Ya Bezzer!

Like I said - a carve up. The fact that the fixtures weren't decided before the draw like just about every other group draw tells you everything. Back to the dark, smokey room with the SPFL, sponsors and TV companies to decide who plays who where. The competition has been taken and used to maximize income for clubs over sporting integrity. Ross County, Kilmarnock, St. Mirren, Aberdeen and Hibs had all won it in the last ten years, there was no reason to change it, it was a good competition and probably provincial clubs best chance of winning a major trophy.

Cos its pretty obvious what's happened. Lower league clubs take a guaranteed pay off in the form of group stages while big clubs more or less guarantee progression. It's a carve up, a sort of dishrag Champions League.

It's new it must be good. No. It's plainly drawn out, expensive and shite. Will also reduce the chance of bigger teams being eliminated in the early stages which is a big part of cup football. Annan beat Hamilton last season, do you think they would do it over 4 matches?

Not a fan. The League Cup struggles to get attendances as it is so their solution is more games with less at stake. Just fucking stupid. Cup football should be knock out football. I also assume that these matches won't be on the season ticket and therefore represent more expense for the fans. Cynical money grab rather than progressive reform?

I was a big fan of Jamie Murphy but I think you'd have to say that David Goodwillie came into the Dundee Utd team as a more fully developed player. He made an impact almost straight away while It took Murphy quite a number of seasons to build up his confidence. He was also physically frailer and there was always a degree of confusion as to what his best position was - was he a forward, a winger, a midfielder? He settled into the wing left position but again it took a while for that to happen, there was no such confusion with David Goodwillie. Two more things, David Goodwillie was a full international as a Dundee Utd player, Murphy still doesn't have a cap and that effects your market value, secondly Dundee Utd got a great price for him because there will multiple big money clubs all interested in him and his signature turned into an auction. Again, that didn't happen with Murphy.

Well strictly speaking his great save in the last minute of extra time from Malpas did win us the cup but anyway....

What did I get wrong? Looks OK as far as I can see. Do you mean they aren't in numerical order? Squad numbers are in numerical order as of the first day of the season after which I need to add other players on at the end due to formula issues. EDIT : Oh, I see on the player directory. Must have missed that column was I was putting them in alphabetical order. Fixed it.

It's that time of year. All the results, attendances, scorers, line ups, booking and red cards, referees, weekly league positions, form, player appearances and goals for Motherwell and all the other Premiership and Championship clubs. Also an A-Z player directory for all Premiership and Championship players with date of birth, position, squad numbers, clubs, transfer and loans, season stats and career stats. I also did SPFL League 1 and League 2 this year, I would imagine there would be less interest in those but if anyone wants that workbook just PM me. It's 99.75% done but I just need to check a few things, mainly players with the same surname, playing for the same team. It would be easier if they used squad numbers in the bottom two leagues but they don't. The spreadsheet was made in Excel 2014 xlsx format, not sure how it will appear in xls format or in any other spreadsheet software but I'll stick a xls format link if anyone needs it. xlsx format (Excel 07 - ) http://www.filedropper.com/spfl20152016premchami_3 xls format (Excel 97 - 03) http://www.filedropper.com/spfl20152016premchamii

He was on the verge of the international team, had had a brilliant season and had just helped us win the cup with serious internal injuries. Probably deserved a pay rise. In the more than 30 years I've been going I'd still put him in my Top 3 goalkeepers.

That one really stuck with people didn't it? Maybe you thought it was more disparaging than it was meant to be. I certainly never slated Lee Erwin, I just felt that we couldn't afford to play a front player that didn't score goals in our then predicament. Josh Magennis got 12 goals this season. If Lee Erwin had got 12 goals that season I would have had less to say about it. So, yeah, I'll take it back, if that's what you want. Josh Magennis has more pace, more strength and is better in the air than Erwin. Scores more goals now too.

I'll probably attract naysayers but I think Josh Magennis is a good player and potentially a really good player. The only thing that has let him down is his finishing but his goal tally has been creeping up the last few seasons and he's now into the double figures. Needs to keep working on that to get better but he's got great pace and is a physical specimen and either one of those are enough to cause defenders problems.

Do I have to remind you we lost to mid table Morton? We took it to extra time but if you remember back Morton should have been about 4-0 up at half time. We got our arses well and truly skelped. In fact the only Premiership club this season that wasn't knocked out a cup competition by a Championship club was Ross County.

For those looking for midfield replacements I noticed today that Andrea Mbuyi-Mutombo is out of contract at Inverness.

Rangers record away from Ibrox was pretty poor in the Championship, even though they won it. Their performance against Celtic was massively over-exaggerated, Celtic were very poor and still should have won fairly comfortably. Current Rangers team just isn't that good. Defensively they are an absolute shambles, look at the amount of games they have conceded two or more this season - especially against the better teams. A 36 year old Kenny Miller is probably their best player - speaks volumes I think. The team they put out today would get roasted ever other week in the Premiership. They will have to strength considerably to even challenge Hearts and Aberdeen.

I know. We played Ayr Utd quite a few times around the same time but not since then. The Alloa Athletic match when we lost on penalties and Brian Martin skyed one - 20 years ago!

