star sail

On the first point, Craigan, Lasley, Hammell, Jennings, Jeffers, Sutton are all players with years of experience between them and that is more than half the team. On the second, It is the managers job to motivate the team. It is probably the managers main, most important job. If the manager does not have responsibility for motivating the team what does he do? Craig Brown had a successful first half to the season with the same bunch of players minus Gow, who most thought was rubbish, Reynolds and Blackman.

The fact is that they did beat Hamilton but that does not tell the full story. Yes Well won but with a penalty against the poorest side the SPL has seen for a few years. I made this point about motivation after the Celtic game and was accused of being a negative vibe merchant after such a historic win but the fact is that if you can play really well against Aberdeen, Rangers (CIS Cup) and Celtic and not really show up in other games it would be niave not to spot the patterns. I don't buy this argument that the current squad of players are not good enough. You don't beat Aberdeen at Pittodrie and Celtic at home with a bunch of diddys. Sacking McCall would be a disgrace as our board appointed him only two months ago but I am no more confident that McCall is the man for the job now than I was on the day he was appointed. This season will fade away probably with a bottom six finish. Next season is the real test.

Interested to see if Craigan will play. I think it will take a bit of balls from McCall to keep him out but for me it would be the right thing to do. Three points would be massive today. The teams below us are going to be tripping over each other from now untill the split so I think that anything above 40 points could just be enough. Aberdeen and Hibs are still the teams I think we have to be wary of so if we could stretch the gap between ourselves and them to 8-9 pts this weekend it would be massive. Hibs- St Johnstone to draw and Aberdeen to draw and a tight 1-0 victory for the Well would do nicely.

One of the top referee's from the 80's and early 90's was a family friend of ours. He was a Well fan and admitted that when he refereed Well games he tended to be harder on Motherwell that the opposition. Was not a conscious thing on his part, just something that he used to reflect upon after the games. He reckoned that it was a subconscious fear of given Well something soft and the finger being pointed. Maybe an argument for not refereeing the team you support. Only problem then would be that Euan Norris would be the only ref available for OF games.

Thanks. I'm not being negative about today, all I am saying is that we want to see a few good performances against the teams round about us before the McCall fans start the told you so routine. While I am being so negative I may as well continue. Keep Craigan out the team and give the young lads at the back a chance now. They deserve it. Gave Celtic nothing today.

I know the point you are trying to make but to be honest I think this makes things look worse for McCall. The three games that we have shown some fight and spirit ie today, CIS Semi and Aberdeen are games where he does not have to motivate the players. St Mirren, Accies x 2, Utd etc are the games a manager makes the difference. If we win today then go on a run beating the teams round about us then come back and post this. Win lose or draw today it's not really a sign of McCalls strength or lack of.

I don't know you from Adam Milo but from what I have gathered from your posts on here you are someone who has invested time, emotion and money into supporting the well over the years. You seem to be representitive of a whole group of people I know who after years of putting their money where their mouth is, have reached the end of their rope. The 'real fans' (copyright) can be as positive as they like but when attendances are falling and their is a raft of currently attending fans who are on the verge of jacking it in , it is a concerning time. That's a fact, not a subjective opinion. On current form Motherwell are a bottom 6 SPL club. This time next year, unless something changes dramatically we could well find ourselves in the same position as our Lanarkshire rivals. As far as the game this weekend goes, don't know how many Celtic will score but I am fairly confident that Motherwell will not score.

Aye because that's why we are fans, so that we can see our team getting horsed and go out celebrating the bad times. These winning ways are not for me. What a load of pish!!

Thanks. Gave me a chance to practice.

So it was. Tried to quote Rickoza there too. How do you double quote?

Delighted for Franny but did Casagolda not score in his debut against Killie?

Me too. It feels great!!

Did someone say it would be a ghost town on here today because there would be nothing to moan about. 21 pages is not a ghost town Give the fans something to be positive about and the will be positive!!

Brown sounding like Mark McGhee. Wonder if he will lament the loss of Lee Miller. McGhee loved that old chestnut!!

Have not felt so good about a result in a long time!!! My love affair with the Well is re-ignited!!!!

YYYYYYeeeeeeeessssssssssss!!! Superb!!!!!!!

Sounds like we are going to have to play it cool. Aberdeen players obviously trying to draw us into another couple of bookings. C'mon Motherwell!!!

