Andy_P

In keeping with the hard as nails/James Bond feel... Yassin the assassin?

I think its still very early to be overly gushing in our praise and I've never been quite comfortable with the "In XXXXX we trust line" but by the same token I think he's entitled to a wee bit more credit than you are perhaps affording him above. To me the fact we've come through two very awkward away games undefeated and enjoyed a comfortable win against a team we've had a fair degree of difficulty in overcoming in recent times - at a time when a new team is still bedding in, when the manager is facing these teams for the first time and when there's been an element of tweaking involved is pretty good going. How's he going to get anywhere close to perfection if he doesn't experiment - particularly in these early days. He's not going to know for example if we have it in us to be able to go 4-5-1 to kill a game as against Killie as you've said elsewhere in the thread or whether certain players are able to adapt to different roles. Clearly we won't to progress as much as we can and do as well as can but I think if as he suggests he is looking at medium-long term strategies at the club then there will be games or at least periods of games that in effect might have to be written off for experimentation purposes if we are to be stronger and better placed further down the line.

Accies got bombed out in the last round. Won't be them, that's for sure!

A first 3 points of the season for Craggs, with Coke and O'Brien continuing to pick up points on a regular basis. Cheers again for voting.

Will give it until about half-nine, ten o'clock tonight before closing the voting.

Guys, argue the point as much as you want as to the rights and wrongs of what was chanted and the validity of one and others opinions but gie the personal abuse and name calling of one and other a bye please.

Each to their own I suppose. Personally I'll only vote if I've been to a game - or seen it on the telly or a decent quality stream. But if someone feels they've got enough of a feel for the game by listening to the radio and wants to vote then they're fully entitled to.

Your thoughts folks......

I've seen a few people say they love the style of Gannon's interviews and I do too but I must admit I enjoyed McGhee's interviews also. The big long seven/eight minute interviews you got on the BBC website were always especially good viewing but it wasn't uncommon for him to talk about the opposition in a not dissimilar style to how he's addressed us of late. I loved his apparent confidence and belief in our team but was sometimes a little edgey when it came to talking about the opposition. A couple of his quotes though from one interview in his reign at MFC It illustrates that he's more than conscious of the potential impact of his words be it attempting to inspire his own players or subtly get into the minds of the opposition. Forbes for example reads the "He's done better than I thought" line and thinks right I'll really show him and as easily as he goes out and plays a blinder to show him, gets caught up in trying to prove him how good he is and loses his focus. All things considered McGhee is yesterday's man, his opinions now count for absolutely nothing when it comes to Motherwell and as such thoughts are best ignored.

Assuming he considers himself to be Polish this gives us a great - and rare - opportunity to use a song that somehow I remember Dundee singing in praise of Darius Adamczuk a good few years back. Ladies and gentleman I give you..... The Pole! The Pole! Jutkiewicz the Pole He gets the ball And scores a goal Jutkiewicz the Pole!

Serious question? He was signed in the summer of 1991 and left I think in the summer of 1993. We had a 44 game league season during that time if I remember rightly and the squad was huge. I seem to remember something like 12 players departing with Verheul one of them.

On the face of it, that would make sense to me. There's no reserve team this season so I think bounce games such as this will become fairly commonplace over the course of the season. Using the same general principles that would apply in reserve games in days gone by you would have your substitutes who didn't play the full game involved, the unused subbies, those returning from injury, requiring a top up in match sharpness and those who didn't make the final eighteen from the previous. As if by magic you have Slane, McGarry, Humphrey, Jennings, Lasley and McHugh.

Voting closed. Bit more belatedly than anticipated but well, ehh I forgot! A win for Jim O'Brien, Hutch 2nd and a point for Giles Coke in third. Update of the full standings - pinned at the top of the board - to follow..... Ta.

Despite us having had the Euro games to impress - though I don't know whether that would be included or not - I can actually seeing us winning none of these. Not through any lack of talent or anything like that, quite the opposite in fact as I can see the vote being split. Who do you vote for in what category given their age?!?!?!!? Forbes could easily be good enough to win the standard Player of the Month gig never mind the Young Player but then there's Hutch, Paul Slane, Giles Coke........

