Ya Bezzer!

This is the lazy, obvious and wrong argument as to why so many strikers got in or close to 20 goals a season. There has been a decline in defending but that decline is across the board internationally in football, not just in the SPL and is down to the fact that defenders really don't get away with half of what they used to do to stop strikers scoring. The main reason is tactical. Many teams play with one striker with someone else playing off the main striker, whereas in the past most teams played with two dedicated strikers. In the those days the pair of strikers shared the chances and goals, now most of the chances fall to one striker. The number of goals overall hasn't increased but they are more concentrated around a single focal point of the team.

Motherwell aren't just a selling club anymore, we are 'Any money we can possibly raise just to survive club'. Anyone that thinks we can afford to turn down £200,000, £300,000 or £400,000 bids is off their rocker. Ojamaa is a good player but we've lost better players already this close season for nothing.

Some people can't get over their own dislike of Rangers. I don't especially like them myself but if you can't see a move to Rangers is a great move for Nicky Law from a professional point of view, not just the money but a rounded package, then you are letting our own bias bend reality. I gave a whole list of reasons why Nicky Law would sign for Rangers in a flash but I'll repeat one of them because it's a harsh reality that Motherwell supporters need to take in. If Nicky Law wants to play in the Championship, he will attract more interest and get better offers playing with Rangers in whatever division than he will playing for Motherwell in the SPL. You might not like it, I might not like it but it's a fact. Let's show a bit of class instead of attacking the guy on Twitter, coming away with guff like "he'll regret this move" when he's just won a watch and all the general animosities and grumbling. The sooner people show cool indifference to the OF the better. He did a great job for us, I thank him for the memories, wish him luck in his career away from Fir Park where ever it takes him and give him a friendly wave.

The thing with being an out of work manager is you go out of vogue pretty quickly. I think you have a decent chance of getting a manager normally out of your bracket if they have been out of work for a wee while. The question is, do you want to make what is probably going to be a short term appointment or do you think longer term? Think about Mark McGhee, he had one eye out the door after one good season and I think Coyle, or anyone else of that ilk would be the same.

Let's face it the amount of money being bandied about down there pretty much means if you get an offer you will go. Even if he fails down there, he'll come back up the road with a wallet a foot thick with notes and get a job at a Scottish club no problem. I'm quiting a full time job to take a three month summer job because I'm doubling my money. Even if I don't work again until 2014 I won't lose any money in the long run. It's a no brainer for me, and a no brainer for Stuart McCall if he gets a similar offer, even if he's only there for a short period. That's what it comes down to, footballers, managers, they are just regular guys like you and me and they make their career decisions on the same rationale.

Realistically next season was always going to be a new start anyway, regardless of whether McCall stayed or went.

Hopefully this gets concluded one way or the other as soon as possible, this is not a good time of year to have managerial uncertainty with players mulling over contract extensions, a diminished squad and a probable early start to next season. I wonder if McCall did leave, would Paul Hartley be a contender?

I don't have a problem with that either. I think contracts should be on the table for a month maximum and if you don't sign by then cheerio and the best of luck. We can't afford to hang around waiting on players to make their mind up, especially this season where we need to bring a fair few players and we could also be in the Europa League at an early stage.

Surely Carswell is more in the Jennings mold? Jennings, who I don't think we missed very much, was pretty much a tackler and harrier and there wasn't much more to his game. That's the way I see Carswell. I don't think he's every going to be a threat getting forward or display silky skills in the middle of the park. His game is closing people down and making a nuisance of himself. The player he most reminds me off is Marc Fitzpatrick when he played that nuisance role in midfield. Lasley is a much more adaptable player than people give him credit for. Last season he played the attacking central midfielder role with Jennings sitting and got a decent number of goals. This season he played the more defensively minded central midfield when Law moved into the centre this season. The way I see it with Lasley, Lawson and Carswell we have 3 defensive midfield options and only 1 attacking midfield option from the middle of the pitch. Personally I would like another option in there that can get forward but whether our budget extends that far I don't know.

I like Dayton a lot. Good feet, very pacey, an attacking mentality and the potential to improve and move up a level. I would be pleased if we managed to bring him in.

Out of a possible 152 leagues appearances since he joined the club he's played in 148! As you say impressive, in itself.

We've got a youthful team because the budget was slashed, not because McCall is a youth orientated coach. You don't have to drop first team players to give young players a chance. Daley had 16 outings this season, 16 outings that could have been given to a young player(s) who will still be here next season and might actually go on to be a cash asset for us at some point in the future. Steven Lawless scored 13 goals for a First division Championship winning team, does that count as proving McCall wrong? Also the whole 'If they didn't do anything else where, they wouldn't have done it for us' argument is fallacious. If that was the case some of our best ever players, who didn't do anything at other clubs or came with not very impressive records, wouldn't have been the great players they were for us.

McCall takes after his old gaffer Walter Smith. Youth will only get a chance if there is no other option. Don't want to harp on about year old news but surely Lawless would have been a better member of our squad than Omar Daley this season?

