LadywellToi

Fair play to the ginger one, he showed up in the Electric last night with a few other club employees for a bit of interaction with the fans. The man will quickly achieve cult status with us if he carries on with this.

He's listed on post #1, and there were links to a magazine article in French around page 120 from memory.

Celtic, we've proved we are good enough, plus I don't want Craigie getting the plaudits of a final under his belt. I think Celtic will also make a more entertaining game. 17-1 in aggregate this season, today is a shoe in for the unwashed.

Maybe not for this particular thread, however I'm all for tradition however the national association renting the ground from a 3rd division outfit and having to pay £300,000 a year to upgrade the pitch as its churned up during our winters by guys just above junior level for historical significance is a nonsense. The £71m used on it would have been better spent elsewhere. FP a few weeks ago in the replay was 10x better for me, it was electric. Full stadiums are what its all about. I take it you weren't at Easter Road for the semi-final against Hearts?

Or count to ten before the red mist descends and you get your keyboard out.

Today ensures our best season in a generation regardless of the result on the 21st of May. The game for me was a mixed bag, while on hand we wrapped it up and put it to bed after 40 minutes, the game itself couldn't ever be described as a classic even if you ignore the 2nd and 3rd goals which showed individual drive for Murphy's and instinct for Sutton's. Can't help feeling once the early goal went in, yellow cards that could potentially rule out a number of our squad from the final came to mind, St. Johnstone seemed to win everything in midfield. Not a criticism, anything but, it showed intelligence on our part. St. Johnstone were rank, from the woeful number of fans they brought with them, to their balloons and ineffectual play. Reality check ..... we weren't much better, however everything we did came off due to a few inspiring performances. We got the job done, I'd say "no frills" however there were a few. It also confirms that Hampden Park is a white elephant in a city with 2 other world class stadiums. It wasn't needed and was refurbished for sentimental reasons opposed to common sense. With a crowd that could have fitted into FP and had seats left over demanded another venue, however the SFA have a mortgage to pay and we have to stump up for it.

Thrilled to be in the final, what a season, top 6, Scottish Cup final, diddy Cup semi final, 3 Europa games. It doesn't get much better. Hutch gets it for me. Says something in a game we won 3-0.

I spoke to Flow about this during the week, the picture in the French magazine/website was taken by Flow on the Algerian's camera phone at his request. Seems a little bit of self promotion, wonder if Hammerfist gave him some pointers. He suggested it would surprise him if he showed up next season.

Twisted loyalties here, a number of players are on the books and have been either loyal servants (Craigan, Hammell, Lasley) or seen as a significant future revenue stream for the club (Hateley, Humphrey, Hutchison, Murphy, Saunders and Randolph). Combine that with a few guys who are on loan who will almost certainly not be at FP next season (Gunning) or on short term deals at present (Jeffers, Jones, Ross) and those who's contracts are up (Sutton, Jennings). Makes life tough for McCall, however that's why he gets bonus' (Craig Brown take note). I see it as: --------------------- Randolph -------------------- Saunders - Hutchison - Ross - Hammell ---------------------- Hateley ---------------------- ---------------- Lasley - Jennings -------------- - Humphrey --------------------------------------- ---------------- Sutton - Murphy ----------------- Unfortunately I can't see Craigan getting a start due to the possibility of extra time and his ageing engine. However lets not ignore that McCall may value his reading of the game and him orchestrating the back line. Most of us are also not privvy to Porteous' notes on the recovery and potential stamina levels of a number of those I've listed who were on his table only a few days ago. Based on that, the most likely option is Hateley dropping to RB as Saunders appeared to have the worst injury, Murphy on the left, Jeffers to complement Sutton. On paper, that is a fearsome attacking line. If we go 2 up then I see Craigan being drafted in as a sweeper, Hateley moving forward to where I have him above as a holding defensive midfielder, Saunders or Gunning coming on to make up the line (Ross to RB if its Gunning).

What does it say to Hateley who had his best game in a Motherwell shirt for a fair while last week, is contracted for another 2 years and has played in most games this season if he's dropped.

