Happy Dosser
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Posts posted by Happy Dosser
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2 minutes ago, dennyc said:
LOL. Not sure it is a word likely to be accepted in Scrabble..........but it should be.
Other expressions might score more points but would also attract the ire of the moderators.
In any case, I feel your pain
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45 minutes ago, dennyc said:
Quite honestly I could not care less about those three teams. And I'm not sure any other Motherwell fan cares about them either.
My concern is only about Motherwell and the performances under Alexander. Are you suggesting we should stick with the wrong man simply because other Clubs did not see an immediate benefit from change, even if it continues to harm us ? Or are you saying Alexander is the correct man for the job? If so, say so. I might disagree but I will respect your view. If you believe he should be given more time, then how long and how bad does it have to get? Perhaps you could clarify.
If last night had been a one off, then fair enough. Painful but fair enough. Benefit of the doubt and all that. But it wasn't a one off. Far from it. Fans have been suffering performances like that since January, and before if folk care to be honest. When you are winning it is easy to turn a blind eye to the direction that is being taken, but when you lose in the pathetic manner we lost last night then it is impossible to ignore. And please don't confuse a lack of surprise at the result with a desire for wanting Motherwell to lose just to prove a point. I don't for a minute believe any Motherwell fan thinks like that.
I had hoped that the different approach to the last few games of last season, which ultimately secured a creditable fifth place and Europe, was an indication that Alexander had had a rethink and was prepared to amend his set up. But last night and his moves so far in the transfer market/coaching recruitment do little to support that hope for change. Neither did his post match analysis. Also his game management last night was simply a rerun of last season. How long into the game was it before he made a substitution having watched us struggle? What options has he actually given himself tactics wise? What did he do to affect the way the game was heading? I could just about live with him being given leeway on the basis of of the achievements last season, but only as there was a hint of change. Well I suppose there is a hint of change. We are even poorer, with even less leadership.
I read in another thread a theory that folk had an irrational dislike for Alexander because he came across as arrogant and wore nice clothes. Seriously? To me that's deflection tactics by the lessening number that are still behind him. The only reasons folk don't take to Alexander are the product he is putting on the field and the outcomes on a game by game basis since January. If we were performing on the pitch nobody would care if he wore a Tutu and spoke Morningside. Success, entertainment and avoiding embarrassment are what fans hope for. And they could not really care less who delivers it.
I might be wrong but I think it is inevitable that Alexander will not last the season, even if we do win in Ireland. For the sake of the Club and the fans I would rather it was sooner rather than later, even if it does cost us financially. Surely the positives about making a change are what should be the deciding factors, not the negatives. especially if those potential negatives are based on other Club's experiences.
Pretty much my feelings but more articulately put than I can possibly muster in my present state of utter pissedoffidity. My first 'Well game was in 1962 but I can't remember feeling so low and frankly embarrassed about our performances in all those years. Perhaps age gives you a different perspective but my God I can't bear to hear the manager's post-match crapola any longer.
Our squad looks even weaker than last season if anything and there has been no move so far to address the most obvious weaknesses at CH and striker. It's not as if GA has just arrived in post either : he's had plenty of time to analyse weaknesses and attempt to address them.
There's a feeling of drift and powerlessness in this situation from a supporter's perspective which I find genuinely alarming.
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Yep, the 3-1 victory against a full-strength Spurs side (Pat Jennings, Alan Mullery, Martin Peters, Martin Chivers, Alan Gilzean et al) in the Texaco Cup was a wonderful night, particularly since the Londoners scored early on at Fir Park to take a two goal lead on aggregate before Heron, Donnelly and Watson turned the tie around in a thrilling comeback.
And then Peters made a complete graceless prat of himself by whining that 'Well were "all muck and nettles".
The thought of us facing a full strength Tottenham Hotspur team now makes the blood run cold, mind you.
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3 hours ago, El Grew said:
Along with Lord Lucan, Shergar, the Holy Grail and the lost Ark of the Covenant.
You forgot some of Baldy Shaw's opposite numbers over the years
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23 hours ago, twistandshout1983 said:
Was speaking to one of their fans yesterday about the potential signing, his response was he hopes Kipre doesnt end up at Ibrox as from what he remembers he was a dirty dirty player
My response was he is too good for that mob anyway
There will no doubt be other offers for Kipre
I think that all that Rangers' tosh dates back to this incident. I should archive it but can't be bothered:
Oh, the irony of that wee stumer complaining about a bad tackle! Big Ced was hard but fair and is far too good for The Hens. It seems to be A Thing with their fans, though: I even got chinned about it at a Burns Supper once a random True Blue discovered that I supported MFC. Admittedly, I made things worse by saying I didn't even know who Ryan Jack was but Kipre was already a legend. Cue much gnashing of teeth.
