Goggles & Flippers

I can maybe clarify some stuff as I and a few other contributors on here were involved as a sounding board by Leeann and Derek Weir. From the club website in 2013: https://www.motherwellfc.co.uk/2013/03/19/well-society-sign-up-night/ Junior Steel Membership – £25 (for juveniles under 15) Steel Membership – £300 Claret Membership – £,1000 Amber Membership – £5,000 1886 Membership – £25,000 The annual fee was to keep your benefits alive (which at the time were pretty substantial), from memory Amber benefits for an annual renewal fee of £1,000 maybe? you got stuff totalling way more than annual contribution. Not paying the annual fee did NOT affect your voting rights, just access to the benefits as per your tier. The £300 barrier to entry was something they were aware of at the time and DD's were floated at launch but there were fears it had financial compliance issues with the WS being a provident society. A few years down the line Hearts blazed that trail and we embraced it but more as a means to appeal to a wider audience to attain £300 steel membership (and beyond if you wished) in easier to swallow chunks. It was not sold as a universal adoption by all members, more it would be nice if you did. I can recall from when £5 was deposited new members post 2015 got their membership pack and voting rights which caused some consternation at the time, over them getting to £300 deposited, maybe it was part of the sales tool to boost membership.

If that’s the case then I apologise for linking that post to me. However, the reason I drew that conclusion is pretty valid because there’s been wee digs since and September on various platforms. Regardless, your response is measured and I suppose that has to be seen as progress.

That's not what happened though it is? And I think you know this and not for the first time. I let all of them slide despite your best efforts to get a rise because it is pure energy vampire stuff. The constant twisting of what actually happened, needing to be at the centre of everything often devoid of any salient points, citing you don't have issues with anyone while having a long rap sheet of those perceived to have wronged you, hijacking of threads or taking them off on a merry tangent and not being robust enough to take a joke or be corrected without crying foul. All combined, they landed you in SteelmenOnline jail until recently. I'm glad you cite P&B, you rocked up in the St Mirren matchday thread a few weeks back and ... surprise surprise ... binfire. To the extent the St Mirren fans with no preconceptions or knowledge told you to take a break with the standard eyeroll. You demand anonymity yet lay out your life story in along with your name in unsolicited DM's. You cite being stalked, yet your online and real world actions fits most traits of that behaviour. You claim to be chill and water off a ducks back yet you prickle at everything. However, the most vexatious action is the twisting of the truth to fuel your grudges. Time for a long hard look in the mirror. You must also not have been paying much attention last summer, but I keep receipts. The DM's you cite were forwarded to Yabba and another moderator in their entirety because I knew I'd need to keep my powder dry because you simply can't help yourself. So get your wee rant typed up littered with the well worn victim stuff and sympathy fishing. Don't DM me, don't slander me on Facebook and don't continue to bring a sword to a gunfight. To everyone else, apologies for this, this is a football forum after all for conjecture, debate and most importantly humour. Just straw/camels back ...

I feel I warranted an F, thanks. You're correct, I'm the problem here.

<Remembers vividly why I moved on from here> Enjoy the rest of your evening. Exile reimposed.

I don't frequent on here like I used to, so I am unaware of that request being a thing. You shared your name with me, a stranger, on P&B. However by DM'ing me and asking me to remove it (which I did) then replying while quoting my post it is beyond me. You are aware it embeds my original post with your name you asked me to remove.

19 posts, if bus provision at this moment, today, is your hot take from a forty page document where the first ten outline staying and making the most of Fir Park. You talk of Ravenscraig like its on the moon. Your disability didn't appear to be so much of factor when you advocated boycotting any new stadium but willing to take planes, trains and automobiles to the likes of Almondvale, SMiSA, Tynecastle and Firhill. I hope by the 2030's your disability may have improved to the extent its no longer an issue, you may have even acquired a driving licence by then, who knows. I'm glad any criticism is water off a ducks back, it wasn't intended to upset you.

As the author I'm breaking my self imposed exile in the aftermath of Madwullie and Andy Patterson's passing. I didn't feel the need to do so when canvassing for votes in the recent WS election. It has saddened me to read how the thread has seemingly been hijacked for almost half it's content by talk of current bus routes in 2024 for a project that would not, even if given a green light, be a thing until the 2030's. Talk about running before you are even walking. Safe to say a stadium and any ancillary services within the footprint would be a draw for public transport provision, last time I looked First Bus is a commercial operation. There is also a rail line linking Wishaw and Carfin to the north of the site which may justify a station the same way Airbles got one 35 years ago. The most likely position before geotechnical surveys would be probably within 2km of Fir Park. If Dalziel plate mill does not last then I'd imagine the walk from the mini roundabout on Windmillhill Street near Crosshill Church would be less or commensurate to FP. More hassle if you live in Greenacres, less if you live in Jerviston. If you're looking at a move as how will it affect you personally opposed rather than how will it affect the club we collectively support then not only is it a bit short sighted but a little bit selfish. It's a document produced at it's core to provoke sensible and measured debate on where we are and where we could be going. The main things I hoped people would take is if a move actioned is a design that promotes atmosphere, the need for it to be used 24/7 both as an arena and in the other spaces within the building(s) and how due to the nature of our skewed league we could take advantage of that to our financial advantage and use the in part to finance it. We already have bowed to the sectarian pound with a skewed South/McLean stand after all, so we have previous. A new POD would involve that space currently offer unusable for 12-18 months, all significant matchday hospitality, rehoming the dressing rooms, offices, etc. It would not be allowed to alter much from the current floorplan or height due to planning laws. We would take a significant hit to do so. The Cooper is being assessed for a lift but probably it and the East/Hunter are OK with minor maintenance for 10-15 years. I was told the South faces a high six figure sum to fix it's issues and for a 30 year old structure you would expect that. Add all of these costs and disruption together, add in any land value (however not £6m as club accounts indicate) then you're on the way to putting a sizeable dent on a new home. A lot has been made of Brian's comments at the Q&A (not AGM) in early August where mintymac asked the question. I was at the meeting and you've got to give Brian's answer context, in the door a few months, no prior affiliation to the club or history, WS successfully beat off Erik .... at the time the subtext was let's all calm down and regroup. To commit at a fan Q&A to looking elsewhere would have been a nuclear bomb on both forums, facebook and twitter. The let's just plod on answer is one I would have given if CEO and asked the same question and I know 'Flow would have too (despite a preference to move).

