Ya Bezzer!

I wasn't at the game today so can't really comment on what happened but I can make some general points. It's against the law to stand in a seated area and the clubs are responsible for making sure the law is upheld. Therefore one can hardly complain if asked to sit down or removed for consistently disobeying instructions. However, the stewards and police also have a responsibility to treat people with respect, to behave and react in a way appropriate to the situation and perhaps most important off all, not to artificially create a flash point or dangerous situation themselves by enforcing a 'safety' measure. Unfortunately people become entrenched in a 'cause'. Officials to make sure fans do not stand, no matter what, thereby often causing scenes which are more dangerous than they would otherwise be. And fans who sometimes defiantly go out of their way to disobey the law, wind up stewards and behave rowdily towards those enforcing the law. We need some common sense from all sides on this. However, if a small group of fans stand in the back rows of the stand, thereby not blocking the view of seated supporters, and who are merely supporting the team, then I don't see how ejecting fans can really be justified from a safety perspective.

Pearson was capped while at Motherwell. Brian Martin should have won more caps. At big Buffs peak Dave McPherson was regularly picked for Scotland! Phil O'Donnell only won 1 cap which hardly reflected his ability.

Hammell and Lasley for me. I'm tempted to sway towards Hammell since it was his 400th game but I'll go for Lasley.

But Celtic weren't that good. As I said I think Celtic probably deserved the narrow win today but they are not some footballing juggernaut. If we hadn't conceded so soon after we took the lead, a goal that came from a simple error, it's quite easy to speculate we would have won, or at least not lost. If Celtic gave that level of performance for the rest of the season they would lose 5 or 6 more matches. They are not that good.

I've not seen the TV replays but it looked to me that Celtic had a stonewall penalty turned down so we can't grumble much about the referee.

Also, Stokes, complete fucking wanker.

At least we can hold our heads up high after that defeat until some of the recent ones. Can't fault the team for effort but we created very little in the second half especially and if you are being honest about it Celtic probably deserved a narrow win. However, if we show the teamwork and effort we did today we won't lose very many over the season.

Of course Randolph is better than a lot of goalkeepers than have gone for more money but that's not how transfers work. The buying club isn't a charity, it's trying to get the player for the least amount it can and they know small clubs desperately need money. Better to think of transfer fees as a percentage of the clubs turn over. Randolph was at Albion Rovers no one would pay more than £50,000 for him. We can get more than that and if Randolph was a Liverpool player he'd be going for about £4 million. Obviously we should try and get as much money for him as we can possibly negotiate but if he goes for £600K having got him for nothing and had two great seasons out of him, you can't really mumble too much. As for Leeds Utd, Randolph made probably the biggest clanger in his Motherwell career against them so I'm a bit surprised if that's true!

Always thought Las had a bit of Derek Smalls about him.

I'd probably pick McKinnon over Hammell myself but McKinnon, off the top of my head, had four seasons at Fir Park, Hammell been here a lot longer so it depends on how you weigh these things.

Funnily enough the first time I really remember Hammell was against Celtic. He came in as a 17 year old to replace McMillan who was out for some reason and he was absolutely brilliant. McMillan was one of our best players at that time but he struggled to get back into the team at left back and I remember 'Studs' having to move to left centre back. It's a great achievement to get to 400 matches and arguably he's been the best left back we've had for 20 or 30 years.

Celtic have won 2 out of their last 7 away matches, one of which was against Ross County, the other against a poor Hibs side who took the lead against them and then collapsed. They haven't won away from home in the league for 4 matches, dropping points at Kilmarnock, Hearts and Rangers. Having just gone into the second quarter Celtic have dropped points to 5 out of the 11 SPL sides (St. Johnstone, Rangers, Hearts, Kilmarnock and Hibs). They have conceded 10 goals in their last 6 SPL matches. I don't expect us to win at the weekend but I expect us to try and win. This Celtic team is not a great one and there is absolutely no reason why we can't get something out of this match. Literally half the teams in the league have already taken at least a point off Celtic, we should be aiming to do the same.

I rarely watch Sportscene and generally just watch the highlights on the web. BBC Scotland seems to me to be very cliquey. It seems as if once you are in its a job for life and we get the same people over and over again. It seems very stagnant with no innovation. Problems are - limited highlights package restricting what can be shown - dull show format, show frontman stating obvious to inarticulate footballer/football manager - limited show budget - only 6 games to choose from (against 10 in the Premiership, more likely to get good games with goals, incidents etc. that they can front load the show with) I think they have chosen to go deliberately conservative after the Scotsport debacle and it is also probably an older audience that tunes into TV these days but I think the programme really needs to be freshened up and enlivened with younger presenters (Annie Maguire?), and a more interesting format. Currently it is like a relic from the 1960s. I know they don't currently have the rights but I wouldn't even mind if the BBC cast their net further than the SPL and broadcast a programme covering the First division or all the leagues rather than concentrating solely on the SPL.

