Andy_P

Strangely philosophical about the recent run. I think it's plainly obvious that if you take away Moult then we immediately lose the edge I believe we have over around half the division. Take away others like Cadden, Hartley and Frear then you become virtually indestiguishable from an Accies, a Thistle or a Dundee where where you are susceptable to exactly the kind of run of form we've been on in the last week or so. But yet consider unnoticed foul(s) in the lead up to Hearts goal, an official disallowing a goal (rightly or wrongly) after seemingly being swayed by an opposition player on Wednesday, a couple of goalkeeping howlers and some poor finishing in front of goal and when you're sitting with the square root of fuck all for your efforts over the last week we could easily be sitting undefeated in our last three, or with even as many as seven points from nine. The margins aren't that great. I guess it all depends upon how you want to look at it. Take the points tally and results from the last week and concern (not panic!!!) is justifiable. Look at it in the context of the season thus far and oh, seventh and a Cup Final after a mammoth overhaul that isn't actually that bad is it? Look at it longer term in that we are only half way through the manager's first full season and that a platform is only just being established and that gives some cause for encouragement. I personally think we're a wee bit ahead of schedule. It may actually prove to be rod for Robinson's back because expectation levels have been raised with the good start and the run to the Final and when you get spells like this people get edgy but I would like to think the pragmatism of a more basic percentage based game that seems to be the starting block of Robinson's set up (and really seems to irk one or two) will gradually evolve into a more attractive style over a longer period. Rome wasn't built in a day and all that. Focusing a little more on today. We were easily good enough for a point but were very weak in front of goal. I'm not convinced as yet that Demi or George Newell as perhaps fully ready for regular game time but the balance and understanding clearly isn't there yet when Bowman and Fisher are paired together so I can understand why they've had a chance. I do however wonder how they might have fared if Frear was there and we were actually getting some crosses in to attack. The least said about Griffiths contribution to their winner the better. The character and the effort remains. They aren't a million miles away. I do worry however that confidence will become fragile if we don't get a result soon. Let's hope we get one or two back for next and see where we go from there.

Your thoughts and votes please...

Yes and no. The fact that we may (stong emphasis on may) be able to afford to pay "a couple of hundred thousand and a decent wage" doesn't necessarily mean we should. Personally I actually think spending a large amount on a transfer fee would be the worst possible thing we could do. There's a balance to be struck. Using some of the proceeds to pay off some of our ongoing financial committments - yes. Building on the infrastructure changes across the club that might help earn us more money down the line (e.g. revamped website, online ticketing service, scoreboard that people can advertise on, a more user friendly Cooper Bar) again yes. Using some of the proceeds to help retain the current squad members Robinson wants to retain, definitely yes. Using some of the proceeds to help expand the market we're operating in a little - in a calculated fashion, once again yes. Spending in the region of a couple of hundred thousand on a transfer fee. Not a chance. When we've spent the last couple of years turning around something of a financial tanker (last set of accounts suggest the tanker still hasn't yet fully turned in the right direction) the worst signal we could send out is that we've money burning a hole in our pockets. For one thing some of those chipping in through the 'Well Society may well consider if it is necessary for them to continue, or continue to donate in the same vein if the club are in a position to chuck around £200k on a transfer fee. And I rather suspect that as soon any club gets wind that we're seemingly willing to splash cash around in a fashion not seen for some time the fees for the players you might be interested in will doubtless rocket. We're in a bit of a sticky spell on the park currently but the strategy has been working well both on and off the park in the main. Why change that when both sides of the club appear to be delivering in a reasonably sound way.

Your thoughts and votes please...

The club's AGM is next week if any shareholders who have any particular views either way on the topic may be able to put them directly to the board, or get any clarification they may be seeking.

Your thoughts and votes please...

ONeils.... nothing to do with the solidarity discussion but was hoping to PM you as I'm after a bit of help and you might be able to assist. Any possibility you could clear down some PM's. No worries if not.

Then fair play to you on that. I'd seen the posts and thread but evidently hadn't paid close enough attention to who the originator was.

See, that's altogether more reasoned If you'd said that in the first place I wouldn't have had too many grounds to contest.

