Lobey_Dosser

Mortgage on Poznan next week.

In my opinion, had we been playing in Poland tonight, there should still be a game in place for Sunday, primarily for the young ones. A game which would have been arranged some time ago - when do Motherwell take European progression for granted? The commonwealth games has been on the horizon for a long time. As I've said previously, games should have been arranged some time ago for the north of England. I don't buy into the number of closed door games being genuine first team friendlies. Clear difference of opinion with regards preparation. Simon Ramsden has said today that it takes 5/10 games to get into your rhythm. We'll see how sharp we look when we open the season with 3 games in 8 days.

Two days notice of a closed door game, a week before the domestic season commences, doesn't strike me as good organisation. Friendlies are routinely announced early pre-season at the latest. Without looking around, I imagine all competing clubs will have had a schedule in place for some time. We've went two weekends without a first team friendly. Lack of friendlies has arguably cost us our place in Europe.

Poorly managed situation, albeit trickier than normal circumstances. Focus now on getting a right good 90 minutes at a decent tempo.

And also, since friendlies are now deemed worthless and uncompetitive, can we look forward to free entry in the future? We should have had trips to the North of England organised a while back to cover each weekend between Fulham and St Mirren.

Rightly or wrongly, McCall is obviously not keen on McFadden. Pearson, I've always rated but not sure he is the type of player you want when the chips are down. As well as filling in the vacant positions in the squad, our signings should be matching at least 1 of 3 criteria: 1. Sell on potential 2. Dynamic and athletic enough to compliment Vigurs and Ainsworth 3. Experience and leadership to bring on the youngsters. Looks like we are going down the route of loaning a couple of young ones from England. Which is fine but short sighted and hopefully not to the detriment of our own youngsters.

Amateurs.

It sounds like a league sponsor will be announced soon so hopefully that provides a wee financial boost we hadn't accounted for.

If the season ticket increase allows us to maintain last years budget as originally planned, then the aim should be top 4. However, I'd much rather focus on developing Thomas, Erwin, Moore and Leitch and notching a few memorable cup victories along the way. I expect Aberdeen to be much closer to Celtic this season and for Dundee to have a bit of an impact under Hartley.

The silence is a tad sickening. Particularly when the club was on the case daily prior to the 1st leg, pleading fans to shell out for an overpriced ticket and support the team. Two way street regardless of the result.

With the away goals rule, I've always thought that the away team had a significant advantage going into extra time. We should have been planning for all out attack, even at 2-1, knowing that a 3-3 after 120 mins would have taken us through. I don't want McCall to go because he's proven at dealing with adversity and also given our recent cost cutting exercises, we'd probably replace him with Leitch. However, he is an honest guy and should be holding his hands up for some costly errors. For all the poor preperation and fitness, we'd still have had enough to limp through if it wasn't for getting the key decisions wrong.

He looks very rusty. Possible lack of game awareness which comes from lack of games. Based on highlights, Sutton's lack of match sharpness sticks out like a sore thumb too.

Faddy left because we had 5 striking options! Anier left and we had options on the table. Yet Lasley ends up supporting Sutton? Erwin and Thomas must be spewing. Maybe they are getting saved for an Under 20s game tomorrow...

I agree.

Well that's effectively what we were doing under Dempsters tenure.

You are missing the point. Our bullish budgeting in recent years has led us to the verge of shit creek. But all of a sudden a win against a pub team will be treated as a wee bonus?

Biggest issue for me - who the fuck is running the club? As much as I didn't like Dempster for driving us to the financial brink as part of her profile boosting crusade, who now makes the day to day decisions at Fir Park? Who is at fault for failing to organise friendlies? Who is at fault for failing to replace 3 of our highest earners in advance of a lucrative tie against part time opposition? Answer these questions and then you can then turn your attention to the shortcomings of management and players. Not for the first time, McCall has got his preparation and tactics for a cup game horribly wrong but he has been hung out to dry this summer.

A Plan B? i've yet to see Plan A? Regardless of whether or not we were in europe every weekend should have been filled with a friendly.

We've got 38 friendlies to look forward to. Last night renders a league campaign largely pointless.

A lot of constructive comments on here tonight with a common theme underlying a number of posing questions. Tonight is more than a shocker of a one-off result. Given how close the club is to the fans, I hope senior figures take the opportunity to address our concerns. Amidst the relative success and remarkable consistency we have achieved in recent years, all is not well.

What chance have you got when the boy who used to write the programme is elevated to GM but is still asking the same sooky questions from behind the camera?

No need to calm down for rational thoughts. Going into tonight, we knew if we didn't win comfortably questions had to be asked regarding our blindingly obvious incompetent and unprofessional pre-season. McCall, Burrows and Weir - step up to the plate.

Guilt trip over finances rammed down our throats. Jolly to Portugal. Season ticket prices increased to maintain player budget. McFadden, Anier and Hutchinson offski with no replacements. Fleeced for Europa home game. 1 friendly during a month of training. Losing over 210 minutes to amateurs. Another £250k min thrown away with the consequences of Albion Rovers fresh in the mind. Serious questions need to be asked of those responsible for running the club on and off the park.

Ainsworth doesn't do 90 minutes.

Scott Allan, a player that many would liked to have seen here, signs for Hibs.