Casagolda

Reading some stuff in the Ins and Outs thread but I thought I should give this a bump. "It is expected that two out of five or six board members would be elected by their votes and that is a measure of how fundamental will be supporters' input." - Leann Dempster Source (page 2) The plan now doesn't seem like one member, one vote but rather one member, one vote for a small part of the board. I thought we were going to elect the full board of directors through the membership and have control of the club through democratic means, that doesn't look likely now. If Boyle is gifting his share, worth 75%, to the fans then the fans should elect 75% of the board. This looks like democracy lite and not what John Boyle led most people to believe and definitely not as palatable. You are essentially parting with your hard earned cash to be part of a group that have no power to run the club, what's the point?

Found some mock up motherwell kits on a football manager forum.

Is anyone else concerned that according to Kenny Black we only have a budget to bring in one more player and that it will probably be a defender. First we have plenty of defenders, we don't have a left sided centre back but I'm not too concerned with that and we lack a replacement left back but I would rather trust Tom Hately out of position or Halsman instead of spending limited money on cover for Hammell. Second we only have 3 strikers. If we get an injury then we are bare bones with only Howarth, Lawless and Gary Smith which seemed to be trusting to luck. If we have such limited funds a striker should be the priority.

Not really important but I noticed Higdon has number 9 on his shorts which means Jamie Murphy might have changed number, possibly to 10? I would imagine Hutchison will be taking 4 meaning the lowest open number is 11 (which Murphy might have if we keep 10 retired) then 15, 17 then 19. Hollis might get bumped from 12 as well. Again not really important but its preseason so little things are more interesting.

Aye we better start writing checks to Alan Gow, Nick Blackman, Mark Reynolds and Marc Fitzpatrick.

Yeah, our defense looked really solid against ICT!

With Jennings suspended for the next 3 league games Hateley has to play centre midfield. Page has played 2 games at right back and one at left back. I thought it was a mistake to put Hateley to right back at Killie instead of switching Page and moving Gunning to left back. We need two of Lasley, Jennings and Hateley in centre mid to be competitive so Hateley should be fine at right back for United leaving us a defence of Hammell Gunning Hutchison Hateley with possibly Hollis in goal.

Motherwell 2 Celtic 0 It is an .avi file and around 50MB. Quality is decent, audio is shit. If you weren't at the game the BBC highlights don't really show how the game went, we created far more chances and despite Celtic having lots of shots in the highlights we were never under real pressure except at the end of the first half.

Gave it to Jennings. I felt he controlled the play and directed everything in the first half. He had a relly good game and was solid throughout. Forbes, Jeffers, Craigan and Hately in contention too.

I thought is was a bad decision from McCall to go to an untried formation with players in unfamiliar roles. The 5 at the back was a disaster from the start and Gunning and Page argued more than they defended. We lacked numbers in midfield and couldn't get passing moves going except one excellent move that ended with Sutton heading over. I can't forgive McCall even with a couple of players missing since we had a good formation to stifle rangers at Hampden but went with a totally new system today. 6-0 isn't really that important to me. Sometimes we play well and lose, sometimes we play badly and win and sometimes we play badly and get humped. We need to put that game behind us and look forward to Aberdeen.

the back pass rule

This is wrong. 4th place will qualify for the Europa League if the OF team who finishes second in the league wins the cup. 1 Europa League place must come from the national cup and since we only have 1 Champions' League slot, an OF cup win can satisfy the criteria.

Had to check as I wasn't sure myself but Billy Davies didn't sign until mid March in 1994 according to soccerbase, wikipedia says 1993. I'm inclined to believe soccerbase as I checked the London Hearts site and Davies doesn't play against them for us until 30th march 1994. I don't think Davies became a regular in the side until after O'Donnell left. I'm sure someone has a better info for this subject from old programs or something,

The main point I was making was that he has changed clubs 7 times in 7 transfer windows. All those clubs had an opportunity to keep him. He begged to stay with Hibs but they sent him packing, they didn't pick him up when he was free, he mucked about Swindon and was called a disgrace. That seems pretty indicative proof that he was making positive contributions at any club he has been at since Falkirk. The stats are your hands too, show me Alan Gow as an effective footballer and as a good team mate. Anyway back to Well transfers. I don't really mind if we don't sign anyone. A striker would be nice but not essential, Casagolda needs a chance. I would trust what we have and Steve Jones looks like he is a good addition.

