Welldaft Mk1

It is quite an interesting and intriguing debate regards Paul Slane. There is little doubt that he would have done us a turn had he stayed and little doubt that the team would benefit were he to come back on loan. That said............. I most definitely side with those who would not want him near the place. I believe he strung us along with the will he wont he sign saga. We invested in his potential from a very young age and our reward was to be shafted. The point on him increasing his wages and being a Celtic fan is not lost on me.....but even with his limited IQ it was patently obvious he would not get near the Celtic first team for the next couple of years, whilst he would probably have been a 1st team regular with Motherwell. There is a strong argument that he has stifled his development as a result and that if he were as skillful and promising as say a James Mcfadden he could and probably would have followed a similar career path. In other words playing in the Premiership for mucho wonga.

One thing is for sure - whatever we earn from Europe will be more than Killie, St Mirren and Accies et al. Dare to dream that we can see off Breidablik and Aalesunds and then get a glamour draw in the play off rounds, which realistically if we get that far will be as far as we go! As a club we could earn 270,000 Euros + gate money of circa 22,000 (Home gates 6000, 6000 + 10,000 maybe more if we got L'Pool) = £200k + possible TV revenue. A lot of people talk about SPL being our bread and butter and IT IS, but the Europa League could see us get anywhere between minimum of £120k+ to max £1m+. The latter WOULD make a huge difference to the squad this year. Back on subject. Reynolds at times looks like a class apart, but he still has the odd blunder, as do all defenders. I reckon he will go and hopefully for no less than £4-500k. But if he stays then so be it. We have a solid central defender for the upcoming season and he did extend his contract in the hope we got some money.

Nice of them to give us our own WEE stand. I wonder how many away tickets we have sold? Last I heard was that there were only 9 seats left on the charter. So that would be 110 + same amount travelling independently...... Just hope it does not p1ss down for the entire match or a wetsuit may be the order of the day. Looking forward to the trip. We score first and we can relax and hit them on the break. They score first and it will be game on, though 1 away goal should still be enough to see us through.

I am with you on that Pie. It looks as if we have replaced the GK quite well, but we need a decent creative midfielder and a clinical goalscorer to replace O'Brien and Lukas. I am sure we have tried and I know he is trying, but I also feel we are a wee bit behind schedule.

Talk about tempting fate.... We were a whisker away from them scoring an all important away goal. I thought they were fit and passed the ball well. Lack of cutting edge + the fact we will be fitter and hopefully more clinical ourselves should see us through. But as Bliki says stranger things have happened. Broon is a wiley old fox and will steer us through - fingers crossed.

I think we will be lucky to take more than 100 to Norway. We have taken between 10 (Albania) and 2500+ (Nancy) to Europe over the last 2 seasons. The problem is that the away tie against Aalesund (if we get through!!) falls 1 week after the trip to Iceland. I would love to go to Aalesund but after my trip to Reykjavik it is too close time/work wise and complicated to organise travel. I would hope we could get through against Aalesund if we play them. On the face of it probably is 50-50. The winner of that tie will probably get a glamour game v Liverpool or PSV Eindhoven etc. Then you will see 1000+ Well fans travel. As for wages of our players. They get a basic, win bonus and appearance money or so I believe. Top earners probably on around £150k+ So a decent living to be sure.

It all depends who scores first. Motherwell do and we will probably win the tie comfortably. Breidablik do and it is game on. That said not losing an away goal in Europe is pivotal. We could lose next 2-1 and still go through. We played well enough in the 1st half but missed far too many opportunities. BB were a decent team as I suspected. Really got the ball down and passed very well, but it was noticeable as the match wore on who had played 1 competitive game and who had played 11. Boy we got lucky at the start of the second half, but all in all over the piece I think we deserved our win. As Bliki points out Motherwell will be that wee bit sharper next week and I would expect us to score an away goal. Looking forward to the trip up there next week.

Glad I am going to Iceland. Not much in the way of glamorous destinations or opposition should we get through. Each one will be tough especially Czech or Polish teams....

Does not affect Euro games as far as I am aware. We keep 100% of home gate less expenses + taxes - which is probably why the figures are a wee bit out every now and then - alledgedly

Quite - I suspect that BATE would beat Motherwell in Ukraine. Maybe not by 5 but there would be a big gulf in class. You cannot really compare BATE with Motherwell. They are leading league in Ukraine - we finished 5th in Scottish League.

