Ya Bezzer!

It might be a boring answer but any money made from this season's European games will be used as cash flow and reserve funds to support the club in a difficult financial time. The club will still undergo downsizing as it has to be able to run at a profit season on season and from what I understand we are still quite a bit away from that.

We could get absolutely gubbed tonight or it could be one of the greatest nights in the history of Motherwell Football Club. No one knows but I can't wait to find out!

If you mean gross rather than net income it will be more than that surely if we sell 10,000 tickets at an average price of say £25 (assuming one concession for every full price ticket sold) plus programme sales, food kiosk sales, a busy shop, sponsorship, media rights, corporate packages (most likely every box will be filled) and so forth.

So just like Motherwell then?

I was gutted when the one in Motherwell shut! A Wimpy burger is just on a whole different level from crappy McDonalds.

I read somewhere that if they don't make the Champions League they won't get paid. That would make me take it pretty seriously!

Apparently Fouad Bachirou is still looking for a club having left Morton. Saw him play against Accies last season and he was the stand out player and exactly what we are looking for in a midfield player. If anything he has a bit more 'class' about him than Steve Jennings, in terms of passing, ball retention and so forth. I know we have no money but I think this guy would be worth a shout.

I think MJC is pretty funny. He totally encapsulates something that is without doubt part of being a Motherwell supporter. The gnawing subliminal fear that if something can go wrong, it will go wrong. Who amongst us, when we play a team on a long run of not scoring or winning doesn't think at the back of our mind, 'Well they are bound to do it against us!'. It's just part of supporting Motherwell. And actually it's one of the great appeals of supporting a team like Motherwell. When you go to a game you have Triumph on one shoulder and Catastrophe on the other. MJC just represents the Catastrophe bit thats part of all of us.

Oh it will be playing....in my head!

I have a very vague recollection of Hammell 'scoring' a header which was disallowed at the South Stand end. Is this what you are thinking of?

It wasn't until I had the ticket in my hand that I realised just what an achievement this is. I am SO excited and I can't wait for the match. I think I will probably start greetin' when the team comes out the tunnel to the Champions League tune!

Got my holiday request authorized today. I'm going to the Champions League!

When Saunders and Hateley were both available at the beginning of last season, Saunders didn't get a look in. I don't see anything to suggest McCall has changed his mind. Ramsden and Hutchinson will be the centre backs and if Hutchinson is injured I can see Page or Cummins playing at centre back before Saunders. I'm afraid I see Saunders withering on the vine which is a shame because I think he has potential.

ALthough it's not the strongest Panathinaikos side they have ever had the chances are they would be good a bet to win the Scottish Premier League. The side is mainly made up of internationals, albeit not glamourous star names, and they have a lot of experience. Even at 35 Giorgos Karagounis is the kind of quality that we can't even approach. If we win at Fir Park it will surely rank among our greatest ever results. Now I just have to try and get the night off work!

It's hard to tell at this stage. The squad is very small and we have lost some quality players. I suspect others will go before or just after the start of the season, specifically Randolph and/or Murphy. I think how we will do will come down to the young players. It's inevitable guys like McHugh, Page and Carswell are going to have to step up to the plate this season instead of being bit part players and we will probably need a couple of others to come in from the U19's and show they are good enough to play at the top level. If either of these groups aren't up to the task then I seriously doubt we will be Top 6 challengers and it could even be a bit of a struggle. Right now I don't know what the answer to those questions will be.

Nice to see someone actually understands what is going on right now. In the end this will come down to numbers that only Sky know about. How much is Scottish football worth to them without OF matches or Rangers generally? I have no idea what kind of audience figures and advertising revenue a St. Johnstone v Kilmarnock live match draws in but I can't imagine it's a great deal. Perhaps it will come down to PR, Sky won't want to go down as the destroyer of professional football in Scotland, and it might be in it's long term interests to a) keep involved in Scottish football, after all Rangers will be back eventually, and b) to finance the current league to a level that it provides a degree of quality for its television audience. Alternatively they may just make a cut throat business decision and say "the SPL isn't worth it without Rangers".

