The Boy Blunder

IIRC any UK national who was born outside the UK is allowed to represent any of the Home Nations. Maik Taylor of Birmigham and Northern Ireland was born in Germany because his dad was in the army at the time. Likewise Matt LeTissier and Graeme Le Saux could have played for any of the Home Nations because the Channel Islands aren't part of England. Technically, either of them could have played for France... as could Tom! Now that would be something (not that it'll happen of course).

Aye, have been having exactly the same dilemma myself. Mate at work is a Celtic fan, can't make the game and asked if I want to go instead. On the plus side, the thought of £25 of my money not going toward paying their players makes me smile.. but on the down side, when we score the winner with 5 mins to go there's no way I'd be able to sit and pretend to be outraged at the score. Argh

Coach, Clarky and Craggs in the club shop pre-season 08/09. Coach was buying some horrific boots and I couldn't resist saying that surely he could afford better ones, he then sheepishly said they were just for kicking about in training. When Craggs came into the shop, Coach and Clarky started pretending to boo him, and he just burst out laughing. Not sure what it was all about, but it was funny being caught in the middle of it. Dazza at the Shawlands, commented that I couldnae believe the ref booked him for his celebration for his goal against the sheep that cemented 3rd and Europe for us, he just shrugged it off and said that these things happen. Mark Reynolds at the Shawlands as well, working him up into mock outrage that the players had to stand in the queue for the buffet. Oh and Mark Archdeacon too, who I think I've since jinxed because I got his autograph and told him that I hope he got a runout in the final game against Hibs at Easter Road seeing as 3rd was guaranteed. Murph got the nod and Bob McHugh came on as a sub, Archie needed to wait over a year before finally kicking a ball for the first team. Sorry!!

"Gretna are the real success story of recent times".... that'll binned if the site gets updated then

£50 short now, I just sent a payment of £5.00

Humph for me, looked hungry and a bit pissed off at the standard of the refereeing. Think that there's a lot more to look forward to from him in the season ahead, loked to work well with Yas. Hammell was a very close second, whenever he ventured off down the wing you could see the understanding between him and Forbes, who moved to cover for him at the back. Mention also for Jamie Murphy, looked to be more confident today and was running at Falkirk with the ball.. always a joy to see, just wish that he'd have a dig at goal a bit more when he gets the chance.

After yet another round of abuse for Ross Forbes from the guys next to me because he dared to pass the ball backwards instead of having a hopeful punt forward, I got fed up and ended up explaining possession football to them. Aye I was a bit disappointed at times when Ross seemed to get caught a bit flat footed when he unexpectedly ended up being the nearest midfielder to thr ball, but to his credit he hardly ever gives the ball away. Still has a bit to add to his game, which will hopefully come with experience, doesn't deserve the abuse that some people have been giving him in the meantime. Hopefully he'll get a run out as a sub for the national U-21s, get a taste of what could lie ahead for him and come back for SPL duty after a break and a change of scenery. Despite looking like we wanted to throw the game away yesterday (and god we went close), my biggest moan was the total lack of movement at throw ins. No-one ever looks like they want the ball and are content to stand beside one of the opposition players.. almost as if it was the opposition that have the throw in! It was the same story last season, but not as noticeable for most of the games so far this season - please don't go back to old habits.

I was unaware of the wee prick getting any abuse before his goal celebration, would say that there was more abuse being directed against Riordan, Miller and Stokes. Didn't feel that the bad feeling toward him started until he delibrately and purposely ran over to celebrate his goal in front of the home fans situated closest to the playing surface. All very, "hahahaha I scored against you and now I'm celebrating a few yards in front of you, you're getting all wound up and do you know what, you can't do f**k all about it". Then Conroy failed to take what has been deemed to be the appropriate action as highlighted by recent high profile incidents of the same nature. I think that's what caused the biggest reaction from the crowd, and then the ill judged clapping toward the fans after escaping a booking (the apology) came across as a further wind up. The missile, whatever it was, can't be justified for a second and I hate that some people seem intent on dragging the club down whilst there are plenty of others who're doing the opposite. Of course the society that we live in only gives attention to the missile throwers of this world. The only positive thing I can possibly see is that if there is a fine, that hopefully it'll be reduced due to the blatant provocation by the individual Hibs player involved in the incident and the failure of the referee to have nipped the whole carry on in the bud. They created the situation but won't be held accountable for the outcome, unfortunately MFC will, not exactly fair.