Wasn't really a Hughes fan. Obviously he has great ability but he didn't use it enough the first time he was here and I say he's a 1 in 4 kinda player. Not quite as bad as Gow in that regard but in a similar mold. I'm not going to complain if we sign him cos we need a bigger squad but I have a skeptical eyebrow raised as regards him. He'd have to improve his consistency to win me over and it remains to be seen if he is the kind of player that would fit into a side that's done quite well without him. Obviously he adds something we don't have at the moment but what would we lose dropping someone for Hughes?

Dundee United didn't form until 1909 so some teams would have 20 seasons worth of points before they got going. Also they were Dundee's pishy wee team until the mid 70's.

We'll never have a better chance of beating Celtic. They have lost two and drawn one of their last 3 away matches and one of them was the only time they've score more than 2 goals away (Killie 3-3) all season. Celtic are the ones under pressure, not us. If we win on Sunday, their support is going to be in uproar, I'd fully expect their manager to resign and the club is in turmoil. So instead of playing it down, and being calm and not expecting much out of this what about having the guys coming up the tunnel snorting fire and then getting fucking hammered in to them? The last thing you want to do with a team who is a) lacking confidence and who's moral is suspect but are b) technically better, is to let them play their game and give them time on the ball. The only time we've done anything against Celtic recently was when we got the early goal last season, more off a mistake than us pressing but that's what we need to do, say to them "we are playing our way and you have to match us for guts and determination" rile them up, get in their face, make sure everyone of them goes in at half time sore. We've had a great season but I'm sick of this mob running over us and there is absolutely NO reason why we can't do what Kilmarnock or Hibs or St. Johnstone or Hearts, teams all way behind us in the league, have done and get a result on Sunday. It's time for McCall and the players to deliver.

So Halsman v Celtic then?

I thought the Aberdeen v Dunfermline match would have a dismal attendance and was proved wrong. Maybe you are right but surely you have to give it a chance before you write it off. As I said before I'd rather this than getting out my bed to go to a game!

Probably the only people that saw the Leighton lampin' were the guys in the Cooper. Everyone else was looking down the other end. I only saw the aftermath. Right scunnered that day, definitely not one of those ones where you took the defeat with a shrug of the shoulders.

I'd rather go to a Friday night match than last weeks 12.45 kick off.

The first part is very true. Take Radio Scotland for instance. They spend most of the week running down Scottish football. The newspapers are full of it too. The phrase "Scottish Football" has become a synonymy for "Shite" to the average punter but I go to every home match and as many away games as I can afford (admittedly not many) and I just don't agree. Scottish football has a lot wrong with it and we are still a long way from the quality levels of the 80's and 90's but I absolutely believe we are heading in the right direction and for me the SPL has improved season on season for the last 4 seasons. Most teams at least try to play good football even if they don't quite manage it in contrast to about 5 years ago when I didn't see a single decent team come to Fir Park all season. The second point might also be true but I don't think clubs can afford to reduce prices any further unless more fans start attending so its a bit of a catch 22 situation, especially in the current financial climate when clubs are being hit not just by player wages but by higher fuel costs, tax increases, general inflation, reduced corporate support and advertising, lack of sponsorship etc...

Actually their form isn't poor at all. In the last 7 matches their record is W3 D2 L2, i.e lost only 2 out of 7, one of which was Celtic away. They are undefeated in 3 matches (2 wins) and they haven't lost at home since Rangers beat them there back on the 13th August, 5 home matches ago - a pretty decent home record. I think this is going to be a tougher match than a lot of people think. They got off to a bad start, their worst defeat of the season was against us on the opening day, but they are actually in much better form than any of our recent opponents, Kilmarnock, Hibs or Dundee Utd right now, despite their league position.

Over the last 5 seasons it averages out at 49 points for 6th place and 63 points for 3rd place. That's including the final fixtures though so to get into the Top Six I reckon you would need about 45 points at the split.

Murphy is being wasted that far wide and that far deep. Seemed to me that the difference from say, the Inverness game, is that Law and Murphy have basically swapped positions. Law is now playing the role behind Higdon and Murphy is back out on the left. Neither player is suited to that position. It should also be mentioned that when teams play 5 across midfield away from home which makes it difficult for the home team. You either match up or risk losing the midfield battle by playing two up. Maybe it's a coincidence but the three teams we beat at home this season played 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1 whereas we haven't scored against Rangers or Kilmarnock when they played 5 across the middle.

Not too many stand out performances unfortunately. Clancy was solid but Jennings had probably his best game that I've seen this season. Looked a lot sharper and fitter today.