Welldaft Mk1

The sad truth is that Motherwell like most clubs are heavily reliant on TV income. Crowds are dwindling year by year and month on month and that is with the current set up. The majority on here are season ticket holders or regular visitors to Fir Park, but there are some and many more supporters from other clubs who are not going to games and sure as hell would not go to Well v QOS in April in midweek with nothing to play for. If everyone did vote for a 14 or 16 team league and the club received less TV revenue, it would be hoping all these fans that backed the idea would turn up. Be a bit of a shame when 2800 turn up in a couple of years and the club have less income from TV. Even less money than they have now god forbid..... If I was in charge of Motherwell I would opt for a top 10 league if that meant more TV revenue and a fairer distribution of income in the SPL and SPL 2.

Registered to the official site and this was part of an email received from Stuart McCall to all registered users one would assume... "This week I will be running the rule over several transfer targets as we have arranged bounce games on Monday and Tuesday. We are working hard to bring in faces before next weekend and, if we do, we’ll tell the fans as soon as we have something firm. Although I’ve only been here for a few weeks, I am loving life at Motherwell already. We have a cracking club and I really believe we can build into a team that can compete. It will help me enormously if you try your best to get to the games and get as many people to join you as you can".

Shame if true. I would have thought for some players in reserve teams, a 5 month stint in the SPL playing against the likes of Rangers and Celtic on live TV and at least 1 semi at Hampden Park would appeal. Perhaps not. I guess it also depends how good McCall is at selling the club to prospective loanees.

Cheery post of the year award goes too...........

Quite Rickoza. I don't know about Motherwell the future but Motherwell the recent past is competing at the top half of the SPL and playing in Europe. All from a club that has a quite frankly embarrassing home support for an SPL club. In fact this season we were doing well and may again given we are in a semi final and could with a bit of luck find ourselves in another. We have had an uncertain period over the past 2 months allied to poor results due to the fixture list and Broon jumping ship. I am not sure McCall is the right man either. Time will tell, but if Liverpool and Chelsea can struggle to pick up results why should we expect that every time we appoint a manager he SHOULD be an instant success?? McCall has delivered 3 clean sheets in 4, negotiated a tough looking away cup tie when Hibs, St Mirren and Hearts struggled big time. A reality check would not go a miss by some on this message board. So many doom merchants, me I am happy we are where we are at this moment in time. Hopefully McCall will bring in a few fresh faces and we can kick on for the remainder of the season.

I am usually one of the first to have a go at players...but I genuinely felt that (in the second half especially) the players were up for the game. The weather played a large part in mistakes and players struggling. I do believe the departure of Brown has had a massive impact on the players and it will take a little time for McCall to stamp his authority on the squad, but he certainly does not lack enthusiasm going by his antics on the sidelines. That is now 4 wages freed up and if McCall can deliver us some decent signings/loan players then we will NOT be in a relegation battle. I still think the best we will do is 6th, probably 7th or 8th, but that and a cup semi or two, possibly even a final will be a decent return for a season that started promisingly and has stalled due largely in part to Granpaw jumping ship.

Interesting take on the game today. Some fair posts IMHO followed by some that state it was brutal and a cr#p performance. Seem to be a lot of moaners for moaning sake. Granted it was no classic, but I have seen a hell of a lot worse 0-0 draws. I would like to see some posters on here try and play football in a gale force whilst bucketing down.... First half ICT definitely had the better chances and but for Randolph would have been in front at the interval. 2nd half we edged it and had enough chances to win the game. I really could not fault the players for effort and thought Forbes was OK today. Hutchy looked assured and won many balls that Reynolds would never have won in a month of Sundays. Yes he did nearly sell the jerseys once or twice, but hopefully he will get the chance now Reynolds is away. Humphrey to me was fairly poor again today. One cracking run in the second half apart, he offered very little and is starting to resemble the player he was last season and not at the beginning of this season. I spoke to Foran in the Centenerary after the game. I said how could you miss that chance....he said "I could not score against Motherwell"

Good luck to Marky Reynolds if tommorrow is his last game. He could have left us high and dry as so many have this season and before. But he signed a new contract. In hindsight we maybe should have taken the £750k that was supposedly on the table from Rangers. Nah good luck to the guy and if I was a betting man I reckon we may see him in claret and amber again one day, being that he is a Well fan. Interesting to note that on the official Mccall talks about replacing him...i would have thought it was time for Page, Hutchison or Saunders to step up.

BOLLOX

At the very least I find it very therapeutic.....

It would be interesting to hear Stuart McCalls take on Blackman going to Aberdeen, given he said if he did come back north it would ONLY be to Motherwell. I am sure I am not alone in thinking when he made that statement he would turn up at Aberdeen. I bit of naivety from our new Manager methinks.

