bobbybingo

There should always be room for an adult conversation, but even if some kind of agreement were reached between the authorities and fan groups on the limited use of pyros in football grounds (we know that won't happen) I don't see it solving anything. I can just about remember doing daft stuff for the sole purpose of pissing folk off, and that has to be part of the appeal here. These groups obviously love the friction their actions create, whether it's between themselves and the police/government, the clubs they spend so much time and money supporting, or their fellow fans. The authorities' intransigence may do nothing to help the situation, but even if they bent over tomorrow, I think the loss of control you mention is inevitable. It's just a matter of when and where.

Probably why they've removed them.

From FIFA: "It is a handball offence if a player scores in the opponents’ goal: directly from their hand/arm, even if accidental, including by the goalkeeper; or, immediately after the ball has touched their hand/arm, even if accidental. Accidental handball that leads to a team-mate scoring a goal or having a goal-scoring opportunity will no longer be considered an offence" There is no unfair advantage aspect to it.

Somebody is being paid to sit in a room and dream this crap up. Their approach to the laws of the game seems to be 'What haven't we tried yet?'

Pockets in shorts. It's the future.

Are you looking through the Hubble telescope?

I've no idea if he was ever a decent striker - the Killie fans definitely had a laugh when we signed him. He can't possibly be as bad as he's looked but his confidence must be completely shot. Couldn't get a game down south, more than a year since his last goal, missed some great chances here early on and made such an arse of it last night Kettlewell singled him out. I feel kinda sorry for him, but the sooner he's away the better for both parties.

The rule's ridiculous but simple - if the ball hits the goalscorer's hand or arm it's disallowed. Accidental doesn't come into it. Wilkinson knew it as soon as he scored.

Poor as our striking options are, we're 6th top scorers in the league. You may want to look at the part our defence is playing in this run. Only Ross County have a worse record there.

Oli Shaw. Sooner the better.

He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy.

Should we then assume clubs with a winning outlook don't want to be involved with Lennon, given his employment status? Or has he been knocking them back because he's really only interested in Celtic?

Let's be honest, we don't have a big enough squad for any manager to drop all those who deserve it. You could blame Kettlewell for letting so many guys go out on loan, but even then, would Levein fill a team with development boys? I doubt he'll have much wriggle room at St Johnstone either if they return to the effort they put in for McLean.

And yet, he seemed to lift them when he came in. As others have said, they reacted well when Hammell came in too, then reverted to type. God help the next guy if he doesn't clear some of them out.

I didnae know it was until they discussed it on MotD the other night. Yup, it's shite.

The Ross County guy who handled it wasn't the goalscorer, so he got away with accidental hand ball. There's no accidental hand ball for the guy who puts it in the net.

Who would you have in - Mugabi or Gent?

I'd bet just about everyone on here could tell a similar story. We all want the best for our team, and they'll always be our team, whatever happens.

I think we've been right where we belong for the past 30 odd years. In the top division, sometimes up, sometimes down, reaching cup finals, (very) occasionally winning a trophy and qualifying for Europe on a semi regular basis. There's nothing in our history that suggests we're punching above our weight, nor that we should be doing a lot better. Motherwell FC has improved my life for nearly 50 years and my dad's for a lot longer. It's still the main topic of conversation every time we go for a drink - hopefully next week we'll be toasting a couple of wins.

He should've gone on trial for impersonating a footballer.

Results and performances deteriorated rapidly after his first few games, not following a longer period of success. He looked and sounded like a deer caught in the headlights and the players looked like they'd jacked it. That might come with Kettlewell, but we're not there yet.

I didn't want Kettlewell to get the job. It seemed the easy option at a lower than low point - plus, he does talk a very good game, which generally makes me suspicious of folk's actual abilities. But, like any Motherwell manager or player, I wanted him to succeed, which he did. I still feel the same and don't want to see him booted, but between his summer signings and our recent results, he's entering dangerous territory for any manager. Hopefully he can find a way out, but it needs to start soon. Preferably tomorrow night. The basic job for every Well boss has to be, keep us up. The board's job is to make sure they neither panic nor wait too long in situations like this. I wouldn't fancy either job.

I know our pathetic record against the Old Firm is a bug bear of yours and I don't disagree with you at all - like any fan of a certain age, I was used to us beating the pair of them at least once most seasons and would love to get back to that. How we do it, I don't know. We can't blame any specific person for instilling a defeatest attitude, given the turnover of players and managers. Although, I did see someone saying we'd never beat either of them again..... 😄

You just want us to aim a bit higher than simply finishing 11th every season and not exit every cup competition early? Ok. Since 2010 we've finished 2nd twice, 3rd twice and in the top 6 on 3 other occasions. You can roughly work out our European jaunts from that. I'd put our league finishes up against those of half the other teams in this league anytime. In the same period, we've reached 3 cup finals, one semi and 6 quarter finals. Obviously that's not good enough for you. You can ponder what we'd have done if we had been in the Championship all day long, but the point is, we haven't been for a ridiculously long time. Can big spenders like Hearts, Hibs or Dundee Utd say that? Talking of Utd, they did give Fletcher what he wanted and also shelled out enough to nick our top scorer. How'd that work out for them? As for our signings this season, that's down to very poor judgement, not a lack of ambition. Steve Clarke was clearly a guy on his way up when he went to Killie, so well done to them for that, but McInnes is past his best. Levein will probably get a debut 3 points tomorrow night, but that won't be anything to do with his managerial skills at this late stage. He started well with Hearts, failed in England, did well with Dundee Utd, failed with Scotland and failed on his return to Tynecastle. He has won absolutely nothing so far as a manager, and he'll win nowt in Perth either. My first Motherwell team was assembled with ambition and loads of dough. Loved them, great to watch, but won nothing, fell apart after 2 or 3 seasons and we ended up skint in the First Division. We appointed an ex Aberdeen and Scotland manager straight from a World Cup and had to bullet him before we could get back up. John Boyle's ambition took us into administration. I'm realistic about our place in Scottish football - it doesn' stop me hoping we can rise above that every season, but I remember we could just as easily fall below it.

We weren't in the Championship, they were. Is your ambition for Motherwell, to finish second in the league and get to cup semis/finals? Done both - at McInnes' expense and on a smaller budget. For non Old Firm teams, winning cups has as much to do with luck as anything else, you can't just buy your way to a trophy. But if you really want us to go for it with managers and players, you have to be talking about a new owner, because we all realise the fan base won't provide the money required for that. I have no idea where we'd find someone who wanted to pump cash into Motherwell, but who knows, maybe there's another John Boyle just waiting out there....