I was one of the first posters on the AndyP thread, I couldn't take it in at first a we'd been speaking so freely the day before. The African summed up my feelings in a particularly eloquent post. Where my own had none, his echoed where I was in a thread that must can only be a comfort to his family. Today it was announced in that thread that poster Madwullie also passed away. I initially thought a mere "that's sad" not recalling much interaction with him on here. As the thread progressed and it was revealed that Madwullie had a real name beyond his avatar as we all do, and it was one that was familiar, very familiar. Of course you want to check things and make sure you're not jumping the gun, however growing sense of foreboding hit me like a juggernaut as I searched P&B where his posting was more prolific. Graeme was for about 3 or 4 years was my closest childhood friend. I'd have sleepovers at his house, his bedroom a loft conversion that I mimicked in my own place years later. His mum serving pizza's still cold in the middle for week upon week because she didn't notice there were two oven cooking times, defrosted and from frozen. He didn't want to upset her so we ate it grim as it was on beyond the second chomp from the crust. Playing John Madden NFL and I recall hearing the roar from FP through his open velux window that carried further at night in the dark. I recall us both as 14 year olds getting the giggles in the back of a car getting run home when another friends dad lost it with his son. Trying to stifle our laughter made the Dad's behaviour even more erratic, FYI it is possible to get to 60mph along Cameron Street before you have to break at Hamilton Road .... just. We drifted when he went to Braidhurst and I went to Dalziel but were in the BB's together and were part of a group of 4 that went all the way from Bronze to Gold Duke of Edinburgh. At 15 doing the Bronze we got disorientated and lost in the Ochils in 10m visibility and horizontal rain. We followed our training and erected our tent and got in, started blowing a whistle 6 times a minute as protocol. It of course was far too soon, one of our friends broke down and started crying for his mum. Graeme and I again stifled our laughter while cooried in our sleeping bags but the friend must have seen our shoulders bouncing and the whistle blows descend into a series of squeaks as it was impossible to purse lips. I went to Strathclyde and Graeme to Glasgow, he opted for a different social scene to me I'd sometimes see him other than the melee at 16:50 in the streets outside FP and we'd nod and exchange banal small talk. We engaged meaningfully for the first time in about 10 years in the dentist's waiting room about 4 or 5 years ago. We discussed playing golf (with the guy who cried for his mum, I'm still close to him and owe him more for different reasons than I can convey on here). Graeme was incredibly quick witted, playful, mischievous, inventive, well read and coined many a catchphrase. I gravitated towards him because there would always be a laugh. He would roast you if you ever did, wore or said something worthy of it. But he never doubled down, once you got it he ensured the group moved on to someone else to everyone got their fair share. One of the side effects of my coma is I've oddly became more emotional, I've been pretty stoic in life till now having had to deal with a lot of loss myself. I have been "semi" fortunate that my losses have all been from those older which, in life, is expected. This is the first person from my peer group that I know has passed and it is very sobering. This news just hit me for six. I think it emphasises that Carpe Diem is good mantra to adopt but it only has pertinence if you actually engage in it. I wish I arranged that game of golf as much as I am angry I didn't walk across Fir Park Road to recognise the man I was sure was Andy P (but not sure enough) to shake his hand and thank him for the favour he did me. I think it's fitting that this is my last post on here. A culmination of losing two well respected people and being subject to some cowardly behaviour by another individual hiding under the shroud of anonymity. Thanks to Yabba for his endeavours. For those of you who'd like to donate in his memory, Woody now has a Just Giving page started by those on P&B and it's already up over £2,000. Just Giving Page - Woody

I don’t many on here would have been happy with Moult advising Wrexham that David Turnbull was worth a punt

The mugs are everyone who buys a product advertised on a pitchside hoarding, behind an interviewed player in the tunnel or subscribes to Sky, Premier Sports and/or BT. I'd say it has a very stable foundation built on pretty much assured TV income. The reasons Moult would come here are: history, I'd argue his fondest memories playing football thus far, familiarity and TV exposure. At Burton he is close to home, wife happy, family close, commensurate or higher wages. Motherwell was sold as a stepping stone and both parties honoured their side of the bargain. His obvious affection such as turning up to matches and sitting in the stands is testament to the affinity that goes both ways. The only reason we could have been considered in the running for his signature is due to his injury, otherwise we'd have to wait till he was 30+.

Trying to get my head round this, was only speaking to him on here a couple of days ago. True loss of measured views, always fair and always strived to include as many on here as possible. Fitting that he "won the day" for his last post on his last day. Frazzie, I'm sure you'll pass on the groundswell of sympathy that will grow on here to the family. If there are plans for something to commemorate him in any way please advise.

He If he told you, he'd have to kill you Nope

Doubt it, St Mirren's current signing policy seems to be "Have you ever bought a baguette from Upper Crust? .... Aye? .... Yer in"

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