They're a strange bunch, soantheyare...
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18 hours ago, weeyin said:
The CL has all sorts of weird rules baked in to ensure the big boys get more than they deserve. They're trying to confirm a rule change where teams that don't qualify at all get to play if they have a "high historic coefficient ranking".
It's just a backdoor effort to rebuild the European Superleague, but it gets closer every day.
As people will know from my posts, I'm no fan of the Old Firm, but I still think it's ridiculous that the Champions from our league have to go through more qualification rounds than teams that finish 4th in the EPL. Again, it's all about protecting the wealthy and making sure they get richer while sporting fairness and integrity becomes a distant memory.
Yes, I was forced to agree with Simon Jordan
yesterday when he said the game had zero morality or integrity as a business. It certainly looks like it the way the "elite" clubs continue to try to bend the rules to increase their wealth and influence at the expense of the rest.
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1 hour ago, MelvinBragg said:
I went to an EPL game at the weekend for the first time. I'm definitely not in favour of VAR. Over two minutes standing about whole people look at miniscule details to see if someone is offside. Saturday was a warm day, Tuesday night in November? No thanks.
It doesn't even clear up doubt. Still debate over which decisions get looked at, what angle they looked from. And it will still be the same referees looking at the screens, so if you think they favour the Old Firm, chances are they'll favour the Old Firm in what they choose to look closer at...
Exactly so: those who think VAR will automatically reduce the number of decisions favouring the Old Firm will probably be disappointed. England has had the system for a while and there is no shortage of controversy about decisions made following a VAR review, some of which to me seem inexplicable, despite all the technology and time taken to analyse the incidents. It's still a human making the final call, not a computer.
It's not a panacea unfortunately and some may conclude that Messrs Collum, Madden, Dallas etc, however flawed as referees, are at least relatively cheap alternatives.
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"Motorway snoozer":
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That'll teach you for speaking to McGhee!
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8 hours ago, Yassin said:
Dundee have just hired him.
At least that gave me a laugh!
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2 hours ago, joewarkfanclub said:
Didnt see the game on Saturday, so cannot comment. But lets not be kidded that the football since Xmas has been any worse than it was before.
The main difference is results. Before we were winning games by fine margins. Now we are losing them by fine margins. The football was awful to watch and is still awful to watch.
As far as Alexander is concerned, there is still no chance he gets sacked before the end of the season. He still has 2 games to get us top 6 and will be given the opportunity. If that doesnt happen his remit will be to ensure we get as high a finish as possible.
Its not impossible if we were to finish bottom 6 that St Johnstone could reel us in. When you play all the teams around you after the split and go into it in such a poor run of form it is easy to go into freefall. He would then be demanded to win a play off.
I think the only way he gets sacked is if we get relegated. My main concern is if we narrowly stay up and are subjected to more of the same next season. As a fan owned club its really important to keep our fanbase on side and the atmosphere is getting quite poisonous and that can become self fulfilling.
Alexander seems very stubborn. He shows no sign of altering his philosophy. The rotation of the squad just seems to be how he likes to do things and the long ball percentage football just keeps on coming and is desperate to watch.
I wouldnt be sad to see him go right now. But I wont be holding my breath.
The board will have a decision to make though once the seasons over and we see where are.
A convincing and persuasive analysis, JWFC, and I thank you for it but it only persuades me that the manager is pretty clueless and stubborn to the point of self-destruction.
If the board wait until the season is over I suspect it will be too late by that time.
As some older 'Well fans have said, the signs for GA are ominous when you consider the dire lack of quality of the teams he has selected to play (but not necessarily of those he has brought to the club). Those seeking consolation that we are losing narrowly but not being "pumped" could look at the side relegated in the late 60s: IIRC we lost a significant number of games then by the odd goal but were seldom humiliated. Yet the split offers another avenue to relegation by introducing head-to-head desperation games in a situation redolent of Hibs in 2014 and Dundee in The Noughties, when they narrowly missed the top six and then collapsed after the split.
I see little merit in the manager's approach and organisation: a sterile long-ball philosophy, a lack of a cohesive and functioning midfield, clueless wide defenders, vulnerability in central defence and an excruciatingly long-winded and delusional analysis before and after games. Thank God we have a goalkeeper.
