Burma

Ramsden in at Centre Half? Reid/Kerr to RB?

As for McFadden. Whatever the reasons are Im truly saddened to see him go. I suspect his hamstring is going to curtail his career options a bit from here on in, but it in no way diminishes what a fantastic player he was. A natural big game player who never hit quite hit the heights his talent deserved. Good luck Faddy and from the bottom of my heart thank you.

Pretty sure he left the summer before McCall came in. 2010 I think and cannae be bothered looking it up. Have a recollection he signed a pre-contract with Barnsley while Broon was in charge and McCall came in late 2010. Am sure someone can correct me. Tbh I thought he had a good touch and was a decent link up player but he slowed down the attack play (which suited Broon I suspect) and was a lot less direct than Humphrey. He wouldnt have suited what ostensibly became a counter attacking Motherwell team and he rarely got past his marker if he had to take more than two touches before finding a man. Anyway I quite liked his commitment and he was a tireless Kenny Miller type worker but Im in no great rush to have him back.

Never made it to today. As usual the radio have chosen to blank us in favour of Aberdeen and Dundee United. What was our formation today? Was it 3 at the back again?

Pretend it is for now.....otherwise we are all gonna go bat-shit crazy. Lets just pretend.

http://m.stv.tv/sport/football/clubs/motherwell/233217-motherwell-to-announce-return-of-scotland-international-james-mcfadden/ ......and breathe.

Today.....Please!!!!

Based on McCalls recent interpretation of time units that could mean anytime in the next fortnight.

Yeah I get that. My point was a spurious one really but its striking that the club(?) are now saying somethung distinctly different from what they have been saying since at least Sunday.

Which is very different from the recent "he will be signing on Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday/hopefully tomorrow" claptrap that we have been told by the manager. Now we are being told that we are "trying very hard".

This is an outrage. You have had a good twenty minutes to inform us and now we get handed another "wait and see" statement. If we dont get specific answers to your statement on the specifics then im not sure you should be allowed to continue with this. It sounds like your about to defect to another thread.

Well which is it? Two reasons or three reasons? Can you be more specific?

McFadden is the difference between a good season and a potentially great season. As irrational as it sounds im mighty nervous about this. Just bloody sign!!

so on a motherwell fans forum your not allowed to display the motherwell badge? what about the colours are we allowed to use them?

BBC News - Scotland Under-21 striker Jamie Murphy has agreed a two-year extension to his contract, his deal at Fir Park now lasting until the summer of 2013. Murphy, 20, broke into the Motherwell first team in 2001 from the youth setup and netted 10 goals from 28 starts. He said: "I am delighted to extend my stay here; Motherwell has become a really big part of my life. "These next three years are going to be the most important in my footballing career as I learn my trade." Glasgow-born Murphy has featured 97 times for the Steelmen, playing a total of 44 times last season, so is likely to be a regular start in Craig Brown's side next season. Have to admit - I realise how special he is when I read that he was 11 years old when he first played in the Well first team.

Ok -you ready for this. The new motherwell strip will be radically different from anything we have seen in recent years. It will NOT have the hoop and (you ready for this) It will have very little, if any, claret on it. The New home top will be all amber (like our current away top) with white shorts and white socks. The new away top will be BLUE!!! and have BLACK shorts and BLACK socks. This is to do with the terms of the deal - as we have a very basic suppliers contract with Puma and they will NOT be supplying a tailor made strip, nor do Puma make ANY of their templates in Claret. The reason for choosing the blue for away is because the club intend to spin this by telling us that it is a retro to to the 1890's and is meant to invoke the spirit of our heritage blah blah blah. Basically we cut a cheap deal wi Puma nd are trying to make the best of it. Might be interesting ala Arsenal in their centenary year, but the blue and black just aint motherwell ( hasnt been for nigh on a hundred years). Anyways you heard it here first.

I totally agree with your sentiment and while I cannot argue with Browns results so far, lets be honest, Brown is NOT gonna build a team, what he will do is sustain this one. And when he goes at the end of next season it will be yet another complete rebuilding job. However I dont see how we are unable to finish higher than 5th. from what Ive seen of the results and the performances of other teams over the last two months, 4th is realistic for us.