Alan Gow league matches since leaving Falkirk 0 wins in 0 for Rangers - didn't play a game 4 wins in 17 for Blackpool - loan not renewed 4 wins in 13 for Norwich - loan not renewed 2 wins in 14 for Plymouth - Signed for 200K for 2 years, loaned after 6 months, released after 1 year 1 win in 7 for Hibs - loan not renewed 7 wins in 16 for Motherwell - short term contract not renewed 0 wins in 2 for Notts County Last 3 league victories in which Alan Gow played the majority of the game 06/11/10 ICT 1- 2 Mothewell subbed 84mins for Forbes 23/10/10 Motherwell 2 - 1 Dundee United subbed 78mins for Sutton 07/11/09 Plymouth 2 - 1 Doncaster subbed 69mins for Noone Last league victory where Gow played 90 minutes 10/03/09 Norwich 2 - 0 Cardiff ------------------------------------------- Aside from his spell at Fir Park he has been a loser (3 wins with us he came on as a sub after the game was won, last minute St.J, Hearts and 79mins up 3-0 vs St.J) for the last 3 years, he hasn't helped any of the clubs he has been with. If you want facts backing up that he is cancer at whatever club he goes to you only need to look at what he has achieved. His behaviour when negotiating with Swindon was called a disgrace.

They probably weren't too worried because they still get compo in the summer from English clubs. If we sign him on a pre-contract we will pay nothing because he turns 23 in March.

Hamilton beat us at home around 4 months ago. We are on a bad run but have played some difficult games. We do need some new players but I look forward to seeing new faces and it will get exciting when we are involved in the run in for the top 6.

At the end we had push 4 players right up the park to try and get an equaliser. It was the last minute and losing 2-0 is the same as losing 1-0. McCall took a risk and it nearly worked when Humphrey should have scored with his header.

All the best to Fitzy. He had to take the contract with the most guaranteed money. He was seldom a regular in the team and has never shown great ability but he is a hard worker and a decent enough tackler. Wish him all the best. I'm not registering until the site is in claret and amber and not purple and gold. I can understand a dodgy top now and then because of manufacturing/colour limitations but the website shouldn't be fucking purple.

The one clear thing that came from last night's game was that John Sutton isn't a lone front man. Obviously anyone would find it tough to win headers against Kenneth but even if Sutty had won them they would probably just went back to United. We need to go back to a 4-4-2 with Murphy and Sutton playing upfront together and Murphy is free to drop off the front in any part of the pitch which will cause defenders problems. Of course this can only happen if we find someone who can play left midfield and Chris Humphrey starts playing properly and not as a sprinter on the right touchline. I would persevere with Pollock on the left, maybe not his ideal position but will enable him a bit more time on the ball than in centre mid. We could go and sign someone but where is the fun in that. Pollock deserves a chance and I don't think there is a better time as we are clear of the bottom but not challenging for Europe.

Offering those kind of odds on a Hearts game, the bookies deserve to have the pish ripped out them. There are guys who make a living from gambling, those that try and those that are addicts. It is hardly surprising there was lots of interest from all over in a televised game with virtually nothing else on. Irregular betting can happen when you put up an irregular price. I would have had a score on a red card if I knew I could have got 10-1 (especially if it was after Jenno was booked) The reaction of Jennings both on the park and in the dressing room clearly shows he was gutted and angry, he didn't look like a man content with the outcome. He had a bad game last night but I don't think he is involved in a betting ring unless you can get odds on how many backwards passes you can misplace.

For those condemning JB for not handing out contracts, it worked pretty well when Jim Gannon went off the rails. Paid up for a month and no compo. At CB's age he could keel over at any moment, no point giving him a contract when it was unlikely he would leave.

I never understand this signing ambitions point. All success is relative, if the only way you can win is by spending more money than your competition then you need to go to Real Madrid not Motherwell. We have a budget that is about average for the league (and for my money the best value squad with not much money going to wasters). If you do better than average, get in the top 6, that is success. We are only two games from a cup final win too. If you are a "big name" like Steve Clarke come to Motherwell and show people you can manage and that you can spot a player. I would happily take a big compo payment from a championship side in two years.

Hopefully Alan Gow rejects his contract and pisses off to Aberdeen with Brown. He is the football equivalent of a speed bump. Obviously we need to keep Blackman for as long as we can. Fitzpatrick should get another 6 months. Everyone knows he isn't the best player but we need cover in midfield. We are unlikely to find anyone better than Lasley and Jennings so we might as well stick with what we have until the summer. No point losing a player who we can easily keep and speculating that someone else on similar money might be better. I felt the same way when we let Darren Smith go, he isn't a superstar but we are short of wide midfielders.

Aye and I also remember he worked it into getting a new contract and a raise. Hopefully the same thing is going on here, a media boost for some BBC bum chums.