Ya Bezzer!

Great guy, great captain. Remember way back we played Rangers at Fir Park with a very young central defensive pairing of Greig Denham and a certain Stephen Craigan. Expected a drubbing but it finished 0-0 thanks in no small part to an excellent performance from the young Craigan. Little did we know though quite what an impression he would make over the following decades!

It would also effect their advertising rates if x number of people are no longer watching the network, so I think your figures there would actually be on the conservative side.

Two points. 1) I think Motherwell have the highest average attendance of any provincial club in the SPL so at least relatively we are doing OK attendance wise. 2) When I first started going to Motherwell matches back in the 1980's there were roughly the same number of people going to matches as there is now - round a bout the 4,000 mark. Attendances increased during the boom years of the mid to late 90's but those figures were something of an anomaly. At the peak we had average crowds of just under 7,000 but it was a peak, not something that we sustained over a decade. Most of the time we have had far fewer coming along, in fact roughly the same as our average figure now of about 5,500.

For me we can live without the money Rangers generate themselves. The problem is the TV money. So why then have I not heard anyone talk about letting the TV companies now how angry they are? Unless you can pressure the TV companies not to pull out of Scottish football or offer reduced terms if there is no Rangers in the top flight then the protests will be a waste of time. If every fan out side of Rangers said "If we demote Rangers and you pull out of the TV deal, we will cancel out Sky subscription" then maybe something positive might happen that would allow the club chairmen more room to maneuver. As it stands now, they have no real choice. Chairmen aren't going to let Rangers back in because they want to do Rangers a favour, it's because they need the TV money. That is the crucial element here.

I think the point is that long term they are trying to become profitable or at least not produce much debt season on season. In that regard we are in the same boat. Also Dundee Utd, like ourselves, have a very small squad and are reducing it further. If other teams are cutting playing squads to perhaps 18 first team pros and jettisoning all high earners then it's inevitable we will have to do the same in the long run. I think over the next couple of seasons we are going to see squads really cut to the bone with no teams excepted.

Shaun Hutchinson is definitely on the football worlds radar now. He's been getting quite a bit of attention lately from people in the game. Wouldn't surprise me if his Motherwell career ends on the last day of the season, unfortunately.

There is nothing wrong with a pitch invasion if its good natured and fun but as has been pointed out there have been several incidents that, if not quite major ones, certainly had potential to get out of hand. I also think in the past there were people turning up only because they knew there was going to be a pitch invasion and who then took advantage of that situation to act like total fannies towards away fans and players. So although I don't think its a problem if its simply a celebration I don't think you can blame the club or supporters who oppose it from trying to stop it. Why allow a potential situation to happen in the first place? If people want to congratulate the players or get on the pitch there are other ways of doing that which are more controlled and where the clubs reputation isn't at the mercy of a few fannies. I'm afraid the old days were the old days and things that were acceptable then aren't now. The club just can't afford to take the risk.

Hearts got to the Scottish Cup final, which if you believe Stuart McCall, is worth a lot more than European qualification and they are letting experienced first team players go like you wouldn't believe. There is also going to be something of a mass exodus at Dundee Utd in the summer. Those two teams are probably our closest challengers at the moment and they are significantly downsizing.

I don't know what Hammell earns or what level Motherwell want to re-negotiate at but I think it would be a great shame if we lost a player like that over a few hundred quid a week. Having said that I'm fully aware that its only getting tougher to run a club like Motherwell on the limited income that we have and probably having a further reduced budget over the period of a future contract. However I think we have to be very careful about negotiating new contracts. We need a good core to the team if we are going to be success in league and cup competitions. If we miss out on Europe or higher league placings and later stages of the domestic cups, we are losing out on substantial sums of money. If we are playing and performing well we will also attract good press and get scouts coming along to watch the team increasing the chance of transfer income. It's a difficult balancing act but perhaps it would be wise to cap wages at current levels but not cut the wages of our more important players. If it came down to it i'd rather have a good core of players earning more and younger players making up the rest of the squad than paying out for more experienced journeyman squad players.

If I went by MotM votes I've given more to Stevie Hammell this season (4 votes) than any one else. I think Randolph, Hutchinson, Hammell, Lasley and Jennings have all been stalwarts. Very difficult to make a decision. Maybe for sheer consistency Randolph and Hammell get the nod but an on form Lasley is a huge player for us but perhaps he wasn't quite as good in the second half of the season. I think I'm right in saying we kept a record number of clean sheets this season so for that reason I might go for Darren Randolph.

Good team with no real complaints. I'm sure there were a few Motherwell players that weren't far away.

Good to know he's playing well after his injury.

He's done reasonably well but I'm still not entirely convinced by him. He makes too many 'liitle' mistakes for me and that perhaps shows he's not really a natural centre back. Whereas you have total confidence in Hutchinson as a defender (although he makes mistakes as well) I just don't have that confidence in Clancy. There's always a little niggling doubt about him. He's probably fine up to a certain level of opposition and that would include most of the SPL so I'd be fine with him getting another contract but I think we'd be in trouble if he didn't have some one of quality next to him. We have a limited budget and the key to success is finding a good blend of ordinary journey man players and players with a bit more about them, Clancy is probably the former rather than the latter.

