Dee

First photos of tonights display at kick-off! http://www.snspix.com/6089616/print/6089616.html http://willievass.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/220212-Motherwell-v-Hibs/G0000b6YQhQL8_qY/I0000m8srDqREKwo

Video v Hearts on Saturday, whoever made it has got the date wrong though Thought the atmosphere was excellent tonight, hopefully some photos and videos?

Get the footage up!

The lads over in Alesund backing the campaign at the last league game tonight. Unlike in Scotland, the pyrotechnics in this photo are OK'd by the club and local fire department:

Looking forward to it!

Yes, most likely in the 10th minute for obvious reasons.

I am 60% sure it says in the Green Guide (stadium rules) that 10% of the stadium capacity are allowed to be standing.

Before I make my point, let me point out that I have a lot of respect for the SAC due to the great deal of help they gave us in the lead up to our Cup Final display but come on, are we really on the correct lines? Yes we want to improve the overall matchday but we also want to bring more punters through the door. Will replacing the current mascots with an IronMan like figure make any difference to attendances or the match day experience for that matter? I'd say the answer is no. What I have noticed this season more than ever is the young Well fans watching people singing, bouncing and playing the drum, infact most of them seem to watch the guys singing more than they watch the players on the park. With that in mind I will give you an example of what we seen in Norway which I think could be implemented at Fir Park. Over in Norway its a completely different kettle of fish and whilst I understand certain things will never be the same due to cultural differences, I honestly believe we should adopt some of the same aproaches. You have men, women and children of all ages standing together and enjoying themselves, something which I believe is very different to over here where most people go out of habit. At Valarenga in Oslo they have a section of the stadium for kids aged around 8-14ish who are grouped together and make up the "mini-club" where a few older guys from the proper singing section take games in turn to get the youngsters in full voice, complete with waving flags, drums etc. The kids love it and it encourages them to attend from a young age then when old enough they can move to the proper singing section with friends who they have bonded with throughout the years. The kids at Valarenga seemed to be loving their matchday experience and it was very pleasing to see. My highlight though was from the Cup Final between Aalesund and Brann where instead of 1 mascot they had 11 from each side. It wasnt like your stereotypical mascot experience though where the kid runs out with the team, what they done was have 11 cones like you would use for a dribbling excercise at football training lined up in a 4-4-2 position and 1 by 1 each kids name was read out through the tannoy and they ran out to an excellent reception for the crowd. For me you could see the pride in the kids faces and I could imagine it would be a lifelong memory. Now, you may argue what is different from this and the current mascot set up but I think it may bring a few more faces through the door. When I was a mascot many moons ago my mum and aunt who never go to the football came along. Imagine you had 11 mascots all bringing an extra body at least, it all adds up! Now moving on to what we have place at the moment, no disrespect to the Cash Convertors Challenge or the Cheerleaders but how about setting up 4 mini parks and having children having mini games, yes we have had it before but not consistently. Its all about making people happy and giving them a day to remember. Just suggestions though.

Can only agree with what Rico has posted, massive game ahead and a loud and lively home crowd will only help to lift the players on the park. As McCall said in one of his recent emails, the atmosphere and singing seems to be more constant at away game, probably because most people have had a few drinks and are more up for the day out, but we really need to try and replicate that at home! Here's a video from Inverness on Saturday, more of the same please! Gutted I'm missing this along with a couple of the other guys from the end section. Booked flights to Oslo to see Aalesunds in the Norwegian cup final on Sunday and then due to Celtic playing Rennes tomorrow they go and move the 'Well game The idea of us going 6 points ahead of Celtic is making me think twice....

From that video I counted 1 song which wasn't a Motherwell song and that was The Cry Was No Surrender? Sure the Celtic fans will be up in arms with the Nazi salute at 5.25. For me it's not how I would spend my pre-Cup Final party but each to their own, they are decked out in 'Well colours and apart from one song are vocaling backing Motherwell FC, no problem!

Back page of the Motherwell Times today is talking about this incident, looks like they have contacted United as they responded saying those refused entry were "intoxicated" which was not the reason given on the day!

Here's a quote from the matchday thread: Some quotes from players on Twitter: Lasley: "Disappointed to hear some fans didn't get in to see the game yesterday . Surely a better atmosphere adds to the product as a whole?" Stevie Hammell "Huge number of travelling Well fans refused entry at to the game at the weekend, without fans we have no game!!! #poorshow"

Thought I'd add this in here, not the best of photos but I'm sure most people will get the message. HEAVY HANDS - EMPTY STANDS

Here is a photo I seen someone has tweeted Lasley and Hammell. Lasley replied: "Disappointed to hear some fans didn't get in to see the game yesterday . Surely a better atmosphere adds to the product as a whole?" Stevie Hammell "Huge number of travelling Well fans refused entry at to the game at the weekend, without fans we have no game!!! #poorshow" Will add something about not getting allowed to the main office. Keep the advice coming guys!

