Welldaft Mk1

At the start of the season he showed promise and i was quite excited about his future promise. He has showed in fits and starts but he has also been the poorest player on the pitch at times. We will stick with him and hopefully he can raise his game. It was not that long ago he set up a belter of a goal for Anier at Tannadice. That was sublime and shows he has ability.

There are a wide cross section of Motherwell fans and their ability to pay for Season Tickets, Away games, Cup games and Euro jaunts. Most cannot afford to do all of the above and that is a shame as most would like to do all of the above. I have cut back on away games so I can give a little bit more to the club through hospitality and go to European games. Sadly it is the by product of being successful that we have all these extra games to choose from. I sincerely hope we have 3 home Euro games this year. Probably more likely to 2 at best.

In summary a few fans on here want to watch a team finish runners up and regularly compete in Europe BUT When the club make it clear they need some help to balance the books they moan like (in some cases) normal. £25 for 2nd qualifying round is a little steep but as has been pointed out it is still only slightly more than a run of the mill SPL game. Season ticket prices have been frozen for quite a while now and is one the key reasons why we are running such a loss. Any way you cut it - it still works out as a good price v pay at the gate. Giving fans a free cup game cost the club over £50k when they had to settle with Aberdeen last year. All these things add up. One thing is for sure. Were the club to cut the budget instead of trying to raise a little extra income, the playing squad would weaken and we would drop down the league. Some knickers wetters on here would go into meltdown and conveniently forget they were bitching about an extra fiver not that long ago....

Great shape but boring Unlike last summer the players we have re-signed are either starting their careers or in the case of Lasley, Hammell and McManus winding their careers down. That is NOT a slight as all 3 were v good for us last year and there is no reason they will not be again next season. Last summer we had a team of players that had the potential to play for bigger clubs and earn more. Ojamma, Randolph, Humphrey, Higdon & Law etc. The only two that fall into that bracket this summer are Hutch and Ainsworth. And guess what the likely outcomes there will be. Hutch is off but I suspect Ainsworth may be also depending on offers he receives. We have Josh Law and Twardzik and maybe one or two others. But that will be that in terms of new blood. You would hope that will give us good start in terms of preparation. United are actively looking to hoover up the best young talent in Scotland. I suspect this will continue to pay dividends in terms of transfer fees but whether they are too young to compete consistently - time will tell. I suspect this also has something to do with the wealthy fans that cleared United debts in return for share in future transfer fees. A road we may end up going down......

Or from internally. I am quite sure the club thought we may see a wee boost in season ticket sales and attendances. But it did not materialise. Q is would we have kept Kalum Higginbotham if Faddy had not signed. Bit of an ar*e but by far and away Thistle best player towards the end of last season. I for one was happy to see Faddy back in claret and amber. Wish him well....

Time to bump this thread up since we are now into June. After missing out on our now annual Euro jaunt last year I am hopeful the draw will be a little kinder this year ! The unseeded teams who we could potentially face are listed below based on higher ranked seeded sides progressing from 1st Qualifying round. Question is who will wait for the hoped for prospect of the 3rd qualifying round before making a trip. In all honesty there are not that many attractive teams/destinations. I assume we cannot play either Aberdeen or St Johnstone. Would be great if we could get Wales or Ireland in this round although require a large slice of luck. Could potentially end up playing either Mypa 47 or Flumartari for second time. Would be the 1st time we have drawn a side we have played in Europe before! Shakhtior Saligorsk Bls 5.225 Spartak Trnava * Svk 5.200 Differdange 03 * Lux 4.975 RNK Split * Cro 4.925 ETO Györ h*n 4.825 St. Johnstone Sco 4.813 Linfield Belfast * Nir 4.475 Inter Baku * Azb 4.325 Pyunik Yerevan * Arm 4.325 Aberdeen * Sco 4.313 Siroki Brijeg * Bos 4.250 Botev Plovdiv * Bul 4.125 Honka Espoo * Fin 3.935 Sligo Rovers * Irl 3.775 Zawisza Bydgoszcz Pol 3.775 Neman Grodno Bls 3.725 Birkirkara * Mlt 3.716 MFK Kosice Svk 3.700 Buducnost Podgorica * Mon 3.700 FC Vaduz * Lie 3.650 MK Jagodina * Srb 3.575 NK Koper * Slo 3.450 Bangor City * Wal 3.350 IF Brommapojkarna * Swe 3.265 AS Trencín * Svk 3.200 Nova Gorica Slo 3.200 Zimbru Chisinau * Mol 3.075 MyPa-47 * Fin 2.935 FK Haugesund * Nor 2.855 Kalju Nomme * Est 2.825 Ferencváros * h*n 2.825 Daugava Daugavpils * Lat 2.750 Jeunesse d'Esch * Lux 2.725 Rudar Velenje * Slo 2.700 FK Kukësi * Alb 2.600 Metalurg Skopje * Mac 2.550 Chikhura Sachkhere * Geo 2.475 KS Flamurtari Vlorë * Alb 2.350 FC Tiraspol * Mol 2.325 RoPS Rovaniemi Fin 1.435

Never heard it called ethos before

I am sure if you win the Euromillions tonite you can make it happen, otherwise not a chance in hell. If Lasley and Ainsworth re-sign then at best you are looking at one more addition if any. At the moment we still have 3 keepers and an ever declining pot of money to p1ss in..

