cooper_no1

....hmm....you lot all fancy some first division fitbaw next year??

Calderwood is the best guy you could appoint,even until the end of the season....has the most experience and not a tragic track record to be honest...

I hope Aberdeen get relegated now. Craig Broon will need a lot to turn that team around. They are hopeless. Absolutely hopeless. Infact, i would go as far as to say having watched Aberdeen play this season they are the worst set of Premier League players that i have witnessed in my memory. It would take a fortune to turn that team around, mentality wise it would take a lifetime to turn around Aberdeen. Time Craig Broon just doesn't have. One for the Conspiracy Theorists : Has broony been Influenced into taking the job by our now famously corrupt SFA/SPL who do not want a 'big club' going bust through relegation??

Exactly the way i was thinking....

Well...really don't understand it myself. I don't know if Archie will go with him this time,i really don't. All i would say from Craig broon is this,i hope he has got REAL assurances and doesn't turn up at Aberdeen and get told he's been duped and theres heehaw to work with. I really don't see it working out well. Never know though. Knox for Motherwell??

They'd be quite right anaw. They've done a wee turn for Motherwell,sometimes that needs to be rewarded - not necessarily financially but with some re-assurances. Ye canny ask the man to produce success after success. Think they were always going to use their wee bit of reputation just now for one last hurray .... mayby not.

Whats a man of Browns age wanting to go move up to Aberdeen for. he doesn't need the money - he doesn't need that pressure either of going to a club that for some god awful reason seem to think they should be something. For the majority of my life Aberdeen have always been a bottom of the table side, bar mayby 1 or 2 years in the early 90's. Who do they think they are, i hope they get relegated.

What a farce that would be tho, what referee is going to say they support Rangers or Celtic, absolutely none of them because in doing so you are almost completely erradicated from refereeing the biggest games in scotland ie) Old firm games and 9/10 cup finals, because you would have a 'vested' interest. By not getting to referee these games you will in turn probably never be noticed enough to get a European game and furthermore international, world cup games etc. So by declaring your team in Scotland theres just about every chance it would be of detriment to your career. Of course i am presuming that most people in this country are Old Firm fans, but realistically they are not just in first past the post but by proportional representation so it's more then feasable. Heres a typical example: Motherwell fan, well he canny referee a Motherwell game obviously and then in turn not a Hamilton game or an Airdrie game. Mind motherwell hate Hearts considerably aswell so that rules that out. Obviously no old firm games - Motherwell fans despise that mob. Where does it end - that's the problem. Also, every rag in this country is going to be filled of stories of some referee who is a supposed Motherwell fan at his mates 8th Birthday Party dawning a Rangers strip - making him out to be a complete liar and thus completely deamonising the already tattered integrity of our Referees. The idea in principle might be ok,but in a small country like ours who have only two dominating teams it's a total non starter. We ask people in every other profession in the country to not show bias against others who are not of your religion,colour,creed - so suerly asking Referees to do the same isn't out of order. Anyway i wouldn't particularly say that referees in this country are ever particularly bias, bad..now that's a different matter but i see plenty decisions go for and against teams all the time. I watched the highlights of the motherwell game last night and seen a few horrendous decisions - but i wouldn't say they went for or against anyone in particular. Yes,Referees are poor just now but should we not be putting far more effort into finding ways of helping them week in week out to get decisions correct that further adding fuel to the fire by way of questionaires on their team preferences.

Yeah absolutely nothing will ever be foolproof but this is becoming a major major row every single week now, as opposed to something that happens now and again. See to be fair, yes Celtic, Neil Lennon and Dr Reid need to take a lot of responsibility for this but another major player has been the tabloid Media in this country - granted they are only reporting the news - but they are not stupid, they know how to dig fresh stories to coincide with whatever contravertial headline they can drag out and attatch to Lennon or Celtic recently. It sells papers yes, but it's selling our game down the swanny aswell now. We must look a bit of a laughing stock.

Well........to be fair, just about every fucking company in this world these days. The reason they are striking isn't because of the criticism apparently but the fact that their are living in fear of reprisal attacks. Sacking them isn't the answer either to be fair, at the end of the day if you honestly think this lot are bad, what are the second tier we employ to replace them gawny be like.