We can also see on these pages a significant number of older ST fans who say they have had enough and I too have thought similarly. Even the year we should have gone down in The Untouchables season, we had gifted younger players and IIRC we managed to beat a good few of the top six that season: it was the head to heads below that level which got us into trouble.
It will be 60 years next year since I started supporting Motherwell but then it had a wonderful philosophy of playing football at a time when wages were only modestly above the levels of a skilled worker. I know the societal problems are wider and deeper now but it seems there is no vision or imagination at the club and these problems go back further than the recent fan-ownership period.
In short, we need a charismatic visionary with an encyclopaedic knowledge of tactics and the UK football market and incredible motivational powers.
Does anyone think the board are aware of the task ahead and are able to tackle the problem?
I do hope they have someone looking at these pages.
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Simple question: can we afford to sack him?
And another: who would relish trying to manage this squad in a freefall/relegation situation over seven games?
How many people really thought any other result was likely today, given the current "form"? The last minute sickener was exactly what I expected.
Under Alexander, we are devoid of ideas, structure, imagination and I suspect the players have just about downed tools. Anyone showing an ounce of creativity is excluded from the team. Example: Woolery (not my favourite player by any means) came on to a bit of form during and after the Ibrox game and then got dropped for no apparent reason.
And now a vital game against an ex-manager and several ex-players looms, with all the feeling of inevitability such a situation suggests.
Hibs under Butcher is not the only example of a complacent club who thought they could not go down: Dundee in the early 2000s narrowly missed a top six spot when John Sutton played for them and went down on the last day of the season.
In England it's often thought the international break can be a dangerous time for an under-performing manager. I doubt Burrows and Co. will actually wield the axe but I dread to think what the reaction will be if Saint Mirren beat us at home on the second of April.
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44 minutes ago, Ya Bezzer! said:
That old Tynecastle terrace had the worst toilets of all time.....
Agreed. I can still smell the yeast from the brewery too but the strip is a classic for auld uns like me.
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Consensus in the Brains' Trust section of the POD I sit in
was that the players are "playing" to get the manager sacked. What has happened to Ojala since his injury? Chalk and Cheese. Did Delilah cut his hair or summink? He doesn't look fit.
I presume Slattery doesn't play because he has talked back to GA or doesn't run around like a headless chicken at training or some such. Alexander seems to be as arrogant as McGhee and sticks with players simply to get up the noses of fans whom he thinks are totally ignorant of footballing matters. He spent most of the second half talking to the match official next to him and ignoring the freely-given advice from the stands
. There was a mini-seethe around me when O'Hara was taken off and Donnelly remained and for a second I thought I'd missed an off-the-ball assault or other tasty happening.
For about three seconds in the game we had a swift interchange of four passes involving Tierney, Slattery (?) and two others and that summarised the football today.
The last two home games have been among the worst I have had to watch in the last five years. If I hadn't bought my ticket for The Leithers already I'd probs go down the bird reserve to spot a godwit next week.
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2 hours ago, Kmcalpin said:
It was a Partick player who butted him. Agree 100% about Alex Ferguson. Always ruthless on and off the pitch.
Thanks for the clarification. And I thought Thistle were the darling Bambis of the fitba world cheered on by a well-informed and inclusive hipster/varsity fan-base.......
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13 minutes ago, Kmcalpin said:
A refreshing interveiw. Presumably he tells it like it is, and not what we usually get in bland media interviews ?
2plus8 - I presume there was nothing personal in it with Gallagher; he'd just be following Alex Ferguson/Matt Busby type instructions.
Perhaps that kind of behaviour began even even further back. Didn't Andy Paton say that he refused to shake hands with anyone after an Aberdeen player had stuck the head on him after the final whistle when he offered his hand?
Laughable at the time to hear Ferguson complain that his St Mirren team were roughed up by Motherwell ruffians in that sell-out cup-tie at FP in the 70s too. As a player he was no stranger to the flying elbow himself. There used to be a YT clip of an Ayr v Motherwell match at Somerset where his skills in that regard were obvious.
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9 minutes ago, weeyin said:
Aberdeen have a mini goalkeeping crisis - which is why they have ended up signing Craig Samson in an emergency coach/backup keeper situation. So right now, they get to choose Woods or Samson.
Samson the possible answer to a GK crisis: things are worse than I thought.
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On reflection and third Grate Thott for today: could Gary Woods be Stevie Woods' love child?
Karma, ya bass?
