DC'd

No need to worry about Sutton, he still has another season on his contract. McGhee signed him on a 3yr deal, at the start of last season.

We wouldn't be that far later. As say for example we clinch 5th, and the finalists have already claimed a European place, then we would take roll of the Runners-Up, as we all know. But, that means teams who finished 3rd and 4td automatically start later in the competition. And we would begin at the same round as Falkirk did last year (Vaduz of Leichtenstein/Switzerland). Which was the 2nd Qualifying Round and that was when we played Flamurtari, so basically we'd be starting a fortnight after our first leg against Llanelli last season. Although, with a World Cup this year, it could well be pushed back by another week or two. Basically, we wouldn't be that much later than we did this season.

Saving those annual leave days for the Europa League 10/11..

Yeah, the logistics of getting one set up for a Fri/Sat would seem unlikely. And as such I'd have to give it a miss. If it were to be arranged for Fri-Sun then I'd be there.

Sounds a good plan Gaag. Would certainly be interested in getting a team together. May struggle to fill the full 6 spaces. Dont know that many people that play Poker you see (of any sort of standard). But, if say we limited it to 4 per group. And had a fast blind structure so that games didn't take too long. And could perhaps vary the format e.g. a series of heads-up matches between teams, 6-max tables, and full tables. Basically just mixing it round. And with quick blinds it works as a Round Robin format. I am sure officepoker.net (based in Edinburgh) do it something similar to what I have mentioned. And with only 4 per group, the winnings per head increase (only slightly mind you). Whatever the decision, gimme a shout.

I am sure he said there was personal circumstances hampered his time with Accies, and he really couldn't do himself justice. And as such returned to Reading without a deal, basically to sort things out. Possibly a family bereavement at the time, certainly non-footballing related problems.

Un-fuckin-stoppable.

The Steelmen Online Champion may make an appearance..

DC for me, bang in the middle.

According to the Sky Sports News Info Box, we now have agreed to keep Ruddy and Jutkiewicz until the end of Feb instead of Jan.

Calderwood has always achieved results, and knows the SPL game inside out. He appears to have genuine contacts through in Holland to try and discover one or two decent players (something he managed at Aberdeen/Dunfermline unlike McGhee always claimed for us). Took both Aberdeen and Dunfermline to Europe via league position and took both very far in the Cup competitions. His footballing style was not always great, and infuriating at times (especially the Mulgrew game) where they camped in there own half and then snatched all 3 points with 5mins to go. But, I am sure the travelling fans weren't moaning on the long way home about the "anti-football" - they travelled for a result - and they got one. In the SPL style and quality comes secondary and as a bonus to any result we achieved. If we wanted style and quality all the time we'd support Barca or Arsenal - we don't and we have to make-do with the odd bit here and there, when things are going well. Calderwood may not be liked by most, but his record in the SPL speaks for itself.

They have given Houston the next 4 games to prove himself. Assuming he does an okay job he will be offered it full time. Even if he fails to prove himself in those 4 games, perhaps gives us the edge to nip in ahead of them and get our preferred choice.

When comparing individual players in each position, there are few if any that they actually can beat us in for quality. This perhaps with a slightly biased opinion: GK - Weaver or Ruddy - Both are arguably the best 'keepers in the league bar perhaps the OF two. Weaver may shade it with experience, but shot stopping there is little between the two. RB - Kovacevic/Dillon or Moutouakil - Due to the differing opinion on here about Yassin, then perhaps United will shade it. Kovacevic seems decent defensively but hopeless attacking, whereas Dillon seems the opposite. Possible Utd's weakest position and little better than Yassin if at all. CB - Dods/Wilkie/Webster or Saunders/Hutchinson/Craigan/Reynolds - With Webster/Wilkie both extremely injury prone. The three of them are all bit brute's, that are there to clear the ball with very little skill involved, whereas we have the finesse of Reynolds/Hutch/Saunders and combined with the experience of Craigan. We all know how good our 3 young defenders can be, and high-end Championship/low Premiership awaits if their development is continued, same can't be said for United's. LB - Dixon or Hammell - Both provide a good set piece and there forte is there crossing ability. Both of which are very comparable, and defensively there is little to choose from the pair of them. MF - Swanson/Gomis/Buaben/Conway/Myrie-Williams or Forbes/Hateley/Coke/Jennings/O'Brien - Most of United's trio picked up from the SFL and contribute very little on the whole to United's goals column, whereas Forbes is almost approaching double figures for the season. And we have seen how excellent Hateley has been for us this season. And Myrie-Williams runs around like a headless chicken, whereas his opponent in O'Brien has contributed far greater with his penalties that he has won and free kicks etc (obviously still debateable about his final ball) but can safely say he has been far superior to Myrie-Williams/Swanson. ST - Daly or Sutton - Sutton has proved himself in the SPL (mainly with Dundee & St Midden), Daly has done very little bar being injury prone for United. Both, big guys and I'd much rather Sutton in my team than Daly. ST - Cadamarteri or Jutkiewicz - Totally different types of strikers, but Cadamarteri hasn't kicked a ball in nearly a decade since first breaking through at Everton, whereas far more recently Everton thought enough to pay a mill for Lukas. And well bar hitting a double on his debut, hasn't really kicked a ball for Utd either. Jutkiewicz with a far better goal return this season. AMC/ST - Goodwillie or Murphy - Very similar types of players, albeit Murphy has to do a more unaccustomed role in playing wide right or behind the strikers, whereas Goodwillie can play right up top in his natural position. Both, with good pace, both in the U21 set-up (where Murphy has outscored Goodwillie) and both good with the ball at there feet. Very little between the two. So, I struggle to see where United are "overwhelmingly" better than us, in ANY position?

