StipeIsGod

Indeed. And an odd, outsider thought for us of late, that concept of a solid defence.

Not to say that the man is a footballing god, but are we really at the stage of criticising McFadden!?

Was discussing this earlier today (again). The number of times I've seen Steven Hammell utterly kill a ridiculous pass from a team mate over the years is nigh on uncountable. Seriously, incredible, over the period. The number of times he's had no right to manage to control it, and has done so is bizarre. Such an underrated aspect of his game, in my eyes. As with his leap. For a small fella, he wins a truly phenomenal number of balls in the air.

McManus. Calm and collected, good header in their box, and just looks like the real deal, generally.

Thank fuck for that.

Damn, I'm bored.

Did Steven Craig not do it as well? Something about being delighted because folk would finally recognise him abroad, because of the might of Aberdeen, comes to mind. Also, if that Hateley news is true, I'm thoroughly amused by it. ETA - Sideways step?! That's being a wee tad charitable to Kilmarnock at the moment, I reckon!

Hutch. Made up for the backpass with a number of key interceptions. Also the first man up the pitch on two or three occasions, striding up.

I agree with the majority of your post, but needed to echo this bit. I was fucking furious with his behaviour, and not because it was an effort to wind up Well fans. Sod that, fair enough. But to me it showed a shocking lack of respect toward the fans who made the effort to travel.

Definitely agree.

Hey, I'm about as negative a guy as you could ever meet. But I refuse to look at a game like this as an expected thrashing. So many variables.

Let's suggest that Celtic were playing Kuban, instead of us. Would we, from a (semi-)neutral, point of view, be expecting them to win this game, in Scotland? Or would we be expecting a scraped victory, a scraped draw, or a likely defeat? Most likely, we'd expect a Celtic win. However, are we so far behind Celtic at this point (especially at Fir Park, where, remember, we did beat them twice last year [and I'm well aware of our player turnover]) that the best we can hope for is, essentially, "not to get gubbed", and other such thoughts? I'm not for a minute suggesting that we 'should' beat them, but the attitude that the best we can hope for is not to be crushingly defeated is really grinding my gears. Especially considering that we so often lambast the team for being "beaten before they even go on the park", I think that some people should maybe look at not hauling us down as far as we can go before we even get to the game.

I appreciate that we're going against a better outfit, but holy hell, the way some folk are going on, it's as if we're a no mark team going up against Bayern/Barca, 2 nil Motherwell. Optimistic, aye, but for fecks sake, someone has to be.

We have had a number of trialists, and for whatever reason, he's been the stand out. Can't say we didn't look at a number of options.

Although, a thought just occurred to me which may suggest how the Well Society sits in my mind, on rereading that. I don't consider a Season Ticket as a job for disposable income, so much as necessary and expected expenditure each year, whereas the Well Society clearly, in my head, occupies a far less important place, as I, in my eyes, would be getting no real tangible use from it, whereas with the ST, I'm paying up front for a service, in this case live games. Not to demean the excellent packages offered, but that's how I view it at the moment.

Main Point - Fantastic posts from both Al B and maddog here. Side Point - I don't have the money to invest at the moment, and to be honest, I'd have to have a very decent amount of disposable income to invest in the Well Society, much as I like the idea in both principle and theory.

Mad bastards.

Title challenge!? Some folk are really needing to simmer doon or they're going to crack.

Grinning like a wean at Christmas. I'll be on something a bit stronger than the capri-suns to celebrate this one mind you!

At least you get the feeling that Steelboy is consistent with it, rather than just a loon. This place is mental.

Delighted with the McManus signing. Older head at the back with a wealth of consistent big game experience, which we've lacked recently. Come on now, Faddy...

I'd sign Hutchinson on a longer deal as a priority over signing McManus, delighted as I'd be to have him.

I don't see McDonald coming back, but stranger things have happened at Fir Park. I also don't see Bob McHugh cutting the mustard at Motherwell. Just don't think he's anywhere near the quality of striker we should be looking for in a first team. I know he's young (well, 22 next week), and I've read the statistics chucked on here about his minutes to goals ratio, etc, but for me, he's shown very little to suggest that he's due a run of games, and has avoided even a fraction of the criticism which Daley (deservedly) got, despite not contributing a whole lot more. I definitely feel that the broken (wrist?) which prevented his loan a couple of years ago has stalled his development from great reserve player into a first teamer. I really hope he does it, because I am generally a fan of the small, chunky, striker type, and we're really due a storming product of our own, but I just don't see it happening for him or us just now, and if we bring in another striker, I think it'd be for the best for us to see if we can find a loan for him. Got a funny feeling this won't go down well, due to that cult status...

I agree 100% with this. I really hope he develops into what we need, but for now...no. I also agree with SteveDiggle, as regards John Sutton.

Really not desperate to have the big man back, but it's a reliable body through the door. Well, until he drops us for a move to a struggling Aberdeen side or that. Seriously though, I'd rather see us try something new, than going back to the hard working, if somewhat immobile Sutton. I'd rather have something different than a poor man's Higdon, but I will support Sutton to the hilt, should he actually sign for us again.