East Stand Screamer

Terrible news. My thoughts with Joe and his family. On the dossers. x

They'll be Polish. Haha Seriously though, perhaps we should show the world this week that Scottish fans and football clubs don't have a problem with officials and having games refereed, but we do have a problem with cheating, incompetent and lying cliches.

Well said mate. He went on to pick on an old man and a young couple, then got hoiked to the home stand by the police for antagonising people. THEN the Buddies even had a go at him! But, according to St Mirren, nothing happened. We imagined it all! Where's Neil Lennon when you need him! As for this "persistent standing" bollocks - they had no idea how to enforce it. First they argued with my mate "it's the law" - which it isn't. Secondly, how can he be persistently standing five minutes in? He couldn't have scratched his arse in that time! Even the police agreed. Thirdly, why him and not one of any of the 100s also standing (including me, but, see, I'm a grown man and quite big...) and, finally, why are the OF allowed to stand and we're not?

Is it ever a disaster when we lose a player? I mean, how many brilliant ones have we lost? Ian St John? Davie Cooper? Dougie Arnott? Faddy? Uncle Phil? etc etc... they go, new ones pop up in their place. It's the nature of the beast. However, I agree, I'd love them to stay, and, with long term contracts, well, let the tills open if they DO get circled by the OF or England...

Yeah he should never have left anyway. Congratulations on the bairn, Clarky. God, I'm auld. I mind him as a wean!

I think that sums it up, doesn't it? McDonald has done himself no favours by lying - or more likely admitting to it! I personally think refereeing is shocking, but I'm not jumping on the Lennon/Reid bandwagon, cos those are two spoiled paranoids out to make a name for themselves as some kind of crusaders. Referees SHOULD be held accountable for mistakes - an independent body charged with deciding on legitimate claims and then investigating those (which everyone up to and including the police have) would solve all this nonsense. Neil Lennon on a "no body loves us" and "its a conspiracy" wrap is just bollocks. And striking? Please. Dummies and prams more like. You get paid more an hour than police, doctors, firemen and nurses, and all those guys take much more serious abuse on a weekly basis than any referee. They need to get a grip. They ARE rubbish. Why can't we say that? And, more to the point, why can't a manager when those wrong decisions (never mind the subsequent cover up) have a direct effect on peoples jobs?

This is what Brian Caldwell at St Mirren said about the situation: This, in itself, as anyone who was there, knows is either irrelevant or a lie. Firstly, what does it matter what he did outside after the game? He was only there cos he was chucked out. Secondly, his "out of order" behaviour was according to the stewards "persistent standing" (at five past three btw) and thirdly, and maybe more damningly, it wasn't "instigated by Police Control" it was instigated by Mark Rodgers, the lump of a steward out to bully Well fans. Many, many fans were around this and saw it. Rodgers himself even said he threw him out "cos he could", and the police told loads of fans that they would investigate because the steward was "heavy handed and out of order". The boy was thrown out on his face, his phone was broken and he'd to stand for 100 minutes waiting to get back onto his bus. Whilst I appreciate St Mirren could have just said "its our ground, we can eject who we like" to little argument, the fact that they are making stuff up now sounds like a Dougie McDonald post match analysis! Shocking.

The truth behind Jamie Pollock is that in that team his contemporaries were just as good if not better. The reason he was taken further on was that he had a particularly good game against Killie in the 15s when a Scotland scout was watching and he told Chris McCart he'd have another look at him later. McCart told me specifically "we have to keep him on, or its egg on our face if Scotland come calling and we've let him go." Now, that's not to say the boy isn't good, he is. He works hard, he keeps his nose clean and he has a lot of natural ability. I'm not slagging the laddie off. And, as you said, he's made the Euro squad too. However, two games before that Killie game, he couldn't get a run in the team for another left sided player, who unfortunately got injured (not my son before anyone thinks its hard cheese). THAT boy was released at the end of the season, Jamie, luckily, got kept on cos Scotland were watching. So talent has kept him there, but luck got him there in the first place.

