Happy Dosser

Thanks, ubh. I appoint you Supreme Aesthetic Commissar (MFC Division) in my future Scottish Republic. Sorted. Hoping for the hoop, settling for a silly advertising band. 'Twas ever thus.

Any idea if Sampdoria still play with a full hoop, ubh? Why is UEFA so against it? I don't expect a proper hoop either but, well, you know my views on the topic. Sigh.

I think Dewell should receive the Winston Smith award for re-writing history. What a mean-spirited comment on a guy who underplayed Clark's assault on him and had an amazing save in the last seconds of the cup final. If it weren't for the fact that so many Steelmen have commented already in Ally's defence, I think I'd be taking a holiday from this site until the new season. Reminder: this is a site for Motherwell fans. Ubh: dig your emojis, btw.

The RFC or successors' statement is quite incredible. They have a go at Tom English, who, when I heard him, was deploring the hotheads in the Hibs invasion. No doubt BBC Scotland will deflect/obfuscate on cue. It's a funny old game, Saint. Hibs will be shafted. Will the SoW get their European slot? Or am I just getting cynical?

That'll dae me. Always think white shorts are a great contrast to our beautiful colours.

I'm delighted Hibs won: I've seen many of their talented teams who didn't manage it. The SFA will try to deflect blame for their stewarding and policing, as will the MSM for Rangers' Defeat, so Hibs can expect a monster fine. We should not be too judgmental, unlike Tam Cowan. We of all clubs should know how easy it is to get sucked into sticking it to them. Expect a sunami of self-righteous crap from the Rangers-loving media. 'Twas ever thus....

Yes, I've heard this argument before from him; I wrote to him a couple of times. It doesn't really work for old codgers like me who will only shell out for a hooped design. Most younger fans probably don't care much because since about 1968 we've chopped and changed so much.

Don't know where my "Boca" went there. And I think the amber band in the floodlight strip looks good if it's the same size as the claret.

It's probably just my age, UBH, but I like them all. Not usually a fan of the blue strip because of its similarity to The Teds' one, but I understand its historical significance. Pity you're not in charge of our shirt design. I have never really understood the club's reluctance to stick with the hoop. Combined with our almost unique colours, it makes a highly distinctive "brand". Wee teams like Juniors and Sampdoria don't seem to have any hang-ups about it. Sigh...

Any rumours/vibes, UBH? I see Morton fans got their appalling new strip binned: back to the groovy hoops. Well done to them. Could we just have one? :roll:

AndyP: that's the one! Great work. Handsome devil, isn't he? BWDosser: you could well be right. I can still remember Dixie waiting till he came down from taking the cross ball before dunting him over the line. Probably a free-kick to Dundee and a booking for DD nowadays. Sigh.

Since we've got the older intelligentsia commenting just now, can anyone remember Dixie shoulder-charging the Dundee FC goalie (Bobby Geddes, perhaps?) over the line in a league game? It was claimed to be the last goal of this type given, I believe. Think we won 2-1. Dixie wrote affectionately about his time with us in his book. He recounts a "fan" who always gave him a roasting. The game following one of his hat-tricks, Motherwell's answer to Fergie* shouted, "Hey, Deans, yer still shite!" Ah, the banter.... *BTW, that's the obscene Accies fan, not MUFC boss. Although, you never know.

"And I think we'll win." Pure telt ye, soanadid. The players seem to have really got stuck in and sealed it with a classic counter-attack. Well done the Mighty 'Well.

StAndrew7: don't worry, there's a couple of good butchers in Dingwall: venison sausages and black puddings, etc. And I think we'll win. Ross County have become a team of play-acters and time-wasters, probably under the influence of Billy Dodds rather than Jim McIntyre, admittedly. For this reason alone I'd love to beat them: they're far too cynical for my liking. Surely the players will still want to play for Mark McGhee? It took Laing half of the season to get back in his good books, after all. I saw a report that he was on the point of jacking it in at one point.

