star sail

Very similar pattern to the games against Ross County home, Killie home, ICT home and St Mirren away in the last third of last season. Comfortably ahead by one or two goals having dominated with high tempo, controlled football only to allow the tempo to go out of the play once the lead is established. The opposition come back into the game, Motherwell begin to panic and games are drawn or lost having been in a very comfortable position. This has happened far to often to be coincidence and certainly could not be put down to lack of match fitness at the tail end of last season. For me certain key players (Ainsworth and Vigurs being the main examples) often seem to feel that the job is done after half an hour and allow the intensity to fall out of their play. This has nothing to do with lessons learned in European football as these warning signs should have been picked up and worked upon in the domestic season. The big positive for me was Carswell's performance. Took responsibility when other more experienced players were posted missing. His performance in the last ten minutes was excellent showing that it is possible to be match fit even after an extensive lay off for injury. With the right attitude Motherwell will win next week. They are a better more talented team than the opposition.Sadly I think there are to many question marks over the temperament of the team to be confident that they will win the tie.

So the resources at any one teams disposal is not a factor in deciding manager of the year? Given that this is the single biggest driver in determining a clubs potential success, it seems strange that it should be ignored. I don't have the Manager of the Year rule book in front of me so will have to take your word for it. McCall's success at Motherwell this season and every season he has been at the club has been outstanding. It has been outstanding because of the resources at his disposal. I have not checked this but I would be surprised if any club outwith Celtic has accumulated more SPL points from the date McCall took over at Motherwell. Factor in resources to this and it becomes a quite incredible statistic. I don't really agree with a manager of the Year award because it's like asking How long's a piece of string? but I am surprised at anybody suggesting that McCall's achievements are not impressive. For what it's worth, I think that Derek McInnes has done a great job at Aberdeen as well, if for no other reason than that there have been a good few managers passing through the doors at Pittodrie who have tried and failed to do what he has achieved (two ex well managers amongst them)

I am a big fan of over reacting and do it often. I find it one of the real indulgent pleasures of being a football fan but even for me the suggestion that McCall may now walk is a step to far. We almost came away from aberdeen with 3 Points last wk. If we had we wld still be sitting top of the league this eve. It can be a fine line between a good week and a poor wk. I still think that McCall is doing a good job. I understand the frustration about not replacing Jennings but the money is not available to replace a player of his quality. Mccall's standing amongst the well fans reminds me of strachan and Celtic. No matter what it will never be good enough. I am as gutted about this wk as the next guy but there has to be some perspective.

I have been saying that since the draw was made. Motherwell at Ibrox was the best possible draw Rangers could have had.

Good first post. Agreed. Hateley miles away from cm would be a great start. Bit more radical maybe but I would not be averse to dropping Hammell for a game or two. Has made a few basic errors recently and is not really providing much going forward. Would maybe wake him up a bit and Francis Angol looks like a capable replacement.

What about Pana and Levante? Poor performances because of a lack of belief. It is a managers job to instill confidence, His pre- match chat in these games is utter pish. Building up the opposition is a tactic that has not worked once. He should have sent that Well team out tonight with every player having a Lee McCulloch never say die attitude. NOT ONE of the Well players showed any belief at all. Almost forgivable if it is a one off but it happens every time we play this mob. Did you see some of the young boys (and I mean boys) coming on for Rangers at the end? Total embarrasment very every Well player and the manager.

Like others have said I can't understand why McCall perseveres with this they are stronger than us ' line. It has not worked once. Games against Rangers, Celtic, Pana, Levante are all examples of where there has been a palpable lack of belief amongst the players and every time he has used this approach. To use this approach now when he is playing a 3rd Division team that has been weakened considerably does not inspire confidence. Rangers are still a threat, two comfortable wins over Falkirk show this but it is not for our manager to be emphasising the point.

