphrey loitering about between halfway and our box even in case there's a chance of a break. The whole team for example was back in the box and Mensing still found himself isolated in acres. I'm also getting pretty pee'd watching two or three of them running and chasing after the ball like schoolboys whenever we get free-kicks in decent positions and penalties. Ach perhaps I'm just grumpy after a shitter of a display. They do come around now and again I suppose.

Thought and votes please.....

22595 was the attendance at our last League Cup Semi Final against Celtic at Hampden. Tempting then to think with it being a Saturday or Sunday we'll get a whole lot more this time? Not markedly going by the last time we played Rangers in the Scottish Cup Semi, where the crowd still didn't break 30,000. There were 29,352 at that one - and that would have been in weather conditions a wee bit more conducive to a bigger crowd.

Arguably is that not another failing of the competition, from a publicity point of view anyway, in that they'll likely only show one semi-final live?

I'll happily take who we get. They all have plusses and minuses. Aberdeen certainly seems the most winnable option so you would reckon you would want them. But as Finlay has already said I really don't want to have to imagine how gut wrenching it could be to be within a game of the final, then lose to a non-Old Firm team. Celtic, may be slightly weaker than Rangers but remember Lennon is still looking for that first trophy success and the CIS provides the next opportunity for that. By the time February comes around and if they happen to be trailing Rangers then suddenly the Diddy Cup becomes a whole lot more important to them and less likliehood of resting players. Rangers don't have a huge squad and threw in some youngsters against Killie. Could that be something they might repeat in the Semi? Especially if they have made it into the next stage of the Champions League or dropped into the Europa League. Also with each passing game the law of averages grows ever stronger that we're gonna beat the fuckers. They do appear to have the strongest starting eleven at the moment though and ofcourse our record against them isn't flowing with victories is it. On the flip side I hope and pretty much expect they are all saying I really want those fuckers from Fir Park, which I think will suit our mentality just nicely!!

Quick answer.....and good answer, 'specially the bit in bold!

Yeah, it perhaps further complicates the the decision the club have to make about Mark Reynolds although on the plus side it may entice Nick Blackman to kick about for a further spell in the hope of playing in a Cup Final with us.

Not sure why it was closed but I don't see anything untoward in there so re-opened once again...

Thoughts and votes please folks....

Thoughts and votes please folks...

I find the notion that you can be bored with Europe because we'll never again see a better chance of making the group stages a strange one also. I just hope none of the players and management feel the same way!! Far from being disinterested I am desperate for us to get the opportunity to somehow try to avenge the feelings of that night at Fir Park against Odense. That ones filed away in that the horrible guilt ridden, little section of the mind along with 4-1 losses to Raith Rovers as Cup Holders, 7-0's and 7-1's to Celtic, 3-0's to Partick Thistles and any defeat to Airdrie's where the memories are only allowed to pop out occasionally to fuel the fire to have them redressed and avenged. The sooner we get the opportunity to get back in there, lessen the pain and push it further into the recesses of the memory the better for me. That said I'm not particularly fussy about how we get there either. Cup win, league position, Fair Play league, Ice age rendering Norway uninhabitable and Scotland getting an extra place - I'll take it if sees Motherwell on the European stage again. So a Cup win and a glorious day at Hampden wouldn't go amiss either and if it was the Scottish Cup, it would ofcourse kill two birds with one stone and hopefully everybody would get what they want. Easy peasy, when you type it quick As for today 2-1 MFC, Sutton and A.N.Other.

Saunders? That's good. I don't know if a timescale was ever mentioned for how long he'd be out but I certainly got the impression from the way it was reported and the reaction that it was going to be a wee while.

Surely though the key factor there though is that its up the Italian clubs to actually decide if they actually want to sign Scottish players, rather than the players deciding they fancy a bit of a stab at Serie A or B. But I do agree in principle that there are benefits to be had for Scots fortunate enough to have the opportunity to immerse themselves in a different football environment on the continent.

Half-time, one-nil up, I really thought it was going to happen this time. Pah! First half I thought we were great. We had severely restricted them, were spraying it about pretty well at times and looked fairly lively when we got up front and ofcourse had got ourselves ahead. I stood there at the break thinking we've played this to a tee. Continue doing what we're doing for the opening quarter of an hour and the cesspool dwellers will be on their backs quick smart and they have little or no options on the bench to change it. About quarter of an hour in and we're four-one down? Fuck Off!! I don't know if it is down to bottle, self-belief, simply the power of the opposition or whatever but that's three of our last four visits to the Old Firm we've been in solid or winning positions in the second half and have imploded. Bloody frustrating giving them a bloody nose but ultimately failing to land the killer blow and failing to see it through. The points, or point would have been a very welcome bonus and while it was sickener collapsing the way we did I'm not going to get too upset at a loss to one of the Old Firm. Will be much more unhappy if we blow the next three at Fir Park mind you!!

Thoughts and votes please....

Yet to be convinced the Hump's anywhere near ready for the Scotland full side now, but B international next month if they get it sorted? That's perhaps a more realistic first step to test the water, if indeed Levein harbours any intentions of ever including him that is!

What is it now, twelve years since we won there? They're clinging to a 100% record too. The law of averages to blow the whole lot of it away and 'Well to get a sneaky away win.....and fuck up the media's opportunity to slevver over the Old Firm both having 100% records going into the 1st Old Firm game of the season.

I think what makes this decision additionally difficult is that there several different strands to the debate. It's not just a case of stay or go. It's a traumatic enough thing to consider leaving the old place behind for many but I think its evident in this thread and in previous ones is that to some Ravenscraig is something completely different to Motherwell and so the club would not only be leaving Fir Park but the town itself. I personally get the feeling that it remains only a matter of time so in that respect I really hope there has been extensive research and planning has been going on in the background so that we are well placed when that time comes - be it through costs of staying at FP becoming too much, the land value at FP at hitting an appropriate level or availability of land at Ravenscraig forces a decision; or indeed a combination of them all. How would it go? I really don't know. I'm not so sure there is a direct comparison that we could make, in Scotland at least. There are loads of new stadia to compare proposed designs against (from McDiarmid Park right up to Greenhill Road) , there are several site moves (McDiarmid and Greenhill Road again to choose but two) and even one or two moves to completely new locations (Clyde and Livingston). There are elements of each of those that could be used in comparison but I don't know if any of that would be on a scale to what's being mooted at Ravenscraig. I can see it being something that will only eventually be viewed as a secure or failure a couple of decades down the line if we did move once all your housing, transport links and whatever have settled down and we see what shape the club is in.

Accounts show, if my memory serves me correctly, a rather substantial outstanding loan to a director and it doesn't take a genius to work out who that is. I'm sure that's being repayed on terms that are favourable to the club - it might even mention something about those terms in the accounts also - but I suppose you could contest that should that loan ever be called in quick smart the level of support would be evident in the accounts pretty quickly.