Andy_P

Al B nods in quiet approval at this news.

I don't know about rebuilding but in terms of readiness we seem significantly ahead of where we were at this stage last season. I think how sluggish we looked even in the last group game against Clyde last season where it took a desperate "get as many forwards on the park as we can" tactic to scrape past them and how we've had teams chasing shadows in the latter parts of games thus far. I don't know if its simply a case of a pacier, more naturally fit group or players or whether something has been learned from last season but it has been pleasing to see the difference.

Dumbarton shipping six to Morton and then four to Queen of the South, sides who we've put 4 and 3 past without reply. Nil-nil written all it over on Tuesday hasn't it?

Your thoughts and votes please...

Clyde illustrated well enough last season that nobody can be taken for granted but I would personally take the view that you play your strongest eleven against Morton in the hope of getting three points. Thereafter you have two games against Second and Third Division opposition that should allow for a rotation whilst still hopefully getting three points from each.

You're right of course. I forgot there were midweek games because this is our "bye-week" in the group. I'll flip it on its head then. They'll hopefully be knackered with two games in four days

I certainly didn't see a 3-0 win coming as the team trudged off after a fairly underwhelming opening forty-five minutes. On paper this looked like being the toughest fixture in the group being away from home, first game back, lots of new signings still integrating etc. and it kind of went along those lines with them having one cleared off the line, Gillespie's save and the volleyed effort that went wide. Unfortunate for Long and perhaps it might have been different if James Scott had netted but the first half for me was as awkward as I had expected. Second half though just wasn't a contest. I don't know if our fitness levels are massively ahead of theirs but they never got a sniff and we whilst it wasn't perhaps pretty in the opening stages of the second half we ground them down, had corner after corner and were beginning to pepper their goal with shots to the point that a goal seemed almost inevitable. I thought the penalty was a little soft but no disputing the quality of the second and third goals. The two second half substitutes certainly made an impact with their trickery and pace allied to Queens looking just absolutely done and it was a thoroughly enjoyable to watch the two of them torture their full-backs. A good start which puts us in a positive position and hopefully we can take advantage of the fact Morton are playing their first competitive game on Friday. The last half an hour or so certainly whets the appetite.

Your thoughts and votes please...

I wouldn't go so far as to say we ripped Steaua apart but there was a spell at 1-0 in Airdrie where we had a sustained spell of pressure where if we had got it to 2-0 it would have got interesting.

Bit of a mixture of both. You perhaps need to go back a few years where things had been cut to the bone so much that we were almost in bother under Malpas. When Boyle brought in McGhee he upped the budget considerably and you had the likes of Porter coming up, Hughes and Malcolm etc. until things kind of flipped again. Gannon benefited from the likes of Quinn and Clarkson going for decent money and a lot of high earners moving on leaving him a lot of holes in the squad, but with decent means to fill them. You also have to say he played the loan market pretty well in terms of Ruddy and Jutkiewicz.

Stop digging Marv! Suck it up and move on.

There's always going to be that question of what if as regards Gannon. For me there is no question his rebuild after McGhee was fantastic recruiting some players that made terrific contributions long after he had moved on and some who are still held in affection to this day (Chris Humphrey a very recent example). He was not at all worried at introducing and playing youngsters in the side. The results were pretty decent up too for the opening few months too. And on the face of it caring not a jot for establishment of Scottish football be that the shape of the Old Firm, the SFA and the media or even taking a fresh look at how things are perceived to be done correctly at our own club all have their attractions. But none of that is done without impact and it seems he very quickly began to grate. McGarry went. Lasley would definetely have gone if Gannon hadn't gone first. Other senior players like Sutton and Craigan were marginalised. There was talk of him working his ticket, applying for other jobs very soon after arriving. Youngsters being picked who clearly weren't ready and seemed to be picked just to point score. Who knows, but it all seemed to fall apart very quickly. Both of the scenarios you refer to star sail actually occurred in the same season he took charge. It was a measure of the squad he built that Craig Brown took it on and secured a European place with all those clean sheets and defensive records. I tend to think that it was a good move to recruit but equally it was the right move to dispense with him when we did. But interesting times? Most certainly.

