All Activity

Maybe I misrepresented but I understood a football campus is something like what Man City have, the stadium and the training facility is essentially co-located/easily accessible. Was a simple thing to do in the aftermath of the Commonwealth games. The concern myself and many others have is by funding a multi-million pound facility at Dalziel Park we own either own the land as per the footprint of the building or will be on a long term favourable lease. If we ever need to realise the asset then who's going to be interested in securing an isolated building? The £1m astroturf in the middle of the running track will probably revert to to Dalziel Memorial Trust. The value in the asset would be if there was associated land and if in a pinch it could be sold either as is or for a change of use. Of course there's major pro's and con's for each option including speed of construction and ready made pitches at DP. The planned improvement would be welcome and undoubtedly an improvement on what we have, I am unsure if the modest plans are something that makes a young player think, I need to be here beyond the exposure and platform we claim to be able to provide. My preference for a campus is four fold; to avoid doubling up on infrastructure, to sweat the asset, to be a new hub/focal point for the area and to carry the club in to the future at pace. It's imperative the modern world that a building such as a stadium can't be used 25 days a year tops. Every nook and cranny of the building should be exploited for complementary ancillary business' and services. Caldwell's piece to camera the other day makes it clear Dalziel Park is going ahead without any pasky fan input other than if you own a lumberyard can you give us a bell. Funny 100 million is mentioned: https://www.thestadiumbusiness.com/2025/11/07/l35-set-to-deliver-stadium-for-banik-ostravas-return-home/ Designed by the firm who handled the Bernabeu refurb, of course it's not going to be cheap, it's very much a statement and central government is throwing money at it. One bit does resonate ..... "A unique facade – a tribute to coal and steel Nové Bazaly will hold 20,188 spectators, with a layout that includes two-tiered east and west stands and smaller single-tier north and south sections. The design pays homage to Ostrava’s mining and industrial heritage. The stadium will rest on a solid basalt stone base, recalling the quarry that once occupied the site. Its perforated metal facade will provide ventilation while partially concealing technical areas and reflecting the industrial character of the city. The stadium resembles a crown – not golden or ostentatious, but proud and working-class. It celebrates Ostrava’s industrial spirit and honors the generations who built this city and supported Baník through every era, the architects from L35 explained."

Six yellows and a red their last game

I just hope Alfred doesn't continue our long standing tradition of injuring 3 or 4 key players during our week off.

Why would the Old Firm, or any other club for that matter (including us), want to ask those questions? Does any business really want to distribute income more equitably?

Kicked off the park for sure, SR teams are thugs. Hopefully a strong ref.

This will be an interesting game. Alfred will have the lads fine tuned after the break. The majority of our fans will be right behind our team and will be standing up for Motherwell COYW

That's quite possibly because nobody has looked for it, asm the OF in particular, don't want to ask the question "what is the best way to make Scottish football more competitive and distribute income in a more equitable manner?"

The players are professional athletes, well looked after and being well paid for what they do, playing two games of football a week, should not be a problem for them. If we want to improve in Europe to be regular participants and make the group stages for the first time, being ready to play two games a week is the standard we should be aiming for.

I think this is why it would never happen because why would we risk where we are but you see with Norway, Sweden, Belgium. The standard of player in those countries is improving because they are getting more homegrown players playing in the top league. We stunt a lot of our potential talent in this country because they aren't being trusted at a young age due to the 'risk' of relegation. You've even seen it this year with us that because our young players went out and played really badly against Stenny they aren't good enough for the level. Now that may be the case but has Luca Ross, Mikey Booth, Olly Whyte even Matty Connolly to an extent been broadly okay when they have played in the league games for us I would say the answer to that is probably yes. Us and St Mirren are currently benefitting from it from even other clubs in our league being unable to give proper game time to their youth players with Lowry and Nsio who have been 2 standouts so far this season but couldn''t get a look in at Rangers. Wilson at Hearts was sent to Spurs because McIness didn't fancy him. I think if you open the league up more you'd realistically see it stay the same or maybe even slightly improve. If we're also desperate for a Split the Belgian League Format they had up to last season with a 16 team league is probably the most plausible but it does make it a 40 game season

Being no fan of having to watch us play the same teams 4 times a season my initial reaction is yes in theory a bigger league would hopefully lead to more variety and opportunities to visit grounds I haven't been to in years. However the reality is I would have to accept that with the money being more widely distributed the quality of player we would be able to afford to sign would surely diminish and we would become just another Ayr Utd Raith Rovers etc etc and create an even bigger gap to the OF. Question is whether that's a price worth paying for the good of Scottish football as a whole. I rather like where we are just now and I'm not sure I would support any major changes that would lessen our position as I'm a selfish b*****d.

It wasn't just those on the pitch, or damaging the away end. The conduct of some of those who presumably had comps/media passes, or were there in a Celtic capacity was at best antagonistic. Passed Kyrk McMillan/Diirectors box on way out, while the aftermath was still unfolding and said they shouldn't be allowed back. It was fortunate there was no retaliation from the East Stand, or things exceeding verbals in the main stand. Obviously its ridiculous to be fighting in the ground, but it was a highly charged atmosphere and fans were completely incensed by things on and off the field. Will be completely unsurprising when they do it again and wreck the new seats in the away end. If that happens then there is no option, but to cut allocation, otherwise the club look like utterly pathetic cucks. To add, its a tough gig to try and lay down the law to Block E etc when they see massive liberties being taken - with very little recourse - in the away end.

