Ya Bezzer!

I'm not really sure I agree with this. I'm not privy to what players get paid at Motherwell but I've long suspected established Motherwell players get paid quite well as far as provincial professionals go. I suspect tying up a half a dozen youngster wouldn't be much more expensive than securing, say, Paul Lawson on a 2 year deal. If we pay him a £1,000 a month plus bonuses, which I think is a conservative estimate, surely we could sign up our four best 18 year olds for the same cash? Personally I think we should be signing up the best players from every youth team season and giving them a chance at pro level. We need a sort of 'youth production' mentality with the set up geared in that way rather than randomly plucking the odd one out here and there when it's convenient for the manager. Youth team player development should be part of the first team managers remit. I remember about 3 or 4 years ago we had a very good U20's team that did very well and at the end of the season, virtually the entire team was released. That was a colossal waste of money, talent and potential and it remains so.

What I want to know is how are we covering our losses and what plans are there to do so in the future? As I understand it the £600,000 loss was mostly covered by the previous seasons profit that was banked but we lost £200,000 in the last set of figures and we are likely to post losses for last season and this season as well. The losses are surely accumulating and that concerns me a great deal. It doesn't really matter who is running the club the books need to be balanced. We can't keep on posting six figure losses, season after season. We've been told to expect another loss from last term. It will be interesting to see what it is and how much the bonus situation was to blame the previous season. We have the Anier transfer money, but this season when it is printed up into financial figures probably won't make for good reading either. We have a home match against Celtic coming up but right now our attendance figures are down 1,000 per match on last season. The League Cup was a wash out and it doesn't look like we will get a Top 6 finish and it could be a lot worse than just that. It's good to know we aren't in immediate financial danger but I still think things look quite concerning in the short to medium future.

Surely if we were due a certain amount in bonus money and were legally obliged to pay out a certain amount in bonus money we should have ensured that we at least didn't loss any money in the eventual deal. This was a substantial amount, not just money we could wave away.

A feeder club? For who? We've not produced a English Premiership level player since James McFadden. Do middle to bottom level Championship clubs have the money to put into a feeder club? Even if they did why would they loan players to us for free when they can make money off them loaning to other clubs? I think if this was viable it would have happened long ago.

Sounds like a job for 4 times picked Ainsworth and 0 times picked Thomas then.

We are looking at another administration or any owner we can find at the moment. All this goes back to 2011/12 season were we went from making £500,000 or thereabouts to losing £600,000 the next season. That's over a million pounds difference in a season. Fans often make running a football club sound simpler than it is but that was a financial catastrophe, an inept failure in budgeting. I'd be amazed if we didn't make another loss last season and this season will be worse still. The club needs to be completely restructured in the close season, hopefully outwith an administration scenario but with the information at hand you have to say it looks more likely than not.

Partick went down two seasons in a row and both of them almost went out of business. Dundee were also docked 25 points for going into administration.

This is our best chance to get anything until well into December so we better get something and to be honest I don't even think a point is enough with three hard games coming up. Could be a record low crowd at Fir Park against Dundee Utd if we lose this one.

Well we've not had a left winger for a couple of seasons. Hey, someone had to do it.

Three games left for McCall. If we get nothing out of them then his time is up, we can write off the match against Celtic and get someone in before the Ross County/Partick/St.Mirren run in December.

If we are going to go ultra defensive then play Ainsworth up front! He can at least rattle them from 30 yards.

"Absolutely abysmal" was how he described him!

According to the radio he was, like a lot of the supporters, feeling ill before the match.

Have to agree. Sutton has done a good job for us but it's just not happened this season. Erwin needs a run up front. He's certainly more mobile.

No, cause Accies already have more points than they got that season (14pts).

I'll bet you anything that McCall comes out and says that was a good performance. One nil down after two minutes, fought hard, in the game for the 90 etc, etc.

9th from 10 on 27 pts (34pts under current scoring). 13 points clear of bottom club Hamilton Accies.

We've nearly played 11 matches and all totals are adjusted to 3 points for a win.

