numpty

Not sure they should really have been promising that (did they really?) when we might all be getting our money back next month if they haven't raised sufficient funds. Can't imagine we'd still be getting the free subscription if that happened.

No television pictures of the incident to review (though there are no actual quotes in this report): http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/football/spl/hearts/2012/02/22/sfa-take-no-action-over-hearts-captain-marius-zaliukas-alleged-gesture-86908-23760715/

I knew that one, to be fair… cf. Brøndby (Bronboo), Jan Mølby (Molboo), Søren Lerby (Lerboo) etc...

http://sport.stv.tv/football/scottish-premier/motherwell/298338-henrik-ojaama-couldnt-hit-a-barn-door-in-motherwell-trial/

First insinuation I've seen in any match report so far that the sending off might have been even remotely harsh: "Even when Keith Lasley was red-carded just five minutes after the break for his second tackle from behind on Ian Black, that delicate flower of the Hearts midfield, it made not a jot of difference to the outcome." (Today's Rancid.)

Naw, but Google can

Things I learned today: "Ojamaa" is the Estonian word for Gotland, the largest island in the Baltic Sea, which belongs to Sweden. And of the Baltic states, it's actually closer to Latvia than Estonia. http://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ojamaa

Still showing 61 here in Ireland too, but did see a tweet from the Beeb yesterday acknowledging the "technical problem"... EDIT: If I click the "view full table" link, that does show them on 51... EDIT 2: And weirdly, having done that, it now shows them on 51 on the home page, too.

McCall mentioned (after the Dunfermline game IIRC) that they sometimes play 11 v 10 in training, dunno how often though.

Now that you mention it, Henrik hasn't tweeted since Thursday...

Every non-OF's team's accountants will most likely have been playing most of the same games that Rangers' accountants have, to avoid paying anyone anything until they absolutely have to, just on a smaller budget. That's why accountants make the big bucks... unfortunately for Rangers, theirs just appear to have run out of games to play, and failed to plan accordingly.

Will be sending mine in this week. Incidentally, there's a list of everybody who's signed up here, which should give some indication of how close (or not) we are to making the £250k. (Site seems to be down at time of writing, though...)

Silence is probably the best policy, to be fair. If we're told we're woefully short, there's the risk that folk will think "we're never going to reach the target in a million years so I'll no' bother". Or if we're near or have already met the target, "I don't need to bother this year then, money's a bit tight and they're doing fine without mine". (I did at least get an email reminder this week saying things were "going well but we still need your help".)

But the people running the scheme will have taken account of all of that if they've done their job even halfway properly, and set expectations accordingly. If they have, and it still doesn't work, then it would be slightly embarrassing for them, if not for the fans. If they haven't, and it doesn't work either, all the more so.

Ah yes, John McKeever... first Motherwell player to try the "wear fluorescent boots to make me look more intimidating" trick?

http://www.motherwelltimes.co.uk/sport/local-sport/club_versus_country_as_ojamaa_gets_a_cap_call_1_2109752

Tell you what, our sixth goal was an absolute belter of a move when you watch it back.

I can kind of excuse that on the basis that they obviously only have a few preset phrases that they can string together for the live text commentary by clicking a few buttons, and "scores direct from a corner" presumably so rarely happens that it just isn't on the list, so "just outside the box" is as accurate as they could manage. It's a poor system that can't be over-ridden for the occasional edge case, but such is life. I'd agree that Sportscene really isn't worth watching any more though... apart from being able to watch the goals on MFC TV before the BBC show them, the online BBC highlights are usually longer and better than Sportscene's anyway, and without the mediocre discussion afterwards.

Murphy speaks about Blackpool:

I'd say it's exactly the encouragement some fans might need, if we're apparently so strapped for cash that we have to take the first offer that comes in for one of our more valuable assets. If we had an extra £250k+ on tap via the Well Trust funding, we should less desperate to sell.

My guess would be that there might be some legal requirements in play that require the manual form-filling, but I dunno.

It's highly unlikely we'll ever find out exactly what was on the table, so let's just move on and hope that whatever Jamie's reasons for turning it down, it spurs him back to the sort of form that will attract some even better offers before his contract expires. (Or that wins him a contract extension, if that's what he wants...)

From 'Flow on Twitter:

From Soccerbase: Year: Apps (Goals) 2002/3: 23 (3) 2003/4: 42 (14) 2004/5: 41 (4) 2005/6: 33 (5) 2006/7: 34 (3) 2007/8: 42 (14) 2008/9: 38 (14) And since he left: 2009/10: 27 (4) 2010/11: 35 (7) 2011/12: 10 (1)

"Motherwell ace Jamie Murphy a £250k deadline day target for Blackpool", according to today's Rancid. I'd take it if it got Henrik tied up for a couple of years...