MelvinBragg

I understand that but, again only my opinion, the end doesn't always justify the means. And I know that's not what you're saying, Dee...

Firstly, I have to admit that I wasn't at Pitoddrie on Saturday. So I'm not going to pass comment on what was or wasn't sang. I have wrestled with this issue for a couple of days. Anyone who knows me will tell you that i am no shrinking violet at the football. Anyone within a 50 yard radius can probably hear me swear and abuse players. Over the years I have had no problem with telling Neil Lennon/Charlie Miller/Kris Boyd/any number of others that their father should have wanked them down the pan. I have referred to opposition players and managers as any number of body parts. I think the difference I see between this and the paedophile chants is that my shouts are clearly insults and not accusations (how can anyone prove they're not an arsehole anyway??). Someone stated on this forum that paedophile was the en vogue insult of the day. I would never use it as an insult, I don't see it as one. It's just not something I would feel comfortable using. As a rule of thumb, would I refer to someone I knew as an arsehole? Aye, and sometimes to their face. Would I ever do the same with paedohile? No, never. Over the years at the football, I have heard the Justin Fashanu songs, the Richard Gough chants, the Celtic boys club chants and let's not forget the Gazza wife beater stuff. None of this provoked the same outrage as Saturday's has amongst our support. All of these chants had some basis in rumours that were doing the rounds in Scottish football or stories that had made the papers but I still don't feel that comfortable with any of them. But I can see why people would use these sticks that were available to beat people with. To use paedophile on Saturday when as I have stated before McGhee has given us so much better material to work with strikes me as a bit sad and unimaginative. And being honest, a bit crass. I guess what I'm trying to say is; what's wrong with simply calling someone an arsehole these days...?

A guess or inside information...?

Apparently they have too many left backs already If someone knows 100% that he's going, and know 100% where he's going then I don't know why they don't come out with it. I don't see Lionel Blair so I'm assuming I'm not on Give Us A Clue...

Any word on destination? I had heard a couple of clubs mentioned this morning...

I heard this morning from a usually reliable "sauce" that Hibs are apparently interested and one other club had made an enquiry (not Dundee)...

Haven't heard a thing but it wouldn't surprise me if Hammell was to leave. I read Gannon's comments about tentative enquiries about certain players and it got me wondering as to who might leave. Hammell, unlike some of the players on the fringes of things, might have his suitors...

Serious question... When did paedophile replace poof as a common insult at the football? I can only imagine now that if Scotland were to play England, we'd here "Jimmy Hill, Paedophile". I mean, do people lack that much imagination that it's like "Fuck it, call him a child molester...". Not very clever, is it? No fan of Mark McGhee me (as everyone knows), but you've just given him a chance to play the martyr to a press that still seems to love him anyway... Mark McGhee 1 Motherwell Fans 0 Which is a shame, because he gave us so much better material to work with...

Have to agree with Lobey here, aw fur fuxake...

Link seems lead to the fact that Wikipedia don't have David Gray footballer listed...

Dunno bout Saturday's goal, Frazzle, but you're right that none of his subsequent games have lived up to his debut in Romania. But that was a fairly high benchmark. I think the jury is still out. He may be one of those keepers who does better in the games against better teams because he's kept busier and perhaps his concentration for games where he can go longer spells without anything to do is not his strong point. Just my gut feeling. But you're right. The fact he's a big unit. And looks a bit on the mad side are definitely plus points...

I think to try and second guess Gannon is a thankless task. I just hope that the other managers in the SPL find it as difficult as we seem to. I don't think anyone saw Saunders coming back in at right back on Saturday and Hately moving to the holding role. I think when we do see his line up, it might become clear where he thinks Aberdeen's strengths lie. If he decides that Mulgrew has to be shut down, I'll be fascinated to see what he does. Does he play someone with more defensive qualities in order to track him - maybe Hately at right midfield? Or does he play someone like Slane out there, someone with pace that'll force Mulgrew to think twice about bombing forward for fear of leaving a gap to be exploited? I honestly don't know, Gannon is fascinating and hard to read. As for how the game will pan out? I fear we'll lose. Not for any other reason that whenever Well fans get this hyped up for a game, whenever we get so desperate to win a game, experience tells me to prepare for a let down. Can't see how or why we should be fearing Aberdeen or why we couldn't get a result but as the old phrase goes, I have a bad feeling about this...