That's why there is the experts like yourself to enlighten us on the subtltties of the game.I would love to have the knowledge and vision that a guy like yourself has. I will give you a few examples. From where I was sitting, on the ignorant side of the footballing fence, I would have said that Higdon did not win a header all night. I would also say that the service he was supposed to be giving to Ojamaa was non-existent. If a man with your knowledge was sitting beside me you would have been able to tell me how wrong I was and explain to me the in's and out's of the worthwhile contribution that Higdon was making. Also when after 90 mins, as a clueless fucker, I am scratching my head as to why a team of professional players such as Motherwell cannot manage one shot (not one fuck'n shot) on target in 90 mins, as one of the knowledgable Well fans you could calm my soul by patting me on the back and telling me that I just do not understand the complexities of the game of football. Maybe on the other hand however Motherwell fan's in general know more about the game than a man like yourself will ever give them credit for and when they see a pish poor performance from their team they call it like it is rather than trying to make excuses for a squad of players that simply had no belief in their own abilities to win the football match Motherwell lost 2-0 at home to a good to average European side last night. They contributed almost nothing by way of a goal threat making some very basic mistakes along the way. That is not rocket science, it's just the way that it is and it does not need a football matermind to see it as much as you would like to tell us otherwise.

I hope you a right but I worry about the likely attendance this time round. I would suspect that for a few people the novelty value of the Euro experience is wearing off already. Add to that a very tough tie against a relatively unknown Euro side and I think the attendance might be down on the Pano game. The attendances have always disappointed me on the whole. I remember the season in the early 90's when with just a few games to go Motherwell played Dundee Utd at FP in a Wednesday night game. Rangers were playing Hibs at Easter Road. I can't remember the details but I think that a Well win and a Rangers loss would have taken the gap at the top to two points with two games to go (somebody can correct me on the exact facts). It was a genuine title influencing clash. I turned up assuming a packed FP and was amazed to see that we only managed about 7000 for that game. I think it affected the players that night too. Such a big game and such little interest. As it turned out Hibs beat Rangers but Well lost 1-0 to Utd.

Now that Ramsden has signed I am going to have a go at a formation for next Tuesday. I think that McCall will go defensive, even at home and will be thinking in terms of keeping things respectable so i predict he will go with ---------------------- Randolph------------------------ Hateley---Hutchison-------Page-----------Hammell -----------------------Ramsden--------------------------- Humphrey-----Law-------------Lasley-------- Murphy -----------------------Higdon------------------------------- This assumes that the Central defenders are fit.

So when it comes to cause and effect you blame the effect rather than the cause. That is like when David Cameron blamed the police for the London riots, ignoring social inequality, poverty, racial tension, a failing inner city education system and the growing divide between the rich and the poor. You would make a good politician.

this would be my fear. The old boys network. I would like to think though that there is to much at stake for McCall to pander to this.

Like others have said, Hateley in midfield is a concern to me. McCall will see something that we don't but I worry that his decision is driven by his lack of faith in a Hutch/ Saunders (or Hutch/Page) central defensive partnership rather than a belief that Hateley is really the man for the job in midfield. What I don't get if this is the case is why not have faith in two players who have been part of (or on the fringes of) the first team squad for some time, both have played the position well in SPL matches and one of them is a Scotland U21 internationalist? How does Carswell fit into this picture also? It frustrates me that there is an apparant lack of faith in our young Motherwell coached boys. Maybe I am reading it wrong but to play Hateley out of position ahead of Saunders/Page/ Carswell in natural positions does suggest a lack of faith in our home grown boys.

I am surprised about the lack of trust in our own club at this time. I suspect that the picture could be fairly bleak for our club should the vote be no tomorrow. Nobody on the Motherwell Board would want to vote yes because of the love of all things RFC and nobody on the board would want to vote yes because they believe that Rangers deserve to be let of the hook, so the only conclusion I can come to is that effect of a no vote on Motherwell is the equivalent of turkeys voting for christmas. If Motherwell vote no tomorrow and go into Administration the following day/ week/ month how many on here will suddenly begin to question the no vote? I have heard some say that any club that goes into Administration deserves to. MFC have worked tirelessly to run a tight ship since the bad old days of administration and have been making major strides into developing a club to be proud of both on and off the park. Motherwell may have a very health three year outlook but if cashflow is a problem this month and players cannot be paid then it does not matter how positive the long term outlook is, administration becomes a real possibility. Nobody could have predicted the way in which the 2011/12 season was going to turn out so Motherwell cannot possibly be held account by their fan's for a set of circumstances that is quite extraordinary. So let's not talk about petted lips and sinister motives from the board of our club. The motive will be the survival of MFC, of that I have no doubt so let's give them a break as this is a problem not of their doing.