Hopefully it will lead to a radical shake-up then rather than a damp squib. Football is the only major high profile sport in the world that i can think of that doesn't take advantage of technology. In rugby the rules are fantastic and the respect the players need to show the referee is night and day compared to football. Yes football is a passionate game but is it any less so than rugby? No. The problem is that some people argue that introducing technology to the game would ruin it in some way, but if we are determined to keep things the same then we need to accept mistakes happen very very regularly. I watched goals on sunday today and seen about ten red cards dished out in English games yesterday, they dont show you a replay of the incident either just one run through and i had to rewind sky every time to watch the situation and see if they were merited or not,referees - although better trained than me - dont have this pleasure and call decisions as they see them. What we do need is the introduction of some sort of 4th official who has access to instant television replays rather than a wee subs board. We don't need it for every foul just the major decisions in the game. Some weeks we probably wouldn't need them at all. It would completely eradicate the issue altogether and cost almost nothing to implement since every club films the game in some format anyway. If this isn't enough for some people, how about a short press release after the game from the Referee highlighting why he made certain decisions, bookings, sending offs, penaltys - nothing to in depth, quite simply : Booked Maloney in 66th minute for what i believed to be simulation. Then that's it, matter over. The decision has been made accept it. It's the mysters that stirs things up

Listening to Clyde 1 on the way home and Gordon Dalziel was wanking off about how good hibs were today, Riorden especially.

As i've said before it is a one of game and Motherwell go into it with a 50/50 chance and if Motherwell want it more,which they should to be honest - then they should never have anything to fear. It's 11 v 11 at the end of the day,and see to be honest if Motherwell won against the old firm in the semi-final it would fill them with confidence and belief for the final - unlike last time where they might aswell no have turned up for the final. I genuinly believe Motherwell can win this game and everything can cha nge before february. On the flip side Rangers fans and team fancy their chances against ANYONE right now,and rightfully so - they are a team that doesn't know when or if it's beat. Theres no better 'TEAM' in Scotland,not even close - and obviously they will be favourites. I guarentee this is a better draw than aberdeen because u can almost guarentee against Aberdeen Motherwell would have been beaten 2-0 without a whimper - that's not derogotory it's just the fucking way things seem to happen. As folk have said the onus is on Rangers to win the game and that always plays into the 'underdogs' hands. Should be a cracking game......

Is there no a thing though where season ticket holders get counted even though the might no be at the game. Obviously a cup games different but am sure theres been times i've seen Parkhead and thought to maself,55 thousand ma fucking arse - and someone said season ticket holders get instantly counted for home games. There must be some sort of a system in place i find it very hard to believe that the taxman just believes MFC's figures off the cuff - and if Motherwell are diddling them for money or any other club for that matter then the cash earned canny possibly be going back into the club as it's not declared - so wheres yir hard earned going? Certainly not into MFC folks...

For a minute there i thought you were going to say, 'BELIEVE' - in which case i was for going to the bookies with the mortgage deeds.

To be fair the rest of ma post was quite supportive................. Ad rather have had a diddy team like celtic anyway - you c**t's are dodgy opposition in a cup semi.

The game is a long way away in footballing terms - that game is there for the winning. Especially if rangers circumstances at the time mean they are toiling with injurys or just no to bothered. Even without that....it's a cup game.....a semi final, the first/last/best (delete as appropriate)chance for the motherwell players to reach a major final depending on the stage of their careers. If that doesn't spur ye on to up your game nothing will.......deffinately a good draw for motherwell i'd say, they'd have got beaten 2-0 wilthout a whimper against aberdeen because that's just...whit motherwell do.

See folk that throw coins get them pointed out whenever possible they are fucking idiots. Av been hit/nearly hit by coins being thrown a few times at the football and it's a fucking disgrace,canny imagine how angry i'd be if i was there and any young kid etc with me got hit.The police and stewards just don't take it seriously enough in my opinion. Been hit with coins before at parkhead and in the govan at ibrox from a few teams. Goes on a lot more than people realise but needs to stop.

