Kmcalpin

Yes for shopping perhaps, unless the games moved to Fir Park which is extremely unlikely.

We'll have to wait and see if any £400,000 deal actually goes through. However assuming any fee was £400,000, and this would probably never be made public, my first question would be not so much how much cash Mark McGhee would get but how much cash MFC would get. Don't forget VAT is payable and the player himself might receive a healthy wad.

Very, very true. If press reports are to be believed, pubs & clubs are going through a hard time just now. The FP club does indeed need to wake up to the inevitable fact that when MFC moves to pastures new, custom on match days and hence income will be decimated. There will be a day of reckoning. The only way ahead for it is to talk to MFC nicely. Burying its head in the Jurassic sands will inevitably lead to extinction.

As some have said the Fir Park Club, or whatever it was called formerly, used to be located in the POD Stand. They used to make a substantial donation to MFC in those days. MFC then built a sports centre/squash club in Edward Street. This venture was indeed a white elephant. The social club and MFC then fell out as I recall and the sports centre was converted and sold to the now Fir Park Club. Since then I've never been too sure what the connection, if indeed there is any at all, is between the Fir Park Club and MFC. What we do know is that the FP club numbers many Well fans in its membership and that it profits greatly from games at Fir Park. In my opinion is this a very strange situation. I know many died in the wool Dossers who won't give MFC a penny in cash (ie drinks or snacks or whatever) and prefer to frequent the FP club. All very strange. Now it seems ludicrous to me as an "outsider" how this situation has been allowed to arise. On one hand the FP Club feeds off MFC but on the other doesn't seem to contribute a penny. Many fans, including myself, have been calling for MFC to increase its income and this seems a lot of cash lost. MFC must lose thousands of pounds a year. I've asked several FP club members why they won't spend their beer money in the Cooper and received a range of odd answers ranging from the quality of the beer (including bottles) to the fact that they resent giving MFC, whom they support, an extra penny. All very odd. Am I missing something here? Can someone explain?

No, not to my knowledge.

It may have been 2 or 3 players for each of the last 3 years Jim. The site has sponsored one player this year, through the sterling efforts of the Brazilian.

Certainly the outlook for Wednesday doesn't look good at all. The pitch has to completely defrost before then, and thats assuming no more sub zero temperatures. If it doesn't, any water will simply lie on top. The way I understand it there is absolutely no pressure being placed on Locos and the game will be played at Harlaw Park when its played and not before. If its after the next round, a week on Saturday, then so be it.

I can see where you're coming from Andy but many travelling fans who are working will want to know asap today. Not everyone can change holiday arrangements at 2/3 hours notice. It may also take time to contact folk. Hope I'm wrong but what I took out of yesterday's announcement was that the pitch wasn't playable yesterday but given good overnight temperatures (which there don't seem to have been) might be playable today. Doesn't look good.

I can't really say I'm surprised. Most of the press reports I've read of the game today are written from a Falkirk perspective. Currently the Bairns seem to have taken over Partick Thistle's mantle (to some extent) as media darlings. John Hughes has definitely taken over John Lambie's position as a real character and the manager that all footie fans love listening to. Whatever else you might say about Falkirk they have always had a very slick media machine

That was my understanding too Joe. That said I would feel a bit guilty about taking sponsorship or some financial support from the Trust if A) I was not a member or B) was not a member and was criticising it in public. You can't have it both ways. Maybe also the name should be changed if its still WellTrust FC. The football team is a great thing but it must decide its position.

Just shows how folk see things differently. I thought he had a good game and made about 2 errors in the whole match (both poor crosses), for which he was loudly and unfairly lambasted by some. His charges up and down our right flank caused Falkirk a lot of trouble. He was still going strong at full time. Says a lot for his fitness levels. It also says something when opposition managers concentrate their fire on our left flank.

Spot on Flow. I also recall the Hearts team of the same era when Alex MacDonald was in charge there too. Totally ruthless football - just do what it takes to secure the 3 points. There were 2 simple rules that were drummed into that Hearts team 1) Just do it - I don't want to know how. 2) Don't get caught One particular game at Fir Park that I recall - Ally Maxwell was defying them in goals when the order went out to crock him and they did just that. Someone - Neil Berry/Gary Mackay? went in with a high & late challenge and almost broke his leg. Still they won the 3 points. Nuff said.