Little chance is nudging a little more in the right direction from it being inevitable he was going to be a disaster. That was kind of my point with the Reynolds comparison. By comparison to the dead rubber Reynolds debuted in the one senior game Jules had the experience of playing against an English Championship side in the FA Cup. It was live on TV. He had already been capped several times for Scotland U21's. He already had a contract with an English Championship side. It was not as if he had come to Motherwell having never seen a football in his life before. I certainly grant you the seriousness of a scenario faced is obviously going to be much different in February than it is in August but we were so flush of defensive options that Bobby Donnelly had been picked in the preceding games to when Reynolds started against Aberdeen But then in some respects Jules had something of a free hit at Fir Park. He was provided with a platform of experiencing a club fighting a relegation battle - without necessarily the same pressure on him as those already at the club - and if he we had been relegated he could have toddled back south absolving himself from any blame for he was on loan late in the season. If anyone sold Zak Jules down the river at Fir Park it was Zak Jules.

Disastrous perhaps but inevitable I'm not so sure. Bar the fact he had played one league game you've just described Mark Reynolds introduction into senior football.

Stephen Robinson's personal gift to Yodo for all that love and affection shown to him since about February 2017.

Accies new signing - via the BBC All about Motherwell. As it generally always is with them.

I read that Barcelona are waiting until 1st July until Antoine's Griezmann's release clause drops a few hundred million euro. I'm sure it's simply a case of us doing the same....

I think like one or two of McLeish's "failures" the thought process behind the signing wasn't actually that far off. He had done well with Killie, seemed to have proved himself in the top flight and his career seemed to be on an upward trajectory when McLeish signed him. We were weakening a rival whilst strengthening our squad. Or at least that was the idea. But it never quite happened. He had his moments, like the goal at Ibrox, but always seemed like no sooner did he hint at something promising then he'd get injured again.

Midweek is it not? Crusaders before Linfield I thought it was so I'd imagine if they aren't already in NI it won't be long. I'm sure the club will have images of them training for you to spend your evening trying to identify the trialists from a leg here, raised arm there behind 15 other bodies!

It could. Or it could just be there is no subterfuge involved whatsoever and it was an issue with the medical.

Is it not just the case that a piece of equipment used in the medical wasn't operational at the time required? And that's the same reason the announcement of our own latest signing has been delayed?

Absolutely don't think you're a clown Jim and certainly don't want you to stop posting. I quite often disagree with you but your posts do give a different perspective and balance so there's generally always something to be taken from them. But I will confess you hit a raw nerve with the inferred cleek or pack hunting reference. That accusation has come up occasionally and it does my box. I honestly just dont see it. Perhaps like your view on the seriousness of the forums purpose I tend to take the same view that posts on the board are what they are. If people disagree or call others out that's as much as they are doing. If they agree, they agree. I just don't get the idea at all that you peopke need to saying certain things to try to gain some form of acceptance. As regards the forum, we are where we are. There are dozens more places where people can offer a view from when we first started. It's up to everyone how they feel about it but I think we do OK all things considered. Now away and get that season ticket for yourself sorted Sent from my FIG-LX1 using Tapatalk

Would those "personalities" be the ones who make deliberately and sometimes repeated attention seeking posts who get miffed when they get called out for them? Like ones whose 7 year olds that turn into 8 year olds in the space of a couple of posts? Or the ones who tried to get away posting under different names, those kind of "personalities"?

Don't go then! You don't need to tell us you're not going every other post. Running out of hankies.

I could be wrong but I don't ever recollect half-season tickets being available before the season starts. I don't know if the intention is do them again but you might get a 5 game or 10 package available a few months into the season.