David

I wouldn't be surprised to see at least a couple of changes, especially considering the game on Sunday. As the Sky Sports pundits kept banging on about when mentioning Celtic, going up against a side with more resources and better players can be tiring for players. The exact same thing applies to our players after the weekend. Particularly in that second half, we were run ragged. A few changes for tomorrow and hopefully we will be fresher for the game at the weekend.

I believe that number is somewhere around 600 or so, isn't it?

It all depends on how Celtic play. For us to get anything from the game, we need to be on our game while Celtic are off theirs. It's that simple. If we can take anything it's a bonus.

Get an email typed up and fire it off to him, make sure he's on the ball.

Speak to the manager. It was his "superb observation." It basically shows that you can have the best training plan in the game, and sometimes shit still happens.

He literally kicked a football. I'm not sure how that could have been avoided.

Yeah, but you also claimed that numerous other players in our team were "the worst in the league," so you were always going to be correct at some point. A broken clock etc.

I'm pleased to hear that. Let’s stay focused on the topic and avoid revisiting posts that have already been addressed.

C- on that reply as well. What's actually going on in here? Jesus.

I've long been in Balmer's corner. I think he looks a proper class act and will be a mainstay in the team before long.

What kind of actions are you looking for?

Yeah, I think it was more a case of him not really settling in the area, which is fair enough. He's shown that there's a player there though, doing reasonably well in Australia again since leaving us.

Don't be bringing actual data and stats into it!

So, TV companies can basically dictate which games have to implement VAR in the cup, and which don't?

We're not in a position where we need to rush anyone back, thankfully. We've come this far, so I would prefer we eased the injured lads back in gradually and did our utmost to avoid any relapses or further issues. I would be quite content with our starting lineup from Friday, replacing O'Donnell with Kaleta.

And it's usually easy to tell who's who and weed out the posers, because the individuals who had to sit through that game have it written in the haunted look in their eyes...

Aye, who wants the day trippers, eh? Let's just take an allocation of about 4,500. That'll show 'em.

Yup, and that's what some people like to discuss mere hours ahead of a big cup game. Go figure. Maswa would start for me, and patience is running thin with Robinson. I know we don't have many options up top though, so that plays a part.

No one's stopping you?

As I mentioned, it’s as good an indicator as you’re likely to find. For every ten new factors you add, I could add another twenty. We could start considering the relative wealth per person in Motherwell compared to Aberdeen, or examine the different age groups present in each location, or assess transport links, employment rates, digital engagement, and so forth. There is no perfect method of measurement, but my overall point is that our fanbase levels are certainly no worse than those of any other team in the league when everything is taken into account. I certainly wouldn’t describe it as "poor" by any means. Clubs like St Mirren aren't leaving us behind.

It's a paper exercise based on actual numbers though, which is what attendances are also based on. So it certainly does equate to pretty solid reasoning. The central belt encompasses the likes of Edinburgh and Glasgow as well though, doesn't it? Should we be drawing our fanbase from Glasgow, Edinburgh, Stirling, Falkirk and Paisley? That seems ludicrous to me. Again, our fanbase as a percentage of our local population is as good an indicator as you're going to get. And we do pretty well in that regard. Is there room for improvement? Always. Are we worse than other clubs in Scotland? Not really. The club as a whole needs to (and is) working on increasing our fanbase. Not just the Well Society. Once again, over the past few days, I've seen responsibility for increasing the fanbase and bringing in significant investment being placed on the table of a group of volunteers who have full-time jobs outside of football. The Society absolutely has a part to play, but so does the paid staff of the football club.

That's totally fine, you can have your opinion. I'm just throwing some actual numbers out there that suggest you're a wee bit wide of the mark. Carry on though.

In terms of the local population, Motherwell actually performs quite well regarding attendance. When you consider our fanbase as a percentage of the population, we achieve around 14%, which is better than the likes of Dundee United, St Mirren, Hibs, Hearts, and Aberdeen. From what I can see, only Kilmarnock and Ross County have better figures. I’ve excluded the Old Firm from this discussion as their attendances are obviously restricted. You could certainly argue that our catchment area should encompass regions further afield, but that reasoning would also apply to the other sides mentioned in this context. I’ve restricted all clubs to the city or town in which they are based. If I were to extend Motherwell's catchment to include surrounding towns, I would need to do the same for the others, which I don’t think would result in significantly different percentages.

It’s definitely something that is ongoing, that much is certain. However, there are many variables involved that will determine what is made public and when.

Yes, that's not something that can really be constrained by a specific timescale. There are numerous variables involved in the investment process.