Stories are often that, stories. Think of all the stories you used to hear about Ritchie Foran and yet he was and still is an excellent professional. People in the game will know more about the truth concerning Paddy McCourt than internet message boards.

McCourt has got tremendous ability, it's his fitness that is in question. If he was playing regular matches, which he's never had at Celtic, it might make the world of different for him. I think he'd be worth looking at but only with some careful consideration.

By all accounts Samson is a Killie fan. Fair play to him, we'd all do the same in his position. With Samson we knew what we were getting, a decent to good, solid SPL level keeper with experience, I'm sure we'll bring someone else but it might be more of a risky signing.

Randolph is the best I've seen in a Motherwell shirt. The only thing I don't understand is how we didn't get a million pounds for him!

Higginbotham deserves it for the goal alone but you don't really see from the clip there how good the build up play to the goal was.

I'm with you, I want to play as many European games as possible and the earlier we go in the more chance we have of progressing through some rounds against realistically beatable teams. The only concern is if a lot of the out of contract players do leave we could be quite short going into the early matches in much the same way we were against Llanelli.

I mentioned this on Pie and Bovril but if Stevie Hammell is selected for the match it will be his 399th league appearance for the club.

It never fails to amaze me that fans are surprised when this sort of thing happens. Whether you like it or not going to Rangers will be a good move for Nicky Law. First of all he's getting paid a lot more, training at better facilities and playing in front of 10 times as many fans in a world class stadium, for an internationally renown club. Even if he decides to move on from Rangers I absolutely guarantee you that he will get a better deal moving from Rangers to a Championship club than he would moving from Motherwell to a Championship club regardless of what division the two clubs are playing in. If he doesn't move on, he'll sign a better contract than the one he's already going to be much wealthier with in the present. Do you honestly think playing at St. Johnstone or Inverness in front of 3,000 people or playing in front of similar numbers at Alloa is off much consideration to Nicky Law? Any move is risky for a player, this move is as cushy a move as anyone will ever get. Tons of cash, great facilities, big club, almost guaranteed first team football and a great springboard to either move up the levels or move on a club in England. Anyone giving impartial advice to Nicky Law will be saying "sign as soon as you possible can".

I've had my reservations about McCall in the past but I highlighted various aspects of his managerial reign that I felt had to be improved upon (either last season or at the beginning of this season I can't remember) and most of them have been addressed since then. Old Firm Record - won the last two so that's been sorted out Home record - gone from having a poor home record to an excellent home record, only Dundee Utd have beaten us at Fir Park stretching back to October. More entertaining football - despite the high league finish last season I felt we were often a bit stodgy to watch, this season we have played a much better style of football. His cup record isn't so good and was the major black spot of the season, especially the Rangers match, we need to see some improvement there especially since it's unlikely (but not impossible) we'll finish in the top two or three next season. The other thing I've mentioned in the past was that I felt that McCall was fortunate to inherit a good team that was already established as one of the better teams in the league and his managerial abilities would be really tested with a major squad rebuild. That will happen next season, we'll see how he does with that. Hopefully well.

Tade is a physical specimen. Big, very strong with decent pace. More a target man than a finisher although I remember him scoring a cracker against us at Fir Park for Inverness. He's an established first team player at St. Johnstone so even if he hasn't scored as many goals this season as he did for Inverness he obviously offers something to the team. He might be a candidate if Higdon moves on but I can't see us being interested in him if the Player of the Year stays.

My mistake. Bamboozled by a two and a half year contract. Sorry NottsMFC!

A wee surmise of the 2012 - 2013 squad G O A L K E E P E R S 12. Lee HOLLIS - Contracted to 2014 43. Ross STEWART - Contract details not known D E F E N D E R S 3. Stevie HAMMELL - Contracted to 2014 5. Shaun HUTCHINSON - Contracted to 2014 6. Tom HATELEY - Offered new contract 15. Simon RAMSDEN - Contracted to 2015 19. Fraser KERR - Offered new contract 26. Zane FRANCIS-ANGOL - Contracted to 2015 30. Adam CUMMINS - Contracted to 2015 M I D F I E L D E R S 7. Chris HUMPHREY - Offered new contract 14. Keith LASLEY - Contracted to 2014 18. Stuart CARSWELL - Contracted to 2015 20. James McFADDEN - Offered new contract -. Paul LAWSON - Contracted to 2015 F O R W A R D S 8. Henrik OJAMAA - Contracted to 2014 9. Michael HIGDON - Offered new contract 16. Bob McHUGH - Contracted to 2015 T R A N S F E R R E D / R E L E A S E D -. Darren RANDOLPH - To Birmingham City 01/07/2013 -. Jamie MURPHY - To Sheffield United 03/01/2013 -. Johnny PAGE - To Hamilton Academicals 02/01/2013 -. Steven SAUNDERS - Free agent -. Nicky LAW - Free agent -. Omar DALEY - Free agent -. Steve HETHERINGTON - Free agent