You do know the money comes from UEFA and not as a gift from Peter Lawell don't you? Cover your eyes, stick your fingers in your ears, make lah-de-lah-de-lah noises and pretend it doesn't happen but no matter how unpalatable it might appear it happens and it happens as a direct consequence of whether it's Celtic, Rangers, Aberdeen or whoever progressing in Europe. Consider it a win win if eases your annoyance any. Celtic or any of the others get toed you've any easy opportunity to have a right good chuckle to yourself. They do well and our youth development programme benefits to the tune of a few hundred thousand. Other teams have would have no qualms benefiting it was us by some miracle ploughing through the rounds. I have no qualms benefitting just because it's Celtic. The very fact however that it's Celtic offers an opportunity to annoy them because going by some of the shit I've read in the last 10 days they are a bawhair from playing the "green pound" card the other arse of the cheek used to play. And I'm happy to take that opportunity to wind them up. Ask Burrows or Leitch how they would feel about ramming that money up someone's arse. But don't like it? The chances are it'll be gone in a season or two anyway when the current agreement with the "elite" is up and they all renegotiate with UEFA. I don't disagree with a single word of that. It's got sweet fuck all to do with us getting a solidarity payment mind you but succintly put nonetheless. Want to seriously girn about Celtic directly generating revenue for us? Join the bandwagon to get the fuckers out the Main Stand next time they are due to come to Fir Park. But solidarity payments? This is win win stuff all the way.

I don't quite know the in's and out's of the solidarity payment but I can happily live with them doing whatever in Europe if it puts a couple of hundred thousand quid our way. And knowing that after recent events it will annoy them that they are generating revenue for us, I'll take every possible opportunity to thank them for it.

Is that it? Is that the best he can come up with? Their chief executive was showing people video evidence to prove it wasn't a penalty. Fuck me.

Your thoughts and votes please...

I don't think anything the club have said in the statement is incorrect but what it has done has provided a shed load of new ammunition for the moon howlers. Witness some of the responses to the tweet. It has been touched upon on several occasions since Sunday but the actions and responses of Celtic and their fans give a deep view into the psyche and mindset of them. They are a club and a support that from their very existence have traded upon being downtrodden persecuted victims. They have won European trophies (though they don't like to talk about it...), literally dozens of titles and cups but they can't operate at full pelt without a grievance. Be it the media, Rangers, referees, accusations of sectarianism you choose your topic they have thousands holding a masters degree in whataboutery ready and willing to counter with the most blinkered responses you could dare imagine. They are close to seventy games unbeaten, have won however many trophies in succession with a second successive treble more than a strong possibility. Yet so desperate they are to be outraged or get a whiff of victimisation that they couldn't even take the time to enjoy a League Cup victory before getting themselves into a frenzy because Motherwell fans had the temerity to question blatant cheating. Last night has provided more of the same with the added hook for them now their support has attracted inferred criticism. And we know how they lap up that utterly ridiculous self proclaimed pedestal they put themselves on as being the best fans in the world. This could could not go uncontested by them. I thought our stance as I saw it this morning was restrained and measured. Ask questions, seek clarification but done so in a fairly classy manner. I think we might well have been better served continuing in the same vein, albeit offering an explanation to our support of the whys and why nots. Whilst our statement is far from Traynor penned delusional rant in the knowledge that Celtic are a club and support that thrive on having a cause, a claim or a vendetta to rally behind I fear we've allowed them to turn their focus directly on us and our people inside Fir Park may well have to show the steel and backbone that some posters were accusing them of lacking in posts following last night.

Your thoughts and votes please...

Not as simple as Ross MacLean and David Turnbull out on loan for experience if they've been unable to breakthrough?

I get what Robinson is saying about good cases being thrown out previously and some frankly laughable examples being rescinded but its that incredibly erratic nature of the outcomes that for me would ensure that I would appeal pretty much everything where there is the slightest element of doubt involved. I appreciate the reasoning and understand it fully from the perspective of the club. As a supporter however it only serves to rub my nose in it that little bit further.

I've been contacted by Alison Wallace of MFC Community Trust asking if she could bring a couple of bits of news to the attention of our forum users which of course we're happy to do. First is about the Walking Football initiative which many might have seen at half-time at Hampden yesterday. Details at the link below if you fancy getting involved. https://www.motherwellfcct.co.uk/Event/play-walking-football-for-motherwell Second is news of a recruitment afternoon for volunteer coaches. Not a great of deal of time to act upon this one if you are interested though as Friday is the closing date for applications. https://www.motherwellfcct.co.uk/coach Alison can be contacted directly on 01698 239926 or at Alison.Wallace@motherwellfc.co.uk if you want to discuss further.

I think that's going a wee bit far in all honesty. We had less than 500 at Dundee after beating Rangers in the Semi Final. We had less than 350 at Aberdeen the weekend before the Cup Final. Our support is what it is. I think we may gain some support in the medium to longer term through yesterday from people who enjoyed the atmosphere who don't ordinarily go. It didn't go our way on the park but it was a great feeling to be a part of that crowd off it. I think we may get more regular attendance from occasionals, who see what the team is about and know we're in a good place currently. But for me I genuinely don't think the SFA or Craig Thomson would be the factor that would make someone who was considering it decide not to go on Wednesday or in the future.

