Gazs66

according to the BBC Hibs close to Bigirimana deal Scott Mullen BBC Scotland Motherwell midfielder Gael Bigirimana could be on his way to managerless Hibernian. Bigirimana, who spent a short spell on loan at Rangers without playing a game, has found regular game time hard to come by at Fir Park, particularly since the emergence of David Turnbull. With his deal up in the summer, it is believed Hibs are close to completing a deal for his services.

In my 41 years of going to Fir Park, as far as Im concerned, its been a damn decent season. Ok, no silverware, and the December performance impacted our chances of a top 6 place, but to have 2 cup finals, winning 11 of the 13 cup games, scoring 29 goals and conceding just 9 has been superb. And we did beat the likes of Rangers, Hearts and Aberdeen (twice) to get there. Of those 4 games, scored 10 and let in 1. Thats good cup form. In terms of the Scottish Cup final squad that started, only 4 were here or regulars last year. 7 were new to the club and Main and Aldred only joined in January, whereas Celtic had 10 of their 11 from last year. As for the playing budget, we have the 2nd lowest in the Premiership, Celtic are 15 times ours. Remember they got pumped 12-1 from PSG with their superior budget. So the positives, we have the lowest squad age in the league. We had our record 20 clean sheets. We played more domestic games than any other in the Premiership. Attendances are up 29% from last year (saw that figure on twitter). Players play for each other and fight till the end. We gave several u20 players their first team debuts. We have one of the fittest squads. We have a manager who talks the team up and is not afraid to make changes and drop players. We have an excellent team with regards to Social Media, such as the Hartley video, Time for New Heroes etc. The Up The 'Well re-release from The Banter Thiefs gained coverage on local and national papers, TV, Radio, Twitter, Facebook and youTube and helped promoted Motherwell. A CEO who engages with the fan base. The money gained from the cup runs, hospitality, merchandise etc all help with lowering debts, improving the facilities at FP and hopefully some will go towards the playing budget. Disappointing as it was not to win a cup, Ive been proud to be a 'Well fan this season and enjoyed the highs we have had. For next season, top 6 and fingers crossed, a cup win.

Came across a clip on you tube from the away stand. McGregor comes on, watches Rose then plants his foot and turns His body round to ensure Rose runs into him. Watch this clip in slow motion from 3 mins 10 s.

Totally deflated. I know people will say Celtic had more possession, more chances etc, but its putting the ball in the net the counts. They scored 1 goal and it takes them to have 2 non penalties to beat/draw with oor wee team. With their budget they should be beating us 3-0 or more every game. Weve played to our strengths by being stuffy and difficult to break down, and getting men behind the ball,so it they beat us with a 40 yard screamer or a wee tap in, then know what, I can live with that. To be helped massively by incompetent officials that basically "gave" them 2 goals then that is hard to take. Tonight I counted at least 3 glaringly obvious offside decisions that the lino didnt give in the first 20 mins. Why did Armstrong not get a yellow for taking Cadden out when he was breaking on a run. As others have said, what does Brown need to do to get a card. He even had a go at Collum and pointed in his face but nowt was done. Weve had a few red cards rescinded, had "goals" not give as they couldnt tell if the ball was over the line, but can say 100% that Carson touched the ball 2 cm outside of the box in Perth. Its getting to the point of why do we waste our money to go and see a game for it to be made null and void due to incompetence. No wonder less people are going to games. Still totally deflated. :-(

In relation to the Bowman incident. If you watch it, no Sevco player looks for a free kick or makes any fuss over it, the fans also arent up in arms over it. In fact they play on for a futher 33 seconds before the ball goes out of play and Cardoso is sent for treatment. I'm sure if the players thought it was intentional they would have made a move for Bowman or surrounded the ref when it happenned. What about Jigs elbow on Cummins in the Scottish Cup game at Ibrox in 2012 which we lost 2-0? Zaliukas put an elbow on Person in the playoff game at Fir Park. (To Be Fair, we walloped McCulloch with a flag pole :-) ) Rob Kieran and his lunge at Stevie Hammell last season. Sour grapes cos they lost the game their manager said was a win or win and looking for a scrapegoat rather than blame their own failings. Anyway, an elbow in the face was Pyscho's on Peter Grant. Now that was a red card and a half :-)

Faddy got a 2 game ban as well when he did the GIRFUY when he played for St Johnstone. It was against accies so that gesture was fine in my book :-) http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/30716038

