MelvinBragg

To paraphrase Morrissey, what he said...

I agree with much that Malky says but Hammell is a funny one. He's getting on now, but given Gary Naysmith's record with injury, Stevie Hammell should have a lot more caps to his name. Quite often Scotland have pushed guys out to left back who aren't even left footed or even full backs. He's been pretty consistent in the SPL over the years at a time when frankly that's been enough to get you in the Scotland squad. Kirk Broadfoot will end his career with more Scotland caps than Stevie Hammell and something about that is just not right...

Thing about having two out and out attacking players on the wing, it's not quite so cavalier if both your centre midfielders are defensively minded (which all our IMs are with the exception of Forbes). Humphrey tracks back, not always to the greatest effect but he gets himself back there. I'd imagine a player of Gow's experience would have the positional awareness to do likewise. I do suspect that it might be the last we see of Ross Forbes in a first team jersey at least til January. I reckon Gow's arrival (if it's to provide creativity from the left) will see him frozen out even more than he has been recently. I have a funny feeling this is the team we'll see a lot of... Randolph Saunders Craigan Reynolds Hammell Humphrey Hateley Jennings Gow Sutton Murphy Just get a feeling that Hateley will get the nod ahead of Lasley due to the fact he takes set pieces. Wouldn't surprise me to see Humphrey sacrificed though and see him used as an impact sub. I'd have him in the starting eleven but Brown might have other ideas...

I believe that's the case. And they have to wait a certain period after the transfer window closes. I think it's just a couple of weeks, mind you...

Brace yourself, big man, he's logged in...

I know it's early in the day, but does anyone else get the feeling we're going to see no change at all to the Motherwell squad today...?

Let me guess, £100,000 and someone misread it as £1,000,000? Or £250,000 to Swansea and someone at the club fed the Wigan story to the media to try and bump up the price...?

Would it make sense? Aye, probably. Does that mean it's the way it will happen? Not so sure. Still only leaves us with one experienced centre half. More strange rumours I've heard this morning... Hibs to use some of the Stokes money to make a £400k bid for Jamie Murphy... And us to make a move for Michael Gardyne at Ross County...

Interesting thing for me is that if we do sell Reynolds, whether we will bring in a centre back or whether we will be going with Craigan and Saunders at centre back and bring in a right back? The potential sale of Mark Reynolds while raising some cash (I still reckon nearer the £250k quoted in relation to Swansea), does mean that we have only one experienced centre back on our books. Can you get a winger and a defender for £250k...?

To me, the £250k to Swansea seems a far more realistic story than £1million to Wigan. I'll be stunned (not to mention, a pint down) if I'm wrong...

A few people have misunderstood me. I don't think we'll be in a relegation battle. I think we'll most likely be locked in a battle for 7th with ICT and St Johnstone. These three teams are, I reckon, too good for the three teams who will be in a relegation battle (St Mirren, Accies, Kilmarnock) but way behind those that will be in the top 6. That's how I see it at the moment. A few moves in the transfer market may change things...

If you think results went our way this weekend, you're an optimist. I think we should be concerning ourselves with the results of the teams likely to be in the bottom six rather than those likely to be top six...

Someone told me that Brown said after the game that he was hopeful of bringing two more in before the deadline. Did he say that and if so did he mention any positions? I'm hoping for someone a bit creative...

While I agree withe second part of this paragraph, you have to remember that McGhee came in at a low point and therefore had much more room for making an improvement. When Brown and Knox arrived, things were in danger of sliding a bit given the unrest behind the scenes but they inherited a Motherwell team probably inhabiting its rightful place in Scottish football and helped to drag it up the league a wee bit and give it a bit of stability. Without a management team with so much experience and tactical knowledge, we wouldn't have given Odense such a fright and might not even have got past Aalesunds...

Second story not a surprise. If we are after Gow, I would have thought we would need funds to finance any deal. Progression to the group stages is the only obvious source of extra income. First story. So Dundee want us to trade a midfielder with a large number of SPL games under his belt but with a lot of years ahead of him for a 32 year old right back who's barely seen the SPL. No thanks...

I would be amazed if we signed Alan Gow if only because we have just brought in Blackman and Casagolda and have Murphy and Sutton to play up front. If Gow is looking for first team football, he'll look elsewhere (unless we're planning to sell Murphy for a truckload of cash, of course). If he's looking to join a decent team, he'll join us. At St Mirren or Hamilton, he'd be guaranteed first team football, but might find that's in the First Division next season... EDIT Of course, he could be a left midfield option as Mr Diggle points out...