Sadly loans rarely work like that. Players tend only to go on loan down the football pecking order. Clubs only loan out players who are not first picks, and it would be very unusual for someone who was out of the picture at a first division club to be sought after by an SPL club. If a minimal fee was involved, I don't imagine Buchanan would be asking the world in wages, it might be a gamble worth taking. All speculation of course, Gannon seems to have a habit of picking up players from sources you wouldn't expect. Other aspect is the fact that he did seem to be very specific that it was a young Premiership striker he was tracking. Not to say that, having possibly seen Buchanan against Liverpool and maybe being made aware that Thistle might need to sell cheap to raise cash (can't only be SPL clubs who need to do this at the moment) that he might not be willing to take a punt. I fully expect him to make good on his talk of bringing in a further two players before the deadline. And I fully expect not to have a clue who they're going to be til we've signed them. Which is the way it should be. Doesn't mean that all the speculation and guessing isn't highly entertaining though...

The thought strikes me that four of the most senior players should be able to tell the young players that the grass is not always greener elsewhere. Craigan, Lasley and Hammell all left Motherwell and ended up coming back for various reasons. Sutton went down to England for a bigger pay packet and it didn't work out and he found himself back in the SPL. Or is someone advising these guys to leave in order to safeguard their own place in the squad. Just a thought...

And many people drive from Motherwell, Wishaw and Hamilton when, quite frankly, there is ample public transport to get them to the game. Share a car with mates, get the bus. or is that too inconvenient for some people...?

Maybe Gannon is right to try and run some of the older players out of the club. Even if he's claiming that he's not...

I can see where you're coming from there, managers often take coaching staff with them when they go. The difference is that, like it or not, football players are assets as well as employees. if I was working for a company and sold an asset for much less than its market value to a company I was about to move to, I'm sure it would be described as underhand, possibly leading to legal action if it could be proved that I knew I was going to the new job and knew I was underselling my current employers' assets. As for McShovelface, he's a complete sCUNThorpe...

I'd like to say I'm surprised by the (alleged) behaviour of McShovelface but I'm not that good a liar...

Good to get a win today against a team that, as others have pointed out, we have struggled against no matter how good or bad their team is. I thought we started quite brightly today and once we got the first goal, the result was never really in doubt. Kilmarnock never offered much today but a lot of that can be put down to the fact we spotted where the threat would be and nullified it for the most part. Kyle got one free header all day, and the whole back four need to take a lot of credit for that. But for me, Hutchison was outstanding. Against a guy whose goalscoring record for Kilmarnock is phenomenal, he looked like he'd been playing in the SPL for years. And as for his goal, as Craig Paterson said on Radio Scotland "will give centre halves a bad name". Aye, other centre halves... Going forward, the emergence of Forbes and Slane has overshadowed a wee bit the fact that in Coke and O'Brien, we've got two guys who've been fantastic. Coke looks like a great acquisition, the only fear being that we should enjoy him as much as we can this season because if he keeps up his form, he'll be hard to keep a hold of. O'Brien has done well this season, having been asked to play in a couple of different positions. Today, he was immense. He seems determined to score a goal with one touch from a throw in, similar to that effort he had against the post last week. He tried it twice today and went close again on both occasions. Strange to think that at 22 and 23, O'Brien and Coke are the senior men in our midfield at the moment. O'Brien is another guy whose contract is up next summer. Maybe time to start talking to him now? All in all a lot to be positive about today. As someone else stated, we never hit the heights we did against Bucharest (1st half in Airdrie) and in the second half last week, but still dealt with Kilmarnock with little trouble. They had a 15-20 minute spell in the second half where they had a lot of the ball, but we limited them to playing in front of us. All I know is that I saw more smiling faces leaving Fir Park today than I had in a while...

While I'd be overjoyed to see us sign another striker, am I the only one who thinks that the right back is the more pressing need right now? We have shown in every game since Llanelli at home the ability to score goals (a missed pen and woodwork struck in Albania, a missed sitter in Bucharest the only reasons for blanks in those games) from various areas in the team. Unfortunately, in every game we have also shown a real inability to defend properly for 90 minutes. I know Gannon is aware of this and is working towards remedying it, but if I was breaking my neck to get a player in this week, it would have been the defender. Don't get me wrong, I don't want the window to close with Sutton as our only recognised striker. But my main concern is the defence at the moment. We have over a week so I'm not concerned. Yet. Although it does seem different to the first couple of weeks when Gannon was quickly identifying people and bringing them in...

Fixed...

I'm sure that was an equaliser in a 2-2. I remember saying when we got the corner that whoever scored, I'd have their children. Mitch (I think) said to me "What even Pearson? Ginger weans??" I think I said aye. The goal celebrations where we were consisted of several people piling on top on me shouting "GINGER WEANS!!!"...

Aye, come on Gannon, this is two weeks in a row you've promised us a striker and still no sign of one. Who do you think you are?? McShovelface...?? PS Large wink, just in case anyone thinks I'm being serious...

If we're going as far back as Philliben, we have to mention Ian Ross vs Celtic...

Unless Gannon believes that he can turn McHugh into an SPL ready striker in six months...