Big Trac

I like the last option. Hibs managed to hold out for better offers for their players and got vastly improved offers. But we buckle every time. First offer* from Celtic or Rangers: "Yes sir, thank you sir. Can we do anything else for you sir." *(Obviously I'm indulging in a little hyperbole but you know what I mean.)

I didn't rate him at all. I didn't know anyone did, except maybe the manager.

Eddie May. Though there are many others, I always thought he was rotten. Maybe that is partly because he actually got so many games when he was clearly a completely brutal player, but also largely because McLeish swapped Steve Kirk, Paul McGrillen AND gave them money for him. Possibly the worst transfer deal I have ever seen.

Great! Now they're drunken murderers with a grudge against Motherwell.

I think he'll do fine, in the short term at least. He knows the game and has a good grasp of tactics. He's good enough to keep us up and maybe settle the squad, and hopefully he might get us playing well too. The only thing that worries me is that he'll try to sign old players and then rely on them over any younger talent. (Craig Moore for example... Jesus...) Any decent manager that came in and did a good job would bugger off after a season anyway (or maybe two at most), so I don't really see it as much different if Brown does the job well. It's not as if he's going to be in charge for ten years, but if he does well it's unlikely he's going to be poached from us by a bigger club. (Or Aberdeen!)

God I hope not.

After a good start and having the insight to see some talent in young players who would have been ignored elsewhere, things were starting to go downhill. Whether or not he was good with youth, he was completely inept tactically, and was an arrogant arsehole to boot. I'm disappointed in the way things panned out, but glad he's left quickly.

Probably, aye. Just thought he seemed a bit offhand after making such a fuss about it. Then when he was asked about it after the Celtic game he said he wasn't going to talk about that because it had been a good game. He seemed like he thought that was very clever and was smiling, and I just wondered why he'd bothered in the first place.

I agree. He had some header on him too. According to his wiki page, he developed an excercise induced form of asthma, which has hampered his career.

I'm quite happy that he's trying to develop a passing game. I'm not sure it always works (like against St. Mirren when we attempted to pass it, but played it back and forth along the back 5 THEN humped it) , but it's a good idea and it's giving us something different. (Though again, I'd prefer it if we could press the ball more when not in possession. Even if we're not tackling constantly we can still put pressure on.) But I digress. What worries me is that he suddenly decided to be a one man army versus the referees. He's right to complain about the quiality of refs, and shouldn't be scared to do so, but he has gone on and on about it and then suddenly says he's not interested in talking about it, and that he hasn't bothered opening letters he received. Just seems like he's being an arrogant arse for the sake of it. All teams have the same refs. Make your complaint and have a discussion by all means. But leave it at that and deal with people in the correct manner. I also worry, that he talks a lot about what he's trying to do, and stuff about no favourites, players play on merit, and he wants them to play a passing game. But what he actually does is often different. There're players that complete about 1 in 10 passes, which would instantly make me think they're not right for his team, but he seems to have developed favourites just like McGhee did. (Again, after saying everyone would get a chance) I'll re-iterate, that I like what he's trying to do. I'm just not sure he's doing it well. But I accept it may take youngsters longer to develop and they will be more inconsistent than others.

Ruddy was brilliant. Jennings was excellent, and Murphy played well, especially int he first half. Meechan played ok, but was out of his depth, and Yass was awful except for a couple of spells in the first half. Which makes me wonder what was going through Gannon's mind when he took off Murphy, then Jennings. I found it absolutely unbelievable that he took off the players playing well and left on the ones who were struggling. As I watched Pollock get completely overwhelmed by Celtic's defense, I wondered why he was on instead of Sutton. Gannon's tactic of trying to support Hammell against McGeady with Meechan failed, as McGeady bypassed the pair of them repeatedly, and they were both standing off him, but there was no change made by Gannon on that front. Don't get me wrong, the team Gannon put out did pretty well and fought well at times, but he didn't help them at all, and just managed to weaken the side as the game progressed. Others may disagree....

Yassin ran off away from his man to chase the ball like a kid, leaving Robson in acres of space behind him. Jennings then had to try and get back and cover the huge gap Yass had left (again) but couldn't manage to get back in time. The penalty followed a few seconds later due to this. Absolute brain-dead schoolboy stuff from Yass. He cost us a goal by giving the ball away in the corner for the 2nd goal. Of course, Yass gets left on the park for the full game and Jennings gets taken off for playing well.

The day he left, I was told by someone that they were down at the club and met him. He was saying his goodbyes and was tearful and absolutely gutted to be leaving. He said he didn't want to leave and would have stayed if he could, but the club couldn't afford to knock back offers. I read a few Hull forum posts about him a few years ago and they seemed to like him.

Well if it's just the referees he's worried about, he's not going to go far as a manager if he can't put up with them being shite. I don't think he really needed to start a one man crusade either. If it's more to do with the prospects for the club, it's understandable, but he knew what he was getting into.

If this is true then it's hilarious.

What money? We don't have any money.

+1 I thought he was playing well while in the hole behind the strikers, but once moved up front drifted out of the game. By that point we barely had the ball at all, so he never got a pass just about. But then, he still wasn't great. It was a day of poor to average performances.

I thought it was either a penalty or play on because Bamba got the ball. (Personally I thought it was a penalty, even if he went down easily) Booking him was bullshit.

I actually thought it was one of his better performances. Didn't do too much wrong defensively, and didn't lose the ball. He even got a couple of crosses in. Not great ones, but he beat the first man! But he looked competent and no more. (as opposed to previously looking in-competent)

Aye, it wasn't even a foul. Absolutely ridiculous. The linesman, as usual, wasn't really watching because it wasn't an exciting moment in an old firm game, where he could get on the telly, or be a big important man. Brines was poor as usual. Booking Murphy was a joke as well. I thought it was a penalty, even if Murphy went down easily. But at the end of the day, it wouldn't have mattered who the ref was. We were well beaten.

BBC: Motherwell Bid To Keep Loan Stars "We have got to sit down with Yass and his agent and discuss Yassin's position," said Gannon. It's not what they meant out of context, but I had to laugh. The conversation will go something like this: Gannon: "Yass. You are a riiiiight baaack." Yass: "A what?" Agent: *shrugs*

They're all as shite as each other. Let's just hope he doesn't send any Hibs players off or we'll be in real trouble.

Too right. Or there will never be an end to any thread.

Hehe I've met him. I think my da's an inch or two taller.

True, but I'd rather our players made a lot less mistakes than the other team. (And the point about Stevie Woods is a good one.) When a player is making a few mistakes, but still doing a job, you can forgive them. When a player is making mistakes almost every time he's involved, he's becoming a liability. When it gets to the point that Moutaoukil starts to bring positive play alongside all the negatives, I'll be happier that he's playing. It's not as if I was against him from the start. I was happy we'd signed an ex French U21 captain even on loan. I could forgive several poor performances; he had to find his feet. But eventually you start to think 'Wait a minute here.' And then it dawns on you, 'Nope. He's just pish.' Finally, you're thinking 'Am I the only one watching this eejit?'