star sail

Reading through this thread I would say it's actually fairly balanced. Some defending the journalist, some attacking. Views both ways have been expressed. I agree that had a Old Firm bias journo written this it would be carnage.

10000!!! That's fairly impressive. I was not thinking anything like that. It's going to be a rough 90 mins I feel.

I agree that he has every right to print the story and that infact he should. That he may be a Motherwell Fan actually makes it more commendable in many respects. The only thing I don't understand is why, when there is a chance to print a balanced story of the good and the bad do we only get the bad? The arguement that bad news is more sellable may be true but thats all in the headline. There can be no reason why there was not a mention of the good aspects of the Wales trip (the march, fanzone etc) further down the article. There can be no suggestion of hidden agenda either because why would a Scottish Editor want to mindlessly rubbish a Scottish team in Europe? I fully understand the need to print the story, I just dont understand why it was not more balanced. If the writer of the article does contribute on hear it would be interesting for him to give us an insight into the working of such a story. After all he is the pro and knows more about it than any of us.

Enjoy the game Flamurtari, I am hoping you might have a more positive view of Scottish Football come the morning. I hope!!

May we have a slight advantage in that we have played two competive games already? It certainly is given as a reason why we don't do well at other times. I agree though it's all guess work really.

You seem like quite a hostile fellow. Are you sure your not an Old Firm fan? Makes a change from the good vibes of Nancy and Llanelli. Welcome to Albania indeed!

Ok take him out and it is still a fairly impressive list. Makes you wonder what they have been doing at Murray Park. I suppose to be fair they are possibly producing good players, but unfortunately they never see the light of day because they can't get into the first team and if they do they are immediately too expensive for most other clubs in Britian to afford. Anyway the point was I think that it is something our wee club should be proud of.

This seems like an unconventional step for a Football Coach but from what we have seen so far Gannon is his own man. It's shows the affinity he had with Stockport fans though. I hope in a couple of years we have the same affinity for our man at the top.

I may be misunderstanding the official site but does it mean that although the paperwork was not completed in time for him to travel he will still be available for the home leg next week? In other words can he still be used as our wildcard?

These players have to start somewhere. I think we are buying potential rather than a fully developed player. I think he should be judged by the interest he was attracting eg Aston Villa. The harsh reality is that we have been priced out of Championship players. That is not neccesarily an indication of quality in that league.

Makes you wonder if there has been any other Scottish team that has been as successful at bringing on young players in recent years. Off the top of my head: Faddy Pearson Reynolds Roscoe Clarky Quinn and some of the emerging talent Murphy, Slane, Forbes etc I would think that record is better than the Old Firms

I am just remembering that the Open is on this weekend. That takes up one BBC channel, all day pretty much. Would doubt that they would put football on the other channel.

MarcC, what makes you a Well fan? Interesting to have someone from Germany show an interest in us.

Ya Beauty! He's brilliant! A real prospect! Jonny have a look at the In's and Out's thread. Being discussed there but nothing much to report I'm afraid.

Do you mean doesn't want to move from Motherwell (the club) or doesn't want to move from Scotland?

I think we will see one more player by Thursday, using this wildcard option and it will probably be in the area needing the quickest fix (Goalkeeper?). Most of the activity does not happen untill the end of the transfer window when players/clubs have had the chance to assess their options.

Have to be careful about building Forbes up too much. I thought he looked good against Llanelli and if he could produce performances like that in the SPL he would be a revelation but we have to remember the standard of the opposition. Also we have not seen our new signing in action yet so will have to wait and see. As for Brian Kerr, remember he was too good for us.

Excellent first touch, could give himself time because of his ability to control the ball, everything went through him in the midfield. His good 6 months was the teams good six months. It's a team game. One player cannot do it on his own. It's all about opinion but in my opinion he was a class apart.

Would be sad to see him play for the opposition next year, particularly Hearts. He is one of the better players we have had in recent years. I had hoped he would stay but at the reported £7000 a week it was never really going to happen. Have to say though that it is mildly satisfying that Aberdeen can't afford him either. Funny how Jim Paterson and Stephen Hughes have not jumped at the chance to be reunited with their old manager.

Dykstra Nijholt Martin Teale McKinnon Cooper McFadden Lambert O Donnell Coyne Arnott Subs: Maxwell, McCart, Van der Gaag, Hughes, Porter Edit: I forgot about Mio. Replace him with Teale.

I am not going to try and argue that Harri Kampman's time was a success but I knew people who worked at the club at the time he took over and they were impressed by some of the things he tried to do. McLeish (apparantly) ran a fairly relaxed ship and when Harri came in he insisted on better discipline from the players (better time keeping etc), controlled the players diets better and gave catering staff a programme of training a month in advance so that they could help with nutrition. For what ever reason it did not work but we have to remember he was given very little time to make it work.

The problem is the same in Scotland I'm afraid. I have a mate who comes over from Northern Ireland and he has real problems getting Scottish shops to accept Ulster Bank notes.

McFadden by a country mile. Everytime he got the ball the excitement level would rise. That still happens now when he is playing for Scotland. Great player who scored one of the most memorable goals in Scottish Football history.

A week is certainly a long time in football. Last Monday the sun was shining, we were getting excited about our new manager, Stockport fans were telling us about his qualities and we were excited about the new players coming in. Reading through this thread the mood has changed somewhat. Concerns about Gannon's man management, concerns about English players fitting in to the Scottish game, Clarkson and Quinn sounding more like superstars with every passing day. In reality nothing has changed since last Monday, except that we lost 1-0 to Llanelli, a game that Gannon cannot be judged on and Gannon has commented on our captain's lack of command at the corner that led to the goal. Before we start talking about the drive and determination of Quinn/Clarkson lets remember they were both playing in the two defeats by St Mirren (cup and top six game). They also played against Nancy and were somewhat out of there depth along with the rest of the team admittedly. Stephen Hughes is not an 'SPL type' player and yet he has been Motherwell's best player over the last couple of seasons. I also remember a midfield player McCormack? (excuse my memory) who played with us (possibly under Billy Davies). He came from the English lower divisions and more that held his own, infact if we get players of his quality we will be laughing. If the comment's about Craigan causes problems then that says more about Craigan than Gannon. The comments were right so hopefully Craigan will use any anger to channel it into aggression on the pitch. To be fair, I heard Craigan on the radio on Saturday and he was talking very positively so it should not be an issue. That Gannon spoke out in public may cause some unease but again go back a week and we were all applauding that very style (Sky box etc). I can understand the unease but we have to keep things in perspective. We need to give the new man a chance and yet I sense that even after one week his honeymoon period is over.

I would like to hope that was the case but unfortunately it does not seem to work out that way. Supporters tend to make excuses for players (unless it's Marc Fitzpatrick) blaming the board or the manager for a teams dip in form. I would guess that if the form of Craigan, O Brien etc drops because they do take the huff most supporters will turn on Gannon saying he can't motivate the players etc. I hope I am wrong but I have seen it to often before to be confident (Barry Feruson, Kris Boyd v Paul Le Guen) being the perfect example.