The SPL is dead. The next few years should see our club downsize and once the adjustment is made from last seasons income to what we can expect in the future the SPL should be wound up with the Scottish League taking over once again. We can't do it right away because we have commitments and contracts to keep but I don't really see any option in the medium future provided SPL 2 is a red herring. And let's hope to god that it is. It's back to the Motherwell I first started supporting that basically survived on gate money although of course Bosman wasn't around back then so we will have less transfer money coming in (most players will be on 1 year contracts from now on) and banks won't allow the sort of debt we carried back then. Which means its going to be even tougher than the early to mid eighties period when I first started watching us. The ironic thing is the SPL was pretty good to clubs like Motherwell, Kilmarnock, St. Johnstone. We competed and often bettered the city clubs. That's probably coming to an end now, not necessarily next season or the season after but in the general future when denied TV money, gate money is king.

I don't see McCall changes things radically next season. We will bring in a central defender and a central midfielder to replace Clancy/Craigan and Jennings and that will be it. The team will line up more or less the same as last season and I don't see Steven Saunders getting into the first XI unless someone is injured. Remember last season Saunders wasn't getting a look in and was injured on international duty. Randolph Hateley - Hutchinson, New Defender - Hammell Humphrey - Lasley, Law (or New Midfielder) - Law or Murphy Higdon, Ojamaa I also suspect Jamie Murphy will be sold on at a cut down price much like Reynolds was, perhaps £100,000 - £150,000 early next season if nothing happens before then and I'll be amazed if no one makes a bid on Randolph. If not English clubs really need to have a word with their scouts. As with most seasons I would be very happy with Top Six but I think it will be a struggle this term, not impossible but certainly not something that should be taken for granted. A couple of injuries to key players and I think we could struggle a bit. Our league position is probably going to be in the lap of the gods.

Six members of my family died in the First World War, a number at the Battle of Arras, others at Ypres and the Somme. Madness.

OK, maybe 'punishment' may not be the right word to use but that still doesn't address my points. There is a reason why the new Rangers might not use the same route as any other new team and that relates to the my post above. This is not ABOUT Rangers any more. If it was this situation would be a lot more straight forward.

I've said it all along that Rangers deserve punishment but this is a bigger question than just punishing Rangers. There might be people gleefully digging a grave for Rangers but WE could be going in right after them. Are alarm bells not ringing when £200,000 is cut from the player budget over one close season? When the manager says we cannot even compete at English non league level for wages? When we have probably the smallest squad we have ever had and can't add to it unless we sell our good players? When the club claims we could lose almost £1 million pounds income on last season and that the club could be facing an insolvency event? There is no rich owner in place and one bad year could see us in a perilous financial position. This time next year without any exaggeration it's possible we could be going out of business. When people talk about Rangers getting off 'scot free' they should do well to remember Motherwell already have an administration behind us when we really did get off scot free with not so much as a point deduction and of course we were saved from relegation by SPL rules which others might interpret as 'preferential treatment'. If we are ever forced into that situation for a second time we would most likely not get much sympathy across Scottish football, much like happened to Dundee. I don't contribute to these threads very often because most people seem to have unalterable options but please read these words and really think about it. This is not about Rangers this is about THE FUTURE OF MOTHERWELL FC. If Rangers can be punished to the degree they deserve then good. If that is impossible to achieve given the financial situation then that's the bitter pill you swallow, to ensure survival and I trust the people at the club to do the right thing which ever way it goes. I hope Rangers end up in the 3rd division, but not at the expense of possible liquidation of my club and I'm certainly not going to condemn anyone who puts the survival of my club over the punishment of an other.

Jones. Our priorities, putting aside money considerations, should be an experienced centre half and a midfielder. Looks like if Ramsden did sign he would be used at centre half, the article alludes to that and I can't see Hateley being shifted from his right back position.

That points penalty could easily lead to relegation for Rangers if they don't hang on their stars. Would be kinda funny to see them marooned at the bottom of the league for an entire season.

I'm not someone who has been clambering for Rangers to be thrown out of the SPL but I think if ANY club cannot guarentee that it can fulfill the season 2012/13 fixtures which are due to be released 18th June then they should not be allowed to compete in the league. Therefore as far as I am concerned Rangers have 5 days to sort themselves out and it doesn't look like that is going to happen.

I need to wait until the new season's fixtures come out to decide if I get a season ticket. Then I can put in all my holiday requests for the home Saturdays! Does anyone know when they are published?