Welldaft Mk1

My point is quite simple. Whetever the merits of giving the Cooper over to the Celtic fans, there quite clearly is NO longer a commercial argument in doing so. They have not sold it out for ages and I think today will be the last straw for many. I agree with some posters. Whilst it is important to maximise revenue and we certainly need to what with the upkeep of the pitch and ground this summer. I for one hope there are less Celtic fans than Motherwell fans in the ground today. Hopefully that gets through to the Celtic players!

I don't wish to open the whole Cooper stand debate. I did however I hear that Celtic have returned many 000 tickets in a huff because we put the prices up and for going back on our original promise of £15 which their near and not so dear neighbours took advantage of. Sitting on the fence I could see both sides of the argument. We need to maximise revenue to reinvest in the team and the ground and having empty seats when they can be filled was not good business. But I think the time has come to take the Cooper stand back from Celtic fans. They have not sold out that stand for the past two seasons and more recently it has been 60-70% empty.

Excuse me dontcha know the formation was a 4-3-3. He has made that perfectly clear all along. The fact no-one believes him is an entirely other matter

I hate to have a go at the team, but I agree entirely with the comments above. Could not make the match tonite cos I was down south on business. Quite frankly I am the lucky one. I caught most of the game in a pub and it was abject and appalling. Clarkson - I had hopes that he was turning the corner. You know the phrase one step forward - two steps back. Well that about sums him up. All night his control and passing was dire. 5 minutes to go and he has the ball outside the St Mirren box under NO pressure and passes straight to a St Mirren player They go up the park and it has to be said Craggs should never have tried to play offside. The fact he did was more to do with what went before. A brutal brutal game. The players deserve a rollicking. I don't expect us to win any or every game but I would like some effort and no little skill with the players we have. We got little of both tonite. Kiss goodbye to £250k MWELL

It is truly amazing how even Motherwell fans can differ greatly in opinions after watching the same game. But that is football I guess and I would not have it any other way. I though Sheridan showed some realy deft touches in the first half. Me and my friend sitting next to me remarked how he won a lot of headers yet another good friend behind me said he felt he won hee haw in the air.............just like an earlier post.......i am bamboozled how there are differing opinions on the same player. Anyhoo we were lucky in the first half especially. I thought Clarky did quite well and he is definitely adding a bit of muscle to his frame. For me Hammell also had a good game. But it is a straight fight between Maros and Buzz. And for two great saves Buzz wins the day. Shame both of them probably wont be here next year

I am fecked too cos I am in Londinium on the 19th I am happy that the club will make extra revenue but stop feckin about with the dates please!!!

It most instances I would agree with you Gaag. Simply because the carrot of getting to the final and (probably) win or lose you would get a place in Europe. But I have seen us lose at Fir Park too many times to lower league/inferior opposition in the cup. It would be typical Well to beat St Mirren in the replay and then lose to Airdrie at home in the next round. I say bring it on. Should we beat St Mirren most fans will have realistic hopes of getting to the semis and that is NO bad thing. Plus we should make a few Bob along the way.

All this chit chat does not deflect from the fact that MM got his tic tacs badly wrong today and it nearly cost us dearly. In the grand scheme of things it is NOT hugely important - but being a die hard Well fan it was to me. Reading between the lines we played a 4-3-3 yet try getting midfield players like Hughes and to a lesser extent O'Brien to play as forwards and it is and nearly WAS a recipe for disaster. All first half Clarkson was way out on his own and that is inexcusable being at home in the cup to St Mirren. I have huge faith in McGhee but he got it BADLY wrong today. Luckily we live to fight another day........................

