MelvinBragg

I don't have a problem necessarily with what he said, but it should have been said behind closed doors to the players, not bandied about to give St Mirren any more motivation. My other concern is that other than a couple of occasions, when he builds these games up, the team tends to come out a bit flat...

Speedie was the one who spotted it during the Aberdeen game when he noticed my lacklustre celebration after our goal. As for pushing a pram, you haven't seen the size of my boy recently. Trying to get him into a pram would be like trying to get an alsation into a poly bag...

Therein lies the problem, big man. I've rarely felt mistreated or hard done to by the club off the field. I know others have, but it's never affected me directly. I know that sounds selfish, but that's not what's spoiling my enjoyment of the games. I don't know what is causing me to feel this way about it. If I knew that, I could talk myself out of this frame of mind. Cos, quite frankly, not bothering my arse whether I go to Fir Park or not is a scary state of mind for me to be in...

It's with a degree of sadness that I answer no. There are no financial reasons behind my decision. I had a conversation with someone during the Aberdeen game and the phrase I used was "it's just kind of lost its appeal". My friend interrogated me as to whether it was the cost, the quality of fare on show, my obvious dislike for McGhee or even the paint on the steps (he actually asked this tongue in cheek, I assume). I could give him no reasons. Having thought about it since, I would have to say that part of me has kind of fallen out of love with the Well. Or perhaps, more accurately, I've fallen out of love with the experience of watching the Well. This alarms and saddens me as for as long as I can remember, going to Fir Park was an experience I looked forward to and enjoyed. Now? Saturday against St Mirren is being touted as a masssive game for Motherwell, but right now I could take it or leave it. I'm kind of hoping that something will spark the flame again soon...

I think this probably hits the nail on the head for me. I'm seen (rightly, I confess) as a very harsh critic of McGhee. Possibly his harshest on this forum. That's not to say that I can't see the various good things he has done while in charge of the club. Possibly I overstate a lot of my criticisms of him (valid as they may be) in order to be heard over the sycophancy that prevails. I've said on this forum before that I've never known a Motherwell manager to be so exempt from scrutiny from a vast majority of the support never mind criticism. Had a previous manager decided to try Paul Quinn in centre midfield, decided in the club's first European game for some years to suddenly try a formation the team hadn't played in years or, to go back to his first season, chosen a winnable league cup tie against Rangers to try Ross McCormack leading the line with Clarkson on the wing and Porter on the bench, then questions would have been asked. The decision to award Bob Malcolm a contract has barely raised an eyebrow, strange given the value for money he represents. Hindsight is great, I know, but other managers have been judged on such decisions. Even our most recent game, despite what Flow says, Neil was correct in pointing out that the game was drifting away from us thanks to Aberdeen changing their shape. We didn't adapt and I believe that had Considine not been sent off, a defeat could have been on the cards. No one asks why McGhee struggles to change the shape of the team to a postive effect in a game in the way that Calderwood can. McGhee brought Clarkson off the bench against Dundee United recently and Clarkson duly won us the game. Bringing on your best striker against a tiring defence is hardly tactical genius. I struggle to think of an occasion where McGhee's thinking out of the box has won us the game. I realise this has turned into what seems like a litany of criticism once again from me and for that I apologise. McGhee has us playing good football and his record at Motherwell is a good one. I just don't feel he should be exempt from criticism as many on this forum seem to. As I've said, perhaps that's why I feel the need to voice my criticism so loudly. So at least some (reasoned and semi-thought out) dissenting opinions are heard. As Big Stall says, and on this I agree with him, it's all about opinions...

Not if it calls into question any decision by McGhee. You not know that, Bob...?

Without wishing to go against the grain, I know that Peat tends to talk a lot of rubbish but on this occasion he might have a point (though as usual he overstated it). On several occasions this season, I've come out of Fir Park lamenting the fact that neither goalkeeper has had much to do. For what it's worth, I think there are a couple of reasons for this. Teams in the SPL are much of a muchness and often cancel each other out. And there is a climate of fear in football where the main aim seems to be to avoid defeat. Let's look at the Co-op Cup Final where both Rangers and Celtic started with one up front. McGhee can quote statistics about goals scored all he likes, but the quality of the product on offer in the SPL is not great. Whether the head bummer at the SFA should be admitting this, or talking up Scottish football is another matter. But don't let the facts get in the way of another opportunity to kiss McGhee's arse...