Whatever you say about Brown, Knox and now Blackman - the fact is that wee geriatric pr1ck left us high and dry, which HAS so far had a detrimental impact on our season. Had he stayed we would be kicking along nicely and Blackman probably would have re-signed. I don't buy into this going after the best job bull, not for a 71 yr old. I buy a little loyalty and respect for a club that gave you a swansong that is now turning into a nightmare. I had nothing against the Dons as a fellow SPL team, but I hope that their season (however unlikely) implodes more so than when Mcghee was in charge. You can bet we will draw them in the scottish cup and Blackman will net the winner

Always a love in on here after we lose - NOT! It shows the frustration we feel after a defeat. We need to pick up a few league wins and soon or we will find ourselves in a bottom of the table battle which seemed a distant prospect until TraitorGramps headed north. Keep the faith

Or as high as 4th. DDee Utd away is hardly a banker 3 points FFS. Disappointing result and performance by the sounds of it. We do need some depth in the squad that much is sure. That said at the moment the momentum in the SPL is backwards, so I do I think we are looking at bottom 6. We need to get back to winning SPL games once again. Saturday would be a good place to start. We just need to win both cups now.

I was not a huge fan of Fitzy, but his goal against Hearts in the league cup semi was almost worth all the wages we paid him Truth is if we wanted to keep him we could and would have offered more money. The deal on the table probably left him with little choice. I really wish him well as long as he does not come back to haunt us. That is 3 down and possibly 4-5 - which will free up a reasonable amount of weekly wage. I would go for quality over quantity and opt for 2 or 3 decent players if possible.

I am sure a few English teams would be after Blackman + more able to pay a larger % of his wages. Failing that I sooooooooo hope he comes back to Motherwell and scores against the Dons in the CIS final or Sc Cup semi. The reverse scenario is not worth thinking about - too painful

I will say one thing - we have been here before many times... Could draw either Celtic or Gers in next round...could win of course, but better Brechin or bootom 6 SPL at home. Still have to get through next round

Gow has the talent bubbling under the surface. It just very rarely makes an appearance. He did show signs that he was capable but I do believe he was a luxury we could ill afford. I do believe our new Manager shared that belief. So that is one gone, probably 2 if as is 99.9% likely Blackman does not return and possibly 3+ if Reynolds and AN Other leaves. At least that will allow McCall the leeway to bring 3 possibly 4 players in before the end of January. Perhaps he could consult Jim Gannon or will he do just as good a job in filling the void.

Very true Dave, but Dads Army was actually very amusing We have had very little to excite us over the last 6 or so weeks since Brown jumped ship. One negative followed by another. I suspect the player Burns is referencing is either Gow or Reynolds. Gow as we will not offer him another contract or Reynolds because Sheff Wed up their offer to £100k. I suspect we will be at least 3 or 4 players short of the current squad, so hopefully McCall can unearth a gem or two and as Finlay alluded too, not all on the 31st of January.

I like the cut of your jib Finlay. I cheered quite loud when I heard DDee Utd had equalised against Aberdeen. The more sh1te that flows there way the happier I am. I think I would explode if East Fife beat them on Saturday. Hate IS so ugly.

I don't think that anyone truly has an issue with him going to Aberdeen, more how he went about it. Nor would any of us not try and get Blackman in his position. When all is said and done all I care about is how his behaviour now and in the future affects the performance of Motherwell FC. Right now he has done a good job of screwing up our season and for that I will NEVER forgive the old scrote bag. Hopefully McCall can turn things around, but either way we gave Brown a chance to get back into football and this is how he repays us. Of course he would say he did us a favour. I am now beginning to wish we did not!

SPOT ON MILO. He has systematically tried to do his utmost to ruin our season and time will tell whether he has been successful. I am usually one of those people who moves on in life, but his actions in leaving us were at best inept and shambolic, but to then take our best players - even if Blackman was only on loan at Blackburn. He is either so naive or the best actor in the world. I don't buy it. He will come out before our match in April and say he cannot understand the animosity as he bought the entire population of Aberdeen Motherwell tops for their Xmas..... He is fortunate in that very few Well fans will travel midweek for the re-arranged fixture at Pittodrie, but we should give him both barrels when he comes to Fir Park.

Unfortunately I am old enough to remember watching Motherwell in the 1st Division and it blows your argument out of the water. I watched as Mothewell players passed the ball out the park and could not string 2 passes together. You may argue what is the difference between then and now But in all seriousness we had a lesser standard of player then and the product on the pitch was GUFF.

I understand all this negativity in that the fans viewpoints are not being taken on board it would seem. But I do not comprehend a fair number on here who are stating they will chuck supporting Motherwell if this is voted through. Why give up a lifetime of support for a league restructuring. I would support Motherwell if they were in a league of 2, 4, 6, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 75 etc etc. I am a little despondent now for a whole host of reasons, but I still plan on buying a season ticket for the forseeable future. The only reason I would not is if I could no longer afford one. I hope people calm down over time and keep following the boys in Claret & Amber. We can ill afford to lose 1 fan let alone several 000. By the same token we can ill afford to lose the revenue an expanded league of 16 or 18 would deliver.

I know not the solution, but if expanding to a 16 or 18 team league loses the club £1m in revenue I would put my hoose on the people on here moaning about a 10 team league moaning about the pish being served up on the park. Because we are playing 14th v 16th in April in front of crowds of 3000 but with an even poorer 1st 11 because we cannot afford decent playing squad. The majority on here are deluding themselves if they think crowds will increase just becuase we only play Raith 2 times a season. I am not saying a 10 team league is the answer, but an expanded league of 16 or 18 most certainly is not. Where I do agree is that the revenue split is skewed so much in favour of the top 2. That should be discussed and a more equitable split proposed as the gap from 2nd to 3rd is laughable. I would be all for sticking with 12 team league and introducing play offs for the drop and Europe.