star sail

Goram Quinn-Kemble-Reynolds-Hammell Hughes- O Donnell-Pearson McFadden-McCormack-McDonald O Donnell during his first spell at the club is possibly one of the best players Motherwell ever had. Does not count but just saying.

In actual fact we are in some ways singing from the same hymn sheet because I hope Reynolds does go on to bigger things. If anything I get frustrated at times that he does not live up to the potential he clearly has. It's a win/win for Motherwell. Keep him and we have a good player for another season, he moves on and we get the finance and the satisfaction of seeing a Well player come good.

I don't know, will it? As far as coaching methods are concerned, Reynolds has worked under Butcher, Malpas, Gannon and Brown and his ability has stayed fairly consistent despite different coaching methods. The point I am making is that Reynolds is Motherwell standard at the moment. Is your point that players with basic skill and pace are too good for Motherwell? As far as knowledge of the game is concerned, if you are 'football man' with experience and expertise that I could only wish for then I am happy to accept that Reynolds is a player with ability that stretches beyond the SPL and would be delighted to see him progress to bigger and better things. Is seems to me however that the mysteries of the game that you football men are happy to wax lyrical about are actually not that mysterious.

Think it will be really tight but expecting Well to get an away goal to just see us through. Aggregate score 2-2. Well to win on away goals. (Shit wrong thread. Should be in the other Euro thread.) How do you delete post?

I actually think that Reynolds has found his level with us. He is a good player with pace and good skill for a defender but he is prone to some howlers (Nancy penalty, Boyd goal at FP, dodgy passbacks to a struggling Fraser) and he lacks the agression/presence of a top defender. Given that he was an integral part of one of the shackiest defenses in the league last season (Ruddy apart), I don't think he has proved himself yet and may never. He is not at International level and not at Premiership level. You could see the dilema Gannon had with him last season. Gannon could see the raw talent but did not know where best to utilise it. I don't think Gannon saw him as a true Central defender hence the experimentation without ever leaving him from the team sheet.

Did not realise that. Maybe I have not read carefully enough the circumstances of the move. Will give the player the benifit of the doubt in the sense that I don't think he has the intellegence to look at the bigger picture and was probably being advised by Celtic minded people. The Old Firm clubs should take some responsibility in this regard. They are very short sighted when dealing in these situations. They consistently go about the business of weakening the opposition when in actual fact stronger opposition would make them more competive. I think that this is a mute arguement anyway as I think that Craig Brown's attitude towards him while Slane was actually here suggested that he has no interest in playing him.

I find the hypocrisy regarding Slane unbelievable. The analogy made earlier by someone about one of us as an 18 year old playing for Clyde, Queens Park etc and getting a chance to move to Motherwell is a good one. I think 95% of the people on this board would take that move even at the risk of not getting first team football because you would hold out hopes and dreams that you would make it. If Slane arrived and started scoring and setting up goals weekly the support would be behind him in an instant. I would happily take Slane back. Someone mentioned Scott Severin too. Would have him in a minute. Way above average SPL player standard but I fear his wages might be likewise.

Forbes in definetly going to divide opinion amongst the fans. I can't make up my mind about him at all but would probably rather he were in the team than out.

Shows it really is all about opinions. That Breadablik should have scored three times but for poor finishing suggests to me that the defense did not stroll through the game. When Breadablik came forward with pace we looked vulnerable at the back and a good few of Reynolds forward passes were to no one. If I had been a scout at the game last night watching Reynolds I would be keeping my money in my pocket.

Pleased with the result last night. I would have taken 0-0 before kick off so 1-0 gives us a really good chance of going through. One thing that I have found interesting with this tie is that for once the manager, players and supporters have gauged the opposition well. We were not unjustifiably confident, the team were professional and gave Breadablik the respect they deserved and ultimately put in a workmanlike competent European performance. The players that stood out for me for good or bad were Murphy, Humphries and Forbes. Murphy because I think we have a really talented young player who is going to be a big player for us over the next few seasons, Humphries because unfortunately despite his pace his final ball is often woeful so the jury is still out and Forbes who is going to have a real love/hate relationship with the fans. No pace, no dig, at times a lack of desire (except when he was wrestling the ball off Hateley for free kicks) and yet a left foot that can turn a game on it's head. One last observation was again the lack of pace in the team. Man for man Breadablik were faster (Humphries apart). I think we have to put that one down to genetics. If we do get through it may be worth trying to attract one or two of their best players to the club.

Last time we played a part time team at home in Europe we lost 1-0 so it's not unreal. Potentially very real.

Agreed. Would take 0-0 at the moment but hopeful for more but I have bigger concerns defensively and don't think it was just a flash in the pan that we lost 16 goals in the last 5 games of the season. Given that we have been unable to keep a clean sheet in the friendlies, have lost Ruddy, have essentially the same back four and that Craigan will be another season slower, not conceeding at home would be a real boost. 4000 would be an improvement on Llannelli and Flamurtari (I think?) but would be excellent to see a crowd of 5000+ Prediction 2-2.