My tuppence worth, Thomson doesnt like us very much. I recall this match in 2008 http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/scot_prem/7257973.stm when he refused to stop play for a head knock to Clarkson and Hearts went up the park and scored. Yesterday, Moult skipped past two challenges and was heading clear when he pulled it back with a free kick. MacLeans reaction and hand in the air waving a pretend card at Carson's hand ball. Was Thomson influenced by that? Watching the highlights at normal speed, you would need to have kawkeye reactions to say with 100% certainty Carson handled outside the box. In Slowmo it looks like ball was on the line when he touched it. As for Dunne's card, to me the player took a dive. Looks like his brain took a while to make a decision as to shoot or fall down for a penalty. As for McHugh, silly to go for a tackle like that these days as the establishment dont like manly 1970's style tackles anymore. However, I recall Cummins tackle in the Levante Champions league game. Very hard but fair. How times have changed. Found an interesting article. http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/scottish_fa_news.cfm?page=3257&newsCategoryID=2&newsID=11513 This link talks about goal line technology, however, the SFA head of referre operations has been quoted in the article as saying "The main coaching for match officials is you must be 100% sure of the decision you are going to give. If a referee or assistant referee is less than 100% sure, then he should not make that decision.” Theres no way the ref or his assistants could be 100% certain in Carson or Dunne's cards. Anyway, well beat Ross County, Hearts and Killie in the next 3 home games :-)

I despair. Charlie Richmond in the Rancid recently, said the red cards we got were def red cards. Fair enough, thats his opinion. He now talks about the weekends talking point and on the RC V AFC says Madden got that one correct and it wasnt a red card, yellow card or even a foul. He does point out that the keeper got a touch and that was the key issue. McDonald got the ball, Clay got the ball....... Consistency of the rules. Aye right. Quote "Perhaps the other big talking point of the weekend came in Dingwall when Aberdeen keeper Joe Lewis could have seen red for his tackle on Michael Gardyne. The Dons goalkeeper got a touch on the ball before clattering the County player and that really is the key issue. However slight, it was a touch. I’m sure that is what went through Bobby Madden’s mind. There are other factors to consider such as reckless play but Bobby got that one correct." http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/its-willie-collum-not-you-9806521

https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/sport/football/548670/motherwell-legend-colin-oneill-reckons-hed-be-in-prison-if-he-was-playing-under-current-referees/ Saw this today. Made me chuckle about his elbow slipping. Football is too soft these days :-)

Announcer today said it would be Monday when the last 5 fixtures are announced.

For anybody who hasn't seen it, STV Highlights which show McDonalds elbow, at 59 seconds http://stv.tv/sport/football/1346246-watch-motherwell-come-from-behind-to-defeat-dundee-united/

Like a few others, Wark and Pettigrew were idols when I started watching the 'Well in the 1970's. Came across this wee interview on youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wi_P2_AG9g Rip Joe.

Marvin being mentioned with a move http://hereisthecity.com/en-gb/2015/06/09/celtic-rangers-and-leeds-eye-motherwells-johnson/

Mansfield Town have signed up Nathan Thomas http://www.itv.com/news/calendar/update/2015-06-02/stags-snap-up-motherwell-winger-on-a-free/

First time I've been back to Ibrox/Sports Direct arena since the 80's and it was fucking brilliant

So, let's blame Long for everything. Yesterday he pulled off a few good saves, did well to narrow the angle for Gows 1 on 1 and made it virtually impossible for him to get his shot on target. At their equaliser yes he was partly to blame but I felt it was the keepers ball when O'Brien tried to overhead kick it out. So let's blame O'Brien as well. Nobody had many great words for Hollis or neilson but we finished 2nd last year. Long us young, just getting 1st team experience so of course he's going to make errors of judgement. All players made mistakes yesterday., their passing, decision making, positioning etc so let's not just blame long.

Where ever we end up, Premiership or Championship, I will still be at Fir Park. I've followed the 'Well for some 38 years, seen us relegated twice before, but that's football for you. We can't be top 2 or 3 for ever, every now and then were going to have a shit season. And that shit season is now. 2 massive games ahead and who knows, maybe, just maybe................................... Ever the optimist :-)

According to Fifa, Dropped ball Any player may challenge for the ball (including the goalkeeper). There is no minimum or maximum number of players required to contest a dropped ball. The referee cannot decide who may or may not contest a dropped ball. http://www.fifa.com/...ben_neutral.pdf So that clears it up then :-)

Skippy is available. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30966730 Scott McDonald: Striker leaves Millwall as contract is cancelled Millwall striker Scott McDonald has had his contract cancelled by the club to enable him to find a new team. The 31-year-old Australian moved to The Den on a free transfer in July 2013 after cancelling his contract at Middlesbrough by mutual consent. The former Celtic forward scored six goals in 60 games for the Lions, netting for the final time in the 3-3 FA Cup draw with Bradford on 3 January. McDonald's contract at Millwall was due to expire this summer.

