nethertonwellfan Posted May 1, 2013 Report Share Posted May 1, 2013 Clicky By ANTHONY BROWN Published on 30/04/2013 13:09 The way things are going right now, Motherwell fans would be perfectly entitled to wake up of a morning and ask: "Why is our team so good these days?" As more illustrious clubs like Hearts, Hibs and Aberdeen give the impression of running head-long into a gale in the SPL's bottom six, the buoyant Lanarkshire side swan serenely towards Europe for the fifth time in six seasons amid what is fast emerging as Scottish football's finest feelgood story of the current century. They have finished in the top six in five of the last six seasons more than any other non-Old Firm club and are now all but assured of second place in the SPL, meaning they will have finished best of the rest outwith the Old Firm three times in the past six seasons. To put that in context, Hearts have been best of the rest twice in that period; Dundee United once. In the last six seasons, Hibs and Aberdeen have never finished higher than fourth, while, in that time, Well have finished beneath Hearts just twice and only once below Hibs and Aberdeen respectively. Bearing in mind how much the landscape in football can change over the course of a year never mind six they are evidently no flash in the pan. For any kid who just started following football around 2007 perhaps those aged 10-13 just now Motherwell have to be viewed as the top club in Scotland outside the Old Firm. Aside from John Hughes' Hibs in 2009 and Jim Jefferies' Hearts the following season, the upwardly-mobile Fir Park side are the only team who have been able to give the Old Firm any cause to look over their shoulder since Mark McGhee first kicked off this remarkable adventure six years ago. If we're looking for logic behind their unlikely status as the country's most consistent non-Old Firm club, there isn't much beyond the fact that, since their lurch into administration 11 years ago, the club have made a concerted effort to ensure they are as well-run as possible on and off the field. They are reliant on no particular individual and, although they have kicked on to new heights under Stuart McCall and the current crop of players over the past two seasons, the fact they were previously perennial top-six finishers under the likes of McGhee and Craig Brown before both were head-hunted by Aberdeen suggests the club have in place a structure which will ensure they are able to cope fine when McCall eventually leaves for more illustrious pastures. Even Jim Gannon, the one boss who hasn't worked out in the past six years, wasn't exactly a flop in his six months in charge. He won manager of the month just two months before departing with the club safely perched in the top six in December 2009. It was effectively a clash of personalities between club and manager that did for the controversial Englishman, who, among others, fell out with senior players like Keith Lasley and Stephen Craigan. In typical modern-day-Motherwell fashion, the parting of ways was carried out swiftly enough to allow Brown to step in from the cold and get things back on track. McCall has since merely continued the club's seemingly-effortless progression. Like managerial changes, the annual departure of key players has done little to disrupt their flow. At the start of each season, observers question how the Fir Park side will cope with the loss of their main men from the previous year, and each time they just unearth some new ones. It is hard to imagine any other non-Old Firm club being able to cope as well when losing, in such a concentrated period of time, so many influential players like David Clarkson, Ross McCormack, Jamie Murphy, Nick Blackman, Chris Porter, John Sutton, Lukas Jutkiewicz, Jim O'Brien, Steve Jennings, Giles Coke, Stephen Hughes, Simon Lappin, Mark Reynolds, Tim Clancy, Paul Quinn and John Ruddy. None of them are world beaters, but all were well-sourced on relative peanuts and highly effective in a claret and amber shirt. This summer, they'll do well to hang on to the likes of Henrik Ojamaa, Nicky Law my choice for SPL player of the year James McFadden, Michael Higdon, Chris Humphrey, Shaun Hutchinson, Darren Randolph and Tom Hateley. Yet even if they lose the lot of them, only a fool would bet against them repeating this season's exploits next term. In an era when there has been precious little else to get excited about in Scottish football, Motherwell's golden period, mercifully, shows no sign of abating. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
numpty Posted May 1, 2013 Report Share Posted May 1, 2013 That's probably put the kibosh on us for next season, then 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
claretband Posted May 1, 2013 Report Share Posted May 1, 2013 Sooperb! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FUNKspex Posted May 1, 2013 Report Share Posted May 1, 2013 I think its all down to my boy. I started taking him to Well games at the beginning of 2011 and he has only witnessed great times. He was even the mascot for a win in a Europa game at Fir Park. So you can name any of the above managers but I know the real reason. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ONeils40yarder Posted May 1, 2013 Report Share Posted May 1, 2013 My boy is 8 and has been going since the tail end of the Malpas season (his 1st game being a 5-0 thumping of Killie), he thinks Motherwell winning and being up at the top end of the league is a God given right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yabba's Turd Posted May 1, 2013 Report Share Posted May 1, 2013 Fuck knows what will happen if we are bottom six... MJC/steelboy on suicide watch 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted May 1, 2013 Report Share Posted May 1, 2013 Fuck knows what will happen if we are bottom six... MJC/steelboy on suicide watch Silver linings and all that... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haggischomper Posted May 1, 2013 Report Share Posted May 1, 2013 Fuck knows what will happen if we are bottom six... MJC/steelboy on suicide watch Can you commit suicide by masterbation? 