bobbybingo

Tony Watt's man of the match again.

Gallagher back in. Foley on the bench.

It's entirely possible there was an issue with his contract and he was injured. It doesn't have to be one or the other. If you think the club 'constantly' talking about his professionalism is proof he's not been at it, that's a reasonable assumption. I'd say their (and his) constant refusal to deny, or make any real comment on, the original story is reasonable proof there actually was some sort of clause. That's not a conspiracy theory, it's basic logic. As long as the club haven't rolled over on this, I couldn't give a monkey's now. We could get to safety without him if need be, and he won't be here next season.

No conspiracy here, just a he said/they said situation, where he's apparently happy to let them say what they want, irrespective of the truth and the subsequent fallout.

You forget that most pictures in newspapers were black and white, even then. Used to have scrapbooks full of them and a colour photo was a rarity. When I was looking for some photos there I came across a video of the 6-1 Scottish Cup defeat at Tannadice in 1981. Could've been a lot worse, given it was 4-0 after 17 minutes. Still, good to hear John Gahagan and the Motherwell fans getting praise off Archie MacPherson and see Ally walking down the touchline. Don't recall seeing any other footage of him as Motherwell manager.

I asked about the black & white shirt and if we borrowed it, but he didn't seem to think that was a possibility. I'm gonnae ask a daft question here - Dundee Utd turned up and discovered we had no change strip - they loaned us theirs so they could play in their home kit. Would it not have been the logical solution for them to just wear their white away kit and let us play in claret and amber? I know football disnae like logic, but if you're having to stick tape on jerseys...

I contacted Johnny Gahagan to ask him about the kit, here's his reply: I broke my nose in that game and the second game at Tannadice was an exciting game too although we went out after extra time. I think I may have some photos in an old scrap book. If I find them, I will send on a copy. We did wear white shirts at times but always with the claret and amber frills. I never wore black shorts. If it was a black and white photo of Albert Kidd it may have been claret shorts, which we wore with the white top...... sometimes we wore white shorts but never black. I promise to get back to you in the near future...... Strange thing I've noticed about United's Adidas kits, home and away, up to 1981/82 - in every photo I've seen, regardless of the time of year, their tops seem to be long sleeve.

“It would be unfair of me to take any headlines about something in my contract.” A quote from Gallacher in January, regarding the trigger that wasn't in his contract.

There are only 2 credible possibilities regarding their story - the Record made it up, or someone representing the player gave it to them. Work out who has something to gain from this and there's your answer. Columbo wouldnae get out of bed to solve that head scratcher. He's played well for us in the past and I hope he plays well for us in the remaining games, if he's picked, but I think it would be fair to say it hasn't been the greatest captaincy, between one thing and another.

I'm making no comment on his injury or anything other than that story, which is where and when all this stuff started. You've just said yourself, it's a 'pretty heavy allegation'. I agree. Things like that follow people around, that's why I find it bizzare he's willing to let it pass. But that's a matter for him to decide. If there was ever any chance of him staying, this kinda stuff - which he can't possibly be unaware of - will have ended it. Be interesting to see how much Alexander uses him in the last 5 games.

The Record invented a story about his contract because they wanted Celtic to sign him? Or Celtic got them to print a story the player knew wasn't true so he wouldn't trigger a non existent clause? I'm asking why they ran that story. When they make stuff up, there's always a reason.

He's being accused of feigning or drawing out an injury in order to stop a contract extension being triggered. The trigger that people read about in the Record. Mibbe it's just me, but if my professionalism was being questioned and my reputation damaged as a result of a dodgy story, I'd have something to say about it. Can anyone give a good reason why that paper ran a wee story about a Motherwell player's contract in the first place?

I hope - and believe - it will be academic by then. Because, if we get ourselves into a position where it's not, I wouldn't put any money on our survival.

Eddie Nolan is an anagram of I Ended Loan. Or Keyser Soze.

1-1, into extra time. Brora put Hearts out. Shame.

Killie v Ross County in the first round of games. We beat St Mirren and surely to god that must be about it, even if it's not arithmetically finished. Don't fancy going into the Accies game on the back of a defeat.

There's an article from the start of February saying he'd recently returned to light training and was expected to be available before the end of the season. No idea how accurate that was/is. Still TBC on official site.

I wouldn't break our back trying to keep O'Donnell, if he's even entertaining the idea of staying. By no means the worst, but if he's earning more than others I'd be expecting more in return. He has to take his fair share of the blame for some of the doings we've had and his crosses/free kicks are pretty woeful.

You're obviously right, and I don't kid myself how far down the chain we are. If Alexander brings in some guys he knows and trusts, we might well finish higher next season, cos there's hee haw between most of the league. I'm just mumping because it's getting harder to watch our - and others - attempts at fitba with each passing year.

Yeah, more fingers getting crossed with each passing season, unfortunately. I'd be interested to hear which players you think we'd want to keep and will want to stay with us.

If we go down the usual route of bringing in players who can't get a game and are surplus to requirements elsewhere, it's gonnae be another shit season. A team full of guys who might not have played a competitive game in a year, even at reserve level? January showed us how that's likely to end up. Or you go even further down the levels in England to find out of contract players who are willing to come for what we pay.

That's the question. Why? Not changing a winning team is one thing, but it's a rare manager who makes that decision unless he feels he has a very good reason. As you say, young loanee playing ok. Is that the very good reason?

I'd be extremely worried if he didn't think there was something missing in there. Team selection makes it pretty clear he's not happy with everyone.

I don't think we will either. We're allowed to think like that. Problem is, the players seem to have that attitude too.

Mibbe about a dozen? No sure what the Brazilian guy's after. I really hope they sell plenty, but I still think something with a wee bit of our colours would shift more shirts - or something so wild it would get noticed elsewhere. I imagine they're limited in what Macron will actually produce, and mibbe there's a very personal reason for choosing those colours. Best of luck to them.