joewarkfanclub

Was trying to stay out of this debate, but I cant let this one pass as its just not true. Ive followed Scotland home and away for 40 years and whilst older generations of Celtic fans definitely favoured Ireland over Scotland, that was more to do with the ongoing religious bigotry some of them experienced living in Scotland than being "anti-scottish". The younger generations have no such hang ups as their lived experience is quite different. Football in Scotland has always been divided through politics and religion, it didnt start in 2014. To pretend otherwise is to re-write history. As for Rangers (a very British organisation) doing more for the national side than Celtic? Jock Stein, Billy McNeill, Jimmy Johnstone, Danny McGrain, Kenny Dalglish, Roy Aitken, Paul McStay, Mo Johnston, Frank McAvennie, Scott Brown, Kieran Tierney and more...... What I will also say is that the notion that there arent huge numbers of Rangers fans within the Scotland support is also for the birds. They just arent as visible as they used to be as club colours and identification have been rightly discouraged over the years to prevent discussions like this from occurring. Thankfully, they never occur when Im away following Scotland as no-one really cares what team you support. We are there to support Scotland and thats all that matters.

I dont disagree. But even if he does that, we still have the same issue when Longelo goes off injured. I guess we could put Halliday in there, or bring Balmer on and shift McGinn across. None of those options are ideal though. Not my intention to bash the manager as I think in general he has been fantastic for us. But there are one or two things that havent been quite right.

I think this is a fair point. Not sure Ewan Wilson is ever going to be good enough, but I wouldnt have let him go on loan without a replacement. Its not like he is getting game time at Raith to develop anyway. You could argue that putting SOD, McGinn or Koutroumbis in there doesnt particularly weaken us there compared to Wilson. However, in a situation like Saturday, when you have a player who is just back from injury being asked to stay on and cover, when he is already struggling, you run the risk of that player breaking down again. We want to avoid that kinda shit heading towards a big semi final.

Its the September review. This is October.....

We simply have to win this one. With the semi final only a week away we need a wee lift in the run up to it. Not so worried about the pitch this time as its been totally relaid and seems to be playing much better than the previous incarnation. Livvy play it on the deck now so will have it well watered if required. That said, I wouldnt be risking anyone with any little niggles, so dont expect to see Slattery, unless its a 15 minute cameo from the bench. The home game against United should be fine for getting him some minutes before Hampden.

I think thats exactly the point JBA was making post match. If we slow the ball down and take the sting out of the game we maybe stop them building up a head of steam, and dont leave ourselves so open to the counter attack. Its still early in the process, but we do need to address our rin game management.

There also seems to be quite conflicting opinions over our striking situation. As someone who has defended Stama quite strongly on here, I was certainly disappointed that he didnt start yesterday, especially given his goals in the last couple of games. However, he did go off at Celtic Park with a bit of a knock, so I figured it was just a bit of a precaution ahead of the semi-final not to risk him from the start. It was also a good chance to give Hendry some minutes now that he seems to have addressed his injury/fitness concerns. Given our style of play, we will need both going forward. I thought Hendry did well yesterday in the first half. Lots of energy, put himself about a bit, held the ball up well. Not sure he was absolutely done by HT, but it was certaianly no surprise when he was subbed on the hour mark. I would tend to agree that his movement in the box wasnt as good as Stama's but its early days and that might improve. I thought Stama was again generally fine when he came on. A little bit unlucky with the handball although, as other have said, a little more awareness of the situation might have allowed him to pass it for someone else to knock in, albeit the rule in that regard still hasnt been cleared up. Comparing the 2, I think both are pretty similar players, and I think their work rate and hold up play are potentially more important than their goals, albeit, as strikers, that part cannot be ignored. However, Maswanhise has already scored 8 this season, Longelo has good numbers and we have others chipping in as well, so goalscoring really hasnt been the issue (self inflicted goals and poor defending have). Clearly it would be nice to have a lone striker who was the complete package, and we might be able to get one in January, but until then, Im reasonably happy to give Stama & Hendry the time to improve. Re the defence, in hindsight, I think not playing Gordon yesterday was a mistake when you see what Falkirk had at their disposal, and although McGinn gives you more on the ball, there needs to be some balance in not being too soft at the back. Big decisions for JBA next week.

There seems to be a couple of points of view here that folk are debating, when in fact both have merit and neither are wrong. There is no doubt that our crowds are up because of the entertaining style of football we are playing. Id probably add in the general feel good factor around the club into that as well. Our support is engaged because they feel represented and listened to. We have had plenty managers over the years that have put winning teams on the park and the attendances didnt move. During Alexanders period of success Id suggest the crowds even went down slightly as season ticket holders couldnt motivate themselves to go every week due to how painful it was to watch at times. So the current upturn is no coincidence. That said, there is a pretty big BUT in the equation. The entertainment factor will probably keep folk coming along in the hope that we can strike a better balance and convert our play into points. Where it becomes a problem is if we continue to slip down the table, the players lose confidence in what they are being asked to do, and before you know it performances also drop off. We are not there yet, and the manager isnt stupid. You can tell by his comments and reactions that he is as frustrated as we are. Hopefully he can find the right balance in the weeks ahead. Having a fully fit squad to chose from would be a help.

There was no foul. He clearly gets his body between the Falkirk player and the ball. If anything, HE is the one that is fouled! McLean just shits it when VAR intervenes....

Hard to call this week as most only performed well for 45 minutes. But the shining light first half was Ibrahim Said. He should have had his first goal for the club and it would have been a contender for goal of the season......