I think it's an age thing. Like East Stand Al my old chumbalero said further up, it's perhaps how we perceive these guys now compared with how we used to. As old farts, it's difficult to hero worship someone like Murphy, for instance, or Humphrey, cos, well, they're just boys themselves, so it's a weird feeling, and even if they got us to a final or won us a cup, we might admire them, or praise them, or have respect for them as a footballer, but would we call them "legends"? Who knows. Someone like Stevie Kirk or Dougie Arnott are good examples of this... I think everyone would agree the guys are Well Legends, and we can say why - cos they won us the Scottish Cup, and, frankly, everyone in that team are legends for it, but those are the personalities. But we've been to semi's since then, we've played more in Europe than ever before, and progressed quite far (for us). Jamie Murphy is our top European player... is he a legend? Not to me, but to my son he is. So, perhaps us old farts just don't have legends anymore. Leave them to the young!

Aye I'm with you on this. Whilst I've no love for Celtic and, indeed, Neil Lennon is a fud of the highest order, he and his team have a point when it comes to what amounts to corruption in refereeing. McDonald had admitted he lied, he has been reprimanded by his gaffers for it, so, on this occasion, Fud was right to complain. Ironically, the ref's change in decision was also right, which makes the whole thing scrambled eggs. For too long referees and linesmen have been getting away with doing what the hell they want for 90 minutes, with smirks into the stands and big flourishes of the arms as if to go "look at me mammy, am getting on Sportscene!" and I think everyone should be able to have a say in what a referee does, and he should be able to explain his actions properly. Thomson was on a different planet on Saturday, and whilst we couldn't have scored in a barra load o watsits he should have red carded the Accie who fouled Blackman for the penalty and he missed (well more to the point his linesman ignored) a blatant hand ball in the second half. Add to that the ignoring of Mensings bullish behaviour as well as a dozen lesser misdemenours and it's clear to see that they can go out there and take between them £2000 for 90 minutes work and do eff all for it. We, as a club, SHOULD question that, maybe some kind of procedure can be put in place where queries are put to an independent reviewer who can spend a week going through them, decide which ones are worth questioning and put it to the officials, because, as has been clearly shown with the Dougie The Liar incident, it's all jobs for the boys and a cover up when they make an arse of it. So, yes, Neil Lennon is a fud, and yes he needs to act more professionally. But he has a point. Albeit accidentally.

I have this and another one called, I think, My Father Knew Joe Wark Too, or something. Funnily, both tell roughly the same story, but one tells it from the perspective of the SS Battlebus, and the other from a good wee chap who would never do any of that nasty casual stuff, no surreebob. Anyone want them, make me an offer on PM and I'll think about it.

The youth system at Fir Park gets a good name, and rightly so, but it could be far much better. I had a son at the club from the age of 8 til 15, but he and all but two of his team mates were let go a few years ago citing the jump from 15s to 17s. At the time young Dario was playing for Hamilton, I believe, and the Motherwell team at the time were unbeaten, even against Celtic and Rangers, and had gone on to win the St Andrews Cup, against teams from Europe and England, twice. Now, 90% of these boys, most of whom were good, solid footballers and some of whom were stand outs are either playing boys club, maybe amateurs or not at all. Ironically, two that were let go have become professionals in the lower leagues, and are doing a turn and earning a living. This isn't a new thing at Motherwell - now, I know a lot of you guys are going to say "if they're good enough, they'll be kept", but that isn't so. For instance, in my own son's case he was released because his position was filled by older lads who were getting sniffed by Scotland. I'm not criticising the system out some "bleh my son is brilliant", because everyone does think that, but when all but two of a team of twenty, the majority of whom had been together for five years, are let go for various reasons, it would suggest to me that due to that jump a lot of untapped talent is being disgarded whether it be due to luck or positioning. I know that some of the smaller clubs - Clyde for instance at this time - were bridging that gap with an u16, and were playing other times "unofficially" with players let go from all over. They had Celts, Gers, Steelmen, Dons and Arabs in their team at this time. Although Dario is a solid big chap, him and perhaps a few others, like Jamie Pollock for instance who skirts the first team occasionally, have as much to thank luck as talent for. But good luck to them, because once in the system properly, like young Murphy and previously James McFadden, we can see what they are indeed capable of. Blimey, first post and it goes on and on!