Ya Bezzer!

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.

Not much different from the Aberdeen. The only difference being that the substitutes didn't really make the game changing difference. First half we played some decent football but we were poor in the final third and didn't really create enough clear cut chances. Second half we started OK but then it seemed to sink about the hour mark that we weren't really making any impact and performances dipped all over the park, our organization disintegrated a little bit and from then on I thought Kilmarnock were more likely to score than we were but defences at both ends were on top. For a lot of the second half I'd have been happy with a point and that's what we got but we'll need to improve a lot for the next home match.

Kilmarnock were probably the best team I've seen that we didn't lose to this season so I think it will be a difficult match, especially since we seem to struggle a wee bit at home. Heffernan will need watching and by all accounts Dean Shiels has been in great form in recent weeks. Can see a few a goals being scored today, wouldn't be surprised if it turned out to be a similar game to the Hibs league cup match. It's difficult to predict because it could go any way but maybe the fact that Killie lost that 3-0 lead last week will mean they are on a wee bit of a downer and their confidence might be a little shaky if we can get an early goal.

Just as in a individual match, luck plays a big part. We have been very lucky on several occasions regarding relegation and I think it's fair to say if we had gone done we could easily be a Morton or an Airdrie right now. Probably the most crucial stroke of luck was not going down during the administration season. Just look at Dundee to see how things could have happened. A bigger club than us but a playing tiny squad, bottom of the first division, barely struggling to stay alive, if they go down this season you would seriously worry that they would ever regain their status as Scotlands 6th club and they might even go under. A lot of credit goes to Terry Butcher and John Boyle post administration. They rebuilt the club and laid the foundations for one of the most successful periods in the clubs post war history. It's just a shame that guys who I think deserve to lift silver wear haven't done so yet despite various opportunities, but who knows....maybe this season will be the one.

The 'Archie McPherson' coat will be coming out the cupboard tomorrow, I think!

Daft fud website, daft fuds in the video. Looks like west central Scotland is full of daft fuds but we knew that.

Stevie Hammell is 6 matches away from having the SPL appearance record (348, currently held by Scott Severin with 347). Jim Fowler is only one behind Stevie so it could be an exciting dash for the record!

Anyone with an iPod will know there is a stopwatch function. Think I might use mine to time the first "Higdon get tae fuck!!!" (or variant) shout from the East Stand. Anyone fancy a sweep stake?

1993/94 was a 12 team top division but we were still operating under the 2 points for a win system. Celtic.......D..H..2-2 Dundee.......W..A..2-1 Kilmarnock...W..A..1-0 Raith Rov....W..H..4-1 St.Johnstone.L..A..0-3 Hearts.......W..H..2-0 Partick......L..A..0-1 Dundee Utd...D..A..0-0 Aberdeen.....D..H..0-0 Rangers......W..A..2-1 Hibs.........L..H..0-2 Adjusted to the current points system that gives us 18 points or 1.63 points per game. 1994/95 was a 10 team top division but switched to the 3 points for a win system. Rangers......L..A..1-2 Hearts.......D..H..1-1 Kilmarnock...W..A..1-0 Dundee Utd...D..A..1-1 Hibs.........D..H..1-1 Partick......D..A..2-2 Celtic.......D..H..1-1 Falkirk......W..H..5-3 Aberdeen.....W..A..3-1 That gives us 14 points or 1.55 points per game. We only lost one match in this opening quarter but played and won fewer matches. 2007/08 was, as you probably remember, by the current system of 12 team league and 3 points for a win. St.Mirre.....W..A..1-0 Inverness....W..H..2-1 Kilmarnock...L..H..1-2 Gretna.......W..A..2-1 Hearts.......L..H..0-2 Aberdeen.....W..A..2-1 Falkirk......L..A..0-1 Rangers......D..H..1-1 Dundee Utd...L..A..0-1 Hibernian....W..H..2-1 Celtic.......L..A..0-3 That gives us 16 points or 1.45 points per game. We were positioned 5th in the league at the end of the first quarter (I don't have weekly league position stats for the 90's seasons). 2011/12. This season we have 22 points or 2.00 points per game. Therefore... BEST STARTS IN SPL/SCOTTISH PREMIER DIVISION AFTER FIRST QUARTER. 2011/12 - 2.00 points per game (23 points/11 matches) ///Final league pos. ? 1993/94 - 1.63 points per game (18 points/11 matches)* ///Final league pos. 3rd. 1994/95 - 1.55 points per game (14 points/9 matches) /// Final league pos. 2nd. 2007/08 - 1.45 points per game (16 points/11 matches) /// Final league pos. 3rd. * By current points system, not actual number of official points.