Missed a "u" in Colquhoun. Talented, but he learned too many deep-sea diving techniques while at Celtic.

wee_alpha: I remember that game. Hibs had a fearsome line-up that day ( Stanton, O'Rourke, Duncan, et al. from vague memory) but I think we went 4-0 up quite early and it was a procession. I always quite admired the Hibees, and Hearts too until the Levein/Hogg/Colqhoun/Robertson years, when the cluggers and divers took over. At the Hearts centenary fixture at Tynie (1974?) we were surrounded by their fans at the away end, but they only had nice things to say about The 'Well, and about our attempts to play football over the years. Then they ran up their flag. A 2-2 draw as I remember. Jim McIlwraith, anybody?

Regarding attendances, I worked with an old Communist who told me that, even when MFC won the league, crowds were quite low at FP, which really got on his nazzums. Happy for any statisticians to offer enlightenment. My absolute first game, was Third Lanark versus Dundee, about 1962. Don't ask why it wasn't the Mighty 'Well, 'cos I don't know. Football was all B@W then so imagine my surprise when entering the Cathkin stand to see the bright green pitch and the scarlet of TL and deep blue of Dundee. The latter had a bugler who gave a blast and then shouted, "Away the 'Dee". He would probably have been arrested today. I'm sure Gordon Smith was playing for DFC, but think Thirds won 2-1. It was a tragedy they folded because of that crook Hiddleston. I knew a good few TLFC fans who migrated to The 'Well in the aftermath, but I'm sure nothing could replace the Hi-Hi.

Great post and great to see Old FP again. The football seems very direct and quick. Coops was great, of course, but Wee Dougie could finish. My first memory, though I know I was at FP before, was a Joe McBride penalty aginst Aberdeen. He had scored two goals already so we all ran down behind the dyke to see him get his hat-trick. Unfortunately, he thumped it straight at Tubby Ogston and the score remained 2-2. Happy and very distant days.

"Back on topic guys. Just watched the TV highlights. MacDonald's goal that was chalked off was a very close call. Although I'm biased I tend to say he was in line. Celtic's first goal was a defensive disaster. Law was caught badly out of position but the covering in the middle was diabolical. Many of Celtic's on target efforts were the result of their players being in unmarked positions 6/7/8 yards from goal. Yes, you can say that this was down down to good forward play, and it was to an extent, but our defending was pretty poor." Some good points, Kmcalpin. Josh Law often gets sucked in and leaves us exposed. Although Laing recently only started at RB, I prefer his physical presence and ability to take his mad breenging runs up the right. We need a bull in a china shop there. It's always difficult to decide what is great forward play or poor defence. I thought it was great when Master Cadden outmuscled the much-vaunted Tierney for our equaliser and cut it back for Skippy. When Cads went off we lost so much momentum, and our heads went down after their second. No wonder MMG rates him for his attitude and work rate. Let's just enjoy the next five games. Points mean prizes.

Extra "t". Pure baggie nerves, soanumurr.

"Definite penalty, and totally unnecessary from Gomis... Johnson was just about to clear it." And boy, did Johnston tell him.

Still goes to Connor, despite his fumble. Head up, son.

I thought Gomis was pretty awful today: ponderous and missing tackles, and then passing like a plank. This allowed Celtic to pass their way through our midfield, although I thought Lasley tried hard to compensate and young Cadden stuck in well (made our goal). I'm not so sure McGhee planned a defensive first half. I suspect he thought we would be tighter as a unit, but we stood off them too much and our Trident didn't really link up. Once we equalised (for the second time ) I actually thought we could go on to win it. All those Sky stats BBC Scotlandshire eagerly mentioned after the game don't mean a thing if you don't stick in the pokie. Ridley played well and I was gutted when that ball squirmed under him. Delighted results went our way today. What an (almost) finish. Can we finish third? Screens, nurse! COYW

Agreed, Gollum is all over the place but I'd be a lot more concerned if the ref were Craig "Spirtle-Legs" Thomson. His performance in the ICT penalty and retake incident was dreadful. He epitomises the "Look at me, I'm in charge" school of utter spanners-in-black. We're actually the form club going into this fixture and we can beat them

Celtic will definitely not relish coming to FP. My Celtic pals are still traumatised by Helicopter Sunday and now we simply must win this to guarantee top six status. There is no point hoping other teams will do us a favour since every team is fighting its own battle and there are no dead fixtures. As other sage posters have said, we can make a lot of money if we make it to the top half and money means players. These are great incentives and I'm sure Mr McGhee will have them well "prepared". If we get fair play from the ref. we can beat them. Oh, I see..........