That may be what i was thinking of - cheers

I thought that - Wasnt that McGarry's number this season. I was under the impression that you couldnt use the same number for more than one player each season. Or am I wrong about McGarry?

out of nothing other than sheer geekiness - Does anyone know his squad number?

How many season ticket holders do we have?

Well my Jambo mate assures us that Hearts are laughing at us!

If we include interim managers as you have done for Rangers and reduce it to ten years it looks like this: (this also includes teams who have been the spl in the last ten years - boyles era) Livingston - 15 managers (0.66yrs) Motherwell - 9 managers (1.11yrs) Hearts - 9 managers (1.11yrs) Partick - 6managers (1.66yrs) ICT 6 managers (1.66yrs) Dundee 6 managers (1.66yrs) Dundee Utd - 6 managers (1.66yrs) Hibs - 6 managers (1.66yrs) Dunfermline 5 managers (2yrs) Celtic - 5 managers (2yrs) Rangers - 5 managers (2yrs) St Johnstone 5 managers - (2yrs) Aberdeen - 4 managers (2.5yrs) Falkirk - 4 managers (2.5yrs) Hamilton - 4 managers (2.5yrs) Killie - 3 managers (3.33 yrs) St Mirren - 3 managers (3.33yrs) Remember when we used to laugh at Hearts? This does indeed prove that two years is good however , almost every other team does better than us in holding managers for longer, and if we change management teams again before the end of the season our average drops to 1 manager per year. It also shows that over 50% of SPL teams can hold onto managers for two years or more. Also as you haven't included in your stats three caretaker managers (Jim Griffin, John Philliben, Gordon Young, which is the criteria you applied to Rangers ala durrant) then your stats regarding us are wrong as we have had 13 guys take the first team for a competitive game. At least two of them vying for the job whilst in charge which makes our average over twenty years 1.5yrs per manager. Lies, damn lies and statistics

Thats a great point and I can see the benefits in that. I suppose Killie, Falkirk and maybe Accies should ensure we dont get sucked into the dogfight, which is my main concern this season. However if we cant strengthen appropriately now then its not outwith the realms of fantasy that we will get suckered in. Especially if we end with a dud like Jeffries for the run in. The problem is - what if we dont have anyone else lined up and Brown and Knox get an offer elsewhere, maybe im being fanciful here but as they dont have a contract whats to stop them "absenting themselves abruptly"

Solid performance today. Ruddy was impeccable on the few occasions he was called upon - he is the key for a decent season, dont want to contemplate losing him next week, but no word on that so who knows? Hamell - The coolest man in the team today, totally unfazed and great first touch. Craigen - Solid enough but rarely threatened. Outpaced regularly but had a decent second half. Almost celebrated when he managed to PASS the ball out of defence. Reynolds - Terrific, great movement and never caught out of position despite moving forward regularly Hateley - Great shift in an unnatural postion. No complaints whatsoever. Forbes - Invisible for large parts of the game, good off the ball movement fantastic positioning though. First season at this level. Keep him in the team. He will be a major asset. Coke - Never stopped chasing although slow in getting forward. Ran the midfield for large parts of the first half Lasley - Good game - got lucky with the pass for the goal as it was the wrong one - who cares about that though. O'Brien - Again failed to produce much of an end product - needs to learn to pass and cross and ride tackles, Better options on the bench. Jutkiewicz - Looked useful before going off - centre halfs hate him Sutton - Sold performance - great finish - wish he was quicker but he aint. Would love to see him challenge in the air a bit more. Murphy - Outstanding - man of the match - Humphrey - ten minutes and produced more than the man he replaced had done in 80 - could be a big player for us in years to come. Jennings - shored it up in the middle and kept us sharp. All in it was an ugly scrappy game - I was bored out my tree in the first half with only one real shot on target and the ref intent on blowing every time the wind got high and knocked the delicate players off their feet. However its three points in the bag. Bodes well for the Falkirk game.