He certainly did make a right feck up of the first half. He is lucky we got a draw or the vitriol would be much worse. What the hell was he thinking about. From the minute I saw the team sheet (in hospitality) I had a bad feeling. I could not understand why we had only one recognised striker on the pitch. Jesus Christ at home to St Mirren I rate McGhee highly but today he made a pigs ear of it and we were lucky to get away with it. He would have been off my xmas card list had we lost. Stick to what you know works and stop experimenting in the Scottish Cup

In the Evening Times that Motherwell were paid £1.7m for finishing 3rd last year. Table as follows: Celtic £3.06m Rangers £2.7m Motherwell £1.71m Aberdeen £1.53m Dundee Utd £1.44m Hibs £1.35m Falkirk £1.26m Hearts £1.17m Inverness CT £1.08m St Mirren £990k Kilmarnock £900k Gretna £810k Did not read the whole article but I thought that we got £60k for each league placing which meant a sum of £600k approx. Where has the extra £1m come from? Note also that the Gers in 2nd place got a full £1m more than the Well whilst we only got less than £200k more than the Dons!! Bit of a stitch up that.

Thanks for your input Flow. As always a reasoned and balanced post. On reflection my comments aimed at the club were harsh in light of the attempts made to accommodate fans for the earlier postponements. I wish to recant my earlier comments. A result of the frustration of missing a match that I had so looked forward too! But I still feel strongly that this refund policy should have stood for last nights game. To give fans only a few hours opportunity yesterday to return tickets is a tad unfair. I originally bought these tickets to go to a game back in January. Now if for some reason I was then unable to go to the original tie, then I would expect to lose out unless I was able to sell my ticket on. These however were exceptional circumstances and many 000's of Well fans were not able to go to the revised dates aftre so much looking forward to the game!

Whether the club made money from this venture is not the point in my eyes. It has made plenty money off me over the years, more even than the cost of 500 tickets x £15. The point is this. If you buy a ticket for any event say like a rock concert or a flight and it is postponed or cancelled even once and you can not make the return date, then in almost all instances you are entitled to a refund. That is especially so if you are being told that a refund is available if the ticket is returned within a certain time frame. Now my understanding (and I may well be wrong) is that Motherwell required the original ticket to send back to Inverurie as proof that they a) had not been sold or b) had been returned. I would be very surprised if Motherwell have even paid Inverurie yet or settled up their share of gate revenues and astounded if the had paid up front for the full £7500. Let us assume that in the first place we only were ever going to sell 300 tickets. Then Motherwell would send a cheque for 300 x £15 (or 50% share) and return the other 200 unsold tickets. So what is the difference?

Why should normal business rules NOT apply to football There were 4 bloody postponements for this match and the night it was played was THE worst days weather in some considerable time. In FACT it was only by sheer luck that the game did not get cancelled right before kick off or even during the game. I congratulate every fan that still made the trip but any way you look at it it was a huge gamble that thankfully paid off for those that got up there and back home safe. From a Motherwell fans point of view it was a quite incredible decision given the weather forecast and weather warnings. Now that is not the fault of either club - you cannot change the weather. But it is hardly the fault of the fans either, many of whom myself included were fully prepared to travel on the previous 4 occasions and took half and full days and were generally out of pocket. In any other circumstances I would think I was entitled to a refund. We are being taken for granted once again. The money is not the issue here. I also read that refunds were being offered and was also told that we had up until 4pm yesterday to return tickets. We only found out at 09.30 the game was SURPRISINGLY going ahead. That is no time especially if you are working or live away from Motherwell. Honestly I think the club were caught on the hop with the decision to play yesterday but CLEARER communication should have been made available for those fans that were unable to travel to the game. It is not feckin rocket science. Communicate with your customers in a consistent, coherent and timely manner. Maybe Motherwell do not have to offer a refund, but some of us spend £000's even £0000's following Motherwell every year. To not refund a couple of hundred £15 tickets may have even longer term implications. It is just not good business practice to keep pissing off your own customers time and again.

Referring to a mode of transport that broke down 10 miles outside Calais on the way back from the Nancy game! I am annoyed to have missed this game. But even as I listen on the radio the commentators keep referring to heavy snowfall. It is in the lap of the gods now.

