punk_in_drublic

That's too quick.

Same perception here. You always look at the pictures and videos and think he is the old guy we know now, but to have only been 47 when he left...that's quite young for a manager.

I was never a big fan of autobiographys but I picked up Ian St. John's a bit back when I was on holiday and I really enjoyed it (although the motherwell sections weren't too in depth, similar to what you note above but Liverpool focused rather than Old Firm obviously). I'll give the McLean autobiography a go.

I'd take Zanetti. In the mooth.

Exactly. Even a bit of speculation to tart up this thread. Lie to me. I don't need sources.

Are oor players and management still alive!

FFS Aberdeen sounds like a totalitarian state! I assume your on a rig.

So far I haven't seen anything saying so. It would come as a surprise to me as well.

Looking at our squad and other teams squads I'd say expectation is either 5th or 6th. Some of the other squads look pretty bare, in particular Partick Thistle. Aberdeen are without question the best of the rest on paper, they will be favourites for second, they may even get a bit tighter on the heels of Celtic this time around. St Johnstone, as has been mentioned, look solid enough. The St. Mirren squad looks ok, they could do a bit better than last season. I actually think Dundee have pulled together a reasonable squad. Killie look average, with only Lee Miller being the surprise addition. Hamilton don't look too great but they did surprise everyone with the result against Hibs. I think Ross County could have a good season again. Overall I'd rate the current squads as Celtic Aberdeen Dundee United St. Johnstone Motherwell Ross County St Mirren Dundee ICT Killie Partick Thistle Hamilton No doubt the way Scottish football goes I'll be completely wrong. There probably isn't a huge amount between 5th and 11th.

Ok Dave, don't you start as well - it was a very bad analogy. But so was yours, because knowing you, you'd illegally stream the film for free, watch it and then moan about how shite it was. In all seriousness though, it'd be interesting to know what has been going on inside Fir Park over the last 2 - 3 days. I'm hoping some form of plan to bolster the squad is being applied,

I don't think anyone should be verbally abused or berated, I agree with you there. In following football failure has to be accepted on occasions. And that's the nature of it. Where someone spends a lot of money following a team and the team on which that money has been spent following illustrate a complete failure on many basic professional fronts, such as fitness, tactics, concentration and discipline then in those cases I think people have a right to question, vent some frustration (in a controlled way) to the people responsible. Personally I'm sure the manager sitting on that plane with the fans there would have wanted to be anywhere else in the world and the last thing he would have needed would be for someone to berate him. But the silence since the defeat two days ago isn't good enough. Or maybe it is given that it's happened in this manner before, maybe having nothing's said and just moving on is the way go on this occasion because ultimately we've been here before and more words might just annoy people more.

That'd be 100% if there was no money involved. Edit: My point wasn't to compare football to architecture (the analogy was actually against construction rather than architecture) it was to compare the customer of other industries against that of football in reference to the posts that preceded mine.

The fan = the client The players = the builders The management = the architect The match result = the building If the building is fucked you go after the contractor and architect. Why is football different?

Kind of feel the same way.

I can't see us getting another keeper, Dan Twardzik will be the only goalkeeping purchase for the next 12 months.

Fuck stoap talking...

For me there are a few things. The Goalkeeper - Now I'm not slating Dan Twardzik here, but what I do want to say is that Jamie MacDonald was released from Hearts 10 days before we signed Twardzik. Personally I rate him, i thought he more than proved himself in the SPFL over the last two years. He won the Hearts player of the year two years in a row just there. I thought that was an opportunity for us to sign a reasonably solid SPFL standard keeper. Maybe we tried maybe we didn't. We have Twardzik now and I really hope he will become a great goalkeeper for us. Ultimately he isn't a fully tried and tested SPFL goalkeeper yet and it looks like the judgement of Marshall has been to go with Dan (I've not been convinced by Marshalls decisions up till this point). MacDonald is starting this season with Falkirk in the Championship. Freshness - We seem to be a predictable and uninspired group of players. I felt at the World Cup there that the mode of playing suddenly shifted to a quicker game with width and deep lying forwards, it was like a new era to my brain. Then Motherwell played in Europe and made me realise that we are quite cumbersome and laborious in our tactics and desire. It seems like we need a freshness brought through the team. This might be some new ideas from the coaching staff. Maybe we don't have the players to freshen up our tactical approach at this point. The Manager - I understand why some people are calling for McCall to go, but I think they are wanting something fresh (as noted above) and this is being intertwined with the extreme condition to achieve freshness is by replacing the manager. I really like McCall, I've been a fan of most of the signings he has made. And when the likes of Brown and McGhee fucked off at the first opportunity, McCall didn't. And the ironic thing about that is that he's been far more successful than those two. I want McCall to stay but he needs to really shake up his ideas and approach. The Youth Set Up - Given our central belt location and proximity to large populous areas, we should be producing more than we are. I know some people are saying youth players need a chance to prove themselves. But they do get this chance in training, in U20s matches. The chance is there. If I were a young player id be studying football every waking hour. We need to take an academic approach to football. After training I would be keen to see study of tactics, psychology, historical evolution of tactics, education on diet, on sleeping patterns, the human anatomy, what to strengthen for what positions on the field. These players should become like machines. Nothing should be put into the body or the mind other than things that will continue to improve their ability and understanding of participating in their profession. Football isn't a game. Football is a profession. These are the first things that are jumping out at me at the moment. I know from reading other posts some people will agree and others won't but it's a venting process just now.

Good post. And also the apparent sheer lack of transfer activity gives me the fear with the current squad from both a depth and quality perspective.

It's also a big selling point for any potentially transfer targets wiped off our appeal. No European football at Motherwell.

With all SPFL teams strengthening (at the very least on numbers if not in quality) and with us standing absolutely stationary, I fear for us this season.

What can you say...gutting.

What a bastard. Is this going to be one of those seasons!

Why the fuck are BBC not putting updates of the Motherwell or St. Johnstone games! Cuntbags.

I've got a good feeling about this. 3 - 1 Motherwell. Ainsworth (x2) and one from Sutton.

Definitely sickening.