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Special aka Posted May 1, 2013 Report Share Posted May 1, 2013 Wonder how they'd cope with the wilderness years of the late 70's early 80's - Relegations, 5-0 defeats at Ayr, 3-2 defeats to Accies after being 2-0 up at half-time, getting horsed at Kirkcaldy, losing in the Cup at QoS, etc., etc., Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weeyin Posted May 1, 2013 Report Share Posted May 1, 2013 Can you commit suicide by masterbation? Many have tried. Only the truly dedicated succeed. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weeyin Posted May 1, 2013 Report Share Posted May 1, 2013 Wonder how they'd cope with the wilderness years of the late 70's early 80's - Relegations, 5-0 defeats at Ayr, 3-2 defeats to Accies after being 2-0 up at half-time, getting horsed at Kirkcaldy, losing in the Cup at QoS, etc., etc., Ooft. I had erased the Ayr Utd, Raith Rovers and Accies games from my memory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delboy Posted May 1, 2013 Report Share Posted May 1, 2013 John Boyle was almost right, he wanted to make Motherwell FC the third force in Scottish football instead we are now the second Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ya Bezzer! Posted May 1, 2013 Report Share Posted May 1, 2013 Wonder how they'd cope with the wilderness years of the late 70's early 80's - Relegations, 5-0 defeats at Ayr, 3-2 defeats to Accies after being 2-0 up at half-time, getting horsed at Kirkcaldy, losing in the Cup at QoS, etc., etc., You don't have to go that far back for pumpings off Ayr! The first season I started going regularly (86/87) we won 1 of our first 14 home matches. You didn't even think about winning, you went home ecstatic if you saw a Motherwell goal! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatcalf Posted May 1, 2013 Report Share Posted May 1, 2013 Wonder how they'd cope with the wilderness years of the late 70's early 80's - Relegations, 5-0 defeats at Ayr, 3-2 defeats to Accies after being 2-0 up at half-time, getting horsed at Kirkcaldy, losing in the Cup at QoS, etc., etc., Games like those were the making of many a Well fan. Nothing much fazes me these days, nor at all since 1994 when I was just amazed at our performance in Dortmund. Everything else since like water off big Higgy's back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteelmaninOZ Posted May 2, 2013 Report Share Posted May 2, 2013 Wonder how they'd cope with the wilderness years of the late 70's early 80's - Relegations, 5-0 defeats at Ayr, 3-2 defeats to Accies after being 2-0 up at half-time, getting horsed at Kirkcaldy, losing in the Cup at QoS, etc., etc., Shad up ...ye had tae bring that up that was at the deep six end of my mind. But we have seen better since eh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJC_MKI Posted May 2, 2013 Report Share Posted May 2, 2013 1367438550[/url]' post='381172']Can you commit suicide by masterbation? Probably Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wellfan1984 Posted May 2, 2013 Report Share Posted May 2, 2013 Wonder how they'd cope with the wilderness years of the late 70's early 80's - Relegations, 5-0 defeats at Ayr, 3-2 defeats to Accies after being 2-0 up at half-time, getting horsed at Kirkcaldy, losing in the Cup at QoS, etc., etc., I would be more worried about those that lived through that period, as everytime I have had to tell someone to shut the fuck up at football they have all been old enough to remember the "bad times" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJC_MKI Posted May 2, 2013 Report Share Posted May 2, 2013 Even in the mid-late 90s under McLeish & Kampman we had some awful sides and results. Back then I used to consider a point against Hearts or Aberdeen as bit of an achievement, nowadays we regularly beat them and outperform them in the league. It's been incredible to see us better the city clubs over the past few years and hopefully we'll keep on defying the odds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joewarkfanclub Posted May 2, 2013 Report Share Posted May 2, 2013 Remember when we used to always lose in Edinburgh....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
well-army Posted May 2, 2013 Report Share Posted May 2, 2013 Remember when we used to always lose in Edinburgh....... And Hearts always used to put 2 or 3 past us at Fir Park. Messers robertson, crabbe and colquhoun used to have a field day against us Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJC_MKI Posted May 2, 2013 Report Share Posted May 2, 2013 And Hearts always used to put 2 or 3 past us at Fir Park. Messers robertson, crabbe and colquhoun used to have a field day against us Jim Hamilton and Neil McCann aswell, you dreaded seeing them on the Hearts team sheet against us back then. I think we had a period of four years in the 90s where we never managed to beat Hearts atall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haggischomper Posted May 2, 2013 Report Share Posted May 2, 2013 Remember when we used to always lose in Edinburgh....... And it always seemed to be pishing rain, at least in my memory Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joewarkfanclub Posted May 2, 2013 Report Share Posted May 2, 2013 And it always seemed to be pishing rain, at least in my memory Indeed. I remember one Scottish Cup tie at Tynecastle. The club had put on free buses so there was a big Motherwell support. We were 3 down by half time and soaked to the skin. The only real entertainment were the Caley fans whose game had been cancelled and decided to go to ours instead. Never stopped singing for 90 minutes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trainbus Posted May 2, 2013 Report Share Posted May 2, 2013 Remember when we used to always lose in Edinburgh....... ....and get fecking soaked then chased Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
claretband Posted May 2, 2013 Report Share Posted May 2, 2013 John Boyle was almost right, he wanted to make Motherwell FC the third force in Scottish football instead we are now the second Think I want this on a T-shirt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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