I'll contribute my bottle of coppers.

If you want to get sent off I'm guessing its not so easy to go OTT on another player since you must know you could put the guy out of the game for months/a season/for good. To do that with forethought you'd have to be pretty brutal, especially if it was just some random guy that you had nothing against for a wee back hander. Also disagree its easier for a referee to send someone off than a player to get sent off. Touching a referee, acting aggressively towards him, using offensive language will do it prettily easily. Not saying Jennings is guilty but I just don't quite follow your argument there.

Obviously I hope these allegations aren't true. We'll just have to wait and see what happens but until we know more about what is going on it's difficult to comment. As regards the actual sending off, I'm sure I heard a referee saying that touching a referee is an instant red card offense, so although there wasn't much in it and it was probably an over reaction by the ref, it seems like it was technically correct decision. As for Jennings continuing to play, I suppose it depends information that the club has. If they believe he is innocent, play him. If they have information which looks bad for Jennings, then don't.

Hateley didn't play in the European campaign during the Gannon season because he was ineligible but apart from that he's played in every match, starting all but 2 sub appearances. Pretty amazing record - touch wood!

So did McLeish. Just couldn't win against anyone else! Ying-Yang.

McCall has definitely encouraged Lasley to go forward more often, although I think that has caused as many problems as its solved on occasions. However Las has been a great player for us down the years going back as far as the Butcher years. I don't think he'd quite make it into my all time Motherwell XI but he'd definitely be very close, if not actually in, my 22 man squad. Great attitude and an under-rated footballer.

It's good we have a manager that goes to these lengths to communicate with the fans and explain decisions. However one thing, you can point to the 'bigger picture' which is fine but when fans are paying £20+ to go to a game it's not about the 'bigger picture' it's about the match you just spent quite a lot of money to attend. Three times in the last month or so we didn't show up. That's probably £80+ just for admission, never mind other costs. Motherwell players aren't especially well paid compared to the top stars but I'm guessing they earn more than most of the support and in many cases £10's of thousands of pounds more. I'm unemployed right now but I spent £60+ paying into Fir Park just last week alone. I don't expect miracles but I do expect the players to give decent effort and that's not happened on a number of occassions in the last few weeks. I know I am spending money I can't really afford right now to follow my team and I'm sure others are as well and I think its only right that we have expectations that the team will actually make an effort to win the match and against Rangers, Celtic and St. Johnstone they didn't show that will to win. So is it any wonder people get angry? I don't condone the behaviour of some of our support and I've spoke out against it on these forums. Some of them are just arseholes but I also understand why some supporters can lose the rag when they see players under performing. So the bigger picture is pretty good but it is also true that three times fans shelled out to support the team in the past couple of weeks and they hardly saw the team make a pass or have a shot at goal. Dougie Arnott said in one of the recent programmes that all Motherwell supporters wanted was to see players trying their hardest. I think this is generally true and certainly mirrors my feelings. Hopefully we will see better effort from the team in the coming month.

So is Daly - 7 goals in 8 starts.

I think it's pretty obvious now that the only changes are going to come due to injuries. No home game for a whole month so I might go to one of these away games but I think I'm more inclined to go to the Hibs match although I seem to remember Hibs having obscene admission prices unless I'm getting confused.