underboyleheating

I thought it was all a dream, a Motherwell team has actually beaten Rangers. #StateofShock

I wish Gordon all the best, he has been a great servant to Motherwell Football Club over the years.

I can’t see anything other than a defeat, however we should be aiming to do an Inverness and come back with at least a point.

Delboy is your man to answer this. He occasionally brings clients to games and I am sure that he gets complimentary tickets for him and his client. Just phone the ticket office and explain what you are doing.

We don't win that many things, and we certainly can't afford to leave a league title win out.

Another opportunity to keep the pressure on Inverness and Celtic. Hopefully we can keep the momentum going and maybe score more than the one or two that we have been getting. I am going for 3-1 to the Well.

Out with a Celtic / Sevco clash they will always choose an Edinburgh derby. TV companies are blinkered when it comes to sport and will always select the perceived safe bet. There is also a good chance that the Hibs / Hearts game will still be a sell out despite it being on the telly. Other games may suffer attendance wise if they were on free to view council TV.

True, however with the good teams that we have had since 1950 it does seem remarkable that we have not won it again since. Although we were runners up in 1954-55 (v Hearts) and 2004-05 (v Rangers). East Fife have won the competition 3 times since it began in 1946 (although these triumphs came in the 40s/50s). Even the team we eliminated the other night won it as recent as 2003-04. In saying that the competition has only been won by 14 different teams in it’s history, and we have to be thankful that we are at least on that list. Lets see if this is the year that we can make it 2.

The final was played on 28 October 1950 Motherwell FC Honours

We last won it in 1950 when we beat Hibernian 3-0 in the final (even I wasn't alive then). Hopefully this year could be the year that we put an end to that sorry saga. Early days, however as the saying goes, we won't get a better opportunity. Anyone got any video footage of the 1950 final?

We need to beat them at some point, it might as well be now.

Sadly that is true. With Celtic currently trailing 1-0 against Morton, I have to mention the old cliche that we will never get a better chance to win a domestic trophy.

Bob has nothing to fear, Lawless will be dropped or punted, and McHugh will take up the mantle as Thistle's first choice striker. As for Ross Forbes, he will be given the job of polishing Bob's boots.

This is the sort of game that has Bob McHugh's name stamped all over it. It would give the boy some much needed first team football, and show any Partick Thistle scouts what to expect when they sign him next season.

All pro clubs will work well in advance, and will be choosing from any future planned or current templates almost a year ahead. Our kit is also different from the norm, as we add a claret band/hoop to any standard template.

It’s a grey area(if you pardon the pun) with most clubs who wear hoops or stripes opting to leave the back of the shirt blank. If the stripes or hoops are dark enough UEFA will allow white or a similar contrasting number colour. It’s all about perceived number legibility, and Motherwell choose to air on the safe side for fear of the shirt being rejected. Celtic also go down this route and opt to leave their traditional hooped shirt blank on the back in Euro matches. There is nothing to stop us submitting a full claret hooped shirt with a white number for UEFA's approval, however there is always the chance that they will reject it. I personally don’t see a problem with our shirts, however I am not the one who approves them.

From what I saw on the BT coverage, Anier, Angol and Lasley all put in a good shift today. As I wasn’t at the game it’s a null vote for me, however I would have voted for Angol.

Good to see that the new signings have hit the ground running, I predicted a 2-2 draw hoping that with Inverness dropping points it might have spurred us on to a narrow victory. However given how the game panned out in the second half, a draw was a fair result.

Hopefully the people making the trip to Dundee can clarify this piped crowd mystery. It’s probably just a myth, however it would be funny if there was some truth in it.

Here's hoping today is the day that it all comes good.

An opportunity to close the gap on Inverness after their slip up against Aberdeen. I predicted a draw in our game, however I am now hoping we can now use this slip to spur us on to a victory.

A design that I found on an old back up drive (apologies if I have posted this before). This was a homage to Admiral, who arguably provided us with the kit used in Motherwell's greatest modern day achievement, our 1991 Scottish Cup win. The polo style shirt was popular in the 90s, and has slowly started to creep back into some recent shirt designs. These style of collars are not to everyones taste, however I still like to see a button collared shirt now and again. The hoop design is different to what we have had before, and reminds me a little of how Nike adapted the hoops on the recent Celtic top. I have used the black socks that were part of our kit during the early to mid 50s.

You would need a broken hoop to satisfy UEFA guidelines. The gap would need to be consistent on each shirt and allow enough space to fit two numbers. All kits need to be past by UEFA (usually by sending them a sample) before the competition starts. These guidelines don't apply to normal league/cup games. When playing in europe Parma, Derby or Stuttgart would need to alter their tops to fit UEFA guidelines. Like you Fatcalf, I think for the most part the rules are flawed. I can see nothing wrong with the clarity of the white numbers printed over a single hoop. The illustration below shows what is and what isn't allowed in UEFA competitions. The inset picture is our 125 classic 60s style anniversary kit (this wouldn't be acceptable) and my illustration shows what would be accepted by UEFA. To save any hassle we now generally just print a claret band on the front of our shirts.

I read somewhere that it takes about a year to design and manufacture a kit from scratch. It seems a long time, however the big companies will be working on lots of projects during this period. Sadly the hoop wouldn't be permitted in European competitions, although UEFA seem to be a bit more lapse with the stripes/hoop rule in the early qualifying rounds. When it comes to the tournament proper they tend to uphold it, forcing teams like Celtic to produce a bespoke kit just for Euro games. We are a victim of our own success, and until we stop qualifying for Europe the proper unbroken hoop will need to remain off our kit.

Maybe the Kilmarnock fans who occasionally post on here will enlighten us. As an outsider, there does appear to be delivery issues with their kit judging by how late they unveil it each year. However this might just be a problem at Kilmarnock's end and not with the company who manufacture it.