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Two other points which occurred to me to take forward into the next game: The Sheep have managed to find a worse goalkeeper than Joe ("I'm a blancmange at Fir Park) Lewis and something needs to be done about them stealing about ten yards at every throw-in (or shy as I insist on calling it). Referee Aitken and his linesman let them get away with murder yesterday.
I don't normally hope a team gets relegated but their supporters are so obnoxious that maybe a spell in the lower league might restore a sense of proportion. I don't think they've ever being relegated, although they were saved by league reconstruction relatively recently. We certainly can't complain about that because we dodged a bullet there a couple of times (not counting Falkirk's ground problems in our The Untouchables shirt season).
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2 hours ago, Spiderpig said:
If you are referring to the Hibs result after they equalised it was never in any doubt but that said I would take Hibs at Fir park in the draw tomorrow, that or the winners of the Peterhead / Dundee game.
No, it was Glass's sacking I was referring to. We could have done with him sticking around for a week or so. That said, I don't think anyone will give them a quick bounce or lift, more a dead-cat-splat. It's a real poisoned chalice up there.
It's a wee shame for them, soanitis
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History's a thing of the past
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After my fit of pessimism a few days ago, I was delighted with the commitment and energy shown today: what a difference. KVV is much better with Shields and Efford (thought his goal was wrongly ruled out) on either side rather than being isolated with little support from midfield and it looks like we may have a functioning forward line again. Taking the latter off late on was a bad decision because it took the pressure off the Sheep defence and invited Aberdeen forward. Thank God Kelly did his usual wonder save.
Both Donnelly and O'Hara were surprisingly good today in a physical match but I was alarmed at Ojala early on. He didn't look match-ready and was all over the place but gradually he steadied up.
A home tie not involving The Cheeks would give us all hope in the cup.
Lovely to see Gallagher and Grampa Broon disconsolate at the end.
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2 minutes ago, Kmcalpin said:
There are many reasons for this but a fundemental one is that we, and by that I mean most clubs, are losing our brightest talent to English predators before they even make the first team.
Quite so: we lost one to Leeds and the whole financial basis of fitba here is shot, compared to the obscenely bloated Sky-financed game down south, largely based on a corrosive and damaging advertising campaign to part desperate working-class people from their money. But "play responsibly" suckers! I loathe the rich Sky panelists who advocate such gambling. I had actually hoped the whole Premiership house of cards based on massive debt would collapse and restore a reset to more sensible values but perversely the opposite seems to be the case.
Incidentally, thinking back to the '68 relegation, I think our last home game was against Clyde, and we were narrowly beaten (we seemed to lose by the odd goal so often that season). My abiding memory was seeing some of our "fans" laughing at out attempts to score that day, while I was almost reduced to tears. Silly perhaps, but I have always had a rather dim view of a section of our so-called followers, like the ones who have brandished the union flag in our games against Celtic in the past.
I have thrashed myself with birch twigs in an effort to motivate me for tomorrow so maybe I'll pitch up at Firpers in a more positive frame of mind
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6 hours ago, Kmcalpin said:
We're a better team than results suggest just now. Not great, but better. Several players are underperforming for reasons I don't know ie Slattery.
We're not playing well right now or getting results but I've seen worse Well sides as I suspect you have. The relegated 1968-69 side for example finished secind bottom in a league of 18 and won just 6 games out of 34. Possibly the worst side I've seen was Alex McLeish's in 1995-96 when we scored far less than a goal game average. I almost gave up at that point.
Bad, but I've seen worse.
Yours is the entirely rational response, and I remember that 60s side (painfully). After that we discovered Dixie Deans, Keith MacRae, Peter McCloy and many others and have only been relegated once since then (albeit for three long seasons, like Hearts around that time). We have no chance of unearthing similar talent from within our borders now and we need to ask why Scottish football is in such a state (as if we didn't know).
I completely accept mine is an emotional one but I suspect our lack of ability to compete at all against The Cheeks and our paucity of creativity or even a basic ability to organise a team effectively is the main factor in my pissedoffidity. I rarely post negatively (hence my silly handle) but two defeats from The Sheep and a spineless display and ritual evisceration by the Hens will probably do me for this season.
At my age it really is the false hope which "kills", as well as a sense of shame at our lack of ability to compete with the arrogant and gloating Uglies.
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ECL Sligo Rovers v Motherwell 28/7/22
in Club Chat
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Maybe it's an EK Branch (Jim Henderson bus) thing. IIRC you were a fellow traveller at one time with the inimitable Blyth at the wheel of the Letham's coach.
Now it's the manager driving me round the bend
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