11 games in 6 weeks. New players finding their feet. Hardly any recovery time between games. Little chance to rotate the team with the exception of 1st half against Stenny. Not as much time on the training field to iron out issues as we would have liked. Key players injured or just coming back from Injury A grueling schedule for any team carrying a larger squad than us. Maybe we were just a bit leg weary and mentally tired on Saturday and nothing more than that.

Yep. Was one of the furious. But ive been told by some celtic supporters its okay cause that time some of our fans ran on the pitch when we equalised under kettlewell.

Not the best of pass backs but I'm with you on this one Great Balls. Paulsen had the time to avoid this error. 100% at fault.

There's also a few other aspects that those in favour of the status quo can point to I think, such as attendances being as high, or higher than they have been in years, the excitement of the split/playoffs seeming to have captured the imagination of fans, and the fact there's very little by way of "dead rubber" games at the end of a season. If we're being completely honest, there's probably less evidence that a larger league is the answer than there has been in quite a while I'd think.

Thats correct. The OF were prime movers in getting that arrangement binned.

The genesis of the current top league set-up was season 1975/76 with a 10-club Premier Division where clubs played one another 4 times giving a 36 game league season. Prior to this, the top league (1st Division) had 18 clubs that played each other twice, giving a 34 game league season. I’m pretty sure that under the 18-club 1st Division, the away club got a percentage share of the home club’s gate receipts, but under the 10-club Premier Division this was scrapped and the home club was allowed to retain all its gate receipts and I believe this is still true today. I don’t know if it make any difference or whether it would be acceptable, but maybe if this was re-introduced it would provide clubs outwith the OF with a bigger source of income.

You can't persuade me. I'm still going with 90%

He had at least two other options. Pass it to the right or hoof it up the park and he ignored those options and chose a riskier option by trying to take on their player.

He got there first and had time to deal with, he is 100% at fault with this one.

100% of the blame for me if in doubt fuck it out then regroup n reset n move on yes he had sone great saves to keep us in it ( thats what keepers do ) but ffs dont think your barasi n take any chanxes when the only thing behind you is an empty net 👍 only my humble opinion

I don't disagree with much of what you say but yesterday was a disappointment more because of the context of results for both teams in the last month. I think we can all agree that as a club Motherwell has had an exceptional 18 months. From Wimmer to JBA to player recruitment the club has nailed every decision. There is no question that the club has moved forward since Kettlewell's departure. However, a little known Polish team and a little known Czech team have beaten Rangers over two legs in the last month. When we as a club are looking to gauge our own progress against that wider backdrop we should have some expectation that if these teams can do that, we should aspire to that level as well. The harsh reality of yesterday is that we were not able to match that level. We can call it early season bedding in or the gulf in budgets but we could not match what an unfashionable Polish team and unfashionable Czech team were able to achieve. I don't think the rate of progression of the last 18 months is sustainable. The club can't keep pulling rabbits out of hats and for me personally I feel that there may be a glass ceiling that will be very difficult to break through. Days like yesterday tend to bring that harsh reality into sharper focus. The European adventure has been both exhilarating and sobering in equal measures. There is no question that we have taken a step forward but I have the lingering feeling that several leaps are still required for lasting measurable gains to be achieved.

Expectation on the fans is to go & have a go because Rangers are bang average rangers fans will tell u there bang average we’ll be nowhere near the team we were last season ( in my opinion ) so there’s some realism involved but think a lot of the feedback is fair as for footballers not being able to play 2 games a week, Iv got a 14 year old that can play 2 games a week ( not away to Germany I get ) but if you want to be successful then uv got to deal with that

There is always constructive points that need to be raised that may sound negative about specific factors. A bit like Grizzly I stay on the positive side of things and I've raised hundreds of positive comments before. I'd like to raise a couple of points - that I think went wrong yesterday. I believe after the St Mirren game - and the managers emphasis after the game about chasing goals led to us pulling back a bit yesterday on risk appetite. Playing out of the back is fine when you break the ball to Watt (last season) or Priestman to then push it forward to the next line of attack. There is far less point in it when you break the press and don't get it moving forward quickly enough. We can play 30+ perfect passes to face 8 v 10 in the opposition box. The reward is to break the press and use our pace otherwise we hold onto possession as a relief but our likelihood of getting chances is far less great. This was a big fault yesterday. I think the forum allows especially after a defeat to analyse what I think we can do better.

I'm not saying I know better, I'm saying there has been a huge improvement in the quality of the teams that didn't manage a win at Ibrox for 20 years, and now we have team with a track record of winning at Ibrox in recent games. That has set some expectations amongst fans that think we should be winning there more often now. That may even be true later in the season. The cold hard facts this weekend are that we still have a load of new players that have had little time to train together, have never played at Ibrox, are mentally tired from a glut of games over the past few weeks with little respite, and were up against a team that spent approximately 24 times our outlay this summer. The fact that we underperformed by our early season standards yet only lost by one goal is an improvement from the years where we played at our best and lost by 3 or 4 goals. There is a fundamental truth, however, that the OF will continue to outspend us by orders of magnitude to keep their standing in the top 2 slots in the league. There will he blips, and teams like us have split them in the past. That doesn't mean we will always hit top form in these games or win when we do. I do think there has been an overreaction to the defeat yesterday from some fans.