MJC

That is undoubtedly true but unfortunately it mirrors life in general, where the minority ruin it for the majority and as the saying goes “if you fly with the crows you get shot with the crows”. There are plenty of decent, well meaning people within the ‘Bois’ but sadly there are also some thoroughly nasty and dangerous individuals who clearly have a lot of influence within the group. And they are best avoided for the average match going supporter who simply wants to support the club.

The ‘Bois’ care about the ‘Bois’ and their reputation and getting attention on social media and wider publicity. The actual reputation and potential damage their behaviour causes to the club itself is clearly way down their list of priorities in comparison. Otherwise why do they keep defying the clubs requests? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. They are Green Brigade wannabes.

Granted. But football is and always has been a sport where spectators criticise and ‘offer advice’ to professional players when they are nowhere near at the same level of those players whom they are telling how to do their job better. Social media has obviously given those type of people (me included, I admit) a much wider platform to air such ‘advice’.

That’s all fair enough and yes, maybe I am a bit of a dinosaur and completely out of touch with modern training methods. I certainly don’t have a sound knowledge on sports science and nutrition and the like. Simply put, in my opinion as a ‘tone deaf’ supporter, I think we got our priorities wrong. Those who are far more qualified than me to say otherwise will probably disagree.

I’m not taking the piss. They’re professional footballers, they are capable of playing a game three days after the last one. The problem we had with Stenhousemuir is that we dropped key players and didn’t take the tie as seriously as we should have done. If there was any game where we should have rotated the squad and played fringe players then it was the Freiburg game because we were never winning that and in the grand scheme of things the league and league cup are far more important to us.

If common sense had prevailed then it would be being played at 3pm today. It was a nonsense that we postponed it this weekend in favour of ‘Europe’.

Total non-event and hard to muster up any emotions after that. It’s just a pity we postponed our game at home v. Aberdeen this weekend as we could really have done with getting our season back on track after last Sunday’s debacle.

0-5 pumping.

We’re not going to win every game and any ‘Well fan with their head screwed on knows this. We are also hugely up against it when it comes to winning one of the domestic cups. However it’s the manner of our exits against opposition we have been more than capable of beating over the years that irks more than anything else. Lower league Stenhousemuir, drop eight players, lose, out the cup. Aberdeen who we have beaten three times already and are easily outperforming in the league…rotate the team, leave key players out, lose, out the cup. And there have been more examples.

Personally for me it was going for a pish in the East Stand in the Prelim Champions League qualifiers against PAO in 2012. Unremarkable as that may sound, I just remember thinking “this is the Champions League, sort of, and here I am using the facilities in the East Stand during a Champions League prelim qualifier…‘91 has nothing on this surely?” As I exited the ‘facilities’ PAO scored their second goal but my heart was beaming with pride.

He’s done well so far. Good results in Europe and an excellent away win at Hibs. But today was a black mark on him.

“Sorry, you cannot add anymore reactions today” I went to give you a like for that comment. I genuinely don’t understand the mindset of some Motherwell fans when it comes to domestic Cups.

Yes I am raging we got put out. And Hearts could also struggle on that awful pitch. But I would expect Hearts to treat the tie with more respect and field their strongest side or at least not drop eight first team starters. Plus they have better players than we do. It’s all academic now for us. Yet again we have let ourselves down in a winnable domestic cup tie.

But Rangers and Celtic drew each other so one of them won’t be in the semis. Hibs have to go to Ross County and Hearts have Stenhousemuir on that awful pitch. Both of them will probably progress but you never know. And Killie and Aberdeen drew each other so one of them will be gone too. Us winning the competition was always a long shot but to whimper out in the last 16 against a lower league side is a real sore one.

I’ll be forever grateful that 1991 happened in my lifetime because I just don’t see us ever winning silverware ever again.