Typical weather for a Motherwell Game. Rumours of a hosepipe ban and the hey presto Motherwell are due to play and cue the Amazon Rainforest weather That said I believe that because we did a good job installing so many (working) drains the water escapes to well and the ground is very dry. So even with this amount of rain the pitch should be fine. Sure it will cut up and by January it will look like the gobi desert and we will spend another small fortune...........groundhog day. Hopefully 24 hours from now we will be kicking back and enjoying the last few minutes with a comfortable victory.....or we will be swearing loudly at the players for gifting all 5 goals. Ah the joys of being a Motherwell fan. You don't know what is going to happen next. Looks like a reasonable crowd expected 6000+ Judging by the sold seats and posts on here. Should give the boys a lift and intimidate the opposition

Obviously you are not going to Iceland.......because if you were you would know it will be 2-1 at fir park to Motherwell and 3-2 to Breidablik in Iceland with a Murphy 35 yarder in the 95th minute to send us through on away goals

Well I would be disappointed if all we get is around 4000 for a home game in Europe. Last year our crowds were 4307 v Llanelli, 4641 v Flamurtari and 4975 v Steaua Bucharest. Not great crowds but not bad since we played all the games over at Airdrie. I would hope there will be a wee surge and we get over 5000 now we are back at Fir Park. A nice full Cooper and East Stand will be a boost to the players. Maybe it is because we qualify for Europe every year . Katowice was over 10,000. Havnor 7521 and even Mypa we got 8280. Anyway I share the fear and hope it is unfounded. I worry about our fitness levels compared to the Icelanders. I would be confident with the 1st 11 from the end of the season. I fear we will miss the creativity of O'Brien and threat of Big Lukas with no replacements. Going over to Iceland - so I hope we are still in the tie. I genuinely do not believe we will keep a clean sheet based on the 3 friendlies and their goal scoring record. If all players play well then we will edge it - but only by 2-1 or 1-0 which I would take right now. Lets hope for 5-0 and all our fears being unfounded.......

Actually spelt it that way first and then changed on spell check. I will buy you one next time to make up for my faux pa..

How about BUPA and all fans get a free mental health check at the end of the season

Hoping to get to the Blue Lagoon on Friday morning to help soothe my hangover after a hoped for celebration. That said I know a seasoned traveller who thinks it is waste of time and a rip off....but then he's a grumpy so and so I read that it is best to change money once in Iceland.....and of course there is no darkness at this time of year according to Paw Broon. A few whiskeys should take care of that little problem.....

Can the mods please delete this thread as it is quite possibly the worst post in recent times and should get NO exposure.

Good to know that we have the main shirt sponsorship sorted. We can ill afford not to have the finances associated with such sponsorship. Good also that we have had companies prepared to help out in the short term. Really looking forward to seeing who the new sponsors are. Sounds exciting and innovative maybe....we can probably rule out Buckfast All I want to know is when we can get our hands on the new away kit.

That said it is also worth noting we played better when the weather conditions were at there poorest. We just did not seem capable of creating chances and against a 2nd Div team it is a little worrying. We badly need to replace O'Brien and the Shuker boy seemed as if he was capable, although it would appear that he has other options....

It seems to change on a regular basis. On the official site he stated: Brown admitted: “We are always on the phone. I’m expecting a couple of call backs from managers down in England on Monday morning, and we are hoping to use our contacts to secure a couple of loan signings. I am looking for an absolute minimum of three additions to the squad.

Nobody on this board knows anything with 100% certainty, especially when it comes to upcoming games. My point was fairly simple. We played poorly yesterday against a 2nd division team - who by the way fielded 5-6 subs in the 2nd half. It may serve as a fitness test, but as a paying fan I was hoping to see some promise for the game next week and the upcoming season. I saw precious little to excite me. Maybe I am being unduly harsh but some players still seemed off the pace into the bargain which is perhaps unsurprising. I hope I am wrong and that we win comfortably on Thursday, but not on the evidence of yesterday. As for knowing nothing of the Icelandic team. Not strictly true either. We know they are midway through their season. We know they are sitting top of the table. We know they have been scoring goals for fun. We know they have several under 21 Internationalists in their side. This is the Icelandic Under 21 team that recently beat the Scottish Under 21 team! What we do not know is whether this has more to do with the opposition teams in Iceland being crap. I certainly hope that is the case. I fear for us this week. They will be fit and up for this game. We have not managed to keep a clean sheet v 3 2nd division sides........... If we play to our potential I would still expect us to win over the two legs, anything less and we will undoubtedly struggle. Still hope there is a decent home crowd to get behind the boys. I am sure that will be a big help on the night. GAME ON

His crosses do leave a little to be desired it has to be said. But he dose skin the oppo time and again. Why he even gets a cross in. He needs to channel his skill as he undoubtedly has some.

All that rage.......does Raoul Moat not serve as a warning

Would agree with that in its entirety. Have not yet seen the official site, but that was a worrying performance with the Europa tie approaching. No creativity until the last 10 minutes. McHugh would be a better bet than Murphy on that evidence. Forbes scored but par for the course did little else. In saying that Ayr scored with their only shot on target. I felt the Randolph could have done better. Page looked half decent when he came on, especially going forward. Sussed out the baldy foreign type was the Breidlablik manager when he was in the Bowling club next door - nearest place for a pint if you were wondering. On the basis of that performance he will hardly be quaking in his boots. A VAST improvement required ahead of Thursday or embarrassment awaits.

Nothing like tempting fate eh..........Honest to god you think we would learn. This will NOT be a stroll in the park for exactly the reasons you mention. I expect we will win over the 2 legs, but a cake walk it will not be..............