For what it's worth, I think the momentum was lost even before Aberdeen were reduced to ten men. When Aluko was brought on and Aberdeen changed their shape, they suddenly had control of the game. A case could have been made at that point for bringing on Fitzpatrick for McGarry in order to try and shut off some of the space in midfield. But nothing was done. Like or loathe Calderwood, one thing he is capable of doing is changing the shape of his team if things aren't working. McGhee has his qualities, but he seems to lack the ability to change the shape or emphasis of his team during a game. That failing cost us two points today, and quite frankly had Aberdeen not been reduced to ten men, it could have cost us three. Top six is pretty much gone for us, and Europe is a pipe dream. We now have to concentrate on planning for next season. Maybe time to see more of Jamie Murphy and others, in order to see if they have what it takes to cut it in the first team or try some different formations. We won't go down so what do we have to lose...?

No matter how often he seems to play, McGarry seems unwilling or unable to find the fitness levels he had at the start of season 2007/2008. Yet he seems to be the only player cut a degree of slack by some supporters regarding his fitness. I can only imagine what suppositions would be made about his lifestyle should Quinn be blowing out of his arse after 50 minutes of football... EDIT I'd have to say that O'Brien, McLean and Clarkson were the pick of the bunch today. A bit worrying that when Clarkson isn't there, none of the forward line seem to want the ball...

While I would agree that Clarkson isn't an international class footballer, he has an international goal to his name unlike McCormack, Fletcher and Iwelumo. Two caps and one goal suggest that it might be more worth having him on the bench than any of those three. In an ideal world, none of these players would be in the Scotland team (yet, maybe in the case of Fletcher and McCormack), but we don't live in an ideal world, do we...?

Not in the slightest. Just trying to dampen down the Klimpl bandwagon...

Without wishing to be controversial (as if?), if people have got such a hard on for us qualifying for Europe through the fair play place surely they should be lobbying for McGhee to drop Maros "Mr Yellow" Klimpl?? Just a thought...

Throwing good money after bad...?

To be honest with you, I don't have much time for the trust. I don't really see the point in it. But for a guy who has so much to say about the trust, your attitude is the one that seems a bit strange...

No question marks at all for me. It was a bad idea at the start of the season when he played Clarkson on the wing and Porter and Sutton up front and it's a bad idea now. Don't get me wrong, DC will run all day and he'll try in any position you play him, but you're taking your main goal threat further back the field and that makes no sense to me. It strikes me as McGoo wanting his best eleven players on the park rather than his best team. We've been in a good run of form with the midfield of O'Brien Klimpl Hughes and Fitzpatrick, so that really can be the only reason for the change...

Some random thoughts on this topic... I've never been much of a singer at the football (cannae hold a tune in a bucket) preferring to save my voice for berating opponents or officials (or occasionally a Motherwell manager). For me, pretty much any noise creates atmosphere (be it a positve or negative atmosphere, well... ). I enjoy listening to the singing but I'm forced to agree with Matt when he states that seats have taken away any real chance of the same type of "choir" forming as was present before. But if these guys want to try, batter in lads. Just try and keep it imaginative and not too embarrassing. Oh and if I read correctly, the EBC lot are mainly 12-15 year olds. Just hope that their voices have broken. It's bad enough listening to Graeme Smith at Fir Park... And a final thought on the subject of a name. Does a group of supporters really need one? If you want to get together with a bunch of other guys and sing, just do it. Don't really need a name to organise yourselves. Much like the choir in the old days, likeminded people will naturally congregate. If you want to go and sing, you'll sit as close to the other singers as possible. By giving yourselves a name (any name), you make yourself a group that people can either choose to join or not join. It just creates divisions. By not making yourselves a group, it means that if someone turns up for a specific game feeling like giving it laldy they can just sit near the singers rather than thinking "That's where the EBC sit, I don't know any of them...". Oh, aye. And it avoids people taking the piss out of the name you choose...