We were awful today, poor touches, 2nd to every ball, poor service up front, lack of direction.... but... History repeating itself? Last season, we won the first game 1-0 and lost the next 2, with the 3rd game a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Inverness. Inverness were also sitting top of the league as well. And how did that end up on 11th May this year?

First time I have followed Motherwell abroad and went on the charter with my 2 sons and result aside, it was a well organised trip. Maybe not worth the £595 as you could have booked it for less yourself if you could have booked it in advance (if you wanted to fly from Glasgow), but got picked up from Fir Park, bused to the hotel, stayed in a top quality hotel as it turned out to be and was right in the centre of Reykjavick. On match day bused to the ground and then the full return journey back to FP. So no worrying about finding transport once you got there, getting a match ticket etc. We had a great time over there, going round the city and seeing somewhere different and having a few beers !! :-) The Well fans were in great voice throughout and there was nobody really checking tickets so I would imagine that a few of the fans who couldn't get tickets managed to get into the stadium. Atmosphere was great until towards the end when it became a little subdued and some of the fans started to get on the players backs. The fans rallied in extra time but to no avail. Would I go with the charter again. Absolutely, unless it was somewhere I could get to cheaply from a local airport. Bugger flying from Manchester to Berlin and back via Berlin to Luton to save a few quid. What good would that achieve? I understand why people might want to have a go for under achieving/wrong tactics/poor decision making etc but I'm sure the players and McCall will be disappointed as well. As it happens, at the airport on the way home, Hammell, McManus and a few others were taking the time to talk to supporters as we waited to board our flight. Most of the guys on the charter wouldnt lower themselves and come anywhere near this forum,they probably never have and they never will, this place is just for the saddos and assholes (myself included) who think they know it all ....aye f..k all.

What a way to spend my first trip to Pittodrie. Motherwell support were awesome and when Reid scored it went mental. Great to see the players joining in the songs at the end of the game and then the Well fans sing along for 30 mins after the game ended.

Poor result today but still 15 points left to play for, so move on and concentrate on them. We definitely miss McFadden on the field so hopefully the 2 week break will help him and a few of the others get over their knocks and recharge ready for the push to at least 3rd place. Passing wasn't great, picking out the man was more of a kick the ball and hope there is somebody there, but at the end of the day St Mirren were the more hungry team. However, I would much rather be in Motherwell's league position than St Mirren's. Need to wait and see the penalty incident on TV to see if Brines did cock up, but he should have sent Goodwin off. If that was Hutchy he would have been booked and taking an early bath. As someone who has followed the Well for nearly 40 years, some of the treatment handed out to the young well lads was ridiculous. Most of them just want to sing and have a good time, yet one PC Plod in particular was adamant that they had to sit in their own seats and not together. I don't think many people sat in their allocated seats anyway and also, I didnt realise until I got into the stadium that both myself and my son had been given tickets with seat numbers about 8 seats away from each other, so they canny even give us 2 seats together, how difficult can that be to do?. Then there was about 20 or so fluorescent glow worms all lined up in front of the well bois, when there was probably half that number visible round the rest of the stadium in the home sections. Intimidation at its best. Heavy Hands, Empty Stands right enough.

De Gea wasnt exactly brilliant at saving in the Man U Sunderland cup game last week and of Saturdays SPFL games, both McDonald (Hearts) at Ross C's goal and Williams (Hibs) at Celtics 3rd goal didnt exactly cover themselves in glory either. Even a keeper we all rate highly, Ruddy, let in 6 goals V Hibs. So Nielsen has made a few mistakes but also made a few good saves. What about the rest of the team who made mistakes at the weekend. From stray passes from McManus and Hammell, Carswell getting robbed of the ball, Lawson getting caught in possession, nobody tracking Rooney at the goal etc. We all see them week in week out. Just so happens that when a keeper makes a mistake its unfortunately right in front of goal and if we lose a goal its all his fault. Nielsen may not be a world class keeper, but he's our keeper, he in our goals and he's wearing the Claret and Amber. So let get behind him, give him encouragement and maybe help boost his confidence.

Ok, its been a shit week as a 'Well fan, but here's a little reading of happier times. Oh to witness a result like that would be awesome, however, doubt we'll ever see anything close to that in the near future ........................................or even in the distant future