I can understand peoples concerns about Thursday. A performance like the first game against Llanelli and we could easily go out as they could score a couple of goals at FP given that they will almost certainly be a tougher test than Llanelli. I would have liked to have seen the first game in Iceland as even when not match sharp it would be possible to sneak a goal over there and something like a 2-1 defeat could be turned round at FP. By the second game the match fitness would hopefully be returning. If the defence are not firing on Thursday and we lose even 2 goals it will be a tough task to turn it round. It's important to make a distiction between fitness and match fitness. CB and AK will have been working on the players endurance, strength and aerobic fitness but Well need games to get the sharpness that brings good performances. Having said that we played 6 competive games last season before the SPL start and St Johnstone held us to a draw in the first game so maybe we should not get to hung up on it. Unsure how I feel about it but I would be amazed if the players underestimate the task they face. I would take 0-0 on Thursday at this point. Anything more a bonus.

Good luck to Ruddy indeed. One of the few players the Well fans genuinely appreciated while he was here but even at that I think in hind sight we will miss him even more. Honestly think that the 5th position in the league was largely due to his influence on our very suspect defence. On another note, Paul Lambert gets another decision spot on. Just to think that a few seasons ago with the Motherwell manager merry go round in full flow folk on here were waxing lyrical about how they would not touch Lambert with a barge pole.

Why head in hands, it was a good point? The option to extend by a year is surely an option in favour of the club. If not it is just a one year contract end of. I suppose it just shows that contracts are not worth the paper they are written on as players can just do what they like. A contract should really suggest that the club do have him at gunpoint if they want to keep him.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/t...ell/8733721.stm whats the punchline on the T- shirt. I can't work it out and the photo cuts it off. THANK FOR BUY IT ??????????????????

I have had one dealing with Leann Dempster as a fan looking for assistance from the club and her customer service/ willingness to help was above and beyond the call of duty. I was really impressed. Very positive vision and one that I would buy into. I have always felt that for a club like Motherwell to stay ahead of the game we need to rely upon the fruits of our own labour. Only thing I would say is that I think there is a bit of Jim Gannon's vision in there. If nothing else Gannon showed that young players are worth the gamble and just maybe gave the Motherwell board the confidence to put the development of young players at the forefront of its future plans. I would love to think that talanted young players from all over Scotland would chose Motherwell first over other clubs because it was seen as a centre of excellence for young players. There is always going to be the Paul Slanes but worth it when you get the Jamie Murphys, Steven Saunders etc.

The arguement that Stewart Kerr has worked with Hollis, therefore he must be good does not really work for me. The classic example is the Andy Roddie situation with McLeish. McLeish had worked with Roddie at Aberdeen and was prepared to pay a reasonable sum for him to come to Well. There was a buzz at the time when he arrived but we all know how that turned out. On the height and weight front, these two attributes are important for an SPL goalkeeper. Set pieces and cross balls have been an issue for Well for a few seasons now (largely because of Craigan and Reynolds in my opinion). Ruddy papered over these cracks because he played so well. His ability at cross balls is largely down to his presence in the box (e.g height and weight). I have not been a fan of Craigan for some time and yet we are stuck with him for yet another season (I know that is an unpopular view). The goalkeeper is going to have to be excellent to compensate. Fraser got a hard time and in some ways rightly so but the protection and assistance he was getting was non existant. (pass backs included). For me Ruddy made our season. I think we would have been losing goals as per the end of the season, all season had he not been there. We need a top notch keeper.

Just to relieve some of the boredom of a lack of transfer activity, I would be interested to know who people think would be a really exciting buy for us given our money constraints? I think for me hearing that Ruddy and The Juke were staying on for another season is about as good as I could hope for.

Saw this a few days back and laughed. On the day these nuts are lifting the SPL trophy they are still full of hatred. Some sectarian comments as well about a boy called Murphy. Makes me very pleased that my Dad brought me up under a Well flag rather than having anything to do with this vitriolic pish.

Really pleased to hear this. Kind of topical as Marc Fitzpatrick has suffered some of the treatment being discussed on this thread over these last few pages by Well fans. Remember the goal at Hearts fondly and for me Fitzpatrick was the Well MoM against Nancy Away. He ran himself into the ground that eve. I think he is the kind of player that, given confidence, could be a first team regular. Brown's the man to nurture Marc along and tell him to ignore the boo boys.

Oh yes there.......Ah forget it!!

Ok. You win!!

One of the best games in Motherwell's history and within the hour there is a thread with us all fighting! Cannae beat it!!! Why be positive when you can be negative. It's the Motherwell way! I'm a better fan than you. What a lot of pish!!!

We all know from bitter experience that if a team are on a bad run, can't score, have not won for months etc Motherwell is the team that alway gifts them a lifeline. If this Celtic team are not really fired up for this game there is something badly wrong at Parkhead. Wee Broony has not been inspiring me with confidence either in his last few interviews (Celtic have the best fan's etc) and we have struggled up front in the last two games. For these three reasons I am going for 4-0 Celtic. Would be very surprised (and delighted) if we get anything from the game. Very negative but the way I'm feeling about it. Would love if someone is quoting this back to me at 9.30 with a 'you were talking pish' reply!!