Pretty nish, I mean pish (oops). Done well to fight back in the first half and go in level at the break. Then proceeded to do the square root of nothing The HIVees made their intentions clear from the start to push and dive their way through the game, instead of battling back we seemed to seek protection from Mr CONroy.. which we didn't get. At the end of the day we've only ourselves to blame, thought that the end to our run would've come in an away fixture somewhere down the line though. Memories of last season for one of the goals where the team stopped dead assuming the foul was going to be given for the nice wee sandwich on our player, only to be left flat footed for the goal. As for the goal celebration, delibrately targetted toward the section of the 'well support that they knew they'd get a reaction out of. Akin to say Dorgba running to celebrate at the Kop end after scoring against Liverpool at Anfield, doubt that'd be tolerated. Wasn't surprised when nothing was given for it, the ref seemed to be intent on proving that he could go through a game without getting the cards out - if only he'd waited until his next game (sigh). Too slow, got caught on the ball too much, too many misplaced paces and unwilling to face up to the physical threat of the HIVees. At the end of it all I'd have been happy to have gone down fighting and more than happy if someone had just booted Zemmama up in the air and taken a booking for the team. Still, nice to see Humph back, was a nice touch by him when he went and applauded the fans. Please play better against bloody Falkirk.

Love it, would buy that as a t-shirt in a second (like the original one more)... not to mention making a contribution toward a rather huge poster

Of course we'd be biased if we did the whole 'put yourself in his shoes' thing, but it's a no brainer when you think about it. Do you: (a) Stick with the team that brought you through the youth ranks and is about to give you a first team spot to kick off your professional career. Where the fans have warmed to you in a big way (well most of them). Where quite a number of very good players have started their career and then moved on to something bigger with some good experience already behind them. Do you want to be Brian McClair, Andy Walker, James McFadden, Tom Boyd, Ross McCormack, David Clarkson, Paul Quinn or Scott McDonald? (ok Ross and Scott didn't start at Motherwell) (b) Kick about in the Smeltic youth team because your old youth team manager wants you to play for his team. Have fans who're almost unaware that you exist. Find your way to the first team blocked by players who're not half the player that you are - but hey they're on £8000 a week and play for their national team. Then find yourself looking for a second chance with some other team based mainly on the fact that you were good enough to be at Smeltic, so you might be worth a punt. Do you want to be Ross Wallace, Michael Doyle, Craig Beattie, Mark Burchill, Mark Cocozza, Stephen Crainey, Gerry Creaney, Scott Cuthbert, Mark Fotheringham, Chris Hay, Colin Healy, Simon Lynch, Brian McLaughlin, Bryan Prunty?

The much fabled fax actually read: FAO Motherwell Football Club As you are aware we have recently sold our left-back Brian Easton to Burnley and require a replacement. Please could you advise on the current whereabouts of Danny Murphy and do you think that £40,000 would be a fair estimate of his value? Kind Regards Your neighbours across the river

Did we fax them back to say that whilst the fax was a wee bit blurry, we'd be happy to sell them McGarry for £4.00?

I always thought that McGhee was shockingly bad at using his subs, usually choosing to introduce replacements far too late, regardless of whether we were chasing the game or trying to maintain our lead. Gave him the benefit of the doubt during his first season, but he just kept on doing it during his second season - very frustrating. Last season after the top six finish was beyond us he insisted on playing guys who clearly had no future at the club (Malcolm) or who had been playing most of the season. Hardly any of the young guys, ie the future, were given a chance. At least he gave McLean a chance, then didn't bother getting him signed up on a new contract :s If I was one of the U-19s/reserves who had been banging on the first team door over the last year, I'd be delighted that McGhee has buggered off. Sympathy in advance for the guys in the Aberdeen youth setup - give up now. Of course now I wonder if he managed to let go of any young players who could've stepped up, Connelly, Nixon, McGuire? Now we'll never know

Hopefully nothing more than a rumour doing the rounds. As someone else said, this is a MASSIVE year for Murphy. Up until now he's very rarely started a game, not such a mystery when you consider he was up against Clarkie/Porter/McCormack/Sutton/Sheridan over the past 2 seasons. Will we finally get to see what he can do this season with Sutton being the only experienced striker at the club? (at the moment). I'd like to think so, however if Gannon sticks with his plan of having 1 man up front, I seriously doubt we're going to see the best of Murphy.