joewarkfanclub

I dont necessarily disagree with that. Gordon is probably as big a part of our assuredness at the back this season as the Ox. He, Casey and now Balmer have looked really solid and allowed McGinn to just go and do what McGinn does. However, I would say Ox does seem to bring a calmness to the back line. Theres no more screaming, shouting and hissy fits. His distribution is demonstrably better (Ive yet to see him kick it straight out the park for a throw) and just coming to catch easy cross balls takes so much pressure off the defence. I think we just held onto Kelly a season too long. I think if a club had come in for him last close season and he had moved on with our good wishes, the view of his tenure would have been a lot different.

No contest today. The Ox. Commanded his area, made skme great saves and came for cross balls the likes I havent seen since the big dutch pornstar strutted his stuff down Fir Park Way!

Thought we were poor in possession first half. Robinson was totally anonymous. I get that he and Stama were isolated but at least Stama was holding the ball up and trying to bring others into play. Robinson seems to take so long to get the ball under control and out of his feet that any chance that comes his way is gone. Id like to have some patience with him, but its difficult when other players come on and instantly offer more. Out of possession I thought we looked pretty solid. On the few occasikns Hibs did open is up Big Ox was immense. He seems to be growing in confidence and totally bossed his area. Quite refreshing! Second half was much better. I really like Sparrow. He gives us much more drive and athleticism in midfield. I feel like he has earned his chance to start as he offers something differen to Halliday and Davor. One of them has to go. The biggest difference though was when Watt and Ebiye came on. They offered more in their first 5 mins than Robinson did all game and for me both of them and Stama have to now be ahead of Robinson. Watt in particular is starting to look a lot fitter. Hopefully the staff will work him hard during the break and get him ready to start. Pleased for Stama to get his goal. He played well and deserved it. Wise of SK to take him off though and protect him when he is just back from injury. We dont want to risk him breaking down again. Overall, a great 3 points. Not sure we totally deserved it, but we took our chances and our keeper and defence did the rest. As always, there was plenty to pick holes in if you choose. McGinn and SODs both gave the ball away needlessly at times. SOD paid the penalty for his mistake. But they both otherwise had decent games. Particularly McGinn whose passing was incisive in the second half at least. Much for SK to mull over during the break. Not too many opportunities to tweak things prior to the semi final. He needs to get team selection right for that as its now looking like an eminently winnable game.

Until we change what we do in midfield our performances will continue to look like this. Solid at the back, stuffy, but not enough composure or control of the ball to get a grip of the midfield and create chances. Thankfully we havent conceded yet and have options off the bench. We will need to use them if we want to score a goal.

Good to see Balmer and Stama both start. Strong looking bench. Hopefully we can stay solid and stay in the game long enough to use it!

Brian Caldwell certainly indicated that there are no plans in the pipeline at present. But we cant ignore the situation in the POD forever......

I certainly wouldnt be in favour of that. I think the fact that the WS are going to have much more input in the decision making of club going forward, should mean we will be thinking outside the box a lot more. The younger generation have a much different outlook on what is possible and higher expectations. Of course if the finances just dont stack up then Im more than happy to remain at a redeveloped Fir Park.

And you are perfectly entitled to that opinion. Others may look at the information available and disagree.

I didnt say I was for or against. I just pointed out that there was a decent document showing the pros and cons of both sides. I found it quite interesting.

Vietnam 91's post on P&B provides a very informative document on the pro's and cons of both scenarios. Remaining at Fir Park and redeveloping the POD is the lowest cost/risk scenario. But if we are serious about building a club for the future then we need to move. The problem with that scenario is that it is expensive and needs so much good will to make it happen. However, if done properly and it includes retail, conferencing, hotel and other revenue generating avenues, it could actually move us substantially as a club. However, it would need done correctly and there would be a lot of ducks to line up as Dundee have found.

I had hoped the club would run free buses, or at least subsidise them a little given the cost of the ticket prices and their share of the gate. Would make sense to do so and try and encourage as many of our fans as possible to make the trip. £20 seems a little on the steep side and makes this look like a missed opportunity to keep the feelgood community club thing going.

Aye, thats always gonna be a problem. However, with advances in engineering, surely we can build something along the lines of what Hibs have done at Easter Road with their stands behind the goals. It would look better aesthetically and remove some of the issues with "sightlines" that currently exist?

Not sure, but I think at the point of McMahons statement he and was still in control of the club so in a position to instruct others as to what was put out and what wasnt. On this occasion, I think Dickie has wanted to have his say and folks have let him fill his boots knowing how it looked and what the fallout would be.