I would not want us to play like Falkirk did yesterday, ever, irrespective of our league position. Now I've always been an advocate of having a physical presence in our side but what we saw yesterday went way beyond that. It amounted to physical violence and a "stop them at all costs" mentality. Vicious tackles, elbows in the face and forearm smashes will never be acceptable to me either on a football pitch or anywhere else ouside of a boxing ring or marshall arts arena. John Hughes had a duty to take action against the culprits but for whatever reason chose not to do so. Perhaps the list of Falkirk's failed red card appeals tells its own story. Players like Morgano Gomis and Russell Latapy are/were very physical and their skill belies a great physical presence. If they hit you, or you hit them, you know all about it - but its fair. I agree with you though on the referee - his complete lack of authority from the point of Kevin McBride's lunge on Stevie Hammell simply encouraged the thugs and louts. That didn't mean to say though that Falkirk were forced to take advantage of that. They could simply have chosen to play fair but hard. My one crumb of comfort was that Patrick Cregg wasn't playing - that would have added injury to insult.

Darren Barr, for one, was very fortunate to remain on the pitch today and not just for poleaxing Stevie Hammell. He also lashed out with his arm at either Marc Fitzpatrick or Keith Lasley (I can't recall which one) in front of the POD Stand. It was certainly far worse than Davie Clarkson's raised arm against Celtic at Parkhead when he was red carded.

I thought Falkirk were shocking today and the referee merely served to encourage them them by failing to clamp down on their nasty tactics. Certainly the dirtiest side I've seen at FP this season. Perhaps John Hughes' pre match comments on officials put the ref under pressure. Once again Falkirk still haven't produced the flowing football the media claims they are capable of. Still overall I'm happy with a point given it was day on which little was ever going to go right. Its the kind of game we've usually lost in the past. The pitch was awful and was cut up badly even before kick off. Once again another manager (even John Hughes) is able to detect a weakness down our left side. We were unlucky though when Stevie Hammell had to retire and that upset the midfield balance. Some reasonable performances but Klimpl and Quinn had decent enough games.

No worse than Keith Lasley or Stephen Hughes I suspect. All 3 are right footed players. Likewise I wouldn't expect Marc Fitzpatrick or Steve Hammell to be accomplished crossers from the right.

I doubt if they'd get free rent Neil and why should they. Normally speaking in such games the "income", including season ticket monies (if applicable), is split 3 ways. A third is deducted for costs, including ground expenses, policing etc and the remainder is then divided in two. If MFC didn't charge ground rent then it would be looking at a substantial financial loss for the game.

But do they really play good football? Many folk, especially in the media say this. Any time I've seen them in recent times though they haven't exactly turned on the silky soccer. All too often they've relied on the long ball to man mountain Michael Higdon. Against us in their recent 1-0 victory at Falkirk they were pretty dull and uninspiring. Still maybe I've undersold them and they'll turn on the style on Saturday.

Andy - I'm as brassed off as anybody about the cancellations but we had buses scheduled to leave Lanarkshire today at 1.30 and 2pm. Cancellations are costly. Those taking time off work need to get prepared to travel. I would have said that the latest that any inspection should have taken place was 9 am this morning but preferrably yesterday. The team bus would also have needed to leave early. Its also quite possible that the air temperature would be above freezing but that the ground would be frozen. Also the surface can be ok but but be hard underneath. We just don't know. Anyway, you have to trust the referee in thse situations.

Don't know much about him but seemingly he's 6-3 tall.

I honestly don't know the overall effect of all these transactions - we'll have to wait for the AGM in 2010 for that I'd guess. However, things aren't quite as simple as you might think. On the plus side we received a small fee for Alan Martin of course. On the debit side, we splashed out on Steve Hammell. Don't forget though we received NOTHING from Faddy's sell-on clause as it all went to creditors. Euro money - I don't know if the club would break even given the reduced gate prices. Stephen Hughes and Chris Porter will be on substantial salaries. Last but not least we've had some extremely expensive pitch repairs to undertake and these will have run into 5 if not 6 figures.

Many fans say this but was he? Contacts at Glentoran warned us he was talented but very inconsistent and would play very well in about 1 game out of every 3 or 4 and be anonymous in the others. This view was subsequently verified by the then management at Fir Park.

Much has to do with the fact that season ticket probably weren't valid for these games.

I was a member of the Trust Board for several years and am still a member of the Trust. Given that I think I can see arguments on both sides. I can honestly say that the Trust Board members put in a lot of hard work for no personal gain. Yes, I admit some fans do have issues with various things such as Martin's position. If folk feel so strongly about that or other issues then join up and fight for change. No point in sniping from the sidelines. Be a "positive pest". The more folk who join up the more credibility and influence the Trust will have. Its not always easy for the Trust Board to gauge opinion of the members - originally the Cooper Stand issue split the membership and I well recall some members resigning when some support was offered for a No campaign. Folk shouldn't assume that all fans agree with them. Fans like Frazzle, Speedie, JWOK etc have my admiration for the voluntary work they put in. As I keep on saying if you don't like then join up and change it.

A dangerous trap to fall into Lip but one into which we've all fallen into at some time. We have all shades of opinion and none in our support.