steelboy

we were absolutely pish for the first hour against hibs. surprise, surprise mccall lines us exactly the same against st mirren and we're equally punchless. the higdon ojamaa partnership isn't working and mccall needs to try something else up front to get goals. the defence is a shambles but they get no help from the middle of the park so it's difficult to blame them individually. for both their goals hammell was marking his man and they moved him into the centre which allowed them t get unchallenged crosses in while ojamaa who had moved to the left stood 20 yards away watching. humphrey's efforts at the second goal is why he'll never be a football player.

30 games. 1 goal. never a striker.

ojamaa has been murder this season. it has never been easier to score in this league and he has 1 goal in 24 appearances. he looked better when he was playing a bit deeper in the final half hour on saturday but has been largely ineffective up front. if we get the chance to cash out we should bite their hands off.

poor at home, poor standard of football over all, a shocking defence and none of the recent signings contributing anything. mccall has to up his game to prove he is the man to take the club forward.

when half the squad fuck off in the summer we will have a decent bit of money available in wages even if the budget is cut. it has to be spent wisely.

he had a wage to bring in a player in the summer and he wasted it on ramsden. he had money to bring in stevenston yet didn't manage to get anyone else signed. the buck stops with the manager.

are you kidding on? law has been our best player over the past month or so and we missed him greatly last night. we were far too slow in the middle of the park and half the guys in the team can only pass the ball to their right, law gives you guile and tempo.

the £1.5m is just a figure the club have plucked out the air, if the society isn't able to raise that much the directors will just have to lower the conditions. there are no alternative ownership models.

it seems that now because you only remember the good times. losing 24 league games was horrible. 14 goals in 19 away games. fuck doing that again.

7 cup games this season. only two goals scored and i'm struggling to think of too many saves the opposition keepers had to make in any of those matches. we struggled last night because the last four guys mccall brought in are offering nothing and the squad is on it's arse.

3 good seasons out of 4 and the bad one can be attributed to the malpas effect. he barely put a foot wrong in his first season and during his last 18 months. motm when we won at parkhead and the wonder save against aberdeen when we clinched europe were huge in finishing 3rd and the penalty save in nancy was a great moment.

i would say law has been our best player over the past month or so, he seems to have found his bearings in centre mid. there is no chance mccall will ever drop him. nicky's his boy.

i'd move murphy up front and stick carswell or zfa in midfield. drop henrik. 1 goal in 21 games is poor.

i agree with that. it's vital to keep the members engaged and make potential members feel that they will gain something by joining. if the society can demonstrate that it can make a difference and maintain momentum towards it's goals then i think the support will get behind it. creating a way to communicate and establish a consensus online so every member is able to participate if they choose to do so is the most important thing. everyone has to be involved not just those who are willing/able to attend meetings.

good result and great to walk out of fir park on a saturday having seen an entertaining game, it's been a while. i've been critical of mccall for his subs recently but he got it spot on today. higdon scored a good goal then as he usually does after scoring perked up and had a good first half. derek adams made a smart change bringing munro on, he marked him out the game up there in august and dominated higdon again today. taking higdon off forced us to play the ball on the deck and county couldn't deal with our movement. higdon is obviously worth his place in the team at them moment so the challenge is to play the ball on the deck with him on the park. that should give us a boost going into the cup tie but i think we should be looking at moving murphy up front and shoring up the midfield with either carswell or zfa. i don't see much signs of a partnership between henrik and higdon and they both have a bad habit of losing the ball so i don't think they work together well. carswell, zfa and mchugh all did well today and hopefully proved to mccall that we have players who can be trusted to contribute rather than ripping the arse out of his favourite 11 or 12.

if there is a will in the society for a vote on reconstruction and an official position it could happen no problem. the only problem is that this has possibly come too soon before lines of communication have been properly established. i agree that it would be great pr for the society and would bring some media attention. the vote in the summer turned a bad situation into something positive and acting on this issue in a similar way would mark out motherwell as the most forward thinking club in the country.

