MJC

As is so often the case with Motherwell we save our worst performances for Cup ties even when we’re on good form. I don’t see next week being any different I’m afraid. 1-1 (3-5 penalties)

Happy enough with a point that keeps us unbeaten and above Hibs in the league but disappointed that we couldn’t hold out once we had the lead. Again our weakness is up front and that today like so many games this season would have been three points if we had a goalscorer up front. Pleased to see TJM on the scoresheet again and also to see Jordan McGhee finally make his debut.

Hammer blow Watt missing but hopefully Priestman can step in. This is going to be a tough one and I’ll be glad of a point from it.

Just hearing his name reminds me of my earliest days supporting the club. Thoughts with his family.

I thought his response was perfect. Said very little and gave nothing away to a press pack seeking a quote or a snippet. Like it or not he is not going to come out and flat out say that he has absolutely no interest in moving to another club. Very few if any managers do that and even on the rare occasion that they do then it means nothing if they really want to move on. Craig Brown looking into Stephen Craigan’s eyes and not wanting to leave 48 hours before he did indeed leave for Aberdeen springs to mind. JBA absolutely knows how to handle the media.

All I ever ask of Motherwell FC is that we are the best we possibly can be. And for years under various regimes from Robinson latterly through Alexander to Kettlewell I didn’t think we were anywhere near it. There was no vision or desire to play entertaining football it very much just felt like a case of huff and puff our way through matches and hope that that will be enough to keep us in the top flight. This season has felt different in so many ways. I was very sceptical when Jens was appointed and although I had concerns during the early months of the season when we looked incapable of winning matches you could see that we now had a manager who had a plan on how he wanted us to play football and over the past month or so I think we’ve seen that plan come to fruition. And it’s been brilliant to watch and going to games now no longer feels like the chore it did last season, instead you can’t wait until the next game. We will never have the finished article when it comes to managers or teams but it’s so refreshing seeing us play good flowing football and believing that we can beat anyone on our day.

Martin O’Neill back at Celtic. Confirmed. Dry your knickers out.

I’ve got to say though if Celtic do re-appoint Martin O’Neill then should we be worried about O’Neill’s wife approaching JBA to take her out for expensive coffees down the Kings Road in London given her husband’s increased commitments? 😱 😱 😱 Hate to say it but you’ve got to wonder if our cuddly wee diddy team could compete with that kind of offer… 😭

Why would Celtic “definitely want him” at this stage??? The last thing they need right now is another project manager who, let’s face it, doesn’t really have much of a pedigree in management yet. Yes he’s been great for us overall but he’s been here six months and couldn’t buy a league win for the first two of them. I don’t mean to upset the stat shaggers but he literally didn’t oversee a league match win until the last Saturday in September and let’s not forget our complete no show in the LCSF. A lot of our fans are getting carried away over how good JBA has been/could possibly be. If this was the summer and we had just finished 2nd or 3rd and/or won the Scottish Cup and Celtic were looking for a new manager then yes it would be far more likely, but they need to salvage their clusterfuck of a season and that’s why it will most likely be Martin O’Neill who comes back in on an interim basis.

Have a day off ffs 🤣

No arguments there and I’m fully aware of where we are as club in the grand scheme of things. What annoys me though is these Motherwell fans who the minute we get any sort of good team or manager can’t just enjoy it for what it is while we’ve got it instead of hitting out with “he’ll be away shortly, our wee team can’t keep players like that” and so on. Now while that is undoubtedly true it is what it is, so why not focus on the good times while we’ve got them instead of spoiling the feel good factor for everyone else? As I said last Tuesday night after we had comfortably beaten Celtic Tam Cowan our most high profile fan goes straight on the radio and before he even mentions anything about the result, the game or the performance he starts off with “you’ve got to wonder if we can keep that manager for the season” or something to that effect. Talk about pouring cold water on a great night. JBA will leave us sooner or later. No one can seriously suggest otherwise but for Christ’s sake just let us enjoy it while we can.

It’s utterly tiresome at times. We’ve got a core of supporters who seem naturally programmed to the “we’re only a wee team this won’t last” mindset above all else and they can’t let themselves and everyone else just enjoy us having a good side while we can. That idiot Cowan being the main culprit of this as I said after the Celtic game. Of course it is and yes indeed, sooner or later any high performing players or managers we have will be poached by bigger clubs. You know what? It might even happen with JBA and Aberdeen, just like as what happened with Craig Brown. But that is all hypothetical just now so until such time as it becomes reality then there really is no point losing sleep over it.

Does he currently have a contract with us now you mention it? It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve had a manager operating on a non contractual basis. Craig Brown springs to mind.

Our home crowds are increasing for the first time since the 1990s as far as I can see! It’s great to see and appears that us playing attractive football and winning matches regularly does help.

A hard fought and completely deserved win. Until the first goal I didn’t see it going our way but what a great move and great finish from the talisman. And great to see Watt on the scoresheet again, he’s been absolutely pivotal for us the last couple of games. On to Easter Road next week. Bring on the Hibees!

