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This is fun no Celtic no Rangers

Apparently West Ham are in the mix too ps this is, at the very least, 4th hand news so Chinese whispers may be in play

Agreed. It has been nice to see the refs in the WC trying to make the game flow as much as possible. It has highlighted just how pedantic the Scottish referees are. It has been quite notably just how much of a difference there is been the top referees in the World and their Scottish peers.

That’s a good move for Ox. He was never going to get a sniff here again, so I’m genuinely pleased for him.

I actually thought in wc , the refereeing was not bad and they didn't use var unnecessarily. Maybe in Morocco game for us, we could've done with it but were any of the " clear and obvious " errors? Diving seemed to be clamped down on ...Bellingham, kane and Gordon still seemed to buy a few. Scottish refs will be back to feckin it up , they dont have the balls to go against the of. Can you imagine the celtic pen being given in wc or any other country? Unfortunately we aren't going to get anywhere i fear, sfa are doubling down on decisions.

Aston also away Aston Oxborough joins Dunfermline Athletic - Motherwell Football Club

I would agree that Slattery deserved it if similar incidents were getting the same punishment. What is striking about the Slattery incident is that is was a punishment in isolation of other similar incidents. You can see the levels of simulation in the World Cup. As far as I am aware not one player has received a ban for it. I understand different governing body, different referees but it is the same sport and in that context Slattery's punishment was excessive.

If it is, that will tell us how threadbare our squad is. You'd think AJ would want to field his strongest 11, or as near to it as possible, in order to prepare us for next Thursday.

I’ve previously accused the SFA of circling the wagons to protect their own whenever they’re faced with legitimate criticism. It’s a closed shop with zero accountability, so I expect nothing less. As for your bit weird comment, I’d say this: it’s not weird, it appears to be corruption.

Sorry , Slattery( top player) deserved it....this latest one on Watt is bullying.

Am I right in thinking that it could be a very youthful lineup anyway as we've already picked up some injuries?

Agreed. Result not that important tonight. Performance related to availability and fitness of players will be far more illuminating. Hopefully we dont get a doing and some of the new signings are available to bolster what might be a threabare squad.

Its hard not to think that there is more at play here when the punishments applied are clearly excessive. Neither the club nor Elliot Watt have questioned the integrity of the match officials, well maybe the club inferred it with the photo of Beaton & McGregor, but its not the most blatant example Ive seen/heard. Of course, we will take it more personally as its our club that is invovled, but it appears most fans of most other clubs agree, if the views expressed on P&B are anything to go by. Again, I will await the punishment of McInnes with interest.

Very good, have you considered stepping up for the role of forum funny guy, GrizzlyG is considering retirement or if not he should..

Elijah Just now being linked with Swansea https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-transfer-news/elijah-just-targeted-swansea-transfer-37442652

I think thats it. This decision is overly harsh and totally inconsistent. We'll see if this level of punishment is applied again in future for similar situations. In short, we are an easy target. Being pedantic, Watt's comment was an opinion, based on some factual basis. Presumably the SFA thought that there were worse VAR decisions than that one. If so, what were they? Come on tell us. As for the club's fine, that is also nonsense. According to Graeme McGarry, the fine isn't for the club's comments, but because it posted a picture of a Celtic player with the referee? Really? is that the level they've stooped to? Its interesting that the club might challenge the fine, and I hope it does, but also that it has asked for the reasons in writing. Now thats interesting in its own right. They've either only been given them by word of mouth or they haven't been given them at all. The whole thing stinks. Just as with society in general, free speech is being clamped down on. You are free to express an opinion as long as it is consistent with that of the establishment.

Arguably, the most interesting aspect of tonight's bounce game, apart from the new players, are the starting and finishing line ups. They should give us an insight into our new manager's thinking and the health of our squad.

For me it smacks of put the ‘wee club back in it’s place ‘ not so much for playing good football but for daring to challenge and have an opinion - feedback offered by the club is taken as critique and attack . All very shallow minded . Had things been reversed would an OF player be punished with ban at the time Slattery was , would they face a 4 game ban now ? had Motherwell invaded the pitch before the games had ended and behaved the way Celtic did - would the punishment be minor ? im trying not to sit with a tinfoil hat on but the evidence and outcomes are staggering .

Aye well said mate

Or Beltramey remember him?

Signing on fee for the player?

You get the sense that Motherwell have got under the skin of the SFA last season. What should have been a real positive for the game in Scotland with one of the smaller teams genuinely competing (and often outplaying) with the 4 big city clubs now has more of a sense of reprisal than celebration about it. Is it possible that the authorities felt genuinely threatened by what Motherwell were trying to do? It seems far fetched in the extreme to think that is possible and yet for the authorities to come down on Motherwell not once but twice with punishments that don't really fit the crime seems more than just a coincidence. I can see no positive motive in actively targeting Motherwell in this way and yet as fans of the club and for the club itself there is a palpable sense that we have indeed been targeted. I have found myself drifting away from football in recent times largely because of the governance of the game both nationally and globally ( look at FIFA in the WC). Motherwell were pulling me back in last year. They were a breath of fresh air and yet the powers that be seem determined to drain the life out of any flicker of hope that things can be better. There is an inconsistency about the SFA response to many of these matters. When there is so much to fix in the game in this country (Old Firm pitch invasions being one) it seems a little like booking someone for parking over two carparking spaces whilst a riot is kicking off all around. It's all a bit weird.

€2m is a decent fee I guess. Be interested to see what the "signing bonus" is? Never heard of that before. Hopefully we now have more players incoming.

Looking forward to tomorrow but remember its a friendly folks with new manager so lets be patient