The first half today was some of the best football I've ever seen at Fir Park in 50 years of attending. Said, Maswanhise & Longelo were unplayable at times. All abely supported by Watt, Fadinger & Just. I thought Hendry had a very good first half and put himself about. Looked much more like the player we thought we were signing and the 60 minutes today will have done him good. The VAR decision for Said's goal is a shocker. I felt heart sorry for the boy, as the joy he felt in getting his first goal for the club was evident for all to see. That said, we did get into the lead quickly thereafter and should have put the game to bed by half time. The fact we didnt is fast becoming our achilles heal and if we dont rectify it soon, the manager and players could come under real pressure. I really hope that doesnt happen, because some of the football we are playing is magnificent and its the most entertained I have felt at Fir Park in a long time. The second half drop off however, cant continue to happen. A lot of credit has to go to McGlynn for changing things at half time. They pressed us much higher and got some success from it, but we still contributed to our own downfall by failing to remain calm and play our game. Everything got very hectic and rushed, resulting in some very poor decisions. Very disappointed tonight in the result. But not in despair as there is still so much to like about what we do. The next 3 games do really feel like they might be season defining though......

Beat me to it!

Not sure the support are that twitchy just yet. Home form tends to dictate the mood of the support and we haven't lost a game at Fir Park this season. Of course that can change quickly if you lose a couple of, what are considered, more winnable games. But you definitely get more time losing, or not winning attractively than the murderball stuff. Anyway, less of the negative chat. Lets just win this playing sexy Jensball and build towards a historic Cup Win! 😍😍😍

Id bite yer hand off for that right now! Mon the unecessary passes! 🧡❤️🧡

They absolutely aren't faultless. Particularly when some former office holders may have had a vested interest in the Ibrox plan. As usual, the murky world of politics never favours Scotland kindly.....

There WAS supposedly a deal in place to properly upgrade Hampden years ago, but the bulldozers were pulled away from the door by Thatcher in 1979 after an underhand deal was allegedly done to try and promote Ibrox as the new venue for internationals and Cup Finals. Just one of the many reasons she was booed roundly when she presented that years Scottish Cup. The SFA get a hard time over this but they have done what was possible with the money that they had. The FA didnt rebuild Wembley with their own money. Private enterprise did most of the work with significant input from the government and National Lottery. Same deal with the Millenium. If there is any blame to be apportioned at the SFA it would be in not being politically astute enough to play the game.

The defence have had another 2 weeks training with Ward to repair any confidence issues. I expect they will have his back. Its what good team mates do! 🧡❤️🧡

There are very few teams in Scotland that will be able to press us as high as Celtic did and get away with it. Thats pretty much why teams like Aberdeen, St Mirren and Hearts (second half) have backed off a bit. I hope Falkirk do go high. We have the better players, so we will play around them. If they sit off us, it could be a longer afternoon. Fingers crossed we can remain error free this week as we really need to start putting some points on the board! Has all the makings of an entertaining game!

I understand why there is a push for it commercially. But there should always be an option to to pay cash and get a physical ticket. Not just at the fitba either.

Oh I definitely agree with that. There is undoubtedly "social engineering" ongoing to get every facet of our life online and electronically controlled. Some of it is good and can make a lot of things easier. Others, it could be suggested, could be used for more nefarious purposes. Regardless, the way the older generation are being left to "like it or lump it" doesnt sit well.......

Hopefully a few players back after the international break. Even if they dont feature from the start it will be nice to have more cover from the bench. Having Slattery, Just, Sparrow and Hendry able to come on to freshen things up would be a huge boost. With Welsh available again and surely straight back into the side, it also gives us McGinn, SoD, Priestman, Balmer, Halliday as cover. Thats a really strong bench, and where we probably hoped we would be after the window "slammed shut" 😉 Falkirk are likely to play attacking and open so it should be a really entertaining game and might work to our advantage. A high scoring Motherwell win for me.

Leave him be! Thats as close to MJC tipping a Motherwell win as any of us should be comfortable with! No need to respond MJC! I prefer ifs, buts and maybes!

The system IS pretty straight forward. Albeit the instructions are far from clear. I go to Scotland games, so Im fairly comfortable with the Hampden App, which does actually work quite well. Season ticket holders can buy for themselves and as many others as they like. All they need to do is download the Hampden App and link it to the same email your season ticket is linked to. During the week of the game all the tickets will be sent to your app. You can then scan in all your group before entering yourself. If you want to distribute the tickets, get each member of your group to download the Hampden App and link an email. You can then send them the ticket via the app. If you are buying for other season ticket holders, you get the opportunity to provide their details when buying the tickets. If they also have the Hampden App, I presume the ticket will go straight to their app during the week of the game, although Im not 100% on that as Ive never done it before. If not you can still distribute as above. It is a bit of a faff on first use, but once you understand it, it really is pretty simple. I do get why people are getting annoyed though. It is a lot of change to get used to. Also, never had an issue with the QR code at the gate. Unlike the paper copies which preceded the app, which were a nightmare to scan.

Allocated sections were in a previous communication, but they should have highlighted them again. We are basically in the East Stand starting in Section F1 round to G7. We also have sections in the north stand and south stand. Not sure if you can pick your seat or if they will just be allocated randomly.

Ive not argued that it wasnt a f#ck up. I would have preferred he put his laces through it. My argument (I prefer debate) is that its not solely on Ward. We have a manager instructing him to play that way. No surprise that he did as instructed. I also have sympathy with those saying we should give Ox a chance. Perfectly reasonable stance to take. My question is, why hasnt the manager done so? He see's the same things as us. But he also see's Ox in training every day and has decided to stick with Ward. Why?