If you can't put the ball in the net, you deserve to lose...

Not a terrible performance but I'm reminded of the old maxim that "it's not the despair that kills you it's the hope". We're doing OK and on the face of it coming back with a 1-0 defeat would give us a chance. But I just reckon we're going to come up short. Lack of a killer final ball looks like it will be the undoing of us in this tie...

Five words. Lukas Jutkiewicz. Previous loan spells.

Reading Brown's interview, I'm wondering if he doesn't see Casagolda as maybe not an out and out striker but more of a creator. "He'll provide fodder for Murphy and Sutton". Or maybe he means he's bench fodder. The guy Blackman interests me more. Sounds like what Lewis Grabban was supposed to be. Could be a good 'un...

Before today, I was certain of only one thing about Sunday. That we will lose. Now there is a second thing I'm certain of. As I leave the East Stand on Sunday, someone will say "Thon Spanish boy is pish, by the way..."

Tough one to know where I stand on this one.. Deal with the easy bit first. The lack of an OAP discount is bang out of order. But totally in line with the shabby treatment the elderly get in our society. Disgraceful. Nothing I type that follows this applies to the issue of OAP concessions... £20 as a price in itself is too expensive for football. Personally I reckon £15 is too expensive but it's the world we live in now. The club have not raised the price to a level unheard of for football games. I remember going to Livingston when they were in the SPL (not yesterday) and I'm sure the gate prices then were £20/£10. I think if the club had hiked the price to £28 or £30 for this game, it would have been a clearer issue of fleecing the fans. Thing is, we can't have it all ways. This forum has been full of posts bemoaning the lack of signings, to then criticise the club for attempting to maximise income seems to me a bit two faced. As others have pointed out, we are running a business here. To mention Dundee United is interesting. If we had kept the lower price and Dundee United made a lot more money from their play off game than we did, then we would have had people on here slating the lack of business sense at the club. To say "the other two games were £15, therefore this one should be as well" just invites a response from the club saying "£15 was a goodwill gesture, we could have charged £20 for every game". Would that consistency in pricing have made it alright? People were on here praising the club for the £15 price. Well, if we knew that £15 was a bargain (in terms of today's football pricing), we all know you don't get a bargain every time you go to the shops. I think talk of around 10000 fans if they dropped the prices to £15 is ludicrous anyway. "If the club kept it at £15 and got 10000 in we'd make...", aye, well if yer granny had baws she'd be yer grandad. There is no way we'll get 10000 for this game, irrespective of a £5 price difference. The more I think about it, I reckon the club have called it right. Would I rather it was £15? Aye, of course. Putting the sensible head on, should the club be trying to maximise their income and is £20 in today's market a reasonable price? Unfortunately, yes. Oh and to the person who stated that they wouldn't now go because they couldn't afford to spend £100 watching football over the course of 6 weeks, are you really trying to tell me that your budgetting is so precise that you couldn't afford £100 but £90 would be something you could afford? As others have said, it's £5 difference. How much do each of us spend on stuff we don't need every week? Newspapers that are out of date when you get them. A packet of chewing gum while you're in getting it and maybe, oh aye gie me a can of juice and a packet of crisps. Or "Are you having another pint afore ye head up the road?" "Ach, aye go on then". These examples may not apply to everyone, but I'm sure if we all thought long and hard we could come up with something we spend a fiver on in a week that looking at it is "waste". All I would ask is that you think about that before stating that £5 is a bit of a hike. Football is too expensive, we all know that. But sadly £20 for a game is not exorbitant in today's climate in football. Some people on here are talking as if it's the first time they've had to pay £20...

Can we now officially "HOTD for the pish" this thread...?

This. Our strongest asset in this tie is Craig Brown. If we had any of our previous 4 or 5 managers going into this tie, I'd have written us off already. Craig Brown and Archie Knox know the game inside out. And I get the impression that there's a bit of determination on Brown's part to prove this as I reckon he hasn't had he credit he deserves over the years. Dour, dull Craig Brown and his dour, dull teams are the underlying impression you get when you read the media talking of his time with Scotland. No mention of the fact that Smith and McLeish used the same tactics when with Scotland. I think (and this sounds ridiculous) Criag Brown feels he has something to prove. And I think we might be the benficiaries of that...

That kind of sums up my feelings on the matter. He has the tools, just requires a good coach to smooth off the rough edges. Like telling him to slow down (just a wee bit, he'll still be fast enough for most defenders) before putting a cross in. I think when his delivery has been poor (and it's getting better), it's because he's been going at full pelt and is having to slam the brakes on to get the cross in...