It's a difficult one. You always stand accused in situations such as ours as only being bothered because we've been the victims of the injustice. I would bet if they aren't up there already there will be plenty Celtic fans trawling past games looking for evidence of Motherwell players going down under no, or limited contact and gleefully posting them on social media. However whilst you still get mistakes and incorrect decisions through video referees, and things will still be missed, to me the principle of providing as much footage, evidence and information to assist a refereeing team when there is doubt is a sound one in my view. I didn't really pay too much attention to its use in the Confederations Cup, although I remember one high profile farcical example of its use which demonstrates it isn't foolproof, but have seen it used extensively in rugby and it can be a very useful asset. You need only look back on the game changing red card for example in the Scotland v Australia game on Saturday. There will be the argument about not having all angles covered or it won't be in use in lower level games but you use what you have when it's there and take the benefits accordingly. Not all games in rugby have it, such as the Glasgow Warriors game yesterday. It doesn't mean games can't go ahead without it. We still play SPFL games without officials behind the goals they have in European games for example. Some will argue it will add however many extra minutes to a game and can break the flow of a game. That's true but surely you wouldn't be upset kicking about a game for an extra five minutes if it meant they got the decision right and lead to your team getting the points? I have also seen it's use in rugby add another layer of drama to proceedings as the ref makes his decision. So no, I wouldn't be averse to something being introduced that offered an opportunity to review contentious incidents mid-game with the continuation of the policy that things can be retrospectively reviewed as should be the case with Sinclair's simulation.

From what I've read thus far I'm likely to be echoing much of what has already been said. I think much of what we believed beforehand was proved to be correct. We certainly didn't freeze. We had a gameplan that we appeared assured and confident in carrying out. And we knew that Celtic when they pushed forward had the quality to cause us problems. We saw all of that. I thought we were solid and stuffy in the first half. Nothing startling going forward but well in it and had limited Celtic's attacking threat. We did look quite edgy on a couple of occasions but through weight of numbers or desire we managed to clear our lines. Certainly I don't think we were troubled in that first half to the same extent we had been in the Semi Final and you wondered perhaps if we could grow into the game as we did that afternoon we might have a wee chance. As it was though those thoughts didn't last too long when they went ahead. I thought it was a good response on and off the park with Robinson swift to make a positive change and it almost paying immediate dividends with the chance that forced a tremendous save from Gordon and the penalty appeal shortly after. And suddenly it was all but over. It was always going to be a tall order against Celtic with a full compliment so being a man down and two goals behind pretty much made it damage limitation from there on in. It all leaves a frustating feeling of what might have been. We can only speculate how things might have gone if Thomson hadn't made another of those increasingly regular "honest mistakes". We might have got ripped spectacularly on the break as we chased the game. We might just as easily have snatched an equaliser, gained the momentum and turned the game on its head. We'll never know. I found myself feeling really proud towards the end though. The game all but lost but the team still trying to their best to snatch a goal. The vast majority of the support remaining in their seats and singing loudly whilst the the majority of the Celtic support were simply stood clock watching. The team were very much deserving of the rich applause and backing that came their way at the end for their efforts today and throughout the competition as a whole. The Cup is gone but we were far from disgraced and I hope amongst this group of players will be a desire to right the wrong of today. That it's whetted their appetite to go one better either in the Scottish Cup or League Cup next year. More immediately there's a quick-fire opportunity to gain a measure of revenge for today. Perhaps that fixture scheduling may prove to be no bad thing in terms of Wednesday. I just wonder if we get to bring our own ref next time...

Your thoughts and votes please...

For me, the result wasn't ever really that important. It would be potential benefits from the fact they would be chasing their tails for the best part of ninety minutes with the potential for unwanted injuries (which lo and behold...) have their attention diverted from the Final for a days, have additional travelling to do, and an upset to their training regime; all whilst we've been largely able to concentrate on the matter in hand. It remains to be seen if any of that makes any difference but I can't see it doing us any harm.

I had been a bit apprehensive leading up to the weekend there, but am very much sensing a return of the quiet optimism amongst both the club and supporters that was present before the Rangers Semi-Final. For me significance of the Aberdeen result, and the manner in which it was achieved, really can't be underplayed. At a stroke it swept away the concerns about going into the Final on the back of three successive defeats, it demonstrated an ability to not only be comfortable using a different formation but have the ability to actually do it on more than occasion in game, and re-affirmed yet again that Louis Moult is a striker to be feared. There is a belief and an assurance about us that radiates confidence ahead of games such as these. Robinson has made the point before about us knowing what we are about and being comfortable in our skin. We know there is a togetherness about the team and there is a mindset among them that will not be intimidated either before or during a game. We also know from experience that going a goal behind will not phase this team in the slightest. All that combined might not necessarily be enough to bridge the gap in terms of quality but we know that whatever Motherwell side is picked on Sunday they will at least be the equal of Celtic mentally and physically and at the least that gives us a fighting chance.

Airdrie away ....oops....