This might be a subtle difference but the misunderstanding seems to be that people think this is an overreaction to a heavy defeat against Rangers, it's not. It's a reaction to a mediocre (at best) management appointment, a lack of investment in the team, a stadium that is falling to bits, a mediocre Assistant Manager appointment etc culminating in a heavy defeat against Rangers. I think that 1 out of 6 points in the next two games is the form horse. I am very confident of an Aberdeen win tonight and think that St Mirren are a bit more up for the fight than our squad of players at this point in time. My view is the same now as it will be after the weekend, 0 pts or all 6. The mistake was made in late December with the managers appointment but it has been made and the Directors need to back the man. If they don't it would quite frankly be a disgrace. On this occasion I don't think the fans would be jumping on a band wagon with the benifit of hindsight. The warning sign were there from the very beginning. Hopefully somebody will be shoving this back in my face on Saturday night when we are six points better off but I just can't see it

I think it is a cultural thing. Unfortunately we are a nation of drinkers and pie eaters. Can't see it ever changing unfortunately.

Don't know about the current routines regarding training etc but I remember some years back when Billy Davies was the boss watching the team train at Dalziel Park. Mio was assistant at the time and he was taking the warm up. He was getting the team to do press ups and it was like something out of Police Academy. Some had their arses up in the air, others were just bending their arms and no more, some collapsed in a heap after about 10. The only one that could do them right was Mio himself and he was older than the lot of them. Nearly pissed myself laughing it was so funny. The picture would have been complete had John Collins been there showing off his six pack.

I think you have hit the nail on the head. Nobody was really that surprised by the result on Saturday and infact I think some were expecting a similar scoreline in the Semi Final. The surprise that day was that Motherwell played well. I commend the fans who stay positive, 'enjoy the rollercoaster', support the team not matter what but I think they are burying their head in the sand a bit at the moment because that 6-0 result on Saturday is reflective of our current form, in fact if anything we are lucky it was not worse. Ironically we have swapped positions with Aberdeen. They were in freefall in November as we seem to be now. The difference is that then they had a manager coming to the end of his time, we have a manager who is just at the start of his. To make matters worse we are hitting the Aberdeen game at the worst possible time. I have been concerned for a while now that they could leap frog us in this game. Thankfully that cannot happen thanks to the postponement of their game at the weekend. A win tomorrow night would provide a huge mental boost but I just can't see it happening.

Aye right then Hugh Keevins. The vast majority of negative comments I read when McCall was appointed was about his piss poor management record, but don't let that stand in the way of a good story. If there is negativity towards ex OF managers is because it is yet another chance for the Scottish Press to have a love in about all things OF (as witnessed before the Semi Final and to a lesser extent before yesterdays game). You have pointed this out yourself in your post. Having said that if bigotry is an abhorence of what both sides of the OF represent with their hatred and intolerance then I am as big a bigot as the next man. That however has nothing to do with SM. Better get yourself ready for your next big story on Tuesday night Hugh, when the Well fans will be spewing their religious intolerance and bigotry at Old Broony. Sure you can wedge a sectarian angle in there somewhere!

The difference between the teams from 3 to 12 is the manager. We have benifitted from this in the last few seasons. This is my thoughts on the managers outwith the OF in order of effectiveness (very subjective I know). Craig Brown- grim to watch at times but a wise old owl that can get his teams grinding out results. Jim Jeffries- experienced, old school but authoritative character Derek McIness-has done a great job at St Johnstone and will go on to bigger things. Terry Butcher- can create a strong team spirit and thrives in adversity Billy Reid- Did really well getting Accies ino the SPL. Working with little resources so can be forgiven for some negative tactics at times. Peter Houston- personally not impressed with this guy and think Dundee Utd are on the brink of going backwards but has so far been able to keep Utd at a reasonable level. Mixu Pattalinean- have been surprised by the impact at Killie but he has them playing good football and getting results. Colin Calderwood- yet to prove himself but has a track record of success and appears to have a plan at Hibs. Danny Lennon- workmanlike manager who I think has done well in really difficult circumstances this season. Has a track record of success albeit in the lower leagues. Stuart McCall- ?. No proven track record, no real sense of plan or vision coming from him (at the moment), has the team playing nicely for small periods but without an end result. Has had the least time to prove himself but would honestly put him 10th out of 10 at the moment. Interestingly with the exception of McInnes the old dogs come out on top. Maybe Jimmy Calderwood would not have been so bad after all. edit: have put Houston too high up but hey ho.

This is a good point and indeed Tommy McLean needed time to get things right, but on that basis, should Malpas have been given more time? FWIW I believe that now McCall is here we should give him ever chance, but I think that there is a difference between that and thinking that today or the weeks leading up to today have been fine. I look at the Hibs situation and think that the time they are giving their man is the right thing to do but Calderwood for my money, displays an assurance and belief that McCall has not shown so far.

I agree with all of this except for the bit about McCall being able to put a long term plan into place. The transfer window showed that he was picking names out of thin air, names of players that he had never seen play. There was no plan. If there is to be a long term view taken surely Craigans days are up and yet I would bet money that if fit, he will play every game from now to the end of the season. I like the long term approach, that is why I was a fan of Jim Gannon but on this occasion there isn't even the smallest whiff of a plan.