a much better meeting last night with about 100 in attendance. graham barnstaple chaired the meeting very well and the other board members seemed positive and enthusiastic. the main issue at the meeting was establishing lines of communication amongst the members and to the society board and if they get that right it should hopefully become an active and visible group working alongside the club. it was announced that the society will elect two members to the mfc board for terms of two years in the new year to replace john boyle and stewart robertson who will be officially removed. there was a bit of debate about whether their should be further elections or whether it should be two of the society board who join the club board but most people seemed to agree that it would make the most sense for two society board members to join the club board. the next step is co-opting another 3 people onto the society board then electing our representatives onto the club board. the first point of the night was to establish that the primary aim of the society is to achieve fan ownership of the club. i was happy to hear that but disappointed to see that the society would have to raise £1.5m (another £1,120,000) before fan ownership is a reality. there were a few members who seemed very keen to lead the way in fundraising and bringing in businesses (only one has invested at the moment) but it still seems like an awful lot of money and considering that the initial push only raised 25% of the total required i'm pessimistic about when we will reach this amount. i find it strange that the trustees can tell the society that it needs £1.5m to take control of the club while they are running the club with no capital, no intention of investing their own capital and expecting to use the society's money to finance their running of the club. there should be scope to negotiate on this in the future. the society currently has funds equivalent to 15% of the club but it wasn't clear whether shares will be transferred to the society as the amount raised increases or if boyle's full 71% will be handed over in one go if/when the £1.5m is raised. the other aims of the society are to attract more members (we only have 600 odd adult members at the moment so this should be doable), to raise as much money as possible and to transmit the views of the membership to the club. graham barnstaple mentioned the current reconstruction debate as an example of the final point but was a bit vague about what the society might do in regards to it. considering that the spl are moving ahead with these plans it would be good if the society could establish if we have a position on this issue and if so what it is. a lot of people feel strongly about this issue and it's nationally high profile so it could be a good opportunity to showcase the society in action and attract more members. overall it was a very positive start and there are a lot of areas in which the society can contribute. it'll be interesting to see in 12 months time if the funds held or the membership has increased by much and if the society members on the board have improved transparency and communication.

the weather is decent just now in motherwell, fingers crossed for more of the same tomorrow. hopefully we're quick out the blocks tomorrow as if were a different team when we have an early goal. fitzpatrick did well against humphrey up there but i think we'll get some joy on that side tomorrow.

i got a cheque from fir park today so that's it sorted. it was definitely an error with the bank processing the standing order form so i'll be more aware of that in future. i'll be attending the meeting tonight anyway, it'll be interesting to see what direction the society board members are planning on moving in.

the bank said it's the other way around. if it was a direct debit they would sort it but because it's a standing order i need to sort it from the well society end. when i filled in the form motherwell said it would be fine to make 3 payments then take 4 months off then make the final payment but money went out in june, july, august and september when it shouldn't have. i've been trying to get the money back for weeks but the club accountant has been on bereavement leave and apparently 6 weeks isn't enough time for them to set up a facility to take money out the 'well society account. i also tried to point out that leeann dempster was making a big deal about the club footing the admin costs of the society and asked if they couldn't refund me then get the money back from the society account in their own time but that's 'not possible'.

the original money to join the society. they took eight standing order payments from my bank account rather than four.

just saw in my email that there is a meeting tomorrow night. i can't say that i'm enthused after the last one but i'm having some problems getting money back that was mistakenly taken out my bank account so i'll be attending. hopefully there will be some discussion of the society's approach to reconstruction.

there is no way we can afford webster. he'll be on more than our top earner at the moment and the budget is getting cut again in the summer.

grainger is utter shite, left back is the only area we are covered in and to top it off he's injured for the rest of the season. but other than that we should definitely bring him in.

how could we possibly get compensation? you have to offer the player a new deal to get anything. it's more likely that mccall wants him out the door and has his eye on giving the £800 quid a week or so he's getting paid for not playing to graeme lee or paul heckingbottom.