I don't think that McGhee is a bad manager. I just think his flaws get ignored and perhaps that is why I feel I have to shout to get them discussed. I've never known a Motherwell manager to be exempt from scrutiny from so much of the support. Although I would point out that earlier in the season, it wasn't just me who was less than impressed with him...

I would actually say that Kampman was a necessary evil. At the time he took over, we had a seriously ageing squad. Guys like Falconer, Martin and Coyne might well have got another contract under a Scottish manager who was more aware of their record. Given what these guys achieved after they left Motherwell, getting rid of them was a wise move. A move that, had we gone straight from McLeish to Davies, we might not have made. OK, Kampman's signings were not great, but he performed a service...

No shots on goal according to the stats. Oh dear...

"That first game, this is how many guys you played up front"

Like or loathe him, Clarkson has scored a vast percentage of our goals this season (bettered only by someone who is currently on Derby's books) and particularly since Sutton's early season burst dried up. He has his faults but looking at our form when both he and Craigan were out of the side, it tells you all you need to know about his value to the side. At the moment, if he's injured or off form (as he was last night), we're snookered. It also means it's all too easy for opponents to close us down. The way we are set up means that Clarkson is the focal point of our attack. To get the best out of John Sutton we would need to have crosses coming in from both flanks. That would mean 4-4-2. And for all his obvious qualities, Stephen Hughes isn't cut out for playing in the centre of a midfield four in the SPL. He doesn't bring the necessary graft to the table. In the SPL, you need to win the battle before you play football. So do you sacrifice Hughes in order to give Clarkson a partner who might share goalscoring duties? I would but from all his comments, we all know how highly McGhee rates Hughes. I would say he needs to find a way to accomodate Hughes into his team without basing his team around him (the first cup game vs St Mirren as an exampleas how badly that can go wrong), Maybe 3-5-2? Oh, aye, and I tend to agree with those who wish we'd shoot from around the edge of the box now and again...

I bet you thought we'd got rid of that element in our section when the burning white crosses went too...

A couple of things strike me about the whole thing. The media seem more disgusted by the abuse of McCarthy than they ever were over the exact same abuse that McGeady got. Is it because McCarthy plays for the cuddly Accies rather than McGeady who plays for one of the Old Firm and is somehow therefore fair game?? I never booed Brannan, but then again I don't boo McCarthy. I'm not a Scotland supporter and as I've said elsewhere he's more a symptom of a widespread problem in international football of looking for a cap where you can get it. Interestingly, people are talking about stuff you can get away with football that you wouldn't get away with in the 'real world' (when has football ever been the real world). I think it's going the other way. I'm not a racist, but on Saturday at one point someone I was sitting with asked me if Sheridan was Irish or one of these Scots who plays for Ireland. The person said to me "Is Sheridan actually Irish or...?". I replied "or is he a plastic paddy? Nah, I think he's Irish". Now, I got a couple of dodgy looks for that comment. I was not making any anti-Irish comment, as I don't have a problem with them. I made the Plastic Paddy reference in the same way I would refer to Neil Sullivan as a Jockney goalkeeper. I would use these phrases to merely express my opinion of the nonsense of getting caps for other countries. But in a football stadium these days, was my comment enough to get me branded a racist? If so, football has gone mad...

Wrap the guy in cotton wool cos without him this season, where are the goals going to come from? At the centre of everything we do going forward. Is that 239 starts? It is a poor average when you look at it like that, but he had a couple of very poor seasons. At the end of the season, we'll still have a 23 year old striker who has double figures goals wise in three different SPL seasons. Not too shabby...

So because your own country doesn't think you're good enough to play international football, go and play for another country?? Many great players never got capped. What would he have done if Ireland didn't fancy him? Go looking for a granny in San Marino? I don't bother that much with international football but a cap should be an honour you get when you're good enough to play for your country. Not something to go hunting for...