Here is a rough draft of a letter we have typed up and hope to send of to Dundee United. If anyone wants to edit this to improve the content before it is sent away then please feel free? I have also emailed Alan Marshall at Motherwell, as he tends to be our main contact between the H&S people at most clubs, to find out who is best to contact at Dundee United. Dear Mr Thompson, I am writing today to draw your attention to an incidentwhich happened on Saturday 1st October outside the Jim McLean FairPlay Stand prior to the kick-off between Dundee United Football Club andMotherwell Football Club. Firstly let me point out that I am a dedicated follower ofMotherwell Football Club and I have had many enjoyable visits to your stadiumhowever on Saturday this was not the case. I was part of a group of around 50-60Motherwell fans who on arrival at the turnstiles was refused entry to the groundby one of your employees Wendy Thompson. Firstly Wendy informed the group thatno flags will be allowed into the stadium despite this being cleared by our Safetyand Facilities manager Alan Marshall at the pre-op’s meeting on Friday. The message we received from Alan was our drum, which I mustadd has been allowed entry to every Motherwell away fixture this season,including Celtic, Dunfermline, St Mirren and Kilmarnock, was a “non-starter”,no surfer flags would be allowed but “normal” flags will be allowed. For thisreason we made sure that no surfer flags were brought and all our flags were shorterthan 1 metre and no thicker than a thumb, as previously at SPL grounds we havebeen informed that this is the guidelines. That for Wendy though was not the case andafter much discussion, including offering to show her the email we had receivedfrom Alan Marshall, she decided that she had heard enough and due to our “attitude”not only would the flags not be allowed entry but nobody from the group wouldbe allowed entry either. At this time there were a number of police officerspresent who were completely shocked by the incident and tried to talk the stewardsround to allowing us entry as even though Wendy described us as a “risk”, theyhad seen no evidence of this. The police officers have provided badge numbersif necessary and urged us to make a complaint due to the over-zealousstewarding and completely unnecessary hassle which we faced from Wendy and hercolleagues. One officer also informed us that this was not the first time hehad encountered this approach from Wendy and she has often inflamed situationswhen the Old Firm fans are visiting Tannadice. This does not surprise me as Wendy and anotherChief Steward named Fran continually spoke in an offensive and aggressivemanner to a number of Motherwell fans and certainly were not open to anyreasoning, even when one individual suggested we put the flags back on the busand enter without them. On top of this I would like to highlight the financialeffect this would have not only on us Motherwell supporters but Dundee Unitedas a business. With around 60 Motherwell fans being refused entry at around £20per person, this is £1200 revenue lost before any of these fans buy a programmeor visit the kiosk for refreshments. Nowon the grand scheme of things £1200 may not be a great deal to a football clubof your stature but in the current economic climate I believe it is a largemistake to be turning away this form of revenue with no real explanation why.It is also a crazy approach to alienate supporters who aim to create anatmosphere at the football and in turn add to the overall product of thematch-day. I would also like to pointout that our supporters bus was a 57 seater and worked out around £7 per personwhich is roughly £400 spent for a wasted journey to Dundee. I aim to also bring this issue to the attention ofMotherwell Football Club and the national media as I have never experienced asituation quite as bad as this before on previous visits to any footballstadium. I have attached some photographs of the incident for your viewing andI look forward to hearing from you.

Gordy, that has always been one of our aims! To get the older school shed choir involved and bring back some of the old classic terrace songs so it would be fantastic if you, and many of your generation would get involved. When you look at other teams both in the UK and Europe its certainly not just young lads, there is a very wide age range and it would be great to replicate this at Fir Park. Not only would it be good in terms of atmosphere but I think it would also result in less hassle from the police and stewards, I may be wrong but I think the authorities think its easier to pick on the younger generations.

I would like to point out that the guys aiming to improve the atmosphere at Fir Park are completely against the booing of our own players!

This has been a question that has came up on many occasions. Don't get me wrong, we would love to expand from the current section and get every involved in songs, displays etc. but at the moment its probably best we try to improve with what we have rather than aiming to high. That said, it is something which will be seriously considered over time. The singing section is never going to be everyones cup of tea (see Mitch's above post for example) and ideally we would love to be in the centre of the East Stand but its not possible. Just now, we have a situation where if people want to get involved then they can, there are enough seats at the end of the East for people to move up. If we were to relocate then I think it may cause more hassle than its worth, however I may be wrong. What I mean is you would get people who would give it "put that flag down so I can see the game" situations like we faced at the Cup Final and to be fair, I completely understand their objective. Like us, they have paid their money and dont want flags to restrict their view. If people have the opinion of "I'd love to get involved but my seat just now has a better view of the game" then I'd advise you to stay where you are because to be honest your going to see a lot less of the game, not only because of where the seat is positioned, but because you will have flags, scarfs and people bouncing around in front of you! As for today though, like Bop said, we are hoping that the atmosphere will be one of the best so far this season so please get involved and dont be put off coming up to the end of the East if you fancy it!

Video similar to Jay's but good for folk wanting to see what it's like down the far end of the East and maybe wanting to find out how the newer songs go!

I know I'm in the minority but I always thought Fitzy was decent, a good player to have in your squad.

I'd take Sutton back in a second!

To be fair Motherwell have been really good and brought up at the pre-op's meetings so far this season that we will be bringing a drum, flags etc. and most clubs have been OK with it. Lets hope Celtic are much the same but it's more the stewards inside the ground who will prove to be the problem. As someone mentioned before a lot of the guys boycott Celtic Park due to people being thrown out and arrested for next to nothing in the past so I think some of the singers will be waiting to hear the results from the pre-op's meeting before making a decision about going. If only we were foreign and could take numbers like this to Celtic Park: The yellow coats didnt ask them to sit down or refuse their banners for whatever reason

There always seems to be a negative attitude about going to Celtic Park and Ibrox due to the ridiculous stewarding and policing. I know a lot of the guys I go to the football with are put off and usually boycott CP for this reason but with our away support being so vocal this year so far and with some fantastic results on the pitch I really hope that the 'Well fans turn out in good numbers. Hopefully the security at Celtic let us do our own thing, sing and support the team without causing any bother, that's if the majority of singers decide to go, but then again let's be honest, there is a slim chance that the police and stewards in the Away end would allow anyone to even look to be enjoying themselves.