Do not worry people. Rangers will not start in the First Division. It wont happen for legal reasons, it won't happen for integrity reasons, it wont happen because if it does Scottish Football is finished. You cannot have a succesful football league without fans. We have worried for weeks that Rangers would get into the SPL and in the end up that was not even close to happening. This will be the same. The only question in my mind is will Rangers survive long enough to even make it into Division 3?

Because Well fans are h*n's without the bus pass remember. The Celtic fans love to tell us that and their world view is tickety boo on pretty much everything!!

Albion Rovers have not lost their core support either. It's just much, much smaller than it used to be. At least your way, you will know the other 'core supporters' personally. Thankfully it will be such an intimate affair, you will know each other by touch. You wont be hindered by the massive pair of blinkers you are wearing.

Here's the pain the way that I see it. Motherwell finish 3rd in a league that saw them lose on aggregate 8-1 to the team fininishing second (over the 4 SPL games of 2011-2012) and 10-1 to the team that finished first. If we were to take those results over the last two seasons it would look even worse. This is why the SPL has so many lapsed fans.Not the standard of the football, not because Motherwell can't attract Lionel Messi to the club. This is the chance to level the playing field. It is a great opportunity in the history of Scottish Football. I support Motherwell because my Dad supports the team. I have a nostalgia for Fir Park and the history of the club. I don't support Motherwell so that I can watch Lionel Messi every week.I fuck'n hate it when we get pumped by a team of overpaid cheats 4 times a season. I want something that I can buy into and believe in. A newco Rangers or Rangers in any form gives me the pain. It is time to bite the bullet.

Inthebasement can answer for himself but it does not sound like an unreasonable assumption to me. 10% on a gate of 5000 is 500 fans per week. I would think that the chance to finish 2nd in the league, the reduction in secterian bile and a general feel good factor surrounding a revitalised SPL would attract 500 Well fans easily. It would sway me on a new season ticket that is for sure. Let's not forget the 10%+ that could be lost if a newco Rangers are playing in the SPL. A corrupt league is not an attractive prospect in anyone's book. A swing of a 1000 fans seems a reasonable assumption. I am sure that ITB has not done an indepth analysis so the assumption is a valid one.

Just read the post from Well up for It. Why is that that not one (unless I have missed a gem in the shit pile), not one Scottish Sports Journalist can write an article that even hints at some of these points? A great read. This is the truth that the Football writers in Scotland do not want us to read.

McCall is a Rangers man. He is speaking as someone who wants to see Rangers stay in the SPL. I don't think we should assume that this is an MFC viewpoint. I accepted a long time ago that most of the players/managers in Scottish Football have a blue/green bias so his personal views neither surprises or annoys me. What does annoy me isthat as a spokesman for MFC there is a complete lack of objective truth in what he says. There is two major points in what he says: 1) 'The league is more competitive with Rangers in it.' This statement is true if you are an Old Firm fan (as McCall is), it is not true if you support one of the remaining ten SPL teams 2) 'The SPL would cease to exist without Rangers' This statement is true if he means (as he does) that it will not exist as it currently does in terms of a two team title race each season, a financial structure that greatly favours those same two teams, highly inflated wage structures and a complete lack of integrity. This statement is not true if Directors/ Managers/Fans are prepared to accept a league that has integrity but that works on a much smaller financial platform. The Scottish First Division is proof that the top division in Scotland can and will still exist. My point is that what McCall has to say is very subjective and clearly sympathetic to the Rangers cause. As manager of one of the ramaining ten SPL clubs his own personal views have no place in a Scottish newspaper.

The Irish league is not a comparison either. The Scottish first division pulls in bigger crowds than the Irish league. Another example of myths being perpetuated to generate fear by the old firm and their cronies.

Fantastic result. A Utd win tomorrow night would actually put us back in the hunt for second place with Rangers to play on Saturday. Still hoping for a Rangers win to put things beyond doubt but we have put ourselves in a position wherby a Utd victory has it's potential upside. Congratulations to the players and the manager. The record against the non Old Firm teams this season has been outstanding.

So you think that Motherwell are closer in ability to Rangers/ Celtic than they are to Dunfermline? What about Hibs in 11th? McPake, O Conner, Griffiths, Sproule etc. 17-1 is our Cumulative score against Celtic in the last 6 games. Motherwell and Celtic are leagues apart.

Beat St J, Hearts and Utd and the results against the OF won't matter. It has served us well so far this season. We need to see it out now.