I was in yesterday, selling them at the club until Friday at 3:30, then the staff will be manning the portacabins outside Hampden from 9:30 right up until KO. As Chris was informed, St Johnstone had planned to cease sales on Friday afternoon, however the SFA may step in and override that.

Can't help feeling the SPL would have been better switching the Rangers at home and the final game for a few reasons: a) Potentially we play Celtic only 1 week later in the Cup. b) A good number of players may rested if we progress on Saturday. c) A Celtic title may result in us clinching European football, cue Rangers fans/club saying we didn't try, questions over level of effort/integrity. d) Consequently, playing Rangers on the final day means we would have more of a incentive to beat the opposition with an eye on Celtic winning the title (no conflict of interests), therefore removes the accusations that could be levelled from c). e) Motherwell fans can expect a can of worms to be opened in the following months press. Needless to say, a sentence containing "piss up" and "brewery" springs to mind.

Unlike at school when you were the forth person to be passed a ginger bottle, we now actively look for and covet "floaters".

You see a tiny bit of it on the SFA video, not to be a spoiler but he misses it. Facebook SFA Video

The club today requested section C3 and another one in the family section, seems to be going well.

The SRU have used it for the odd Scotland game, I'd guess they use it because of it's central location and the size of the pitch as you need fair bit behind the try line.

We could win the Scottish Cup and it's all irrelevant. I would hope the SPL have taken all these factors into account when they publish the fixtures. I remember when they used to show Italian football on C4, right at the end of the season there was a game between AC Milan and some other team (Brescia I think), both teams needed a point, Milan to win the title and the other to remain in the Serie A. Needless to say it was a complete travesty of a game and utterly corrupt, Peter Brackley was going mental commentating, however out the blue AC Milan scored and the other team look bemused as if to say "hey that's not what was agreed", they duly kicked off, cut through Baresi, Costcurta, etc. like a hot knife through butter and scored 30 seconds later. I've rarely ever seen a host look so embarrassed and apologetic afterwards.

After what happened with Reynolds I think the club now look upon transfers as they'd rather have £1m (bird) in their hand rather than £2m in the future (bush).

Didn't we get Rangers on Boxing day with Sky at 3pm as the acknowledgement of our unfair end to last season? The SPL probably think we're even, only thing that will help us is the hissy fit we had last season and the presumption you shouldn't be penalised 2 years in a row.

If true, more bidders make his stock rise, combine that with the calibre of the Premiership, it can only be good. However, I'd be inclined to suggest we may see more of this sort of news over the summer linking Scottish players to Scottish Premiership managers, I give it a week until Owen Coyle is cited as tipping his hand.

In the words of Michael Winner, "Calm down dear". With respect to Stuwell's comment, I'd keep Jennings if we could get a 3 year deal out of him, otherwise I'd keep the young guys with promise.

Maybe a higher basic, but fewer win bonus'

Does anyone know what Brown was on the day he saw him in a bounce game/trial? Back to the matter at hand, I can only echo the comments on here regarding our top 6 finish again, many felt it was assured in November, some felt we had no chance in January and even a few weeks ago there were still a few doubters. Well done to all the squad, management and all backroom staff at the Ark.

Killie's game in hand is against Celtic at home and Dundee Utd's is against Rangers again at home. A betting man would suggest they both remain 3 and 8 points above us respectively. I couldn't be bothered counting how many home and away games they've had this season. But according to the other thread we're on course to get 3 of our last 5 at home (of course we all can cast our minds back 12 months). You would hope they would both have to go away 3 times. At present I think Dundee Utd are too far ahead with only 15 points available, my head is suggesting we are looking at attaining 10 points at best from our remaining fixtures, maybe less if we have to rest players if we are successful next weekend.

Of course part of this question may become redundant if we beat Hearts or if both games result in a draw. However it may be interesting to know if most fans would go for a guaranteed top 6 status this evening or are thinking it should be already in the bag due to ICT's forthcoming fixtures against some tough opposition. If so they may opt to keep the gap between us and 5th place Killie as close as possible (remember each league place is worth £80k in prize money), so if we can overhaul Killie and Dundee Utd. we are looking at an extra £160k, Granted a big ask considering our squad size, number of competitive games this season and Cup considerations.