Happy Dosser

Not according to S. Naismith on Sportscene, unfortunately. And two Hearts players looked offside to me at Hearts first goal in the BBC coverage.

A good question for Wullie Collum at the next pointless VAR review video with Gordon Duncan. It's pretty much a waste of time even pursuing these howlers because the authorities' incompetence/bias have no consequences for them. More word salad and twisting than a Philadelphia lawyer will doubtless ensue from WC etc. and nothing will change for the better. The Slattery incident seems to have been a possible catalyst for the slew of inexplicably harsh decisions against us in the past two months but I'm not exactly sure why. Slattery's feigning was embarrassing but a) the referee missed it originally and b) VAR decided to send King off for the slightest of contact, which was later rescinded. Yet eventually Slattery is banned for two games for what is normally a yellow card offence, plus a two-match suspended sentence, which is a Sword of Damocles hanging over him for an indeterminate period (has this ever happened to an OF player?). Was this simply because yet again the authorities were shown to be incompetent (and I also still think Longelo was probably offside from the angles on the BBC coverage) and thus they have "doubled down" (but only against a "diddy team", of course) like a frustrated sad-sack gambler in Las Vegas? Posters above who say it's hardly worthwhile attending 'Well matches because of refereeing "inconsistencies" have my sympathy and our next game is, of course, at the worse venue possible for such things, yet we still have the some concern troll posters on here ignoring the blinking obvious and putting the boot in to the team when we have well and truly been stitched up by unfair decisions recently. This has still been for me one of the best seasons ever supporting MFC since 1962 and I am proud of our style of play, not something I have said often in my time. Our big increase in attendances shows I'm not the only one who thinks so either. 'Mon The Dossers!

Might have been a bridge too far for the surgeons. Sorry, I'll get my (C&A) coat.......

Well, the GBH assault by Hately on the Aberdeen GK in the first few minutes certainly showed the way the wind was blowing that day. It was hard to imagine Rangers being defeated at Ibrox in the circumstances: terrific pressure on the referee to do the right thing. BTW, I thought it was customary that the team leading the league when the post-split fixtures were finalised played their last game at home? Hearts have now to go to Celtic Park on the last day.

Well said: and both penalty decisions were wrong (and crucial). Even in the free-kick awarded from which they scored, the Falkirk player looked to me to be pulling McGinn as much as anything but the referee seemed to penalise us disproportionately throughout the game. I expect little from our referees nowadays, just to avoid disappointment 👹.

Haven't summoned up the courage yet to watch Sportscene so thanks for that: will take a look now. You know, I'm beginning to think some in the authorities don't like us for some reason 🤣. But then again, "Perfect paranoia is perfect awareness", as someone famous once said.

I was just about to make a similar comment. I like Priestman for his energy and passing and I thought we missed him today. Losing Thor (through injury, I presume, in training, since we haven't played for a fortnight) left Maswhanise unsupported and in any case he seems off the boil I thought the referee was typically poor and, as you said, he had his chance to penalise Falkirk and set the tone for the game but Just gets clugged every week and receives no protection from referees. Some of the ref's decisions were simply baffling. Falkirk played exactly how I expected from the previous gome game against them: they simply pressed us hard and waited for the inevitable mistake. They had lots of energy and looked well-drilled and, to be frank, could have score five or more with a bit of luck. We lacked physically and speed of movement and thought. The penalty was a mystery to me given the level of pushing, shoving and jersey-pulling in the box this season, which has largely gone unpunished (but not for us at Celtic Park). If J-B can get us back on the rails for Tynecastle and the split, he will have deserved all the praise he has received up to the end of February, since generally the team looks threadbare and jaded at the moment. This will be a big test of his managerial skills but I remain hopeful.

It's difficult to predict how they will react, especially if Falkirk are instructed to by Mr McGlynn to make the most of our tackles. The authorities are just as likely to regard J-B's pre-match comments about consistency as a bit uppity coming from a diddy team like wot we are and really rub our noses in it. On top of that we have the likely VAR intervention to spoil the game further and increase our frustration. I noticed our manager referred to Said's disallowed goal in the last home game against Falkirk again and wondered if it was wise in the circumstances.

Thanks for that: it was so little used I'd forgotten the real reason for the free kick!

Always remember him as a strong, dependable defender who had played in the Man. Utd. first team in the early 70s (recently saw a game on YT). He scored an unusual (and winning) goal at Firhill in the cup replay against Partick Thistle in Feb 1975 before our Great Airdrieonians Disappointment (as usual we had an extremely rare application of the laws when Stuart Rennie was supposed to have overstepped the 18 yard line when he launched a kick-out): STNC 👹. Thanks for the memories, Willie.

Any decade now.

Fanx! I feel pwoud, vewwy pwoud..........