You still not letting on who the "potential" 3rd strip sponsor/player could be ?? Since it is silly season - i will say Ojamma

That does sound like a load of rubbish. It was a team effort. He may have scored the goal. Unless he has other options lined up (which he may have) and as long as we have have offered a reasonable contract then I would expect him to sign.. In the unlikely event it is true, then I don't expect he will be signing..

Obviously not performance related then. That would suggest he is/would be going no-where with a year left on his contract... Can you see any other club willing to take him on. His penalty save against Celtic was fantastic and he was OK in his last few games, but.........

I did not think we could afford to bring Higdon back...... Before you all get excited - I am having a WILD stab in the dark as to who Brazilian is referring to with his smilies above....

I think it is even more simple than that. McCall sets out his sides to attack rather than defend. that means we are open to teams hitting us on the counter attack like United. Our 2 most defensive displays were away at Pittodrie . And guess what we won both 1-0. It shows that we are capable of defending when McCall sets us up to do that.

Ever the voice of reason So effectively you are saying he is a bombscare. maybe he was actually a decent keeper. But then it is not your style to see any positives in anything. Christ knows why I take the bait

Dave you strike me as a sensible guy. Twardzik may turn out to be another Gunnar. BUT he has played 5 games for Motherwell and that has resulted in 5 wins and 3 clean sheets. Small period granted but that IS a better record than either Randolph and Ruddy. I was at the Thistle game when his save stopped us from going 2-0 down. I was impressed with his distribution and it allowed us to attack regularly. I am pleased with this sigming and he will get my full support. It depresses me when i read people criticising him already. We are surely better than that?

I have a serious question. Just when will some fans on this message board realise that wewill not sign world class players because they tend to cost 10's of millions of pounds. Anyone who criticizes Twardzik after his brief spell last season needs a serious wake up call. He is under 6 foot. Really - well we had a keepr over 6 ft that was not too good at dealing with crosses either. i fuckin despair sometimes

He will end up at Hibs

That would divide the support. Steelboy would implode. Me I was sorry to see him go. Doubt it though, as i would suspect that would mean Ainsworth not signing for us or another midfielder gone after Josh Law signed.

Even they cant get it right with the article link posted ! Unless it was a typo - the statement reads 2. For 2013/14 we currently anticipate a loss moderately in excess of five figures for the year. Yet STV post in excess of 6 figures

Perhaps but this our problem. Hearts got 8000 fans to sign up for their appeal. But that was because their club was going bust. We sign up less than 1000 because we did not appear under any real financial threat or pressure. The truth is quite a simple one. We are maintaining our budget this season because to make a meaningful cut of say £500k would see us plunge down the table. But it will only take one really bad season before we are/were up sh1t creek without a paddle. Losing 2 home games v Rangers costs the club £300,000 in gate receipts and hospitality. Glad that club are where they are, but with no sponsorship, gates not increasing - the financial reality for the club is bleak. They need to seek investment or we will run into trouble sooner or later

The Well Society was well thought out and actually quite well marketed at the time. Of course it is a donation to the football club - but I along with many others are OK with that. I know I wont see any money back and nor do I expect to. The reality is that £1.5m was always a bit ambitious as their target for higher levels of membership were no where near reached. Imagine 10 Steelmen packages at £25k, almost the equivalent of 1000 basic packages. It is disappointing that we have less than 1000 members, but that is not a slight on those who have decided not to join. Money is still tight and many have other real financial commitments like paying the bills and mortgages etc. Reading between the lines the club will have to go elsewhere for investment. That will ultimately jeopardise any chance of fan ownership and is hardly surprising. It also highlights what we already know. Those in charge of the SPFL have failed to increase revenue by attracting sponsorship or agreeing deals to subsidise BT sports!! In truth as much as I blame Doncaster and Co I also think Sky and BT are taking the p1ss. Whilst we and other clubs in Scottish football are toiling Cardiff get £65m for finishing bottom and Stoke get £10m per televised game this past season. Not only that Skybet sponsor the football leagues down south. I wish we had an alternative. I would imagine our subscriber numbers are healthier per head of population than down south. We are not the draw the EPL is and there is not the same re-sale value overseas, but we are being sold short. That much is VERY true

Perfectly entitled to get my underwear fankled Not much more too it other than McCall did say in his post match interview that Reid had been offered a 2 year deal. This was not said in jest. Lasley joked about a 5 yr contract in his post match interview. Glad McManus re-signed and surprised that Faddy is off. The rest we shall wait and see

Would be happy to keep Craig Reid and I think most on here agree. Strange then that McCall said after the Aberdeen match he had been offered a 2 year deal and here we are over a week later and nada. That plus Reid knew nothing of any contract offer judging by his post match comments. Wishful thinking on McCalls part ??? Silence is deafening....

What position does he play - Van Zanten that is? Not sure about a player that St Mirren have let go. Clancy proved an exception, but would not imagine we will be so lucky all the time...

Don't mind admitting I am a little upset at this news. Do I think he did enough this season to warrant another year - not really. Do I think he is a great fan of the club and got us the most money since Uncle Phil - yes I do. I wish him all the very best. Probably one of the few former players were he to return would get a hero's welcome whatever.