Kmcalpin

One of our Group is looking for a ticket. Please PM me if anyone has one or is likley to obtain one. Thanks.

Its not unreasonable to expect that a club might close down for a day or two at New Year, agreed. However, in the past no-one from MFC has publicly said what was going on in this kind of situation. This has led some posters to start lambasting MFC for not doing enough..."Why isn't MFC trying to get more tickets...anything MFC is involved in is a shambles." As a result the club has taken stick unfairly for situations outwith its contol (as we all know of course there's also occasions when it has deserved criticism). More openness can only be a good thing.

Where was this quote taken from?

Great to see some openness Flow. In the past this is just the sort of situation that some would have got torn into MFC for. Yes, we've suffered from poor communication but its not all one way. Running a football club isn't easy.

Totally agree big man. The Inverurie ticketing arrangements were a good example. The club showed some initiative in holding back tickets until last Saturday morning. That allowed some of our group from Fife to travel through early for 08.15 to queue for tickets. The only downside was that they had to hang around for over 6 hours until KO. Thats all we've ever asked for - a fair chance of securing tickets. You're right that no arrangement could ever be 100% satisfactory.

An excellent point and one which I was thinking about earlier today. Its not a case of weaning these characters away from Ibrox or Parkhead but out of their armchairs. We must improve the matchday experience to attract them. The club is doing alot through schools initiatives and this must continue. However, this should be extended to those who live outside of Lanarkshire. I know of several families who would bring their youngsters along if the package was right. Other points in brief: * A winning team increases attendances * Prices need to be reduced dramatically especially for non OF games * Better treatment of season ticket holders * Improved admin & ticketing arrangements * Fans need to be encouraged to spend more of their cash at FP as opposed to other local establishments * A real effort needs to be made to attract back lapsed fans * Return the Cooper Stand to Well fans (I've changed my view on this) * Market the club more aggressively to incomers to the area A lot of ideas there many of which others have mentioned. As a first step the club needs to get together with the fans starting with a clean slate. In some ways if it gets the basics right then the rest might follow. Not an easy task but it can be done.

As Andy P rightly says we should always try to improve the club and take it onto a further level. I think its wrong just to focus on the tight boundaries of Motherwell itself, which has a population I'd guess of around 30,000/35,000. We should also include Wishaw, Craigneuk, Holytown, Carfin, Newarthill, Cambusnethan, Overtown and Newmains. This takes us above other settlements such as Hamilton, Ayr, Kirkcaldy and Kilmarnock. You can then add in other towns like Allanton, Shotts, Bellshill, Uddingston, Lanark, Carluke. In short we should have a catchment area of around 180,000 which isn't far off the population of the former Motherwell District Council. Traditionally we've also drawn support from other places like Hamilton, Larkhall, East Ayrshire and West Lothian. In short the population base is there to support a top six club. Of course you then have to factor in the ever growing influence of the dreaded OF and make no mistake it is growing. That said the draw of English Premiership clubs is beginning to impinge on their potential support but that is of little consolation to MFC. How do we grow the fanbase? That's the subject of another post but its very complex.

Sure, I don't like the phrase Flow, but you're right of course. Just a point though about Hearts' wage levels. If true, they're a good bit above what I'd heard, but they'd be way above what even Aberdeen or Hibs could fork out. They'd be on a par with lesser lights with the OF. In one word - unsustainable.

The fact that the Trust owns shares in no way compromises its position. If anything it strengthens it. Shareholders do not have to agree with any company and quite often disagree. If you've ever been to AGMs at FP you'd know what I mean. Martin Rose was a personal appointment of John Boyle to the Board and does not represent the Trust on it and in fairness he has never claimed this. Your quote about the Trust was taken from the Official MFC website and not that of the Trust. The club cannot speak on behalf of the Trust and likewise the Trust cannot speak on behalf the club.

Thats a very tall order indeed, and we'd have trouble in finding an individual who could represent all the fans' views. As a support we're very diverse and you'd always find at least a few who wouldn't agree with the majority. I know quite a few Well fans, as we all do of course and I can't think of any one without some kind of agenda.

For someone whose interest in the Dossers has been "nominal" Emmjay, you are remarkably perceptive and many will no doubt think you've a very keen understanding of what is going on. A good thought provoking post.

Quote from the Official Site "In addition to the fresh faces, Vice-captain Keith Lasley was kept out of the side by Maros Klimpl."