Say it ain't so! Oh, well, I'll just have to wait until I am Supreme Leader of the Scottish Republic ✊.

@Kmcalpin: FTS it's time you were King of Scots again ✊🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿✊. Might have a chance of the title.

Agreed: so this must be down to incompetence or something worse, surely? The usual get-out is for referees being "psychologically influenced" by a large crowd but this could hardly have applied at FP yesterday, given the lesser size of the Hibs support. When I think of our two dubious sendings off against the Mutton Molesters in the cup with your litany of Cadden's offences I'm beginning to smell a rat 🧐. It seems VAR deliberations now are a kind of Easter-like moveable feast, where an excuse can always be found to support a inconsistent application of the laws when it suits. And yes, taking spontaneity out of the game is actually a disincentive for spectators to come to see what is supposed to be entertainment, despite all our club's best efforts this season. All in all, it's somewhat disappointing 👹👹👹👹👹👹..........

It's got so bad that, as yesterday, I don't stand up spontaneously to celebrate a goal much any more: I often await the probable VAR review. So am I getting the wrong impression when I think that the OF aren't affected to the same extent by VAR decisions 🤔?

Quite: he often reminds me of Willie Hunter because of his great movement and control but the latter's career was badly affected by a broken leg and two broken arms (one of which was a horrible compound one) which he sustained playing for MFC. Just shows a great attitude in getting up and persevering but a few more tackles of the Oxo-Chamberpot variety and a serious injury is likely, but our refs will do nothing about it, of course. I also noticed yesterday that Nicky Cadden was always in the referee's ear (and other Hibs players surrounded the ref at times to with their helpful opinions). I thought only the captain could approach the referee or is that another law that has quietly been dropped? Wasn't it also Cadden who raised two hands to push over SOD? Nothing was done about that either.

Quite dull and prosaic today and the usual microscopic VAR decision not clarified much by the BBC Sportscene footage. Thought we looked a bit jaded and in need of a rethink about how we deploy our forwards. While waiting for the inevitable overturning of the goal, my neighbour in the POD mentioned this New York Times article about The Mighty 'Well, which I thought some of the soffisticates on here might like: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7116264/2026/03/15/motherwell-askou-scotland-tactics-celtic/ Seems our fame is spreading.

Spot on: thought it was just me 👽. In recent years with the low quality of fare on offer, I. was really only coming to games out of habit /sentiment and to see old pals. I've had enough of eye-bleeding football thank you and have regained my pride in the team. With their quick interpassing, almost telepathic understanding of each other's position and ability to pick holes through defences by playing in triangles/reverse passing and clever movement, they remind me so much of Bobby Ancell's team (without The Press, of course). If the manager and most of the players stay until next season I think there can be further improvement and fan engagement but once JBA finally leaves us, I trust the board to select someone with the same philosophy, given the positive effect it has had on crowds and therefore revenue. Meanwhile, to infinity and beyond!

Thanks, SteelmaninOZ: what a first-class guy this is, way ahead of most of his managerial rivals. I'm confident we can bounce back from our two recent disappointments, starting on Saturday ✊.

Yes, it's amazing how some laws of the game seem to have fallen into abeyance without anyone being told about it 😈. I see foul shies (apologies, age) regularly nowadays at our matches. Also, the authorities have allowed all these stramashes (God bless Arthur Montford) at corners and free kicks to proliferate to the point where it's almost impossible for a referee to spot all the infringements in the box at dead balls. All supporters of clubs outwith the OF is that the refs apply the laws fairly. We saw several examples of persistent fouls against us at Celtic Park on Saturday go unpunished, some of which should have resulted in a sending off, but didn't. It's interesting to note that some Celtic players do seem to be sent off in European games but rarely in Scotland, like Mr Maeda, IIRC. I have to say that, if the roles had been reversed with Longelo and Maeda, I doubt if we would have been given a penalty and a Celtic player sent off into the bargain at Celtic Park. Similarly, had Fadinger fouled Fernandez in the last minute of our match at Ibrox in December, would that appeal have been so airily and quickly waved away by the match referee? That's the reality of the game in Scotland, and has been for more years than I care to remember.

Hee! Hee! I doubt Mrs Dosser would agree 😈. I'm finding if AI doesn't "know", it just makes stuff up sometimes. Oh, wait.....

My experience of AI too. I'm finding it harder than expected to find the teams for that game but there is a photo here of the players in the bath after the game apparently and Billy is to the left of Davie Whiteford with Willie McCallum left of Billy. He's also in the squad colour foatie for that season: https://x.com/SteelmenHistory/status/1724107481775772032

I was sure wee Billy Campbell (N. Ireland) was on the right wing that night. I've discovered recently AI is not infallible by any means.

Just seen the foul by Chelsea's James on the Newcastle number 12 in tonight's match, which went completely unpunished. The game's in a real mess over penalty box jostling.