Steve Diggle

Yeah! Let's make Fir Park a nappy place to be!

didny mean that Time for me to go out to seed. Get turfed out, Life's a pitch. etc etc

Was the picture taken at St Mirren Away in the cup?

Just a quick wan! Given the absolute press humping we are currently taking Where exactly IS our very own Judith Chalmers? I think his last offeeshal duty was speaking to the press re. the ticket price initiative (I've been wrong before) I'm not moaning before embdy starts! Lee-Anne seems to be modelling the flak jaiket pretty well and probably best it's left that way? Anybody seen Judith? Yours Sincerely, Concerned Fan West Lothian

Hately joining in on today's Rancid - saying pitch should be lifted now due to H&S! Aye it's tedious, aye it's bandwagon jumping, aye he's a twat. Root cause though? penny pinching in the summer who said any publicity was good publicity

I'd like to see something like the 'Untouchables' faddy special - with a claret hoop! That would be great. Hopefully something that takes the traditional and merges it with all this L'oreal science mince will please everybody and make the change appeal to all. I think some are being a bit harsh on the club tho. if there're having problems with the contract that they have with the kit that they use day in day out then they need to change suppliers - and that I'm afraid means a new kit design for the supporters. In terms of supporting Motherwell;the seat in the stand, the shirt, the programme, the pies are all optional. Do it, don't do it. It's definitely a choice thing.

They're hardly independant though. they're on-site as MFC's merchandiser and I imagine their taking a lot of the overheads away from MFC - that's good because at least there's a shop you can look around and things most of us would want to buy - I remember when at best you got to look in a widow to a room in the corner of the main stand (I also remember further back when we had a The Fir Park Shop on Windmillhill St - that was a belter). I reckon it'll be pretty much a partnership and most MFC related products that's in the shop will need to be signed off by the club. I love Fender Telecasters - you don't see folk burnin their 2008 deluxe USA tele in the street because Fender have brought out a new range in 2009 or chucking their i-phone at Steve Jobs. I understand the concerns being raised, but I think we're judging MFC harsher than we would any other retailer - computer games, cars, mp3 player etc etc. We all go crazy and buy the latest / upgrade our old ones. But judge MFC a bit more harshly. It sounds as if Bukta in the background have maybe failed to meet expectations - so someone new is on-board - that's the way I'm reading it nothing sinister.

Are you talking about the rugby ones or the football ones finz?

Bit of an accusation there mate - that I don't think any of us could make without being 'in the know'

I understand fully the arguments against changin the strip and sypathise to a degree. Nobody HAS to buy one though. Turnin up at the games is the #1 priority - but you could be wearin yer 9 day auld skidders and nobody would mind as long as you got behind the team. It's character buildin for yer kids to cut about in the auld strips - my nephew did it for years - and he's no been affected that badly!

This is brilliant! Good press at last! Also - an article that doesnt mention the pitch

Nah! How?

Oh and btw 'extra sciency' Its a fitba shirt no' a boatle of shampoo!

What's the downs from those in the know! Any teasers? Is it a traditional hoop / band - or is it an explosion on a spaghetti factory on cheese?

Looking forward to seeing this. I had heard tha Bukta were struggling a bit a few months back. Looking forward to the usual debates. Will it be a hoop?, better no' be a band! - will it be a pettigrew diagonal? etc etc.

If you maybe see the phots KSS you'll see that there's no way anybody was gonna spike the turf and not ruin the system. The phots show loads and loads of narrow guage flexible pipes. running across the park.

Nah, I'm pretty sure that this is our first USH system - and it caused all the drainage problems last season whan it baked the clay and created a barrier layer. I'm sure we had to install it when it became a 'carved in stone' SPL criteria. Before that our only pitch protection was the hot air bubble (which has been resurected this season - after it blew away a couple of seasons back). Someone else could maybe clartify that though. Does anyone have the link to those photographs of the system going in?

Our USH was only installed 2 seasons ago El Grew. Pictures of it's installation have been on the main site and have been on previous threads.

I suppose they had about seven seasons to save up for a new pitch - when they didn't have a stadium to play at! Phud!

Roughly £1500 x No. of seats That's eclusive of your feasablity and design / development costs. oh and about 6 / 7 months on a clear site

OK

I don't think anyone's rounding on Lee-Ann. Is sh your burd? I'm certainly not - don't think Matt is either. My biggest problem isn't the grand statements or even the failure to deliver (we're well used to that). It's the failure to answer a civil question I'm more concerned about. Now if I wanted to round on any of the current regime including the press guy - it's their failure to answer an honest civil question about the park and the USH both now and even before we were being investigated by the SPL - I think there is a case - but that's not really what we're doing. Granted they possibly couldn't say anything while the investigation was ongoing. But now they seem to be responding mainly to the press prodding on a case by case basis. The folk who support this club are as fanatical as anybody else out there and when we say we're gonna rip up the old pitch, dig down fix the drainage etc. and get ourselves the best pitch in the SPL - You can rest assured folk will pass the ground daily and watch out for the work happening. (as they did during the summer) And this summer none of it did. I read informed comments on the old site in July last year that the work had not been carried out - before the pre-season friendlies. And it's all been found to be correct. I'll give Motherwell FC the benefit of the doubt on this right as I think they are thoroughly embarrassed to the core. I wish Lee-Ann all the best

That's a ferr point!

I'll say it again before I start - we brought all this on ourselves - and I hve no sympathy for the senior management team at Fir Park. However the Record Headline and article and the BBC entry in their gossip column are billing this as :- Motherwell could face worse punishment than a £20,000 fine if their pitch isn't brought up to scratch - they could be kicked out of the SPL. (Daily Record). This is complete bollocks! If we fix the undersoil heating and lay a new turf - that's 'technically' us covered in terms of SPL criteria. We should while we're at it have a look at improving the drainage and all the other work that need's done - I know. But contractually. . . . We have unique problems below the playing surface at FP and that makes things slightly tricky. But we can't be held to more stringent criteria than the rest of the SPL clubs all of a sudden can we?