Since there was f**k all going on in the match... 2014/15 after 11 matches - 7 pts 2013/14 after 11 matches - 19 pts 2012/13 after 11 matches - 16 pts 2011/12 after 11 matches - 22 pts 2010/11 after 11 matches - 19 pts 2009/10 after 11 matches - 17 pts 2008/09 after 11 matches - 16 pts 2007/08 after 11 matches - 16 pts 2006/07 after 11 matches - 10 pts 2005/06 after 11 matches - 14 pts 2004/05 after 11 matches - 14 pts 2003/04 after 11 matches - 18 pts 2002/03 after 11 matches - 9 pts 2001/02 after 11 matches - 10 pts 2000/01 after 11 matches - 11 pts 1999/00 after 11 matches - 16 pts 1998/99 after 11 matches - 12 pts 1997/98 after 11 matches - 8 pts 1996/97 after 11 matches - 11 pts 1995/96 after 11 matches - 10 pts 1994/95 after 11 matches - 20 pts 1993/94 after 11 matches - 19 pts 1992/93 after 11 matches - 9 pts 1991/92 after 11 matches - 13 pts 1990/91 after 11 matches - 11 pts 1989/90 after 11 matches - 14 pts 1988/89 after 11 matches - 5 pts 1987/88 after 11 matches - 11 pts 1986/87 after 11 matches - 8 pts As it stands this is the second worst start to the season since we were promoted to the Premier League in 1985/86 and the worst start in 26 years.

Aberdeen's away record is mixed but they have been pretty strong at home since Dundee United beat them on the first day of the season, 8 matches, 6 wins, a draw and a narrow defeat to Real Sociedad. If I was a betting man, I'd be putting my cash on the home team for this one.

We had a hell of a lot of draws in that run at a time when a win was still only worth 2 points. We also never got demolished in any game like we have over the last few weeks and the league was still full of very strong Dundee Utd, Aberdeen and Hearts sides, never mind the OF. Comparing then with now doesn't really seem to be comparing like with like but if you must.

We remember all too well. What I don't remember is going to see Motherwell 7 times home and away and seeing 7 pathetic defeats in a row. What I don't remember is Motherwell being completely shite 12 matches out of 13 at the beginning of a season. When you go back to the early days we had been a yo yo team and had to establish ourselves in a good leagues against strong teams while trying to balance the books. Later we had poor seasons like the one after the cup win or under Malpas but we started those seasons OK and had points on the board when it all went pear shaped. When we went into admin we were very poor at times and wildly inconsistant but we had good young players coming through and they sprinkled the season with some incredible results. This season has been unrelenting shite from start to present which is bad enough but its not even about that, it's about the actual future of the club being at stake if we are relegated. McCall will get more time but he needs to start turning it round soon or we simply cannot afford to risk sticking by him. If it comes down to a relegation battle I'd take McLean over McCall every time.

Twardzik has been without doubt our best and most consistant player this season and our goal difference would be off the scale without the saves he has made. For instance Dundee would have been 4-0 up at half time if it wasn't for Twardzik at the weekend. Bringing in a keeper who lacked confidence and was prone to blunders when we were playing better football than we are now doesn't seem the wisest move. However to be honest if we defend like we have been doing over the last couple of matches we could put both of them in goals and it wouldn't make much difference.

At least under McLean we'd be a lot better organized. You could more or less guarantee we would have a professional shape. McLean was also a strong believer of building a team on a defence and our defensive displays, especially in the last month of so have been dreadful. He would surely improve us there. It's funny though that you say McLean wouldn't be in touch/up to date, when McCall plays an out of date form of football every week. Only two teams in the SPL played a 4-4-2 last weekend, Aberdeen and Motherwell. Take a look at the results 0-3 and 1-3 defeats against 4-2-3-1 teams. 4-2-3-1 is virtually standard now across European football but not at Fir Park.

Actually managers got a lot more stick before Steelmen Online. Instead of battering out their frustrations on a keyboard fans shouted it down the managers ear or gathered in front of the main stand to sing "get to fuck" after a match. McCall has had nothing like the abuse Alex McLeish got(and he finished 2nd in a much stronger league) or Billy Davies. The response has actually been quite tepid in the 'real world'. I heard an old yin leaving the stadium on Saturday saying "they're no worth booing". As for McLean, the season after the cup win was an absolute shocker, especially our home results (October to May = 15 home matches, 3 wins, 10 defeats, only 1 home win all season after Jan 1st) and fans were quite right to protest.