daver

My school was so shite they knocked it down! Yeah, you're right, I've looked again and I did read it wrongly. My other point still remains though that McGhee was allowed to spend more than Malpas. Even if he did manage to invest the money well and the club was able to recoup the money later it was still a risk and one they didn't appear to want to take with Malpas. Thinking back though, the wage rises for the management team would have had a big impact on those figures.

The administration and interest payment pages on that site make very interesting reading and certainly opened my eyes to the situation the club was/is in. I had never heard about the agreement reached in 2004 and it's surprising to read we paid 20p in the pound to our creditors. I'm sure other clubs like Dundee and Livingston paid much less but we seemed to receive much more flak in the media. I think I'll have a look at some of our competitors now. Edit: it's also interesting to see no directors have taken a salary since administration although it does wonder if this through love of the game or embarassment at the administration position. From the payroll section, I'm sure McGhee is a better manager than Malpas but he was certainly helped by the wage bill for 2007 increasing from £2.4m to £3.4m in 2008 (at over 100% of income)!

None of the Radio Scotland panel had heard anything about a move for Buchanan but there's no reason why they should have if things are done properly. I would have thought Thistle would be looking for cash so I don't think it sounds likely.

I think if you've been in administration (which might be the voluntary agreement as Motherwell put themselves in the hands of the administrator) in the recent past then you have a zero credit rating for a set length of time. I have absolutely no accountancy training though so may well be wrong.

Onthis forum, I didn't think there was any other way!

Fixing some taps is very minor compared to getting a new tannoy system and should surely be sorted out before the next game. If it drags on after the club have been informed then people would be quite right to complain bitterly.

I'd like to think it's not about being a stig. If I went to the loos one game and there was no water I'd just have to accept it. I'm sure the toilets will be fixed shortly and, bearing this in mind, I think a thread of this length seems a bit of an over-reaction. Or maybe with the lack of an expected signing there's not much else to comment on.

This thread reminds me of the story of the boy who was told off: "Did your mother never tell you to wash your hands after you go for a pee?" And he replied: "Naw, she told me no to pish on my hands!" Those of us old enough to remember grounds before they (and their toilet facilities) were brought kicking and screaming into the 20th century must be wondering what all the fuss is about. It's not that long ago that sinks were unheard of and for some reason it seemed acceptable to have toilets at the football that probably hadn't been upgraded for 50 or 60 years. Even in the 80s the toilets in places like Accies, Hibs and certainly Motherwell were horrendous by today's standards. I even remember ST. Mirren 'did up' their loos and they steel had a wire mesh 'roof'. As for Hampden, you pretty much needed waders to go to the loo which is maybe why many decided to go where they stood. So, I think I can live without some working taps at the football.

Cheers. I was guessing you had some sort of involvement from the more technical parts of your post, although I did wonder if you had missed a decimal point in terms of the rainfall needed to cause a flood!

Out of interest, have you got some inside knowledge? Is it possible to know the heating is going to work until it's tried out for real in the winter?

I'm sure they did speak to drainage experts during Nevin's time at the club but to say the water table in that part of Motherwell is above the level of the pitch is nonsense. Much as the water table varies, to be below it you would need to be in a loch or pond!

It's a bit of a grey area and probably all in the detail but I didn't think they were allowed to charge home and away fans differently and you should be able to enter the family area, even with club colours on. When I went to football as a kid in the eighties with my dad it was fairly common to have shared parent and child areas, although these were normally in the main stand where it was generally considered ok to have visiting supporters such as the older fans and families, as this was often the only seated accommodation available.

The BBC is reporting Stokes was on £14k a week at Sunderland. Hibs must be paying a fortune for him unless he's agreed a ridiculous cut in wages. If the reports of Hughes not getting on with Riordan true, they might try to offload him. Not that we could afford the waster though.

Seeing the crowd did make me wonder - when did the wearing of club scarves come in?

The scary thing is his record with Spurs was pretty impressive going by that link: 5 goals in 5 appearances + 12 subs. Just proves what they say about statistics! I did see 2 of his goals at Easter Road. Well to be honest I didn't really because it was near impossible to see the far goals from that terracing. Can't remember his other goal though.

I was going to mention that one but, for those that were there, I don't think Ray Farningham's 88th minute goal at Ibrox can be beaten (as mentioned by milo). We had hardly been up the park and withstood a pounding before this late breakaway for an absolute robbery. Brilliant!

They're tremendous. Long before camera gantries they obviously just planked a camera-man behind one of the goals and it was pot-luck what he managed to film. The ref's shorts and suit jacket combo in the first game is an absolute belter.

The McGarry type of mistake is certainly not new. Those of a certain age will remember that, pretty much every week, the papers listed one of our subs as Sullivan. Even after it had been established they meant John Philliben the error continued, for more than one season if I remember correctly.

And their fans genuinely don't seem to understand why we hate them!

Out of interest, how much was the Bolton game?

The highlights are on Sportscene tonight anyway although they'll pretty much be the same as the ones they show on their website.

Let's face it, the guys who write the Monday reports shouldn't be getting anything like that wrong as the sunday papers and even highlights are available to them. If he has professional pride he should be embarassed and his editor should be pulling him up for it.

Unfortunately I can see a defeat coming. There have been so many times when Kilmarnock have hit us with a sucker punch at Fir Park even when we've been the better team by Jim Jeffries admission. I just can't see that we have the individuals ( no matter the team selection) to deal with Kyle in the air and he's been looking pretty tidy on the ground as well. After his good form in the second half of last season I really expected a Championship team to gazump Killie in the summer as he had only been on a short term deal.

I think we'll find we won't have any away games cheaper than yesterday's £20 unless it's a special one-off deal. St. Johnstone will by no means be the worst. Edit: a quick check on Accies website shows they will charge Aberdeen fans £22, £11 for concessions. Kilmarnock charged Accies £20 and £14 for concessions, but to fair to Killie it was £5 for under 12s. Without going through everybody's website I think this shows £20 - £22 will unfortunately be the going rate.

Oh dear, a large slice of realism - that won't go down well. St. Johnstone have brought in a lot of seasoned pro's and have had some decent results in friendlies. I can see a draw tomorrow but it doesn't mean I won't celebrate a win!