This will be a tough one. 2-2

Correct, if we continue playing as we are and finish in the top half of the table or do well in the Scottish Cup then it is inevitable that bigger clubs will come calling for JBA. And he would go if/when that happens because that’s just the way it is. We’ve seen it before and we’ll see it again. However there is no point worrying about it. As I said yesterday about Tam Cowan’s dampener pish on Radio Scotland after the game just let’s enjoy having a team that plays good football and a manager who seems intelligent, has a clear plan and focus on how he wants us to play. Make the most of it instead of fretting about when it’s all going to end because doing that only spoils it for yourself and the rest of the support. I can’t stand constant negativity neither I can.

His patter is pish. It revolves around what you mention there and shoehorning in the words shite bawbag and arsehole to whatever story he’s telling. But I don’t doubt his love for the club whatsoever. He is a Motherwell FC diehard.

A few posts have mentioned being nervous at 2-0 and perhaps it’s just me looking back with a bit of bravado now but I didn’t really feel that nervous atall from about the 70th minute ownward last night. We looked confident and relatively comfortable and if anyone looked like scoring again it was us. Ward’s great save apart we were never in danger really. Usually when we play Celtic and we’re in a good position you’re expecting to lose at any minute…you know that killer ball down the flanks or through the middle and you’re just waiting for the South Stand to erupt or else we gift them something or they get a penalty out of the blue and it all crumbles for us. But last night we saw it out with relative ease even when they started coming back into the game a bit. And that was a pretty amazing feeling and something I’ve not seen since my early days of supporting Motherwell going back to the early 90s.

I’ve said this for years, that mindset is self defeating and is used as a pre-made excuse for not performing in these games and it absolutely is something that has been all too prevalent throughout the club and several key individuals on and off the park. And whether intended or not it drips down to various players and managers because it’s like with any line of work, any business. If the message from the top is “we’re only a small company so don’t worry about exceeding expectations or going the extra mile, just as long as you hit your base targets each week/month/year” then that is not going to motivate and inspire employees. JBA coming in as an outsider to Motherwell FC and the goldfish bowl of Scottish football wouldn’t be aware of this mindset and more importantly he doesn’t appear to be easily influenced either.

It’s not good to hear and it really isn’t helpful to us as a club because that is the message that is put out to players and coaches, both current and prospective and many will buy into that. I know we have a core of supporters who like to portray us as this cuddly wee tinpot nonentity of a club, Cowan being one of the most vocal due to his position. And I am under absolutely no illusions whatsoever that we are a big club or anything like it, certainly not in the same scale as the Old Firm, Aberdeen or the Edinburgh clubs. But we have been playing top flight football uninterrupted for over forty years now. And even if the pendantic faither types want to go down the “ahh but we were only saved by league reconstruction one time and then Falkirk’s ground didn’t meet requirements” route, well the last time that happened was twenty two and a half years ago now. So we have been an established top flight club for over twenty years. Still pretty good going I’d say. Success we have will be fleeting and good managers and players we get will inevitably move on to bigger clubs at some point. I know that, we all know that and it’s not exclusive to us. That’s just the law of the jungle. But to hear our most high profile fan go straight on the radio just after we’ve recorded an emphatic victory over Celtic playing some tremendous football and his core point appear to be “it’s only a matter of time before the manager goes, x player gets poached cos a wee diddy team like us can’t afford to keep them” is pathetic stuff. At least enjoy the moment and let the rest of us do the same before spouting the “it’s all gonny get taken away from us soon” pish.

Exactly. In the last ten years we’ve seen us lose every possible way to them. 7-0, numerous 4-0 losses, two cup final defeats without laying a glove on them. Then all the last minute sickeners. 2-0 then 3-2 up only to lose 4-3 with the last kick of the ball. We score a last minute equaliser and they run straight up the park and score again. 2-1 up at Parkhead a few months back and relatively comfortable, lose 3-2 in the dying minutes. Even the one and only time we came close to beating them in the last decade we were denied by a dodgy late penalty for them to sneak a 1-1 draw. Last night was a long time coming and I will certainly dine out on it for a long time to come:

Great night last night but one ‘downside’ is I made the mistake of tuning into Off the Ball on Radio Scotland after the game. Tam Cowan couldn’t even let himself or the listeners enjoy the result without the age old nonsense about “we’ll be lucky to keep JBA to the end of the season, we’re only a wee club, much bigger clubs will be looking at our manager and our players” and so on. Lighten up ffs. I’ve no doubt of Tam’s love for the club but he is one of the biggest culprits of this “we’re only a wee diddy team punching way above our weight” especially seeing as he’s probably the most high profile Motherwell fan out there certainly the one with the biggest platform. That sort of nonsense is why we went more than a decade without beating Celtic as it drips into the club and numerous players, managers and staff buy into it. Fortunately Jens simply focusses on us as a team and doesn’t get caught up in the cliched tiresome rhetoric that so many before him have done so. And Tam Cowan really isn’t funny. His patter is pretty shite imo.

You better believe I am. And seeing as you mentioned it, if there are any Rangers or Hearts fans looking in and feel like offering us a patronising “thanks for doing us a favour tonight” type kind of appreciation. All I can say to them is “It is an absolute fucking pleasure” 🙂

Hiya Tom Boyd Hiya ya odious, sanctimonious dribbling prick 👋