Both club and player have to agree to any termination of a pre-contract agreement. This was all provoked around the time of Boumsong's move to Rangers. He was the first notable player to come into our league with this sort of deal. He agreed to move from Auxerre in the January, despite interest from Liverpool, a couple of clubs from both Serie A and La Liga. He agreed the £40k-a-week deal at Rangers, and come March realised that he could now gain comparable wages as one of the above mentioned clubs interest in him had increased, despite him signing the deal. He then went along all possible avenues to try and get himself out the deal, but understandably Rangers refused and as such he became a Rangers player and lasted just the 6 months before moving on to Newcastle. So, there is loopholes to get out of these sorts of contracts, but helluva unlikely.

True, but for every Molloy, Keegan and Murphy there may well be another Kevin Doyle lurking..

To be fair, it may be like most clubs that allow a period of time off during an International Break, and Gannon and Motherwell may seem that this is a good time for him to have a small period off to spend down in Cheshire, before resuming training etc before our next match. Especially with a section of the team either on International duty with U21's, U19s, N.Ireland etc. Good time for him to have one or two days off. And therefore could be a legitimate reason for the delay in any word from Gannon.

Well so far every single claim that has been made on this thread, which one can be backed up with any sort of evidence? 1. He never travelled with the team - Pure speculation. 2. He travelled to Brighton for an interview - Two newspapers speculated that he was in the frame, but only posters on here that claimed he was interviewed. 3. He refused to speak to the media due to a hidden motive - again speculation, he could just have taken himself out the equation so he didn't say anything he regretted. 4. He is on a month-to-month contract - There has been no mention of this anywhere prior to this thread and the only evidence so far points to a 2/3 year deal. 5. He is taking a percentage of transfer fee's, similar to what was reported with his time at Stockport - no-one here will know the in's and out's of his contract situation. So, basically everything that has been mentioned is either rumour or speculation, until there is sufficient evidence to back it up with.

Precisely, everything mentioned on this thread is complete hearsay and total speculation. Like you say, he refused due to the inept performance despite having a numerical advantage for the majority of the game. He also would not have wanted to incriminate himself by slaughtering the referee (Craig Thomson) on Public Radio - not that I thought Thomson's performance was particularly bad (certainly no worse than the horrific refereeing display against Hearts last season at FP). That and he was certainly annoyed at some of the comments made from the BBC, prior to kick-off - and yes he refused to speak to them - well so does Alex Ferguson. I am sure Man United fans aren't questioning SAF's "hidden agenda".. So, far there has been no mention from Motherwell, Gannon nor Brighton about talks being held. It was two newspaper stories that were probably recycled his name from previous managerial searches and assumed he'd be approached again this time around. And well since when did we ever believe anything from The Sun? And well, if he wasn't on the team-bus on the way to New Douglas Park (still just speculation - nothing to back this up with bar a couple of rumours). Then is that such a big deal? He was there to orchestrate the team-talk prior to the match, speak to the media pre-match, there for the game, made his tactical changes at the break (albeit with hindsight were poor decisions). Clearly we have a relaxed system about travel to/from matches, afterall Las and Sutton were both spotted right after the Full Time whistle travelling back themselves from Parkhead the other week.

James Wesolowski, ex-Dundee United/Leicester City.

Reynolds for me. Supported well, unlucky on a couple of occasions. And bar being offside once and one extremely over-hit cross, he contributed very well. Nobody else really excelled for the full 90mins. Credit to O'Brien for his first half, and Saunders at times was very effective but has to be questioned over the goals conceded. Lukas contributed very well and was probably 2nd choice and deserved his late goal.