I heard that big Crags is hanging up the boots at the end of the season. Seems like the kinda guy that would play as long as he can but maybe his recent injury is more of a problem than was first thought. It was someone 'in the game' that I heard it from but that isn't necessarily a guarantee of accuracy...

We should use the anniversary strip for European competition.

If the SPL doesn't take Rangers back in then you can be sure the Scottish League will. Rangers would be back in the SPL in 3 or 4 seasons. The idea that Rangers are just going to disappear is wishful thinking at best. Better to have them burdened by penalties and finances and struggling in the SPL than having them storm up the leagues a la Gretna with wind in their sails while probably making a fortune from vastly reduced overheads and big crowds. From what I understand there are some people at Rangers themselves who would rather go down to Division 3 because they know in the long run it's beneficial for them.

To me it's much more important to have the voting structure changed than anything else. If the voting structure is changed the possibility of making major changes in the future won't depend on extraordinary circumstances cropping up and the OF monopoly will be effectively broken. Obviously Rangers should be punished as severely as possible but if you are being realistic about it there is going to have to be some kind of compromise position found. I don't think anyone knows what that would involve at this stage when things are still so fluid but eventually it will come down to the strength of the various parties. Rangers may be weakened, even severely weakened, but they still carry a lot of clout. Put it simply Rangers are not going to go away and that's why we have to play a long game here. The greatest single impediment to the other SPL clubs is the SPL voting structure. Even if Rangers were expelled from the SPL you could be fairly certain another club would soon fill Rangers seat and the chances of getting anything passed with an 11-1 majority would be virtually impossible. Our single focus here should be to ensure increased democracy within the SPL power structure. If that is done we will be living in a whole new world of possibilities.

They only have to gain 2 points over the next 2 matches and then beat us in the final game if we don't pick up any points. Even if we drew at Hearts and Dundee Utd beat Rangers, we lose at Ibrox and they against Celtic, Dundee Utd could still pip us on the final day. Basically it's unlikely Dundee Utd will make up 5 points before the last match but its not unlikely that they can still take it to the last day and clinch it with a victory over us. Remember that Dundee United have a far superior goal difference and although its unlikely now that will come into play because of the combination of results you'd need to finish on equal points its still possible Dundee Utd ould take this on goal difference. We have an advantage but I still think the crucial factor here is Dundee Utd are much more likely to take points off the old firm and if get 2 points against Rangers and Celtic (in whatever combination of results) and we don't beat Hearts the likelyhood is it's going to the last match.

Big match - the points difference after the two matches could range between 8 points (We're There!) to 2 points (Shit!). Hopefully we can get a rare win at Tynecastle but I have to say I have fears about Rangers. They look absolutely gubbed again after the wee revival they got from beating us. Wouldn't not surprise me in the slightest if Dundee Utd got points at Ibrox for the second time this season but obviously I hope that's not the case. Also who the hell would change our team now when we just got back on track! Same 11 again please and for the rest of the season.

Huge game that could confirm third place with the right combination of results. As I've said before I'd like us to tie it up as soon as possible to remove the possibility of Dundee Utd knicking it on the last day. Hearts have the best home record outside the OF but they have also lost at home to all the other Top 6 sides this season so that should give us a glimmer of hope. I think we should approach this games almost as if it was a Final. It's a one off, let's try and win. If we can beat Hearts and Dundee Utd fail to beat Rangers then its done and dusted. If we draw and Dundee Utd fail to beat Rangers it makes it difficult for Utd. However Utd do have a good record against Rangers lately and I don't think its impossible that they could pick up a point or even win which has always been my big worry going into these final matches. Other teams get points against the OF and we don't. Rudi Skacel seems to be in fine form at the moment so he will be their biggest danger to us.

We were 3-1 and 4-1 up when he scored and they were late on, so the game was already won and the goals didn't make a huge difference. They were also both a bit scrappy and I think players don't tend to celebrate those types of goals too much unless they are really important ones. Still you like to see players happy when they score and as has been said he looked a bit moody.

Higdon 15, Murphy 13, Ojamaa 9, Law 6, Lasley 4, Hateley 4, Daley 3, Humphrey 2

Fair enough. But I was making the point that I thought it was an uneven performance which is a perfectly acceptable point. Why didn't you quote the part where I congratulated the manager and team or said Humphrey had probably his best game at Fir Park or where I said all the forwards had stormers? To analyse something with a degree of accuracy you have to look at pluses and negatives and that's what I try to do. I think the point of my post was that today was overall positive it's you that's highlighting the negatives out of context.

Humphrey. Probably one of his best performances in a Well shirt

I'd still rather be in the position were we don't have to beat Dundee Utd on the last day because I don't think my heart is up to that sort of stress! Oh for a result in midweek!