I wonder how an old beat up Citroen would get on in this kind of weather

Welldaft Mk1 should have posted the ticket. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but the truth is that I was able to get to the last 4 games Just hope the game is not abandoned and we have to go through the whole process again. Just have to sort out our tickets for the final then

Perhaps that is the case. But I see that the Arsenal v Cardiff replay has been cancelled NOT because the pitch at the Emirates is unplayable but because of the "travel & safety concerns for supporters"! This should have been the case for today - 100%. Look at the facts a severe weather warning and police warning NOT to travel today. As I said earlier I hope to hell the weather forecast predicted on the BBC a few minutes ago does not come to fruition or it will be one hell of a journey and the game may well be in doubt. I cannot afford to take a half day off work only for the game to be called off 100 miles up the road. I hope that does not happen (although I probably would get to the re-scheduled game ). If it was 95% certain to go ahead and the roads were clear then I would head up but I reckon it is more like 50-50.

Amen to that. Good luck to everyone that is travelling. I am still astounded by this decision all the same. Annoyed also cos I wanted to see this game I know of at least a 4-5 in our original group that were going to all previous games that are not willing to take the risk in this weather. 4-5 refunds thank you very much! I suspect there is still some drama to come! Hope the team get up the road unscathed and with as little drama as possible. Mon the Well.

I think the clue is the sentence - "shovel the snow off". At least all prior postponements have been made with advanced warning. Imagine the furore if we all head off for the game only to get stuck on the motorway on the way up or for it to be cancelled at 6pm. This board would go into meltdown!

So you are saying that before every postponement there have been Pittodries ground covers or covers that can cover the entire pitch?? If that is the case then no complaints from me. Rory what you are reading on this site is mainly frustration at having to request so many half day holidays etc only then to change again. Well fans have nothing against the Locos and were well pleased to be playing a non league side in the cup for the first time in about 50 years.

I do not know Leanne personally but she comes across as an intelligent well spoken person. If she did indeed make these comments and in that manner, then you are right Rory - not the way to get people onside. Several 000 pounds is a lot of money to the Locos, hell it is a lot of money to Motherwell FC. Inverurie had the luck of the home draw and they should reap the associated benefits. That said I cannot help thinking that somewhere along the line more could have been doen to get this game on beforehand. Not every postponement, but there appear to be days where there was no pitch protection at all.

Spot on Kmcalpin. It is a blizzard in Edinburgh right now and the forecast on BBC this morning was for substantial snow to fall at all points between Perth, Dundee and Aberdeen this afternoon. That means it will be a hazardous journey for most Well fans and more importantly the Team! How ironic that I sat last Wednesday morning in Aberdeen on a beautiful sunny day and the game was called off and yet the country is wrapped in a blizzard and this game may get the go ahead today! You could not make it up.

If that does happen then there is one racing certainty. The Motherwell crowd would shrink from the 400 or so that will still travel (despite 4 postponements) to less than 200 when the game eventually gets the go ahead. As much as this is history for me (playing a non-league side in the Cup) and I try NEVER to miss any Scottish cup tie - I would even consider getting a refund if I took a half day, got to Aberdeen only for the game to be cancelled

So far almost every time I have heard Cormie or whomever from Inverurie say the game will most probably go ahead - guess what it has NOT! I have all but given up on Monday/Wednesday this week given the weather forecast as I cannot see how it can be any better than last midweek. It would be so predictable if the game was therefore to go ahead tomorrow evening as I am hoping it will not for many reasons. To be honest I am so fed up that the thought of a long drive up north tomorrow through bad weather is not in the least bit appealing. I have been up for every other game and prepared in mind to travel. So as I said sod's law that the game does go ahead. My preference now would be for the Saturday.

"Cardiff City's bid to sign Motherwell striker Chris Porter has been on hold until after the weekend". Better not be too long after the weekend - the transfer window closes on Monday!