Did Pompey ask Buzz to collaborate with Canterbury for their goalie top as well, seeing as David James also where the identical version for Pompey?

That no Dougie Imrie? Black had signed a pre-contract with them back in January..

Lukas for me, could have been either of the front two. As they pretty much won everything that was launched to them. Sutton won basically every knock-on and Lukas held the ball up successfully and looked threatening with his runs and very rarely lost possession. Several intelligent runs throughout the game to open up the space for the attacking midfielders. Particularly for Coke's shot (albeit a poor one), Lukas dragging both defenders and the entire goal then opened up for Coke to have his shot, unfortunately unsuccessfully. It's the runs that go un-noticed by most. Agreed that Reynolds, Saunders, Hutchinson were all fantastic at the back, but vote goes to one of the strikers due to Hearts being very poor in the final 3rd and as much as the three mentioned done their job very well, they weren't tested as much as we possibly would have expected from a Hearts team. Could have anyone today from O'Brien, Coke, Lukas, Sutton, Reynolds, Hutch, Saunders

Very good performance today, and can only echo the compliments on here for Sutton and Jutkiewicz, for those who claim they can't play together then today proves otherwise. Worked very well together, and unlucky on occasion for there flick ons not to find there man. But, all round both were a handful and Sutton did indeed win absolutely everything ahead of Jonsson and Goncalves. Jutkiewicz very good with the ball at his feet and appears to be playing with a degree of confidence now. Reynolds very good going forward, and solid at the back. Fantastic to have Saunders and Hutch as a partnership, at the expense of Craigan. Totally at ease and had nothing to properly worry them, bar one hopeful punt up towards the Cooper in the first half, which both dealt effectively well. Another clean sheet. Yassin seemed a tad more disciplined in his forward runs and dealt with Driver very well and kept him quiet. Murphy also looked decent when coming on and relieved some pressure with a few useful dribbles. Great result and a good performance all round, nobody really off-the-pace and all contributed very well. But, my god Hearts are a poor, poor team. So, many mistakes, with absolutely no cutting edge whatsoever, and if Driver is sold/injured then they are totally screwed. Palazuelos/Black are far too defensive and create little. Nade/Witteveen couldn't score in a brothel. Obua was absolutely woeful. Just no urgency from them, and it should be their fans questioning the passion from their players. Perhaps due to the fact they are filled with so many foreigners. Seeing St Mirren last week, fairly confident to say they will finish above Hearts this season, judging on today's performance. At least St Mirren have a bit of creativity in Dorman/McGinn and at least have a goalscorer in Mehmet. Great to see the Jambo's struggle.

Re: Why Does Lukas start? Jesus, a very good performance at Parkhead. Bearing in mind that the lone-striker role is possibly the hardest role in football (bar perhaps goalkeeping). He played there fantastically that day, and if it weren't for the exploits of Hateley then it would be he that ran away with the MotM poll on here. He held the ball up very well, and many an occasion he won a throw in/corner when chasing down Naylor/Wilson. On many an occasion he had no right to win anything, very good work rate. He took a tumble on occasion and won us free-kicks and as a result relieved the pressure on the back 5. All very vital aspects of being given this role to play up top himself. Was unlucky on a couple of occasions with a few shots, and again unlucky not to have won us a vital penalty when hauled down by Caldwell. Then moving on to last Saturday's match: Scored the two vital goals to bring us a point back home. His overall play was very good, brought the wingers into the game, held the ball up very well. Ran Potter ragged, and had the beating of him every single time. Was extremely unlucky not to grab a 3rd when he turned and shot at the near post which Gallacher done well to turn over the bar. He for a loanee seemed very up for it and gave his all. Again a game whcih Lukas ran away with the MotM poll. It strikes me that the people that are slating Lukas and failing to see what he contributes, are probably the same people that found criticism in Porter and failed to see what he actually gave to us as a team. It's off-the-ball that Lukas and Ports are both in there element, both are extremely good at dragging defenders away from there respective zone, and as such leaves space for other people to take the limelight e.g. Forbes/O'Brien. It's the unglamorous side to the lone-striker but it's a role that both said players do extremely well. Sutton may be more of a goalscorer, and he does do a good job of chasing down and tracking back. But, the tactical side of the game is where Lukas is in his element and his intelligent runs are key and that seems to be missed by the critics on here. One poor game and one poor miss midweek does not mean he should be dropped entirely. He seems to finally have a bit of confidence about him at last, worst thing we can do is knock that back down by dropping him. I am sure Gannon will know that as well. And taking away our Europa League exploits, he is our top goalscorer this season from open play. Lukas to start and hopefully have another playing far closer to him, and as such making his job slightly easier at bringing others into the game.