Working for me now but not running particularly great

Hard game today on the back of the internationals and as other have said we've struggled out the starting blocks this season. Motherwell get their noses in front early on(something i rekon they will do) then it'l take another valient effort from rangers to turn it around. Unlike other teams i fancy Motherwell to be very well organised as they have been at times under broony and archie. Don't see much in this game and if im honest i rekon 1-1 might be the outcome Lafferty has been on a bit of form recently,from the Dunfermline game where he scored a hatrick he's been quite consistent even in international games so he could be the man to do it today.

Id say your spot on there. I'm not overly optimistic that crowds at Motherwell will swell too grately however if ravenscraig does develop to it's promise then there is always going to be that possibility of a bigger fanbase and therefore not allowing room for future expansion would be criminal. Deffinately wouldnt like to see a stadium with an empty side,been in a few of those and it completely destroys any atmosphere

TBH a was thinking of a stadium around 8500 all in was just wondering what the requirments were. Not particularly important the style and shape can go a long way to providing atmosphere but was just skeptical of a larger stadium of 10000+

What's the current rules for seatered stadia in the SPL,is it still 10'000 seats or is it down the 6'000? Just wondering because if Motherwell do move to a new stadium would it not be better to build a smaller stadium rather than the many thousand seaters that people have mentioned here? Unless of course it is for use in another field but i don't really see who else could possibly need to use it at this time.

Ewan Cameron might not be everyones cup of tea but he hosts a very successful radio show every night of the week so he must be doing something right. Craig Browns name was always going to get mentioned, people go on as if craig browns a big fucking secret believe me if a hibs fan came on and mentioned it....and Ewan cameron has repeated it,do you no think for a minute the Hibs board may have considered him as a possibility? Ewan cameron will not in any way shape or form dictate the next hibs manager - so go take the big fucking chip off the shoulder. He is a journalist, a radio presenter and nothing more - so a self proclaimed Hearts fan is hardly going to have a great deal of influence with the hibs support now is he. I doubt very much if Craig broon will go to hibs, yes for a young manager it may seem like a bigger job and am sure it will come with a bigger salary but Craig broon doesn't strike me as being interested in the managerial ladder at his age - so don't worry,i think he'll be at Motherwell for a wee while yet.

Football is to expensive, noone can really argue with that. Going to watch Motherwell week in week out does not really provide 'entertainment' - if it's in your blood,then the excitment and the passion is there and will make the game interesting but for someone watching with an objective view hoping to see some excitment it would be fairly dull,and a grand waste of cash. Obviously this counts for...all SPL teams,Rangers and Celtic included. Out of a full SPL weekend card you mayby get one game that has good entertainment,the rest is rather dull. This is also the same in other countries,many La Liga games,Bundesliga...PLENTY Seria A games and a good scoop of Premiership games are the same. We pay over the odds for a substandard product week in week out as football fans around the world. The problem is playing within your means obviously, the money available through sponsorship and TV revenue is miniscule in this country while the salary demands of the players are still handsome in comparison. Players who are not...really that good,and are lucky to be enjoying even a reasonable living from the game. Comparing Germany to Scotland,or Spain To Scotland or anywhere like that is silly because they have far greater populations of people who will go to watch the game,or watch on TV or be influenced by sponsorship. We live in a small country as everyone knows, football is a popular game within the country - but the amount of people paying for the product by either attending games, watching on TV or being influenced by sponsor is so very small compared to these nations we are always going to be an afterthot financially and i am surprised we have lasted as long as we have with so many full time clubs. Rangers and Celtic have large enough fanbases to hold their own with many medium sized teams from the continent but everyone else is realistically small enough for part time football in the current climate. Football on a whole might even benefit from this - but it will never happen with the tradition and history of the clubs we have,something that can never be forgotton either. Realistically if you were starting football all over again and making clubs bigger you would have to begin with one dundee team,one lanarkshire club, one central club blah blah but that's a pointless and endless argument not worth having. Football is in decline in this country - it may appear to prosper in many other countries but i feel there is a bubble about to burst in the football world within the next 5-10 years that will see the whole game changed on a worldwide basis - especially when a country like the USA starts to become a bigger and bigger influence on the game. They don't have a perfect structure in place but they do have a far superious business model for their game and it may be worth taking note of this business model before the gap between clubs gets so large that half of them will be washed to the wayside forever.