I tend to use Transfermarkt for current player details, BBC for match reports and line ups and Soccerbase for past results. I think I have Statto.com bookmarked on my old computer but it's mainly the three mentioned that I use. Anything needs checked or confirmed I go to the club websites.

I have my own records back to 2003 and then there is the internet. Took about 15 minutes max. Wait till you see my Excel sheets for Season 2015/16 though - you can copy and paste your comment with some justification then!

It's the close season and there's not much going on so I'll post this. I was reading the Infowire section over at Pie and Bovril and one of the threads piqued my interest - Longest since last meeting between two Scottish clubs. So I decided to research it. If you exclude the 'new' league entrants it's 44 years since we last played Montrose on the 5th February 1972, anyone remember that one!? If you include the new league entrants it's pretty extraordinary - we played Elgin City in the Scottish Cup in 1909 and we've not met since, a mere 107 years. And we have never played Annan Athletic or Edinburgh City in a competitive match. Maybe next season we'll get a cup draw... The full list is below. 15/05/2016 - Celtic 11/05/2016 - Ross County 07/05/2016 - St. Johnstone 30/04/2016 - Aberdeen 23/04/2016 - Hearts 02/04/2016 - Inverness C. Thistle 11/03/2016 - Dundee United 05/03/2016 - Hamilton Academical 27/02/2016 - Partick Thistle 13/02/2016 - Kilmarnock 30/01/2016 - Dundee 22/09/2015 - Greenock Morton 25/08/2015 - East Fife 31/05/2015 - Rangers 16/05/2015 - St. Mirren 08/03/2014 - Hibernian 30/11/2013 - Albion Rovers 25/09/2013 - Livingston 03/03/2012 - Dunfermline Athletic 07/01/2012 - Queen's Park 24/08/2011 - Clyde 05/02/2011 - Stranraer 21/09/2010 - Brechin City 03/04/2010 - Falkirk 29/08/2007 - Raith Rovers 06/01/2007 - Airdrieonians (as Airdrie United) 07/02/2004 - Queen of the South 23/09/2003 - Forfar Athletic 26/02/2000 - Ayr United 19/02/2000 - Arbroath 13/02/1999 - Stirling Albion 27/01/1998 - Dumbarton 13/08/1996 - Alloa Athletic 27/08/1983 - Berwick Rangers 30/01/1982 - East Stirlingshire 28/01/1981 - Stenhousemuir 14/02/1976 - Cowdenbeath 05/02/1972 - Montrose 27/01/1951 - Peterhead 23/01/1909 - Elgin NEVER PLAYED - Annan Athletic NEVER PLAYED - Edinburgh City

No one thinks Lasley (or Hammell) will play forever or that they won't need to be replaced in the near future. What we are saying is they are still CLEARLY hugely influential and important players for us and we can't afford to just ditch players of their importance. Both these guys are still first choice players because they have seen off a decade of competitors so bringing in players now who are better when there is little money to spend is going to be almost impossible. It's unbelievably simplistic to think that any Motherwell manager of recent times could just go out and get a player of like for like quality to replace either of these two. It's no coincidence both these players came through our youth ranks because it is extremely difficult to find players of that grade on the market. Any sensible person would pick Lasley and Hammell over players of the ability of Gomis, Leitch, Straker or Chalmers because it would be deleterious to the team and its results and at the end of the day that's what football is about, results, and results are a black and white issue, there is no opinion or debate to be had on them. Right now we get better results with Lasley and Hammell than we do without them and therefore their first choice status is irrevocably justified. End of story. Until such times as that is not the case they should be on the team sheet and I couldn't care less what age they are.

Great piece, every 'Well fan should watch it.

Alloa had an absolutely wretched season. They didn't win a home match all season until the 9th of April! I'm saying it's probably hard to judge anyone one individual player in such a situation. He played almost every game so he was obviously viewed as one of the better players in the squad.

Is Chalmers even a defender? If I was being charitable to him I'd say he's looked a lot more comfortable early season when he was playing in a wide midfield role than latterly at left back. Anyway Chalmers took such a hounding at Cappielow it's quite reasonable position to never play him at left back again. Ever.

What was the option? Chalmers? It was an unenviable choice he had to make and if you cast your mind back a week Johnson did better at left back than he did in an attacking role. Hammell apart we are weak in the full back positions. I like Kennedy, a bit raw but I think there is something to work with there, but not at right back.

It's sobering to think that I've been going along to Fir Park for more than 25% of our entire history!

6 players gone that contributed little to our success this season with the exception of Ripley and to be honest I'd be happy enough if Samson came in to replace him. Even with wage cuts that should still be enough to bring in maybe 2 or 3 new players who can perhaps contribute more. Also happy enough with the players offered new contracts with a few reservations. I've made my views known on Craig Moore, one of those situations where I think it is more in the clubs benefit than the players development to sign on for another season. James McFadden, an all time great, but his injuries are a big concern. Unlike Moore, David Ferguson didn't pull up any trees while on loan at Airdrie and hasn't really impressed when given the chance in our team. A young player and difficult to judge but I have a few niggling doubts that he'll make it at this level.