Cheers mate. Apologies to everyone for the font if it made the post difficult to read. I tried to be smart and include "quotes" but it seems to have thrown everything out of sync! They will be taking the controls for the telly off me soon! 😆

Firstly, apologies for the lengthy post. Ive had to read the clubs statement again a few times to make sure Im understanding it correctly. Dickie has clearly wanted this to be published "I feel I need to outline the circumstances of my departure." So neither the club nor the WS have done his legs here, albeit they could have refused to publish it. I was previously of a mind to thank the guy for his service and move on. But there are a number of things about the whole thing that bother me. Firstly, being born into a family that had enough money to buy a position on the club board does not in itself make you a suitable person to hold that position, regardless of how much experience you subsequently gained in the role. Dickie by his own admission (and McMahon) were the architects of the WS previous incarnation post Les Hutchison. An incarnation that was set up to be kept at arms length and have little influence over the day to day running of the club and used as a cash cow to support the club when required. Most fans have been rightly critical of this incarnation of the Society as it appeared very poorly run and had no apparent direction. Douglas Dickie was Vice Chair of the Society and Club Boards at that time. He had the power and influence to do things differently. He chose not to. As an outsider looking in with no connection to any individual on either side, this whole thing appears to have kicked off last October when Society members had the audacity to vote in some younger board members with energy, enthisiasm and a vision for what fan ownership should and could be. These individuals appear to have rocked the boat and the "old guard" could no longer keep the Society at arms length and control it as they had in the past. Now, this could merely be coincidence, but it appears to me that it was about this time that the mantra of the club not being financially sustainable going forward without outside investment first appeared and the now infamous "video" was hastily produced We all know what happened over the summer so no need to re-hash that. But as Mr Dickie claims in his statement "the Club is on a sound financial footing, the best for around 25years" Both positions cannot be true. I do also wonder about the departure of Allan Burrows and how all that came about? Did he want more for the fan ownership model? Was he being thwarted? Did he become frustrated? Were there already murmurings about changing the model and selling the club? Hard to believe that someone so devoted to the club would suddenly resign for no reason. The facts as I see them are..... Motherwell are a fan owned club. Fan ownership has been paid lip service by the old board for way to long. The majority shareholder has now realised it can actually exert some power within the club and has chosen to do so for the benefit of the club and the fan ownership model. A club director has chosen to support a path to effectively end fan ownership, despite his position on the Executive Board being inextricably linked to his position on the WS Board. Said directors position is at that point untenable. He resigns from the WS Board but he refuses to resign from the club board. The WS win the power struggle and invite applications for a new executive board. Said director reads the writing on the wall and decides in a fit of rage to go out punching and try to stir up some ill feeling towards the WS. So in summary, I no longer feel I can thank Mr Dickie for his service. It could have been so different. But ultimately he has chosen the nature of his departure and I do not think it reflects well on him.

Made the mistake of going onto FB to discuss this. Mr Dickies supporters are on full attack mode. Is it an age thing? Im 55, but even I have a greater grasp of the internal workings of our club than some of these muppets!

You would then immediately get into the subjective opinion of the officials on whether they thought the ball would have crossed the line without the intervention of the handball. In Caseys incident, Im not sure it would. It would probably have hit him in the chest and come back out.

Well, I accept I am totally biased. But for me he looks like he tries to keep his arms close into his chest to avoid making himself bigger. Its not a natural position, but he certainly doesnt spread himself or appear to deliberately handle the ball. I think thats why its important to know the reason given for the red card and the wording of the current IFAB guidance. Context is everything in these decisions.

I dont think both incidents are the same as Souttar is further from goal and Butland is behind him, but I do think you need to go back and watch Caseys again if you think that was a save. Its a very similar motion to Souttar in that he throws himself in front of the ball to block it and his arms come up across his chest as a result. No question it hits his hand(s) but he hasnt exactly dived full length and tipped it round the post!

Why was he sent off then? It was the reason given on Sportsound after the game.....

Hard to say how really bad Danzaki was or wasnt. He came in when the club was an absolute carcrash and the manager who signed him got emptied within weeks if not days. Clearly SK didnt fit into SKs style of football. The good thing was that we managed to move him on quickly so he didnt end up stinking up the dressing room. Its something Kettlewell has been pretty good at.

Mich'l Parker! 😉

Havent seen it in real time obviously, but Souttar isnt right on the line and the goalkeeper is behind him. Is that a certain goalscoring opportunity? FWIW, I dont think Caseys is that clear cut. It hits his hand on the line no doubt, but I think there is an argument to be had over whether it was deliberate or whether he made his body bigger. Personally, I think the answer to both is no, but it may not matter depending on the current wording of the laws surrounding such incidents

Thats why I cant find it! 😆😆😆

Thats why I think tweaks to the current set up are the way to go. I think Davor or Halliday are probably fine by themselves just now, at least until Paton and/or Slattery are back. Its both of them together I have an issue with rught now. For me, dropping Miller into his natural position and putting Sparrow into the midfield further forward would allow us to press further up, support the front players and retin the ball more. Unfortunately SK seems to want to use a pecking order in team selection and Sparrow is behind Halliday and Davor in that order.