I can't agree. IF, Klimpl proves to be a solution for midfield, and its a big if IMHO, then Keith would be the one to drop out. He (Keith) is an excellent man marker - maybe the best we've seen at FP for many, many years but no more no less. He lacks pace and has never ever been a box to box player. In most games Hughes would be the natural partner for Klimpl given that he's faster and more creative than Keith. You might change that if its a backs to the wall job though. Unless Keith was unfit yesterday, and given MMcG's comments that doesn't seem to be the case, then he was dropped in favour of Klimpl.

Charlie Richmond got this key decision totally and utterly wrong. Adam Rooney committed not 1, not 2 but 3 clear fouls in the lead up. Richmond ignored all 3 but chose to give the last, albeit blatant, one committed by Stephen Craigan.

Good to get a win today especially over a close rival. We played some decent football too, especially in the first half. That said its the first time in months we've been able to (Craigan back, Clarkson up front, O'Brien playing wider tight, more pace in midfield). The big difference today was a pacier, more mobile and wider engine room. We were never going to hold Inverness to a solitary goal and so it turned out. I felt desperately sorry for the lads at the penalty. There were 4 fouls on the trot in the lead up to the penalty and Charlie Richmond, in his infinite wisdom, chose only to give the last one. He saw fit to ignore the first three by Adam Rooney. ICT proved once again proved that we need to add much more physical presence to our squad as they bullied and knoocked us about for 90 minutes.

He had a good first half but faded badly in the second. Granted his crossing was nothing to write home about. However I'd make three points. Firstly he wasn't match fit - how many 90 minutes has he put in so far? Usually he's come on as a sub with 15 minutes to go. Secondly he added much needed width and pace to the team. Thirdly, is this the first time he's been played in his correct position of wide right midfield?

Coach has had a bad year and a large measure of bad luck but maybe hasn't helped his own cause at times. However he's paid the price and its time to move on and look forward to 2009. He can and will play a lot better in his proper position at right back. He was also badly handled by Mark McGhee in the summer. I agree we should restore the captaincy to him. Go on Paul!

Its all very well to say that we should play silky soccer, andI'm desperate for that too, but the hard fact is that we don't have the all the players we require to do it. Up FRONT we could have Murphy, Porter and Clarkson and thats fine in theory. However how many times this term have we played Clarkson or Murphy as out and out strikers? They need service. With the exception of Stephen Hughes who has been poor for whatever reason this season we really have no-one in the engine room to provide width, pace or creativity - exactly the service our front guys need. When we try to play decent soccer on the deck our breaks out of defence are at snail's pace and totally ineffective against rows of organised defenders. In short our current options are very limited indeed.

I don't disagree in principle but the problem is that we don't really have much of an alternative. Our midfield has no box-to-box type or pace or width. Breaks out of defence take place at snail's pace. Maybe a front three of Murphy, Clarkson and Porter with the long ball over the defence to turn them?

Couldn't agree more. In the past 2 games I've feared the worst as soon as the team sheet has been made public. Again, some unfathomable decisions with too many players needlessly out of position. We're also paying dearly for bad decision making in the summer. Certainly, injuries are not helping but many of our problems are long term. Mark McGhee rightly took plaudits last year but now that things are going badly he must take responsiblity. We're plainly on a downward spiral and he seems unable to do anything it. The most worrying thing is that we're now in a dogfight, without the ability to fight.

Again, looking at the team sheet, you have to ask where the ammunition for our strikers is going to come from.

Do we still have 11 players on the pitch? No red cards yet?

Well, with that line up no-one should be surprised if we can't score. No creativity or pace in midfield. Long balls OVER the defence maybe? Hope I'm wrong.

Thanks for being so candid Flow. As you know securing tickets for fans living a good distance away has been a long running problem for me and many other fans. Indeed I've just emailed Leeanne about that. I accept your explanation about the inherent difficulties and am prepared to leave it for the foreseeable future as long as I know the issue is being dealt with. I'm sure however there are ways to get round that and no doubt you'll identify them ie set up a database of fans living more than say 20 miles from the ground. These fans could then get telephone/online access (but not preference) in games where tickets are in short supply). I knowthat telephone calls can be very frustrating - I spent something like 25 minutes last week trying to explain to a colleague an extremely important instruction. Without such interruptions it would have taken perhaps 1 minute.

Exactly Wee Yins. A most peculiar statement from the SPL. Surely its the nature of the problem that is the important issue here and not the number of times games have been postponed recently? Last season, most if not all our cancellations were the result of poor drainage. On this basis, and in theory, games put off due to high winds would also be taken into account. This year its a frozen pitch. Now I could understand it if MFC was deemed to be negligent in some way i.e. there has been a recurring technical problem which the club has ignored or the club has not switched the USH on at all on several occasions. A further investigation may well be warranted but the SPL's published justification doesn't hold water (pardon the pun).