Ya Bezzer!

Celtic will get a lot more for Arne Engels than we will for Elijah Just. That's just a fact. Same with Raskin and Rangers. But the Miller transfer has set a new bar and I think Just is worth at least £6 million and possibly has high as £8 million. Just has performed at the highest, most elite level of the game, no Motherwell player has ever done that before and I think that should be reflected in the transfer fee. I've said before that the poor standard of Scottish football keeps transfer fees down and that in some cases transfer fees are actually over valued. You don't have to be that good to perform in this league and the step up to higher quality leagues is big. Elijah Just has completely blown that doubt away. His performances at the very top level have shown he can do it on the top tier.

It's just industry standard now. Every team in the Premiership put out three new kits last season except for Livingston. Hibs and Rangers put out 4. And it's been that way for a while. Celtic put out a change kit early last summer as their first released kit then only wore it once in January. In the past they have released 3rd or 4th kits and never actually worn them in a game. Everything in life these days is about extracting as much money from people as possible while wearing a 'we care' mask. It's the culture of the 21st century and goes way beyond football.

I don't think the kids today could cope with Upside Down. 'What's that awful noise?' 'Scruffy hooligans' 'No tune'. etc.

Obviously everyone's list would be different but John Sutton is our top league goal scorer since the 1975 league reconstruction so I think he should be on there somewhere. Was it double figures across 5 seasons? Not many Motherwell players have done that. Also we've won three major honours in post war history and a bunch of guys picked up two of the winners medals and a lot of them had long Motherwell careers so I'd tend to rate them higher than you have (Paton, Redpath, Shaw, Kilmarnock). I never saw them but on achievement they have to be right up there. I mean, you have them high, but I'd have them higher.

My 'Best XI' (since '82 but probably not paying attention till '86) would be Randolph Martin, van der Gaag, Boyd McFadden, Lambert, Turnbull, O'Donnell, Cooper McDonald, Coyne. And because I've gone with the 3-5-2 I've had to leave out one of my all time favourite Motherwell players Rob McKinnon.

I'm in favour of white shorts, they are our traditional short colour. Also the best strip design we've had in my lifetime had white shorts. However the overall design looks way too busy. Sponsors and logos plastered everywhere and just way too much going on. It's kinda like they said 'How can we make a 'tradition Motherwell kit' and give it loads of design features to make it modern and unique and then just kept sticking them on long past the point that it made sense. It's still better than two seasons ago but that's about the most positive thing I can say.

I agree with most of what you say except the valuation. For me Just was the second best player in the league last season after Maeda and more consistent over the whole season. Plus he's just stood out at a World Cup and scored 3 goals. I don't think £6M is unreasonable and I'm more conservative than most people in valuations.

I'm not especially a fan of either Robinson or Goodwin but to be fair one won a major trophy and the other got Top 6 and European football after a promotion. If Johansson achieves a trophy, Top 6 or European football he'll have done a good job. We can all blether about the new appointment but ultimately the proof will be in the pudding.

New manager, Euro draw and league fixtures.....just need the new kits now.

Name one striker that gets double digits coming off the bench for anywhere from 1 to 15 minutes. Like I said the guy literally got 5 starts. The guy was a second choice striker, not a main striker. Let me remind who you should be comparing him to. Robinson, Stuparevic, Vale, Dickson, Plange, Sule, Osongo, Hendry and you can even throw in Bjorgolfsson in there. Add up all their goals and it's probably less than Ebeye scored.

Our manager is 6 weeks older than our captain. 🤣

He scored 7 goals for us from 5 starts. 2023/24 - LG 0+6 (2) 2024/25 - LG 3+24 (3) LC 2+4 (2) SC 0+1 (0) Most of the guys we've ha since are on 1 or 0.

Kinda weird that I'll have seen Havnar Boltfelag more times than plenty of Scottish teams!

He was better than any of the 'second choice' strikers we've had since.

You know who they are. Last season Hearts spent over £4m on transfers. Hibs spent £3.5m on transfers. Aberdeen spent £2m on transfers. So in the transfer market these teams are outspending us massively, somewhere between 8 - 15 times. And that's not including wages and bonuses. Even after one of our best seasons in decades, a very mediocre and moribund Dundee United are still generating about 20% more than we do off gate receipts and season tickets and that's not even including their European attendances and monies.

We've finished Top 6 in 45% of all the seasons played in this format. I think that's pretty good considering there are 6 much bigger teams and maybe another 4-5 similar sized teams.

Especially since they keep playing Dane Murray.

The facts are we simply aren't a big enough club to hold on to talent. I think it will be a very different team next season. Even if we had managed to hold on to this team and coaching staff there is still the possibility we wouldn't have been as good or possibly even struggled. That's why almost all players and staff go, they have to take their chance to move up as there is no guarantee it will come again. You're talking in most cases from going from having a decent living to millionaire status. It's not something you gamble on. I think there is going to be a lot of unrealistic expectation going into next season. Fans need to realise there won't be any like-for-like replacements. Every player and coach is an individual and the team is a combination of individuals. There will not be a seamless continuation. There will be a whole set of new challenges as there always is with every new season. As a support I hope we recognise that.

"In terms of their wage structure, Glimt maintains a wage-to-revenue ratio of approximately 45%, which is significantly below the average in Europe, and this helps the club to remain profitable even in years when they don't qualify for the Champions League group stages. Despite that, Bodo/Glimt have been able to multiply player wages by no less than ten in five years and still manage to maintain a sustainable structure thanks to income from the European club competitions. Salaries have increased in line with their achievements, and Bodo/Glimt clearly top the rankings in the Norwegian Eliteserie in terms of the wage bill. Last year, the club paid out 346 million Norwegian kroner (approx. €31 million) in salaries – an increase of 116 million Norwegian kroner (approx. €11 million) from 2024. In comparison, Brann had its best financial year last year. The Bergen club paid out 142 million Norwegian kroner (approx. €13 million) in wages, over 200 million Norwegian kroner (approx. €17 million) less than Glimt." https://www.flashscore.com/news/soccer-eliteserien-bodo-glimt-s-transformation-from-near-bankruptcy-into-70-million-arctic-powerhouse/xxYV93Jj/

Bodo Glimt have a £31 million wage bill and have spent £38 million on their current team. I'm sure if we can match those figures Jens will be happy to stay!

We pretty much need a new back four. O'Donnell is 33, McGinn is 35 and Welsh won't be here. I think Longelo has to be a guy on other clubs radar as well.

Our record away to Hibs is decent. 7 out the last 10 we've got a draw or a win.

We've competed very well tonight, I won't say anything about the penalty until I see a replay, but 3 wins in 19 against the Top 6 isn't good. Off the top of my head I think we won 7 last season and we didn't even make the Top 6 so that was in less matches. We've been on the end of some very poor refereeing decisions recently but at the end of the day you still have to find a way to win. Also on a 1 win in 9 run right now. Feeling pretty scunnered, this is a season that promised a lot but it's ended poorly. Really need to get the result we need at the weekend.

Thanks for spoiling my (half) week!

I thought the referee got all the big decisions correct so fair play to him. Shankland pushes Welsh for the Hearts goal, Maswanhise stands on Kyziridis foot but football is a physical game, I don't see either as fouls. Teams are appealing for every marginal decision these days hoping to get a soft decision on review. We did it, Hearts did it. It's just another negative aspect of VAR.