First and second look cut and dried so just a case of seeing who gets 3rd place. Voting open until until about half-nine, ten o'clock tonight, if you haven't already voted.

Probably the most I remember Killie bringing for normal league business would have been their first season back under Tommy Burns when they must have had probably something between 2500-3000. But then in those days we also used to take that amount down there. We had crowds of 8500 at Fir Park and over 10,000 for the New Years Day game down there. We used to take similar to Parkhead and Ibrox to name but a couple of examples ourselves. Pricing especially but also the repetitive nature of SPL fixtures and the sheer hassle you get from stewards if you even fart at the wrong moment all takes its toll.

Interesting you mention the throw in Melvin. Commented yesterday how refreshing it was to see some innovation from a throw in, something we've generally been lacking in over a number of managers. Its evident from that - and the free-kicks aimed into Hutch into the box too that there's obviously a fair bit of work going on with regard to dead-ball situations, on the training ground that is being successfully replicated in matches.

There are certainly fewer places now than when I remember my old man first bringing along in the car a good couple of decades back. There are houses now where we used to park. These days my mate Scott, who gives me a lift up by, will head for the MacDonald Street car park near the Civic and for most games you can generally find a spot so long as you don't leave it too late.

Music when we scored? Never heard a thing to be honest.

Your thoughts please folks....

Not sure if I quite agree with that. Firstly I don't recall anybody from MFC asking us anything! But I don't believe there's any "perhaps financially" about it at all. If recent history has taught us anything its that first and foremost you secure the foundations of the club. Then you see what you have to play with for your playing pool. If that means erring on the side of caution then that's the way it is has to be. Better Motherwell in the First Division solvent than bust. Football fans as a rule generally want the board to speculate and get that extra player or two in who could make all the difference. Fuck, some Livi fans after everything they have been through and with just 600 at their first home game after being saved are still saying they should keep their full-timers and gamble on quick returns up the division. I can't believe they haven't learned any lessons and personally I'm thankful that our board seems to have a pretty sound grasp of when its appropriate to push the boat out (Hughes signing on a back of an impressive start under McGhee) and when to be more prudent (Clarkson and Quinn with no TV deal in place, investment in the pitch at a time of recession). That said I haven't seen any evidence that we're scraping around trying to get folk on the cheap. I have seen the manager, perhaps Hateley apart, adopt a deliberate strategy of signing players who have impressed him in the past who have become available, who are of a certain age that their potential can be honed and developed. I haven't heard him say anything about having no finance and put the recent lull in signings, again Hateley apart, more down to the fact he's being more focused on who he wants to get.

In short, aye! The Ticket Office at Fir Park will have details I'm sure and get you to fill out the necessary forms when purchasing.

I'd say 10 goals in 12 SPL games for Kyle and 14 goals in 16 SPL games for Stokes tends to justify the hype in my view.

Dunno if there's anything up on the BBC yet but he was on Radio Scotland there saying exactly that. He won't name his target until the signing is confirmed. Suggested that as well as Motherwell being keen to bring the player to the club, the player is keen to come to the club to develop as a player too.

A few to be getting on with..... Ian Angus at Parkhead after Gary Gillespie's slack passback to give us a, that was a goody. Remember Stuart Elliot too, coming up with a late equaliser in a 2-2 draw with Killie at Fir Park, possibly in the last wee bit of Billy Davies reign. Kaiser's been mentioned already too I'm thinking of a 2-2 with Dunfermline where we came from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 that and it might well have been him to got that late equaliser. Colin O'Neill with a late winner against Morton in the League Cup to secure a 4-3 win when the Ton were harshly denied when their goal in the last minute of normal time was chopped off harshly. Same competition a few years earlier Ray Farningham was it against the Section B at Broomfield. That was a last minute winner too I think - though the fuckers have got their own back several times since. EDIT: Gazzy's beat me too it with the Kaiser one.