Ya Bezzer!

I'm pro the referee's strike although not because I'm entirely sympathetic with the referee's although they do have a case in some regards, especially regards to the media treatment of referee's and the whole Celtic nonsense. However the main reason I'm pro the strike is that I believe the change required in Scottish football will not happen without an extreme form of catalyst. Fixtures being called off certainly falls into that category. If missing a weekend fixture helps to fix the terrible state of repair our game is in at the moment then I am quite willing for that to happen. It would be a terrible thing if this week turned into a damp squib and everything got back to normal next week.

It's supposed to be below freezing with more snow tonight.

Glad Dallas is gone. He was something of a tyrant and an obstacle to change. Now all we need is... 1) Dougie McDonald fired 2) Points deduction for Celtic 3) 'Well win on Sunday

They are saying on the Bristol City forums they are going to punt him in January. If Gow leaves, we'd have a space, come home Clarky!

Lennon isn't any worse than a lot of managers. Take Jim Jeffries or Billy Reid or any number of others. It wasn't all that long ago that our own manager at the time Jim Gannon was heavily criticizing referees. Don't remember having a go at Gannon when he was up to his tricks. The really terrible thing isn't so much Lennons antics, even although he should grow up, it's the club behind him and its bizarre campaigns and stoking up of paranoia. That's the really cynical side of this.

Our referees are no where near good enough, they behave in a supercilious, pompous and overly haughty way, they belong to an arcane clique that desperately needs to be dragged into the 21st century and now cannot even be trusted to tell the truth to other football professionals in regards to their decisions. But you know what? I don't blame them. The best possible thing that can happen is if the referee's stick to their guns here and have next weekends matches are postponed. The game in this country needs a wake up call and the referees strike might just be the thing. We've had years and years of bickering and self interest for clubs, individuals, organizations but it cannot stand for much longer. Unless the Scottish football establishment can come together and work as a united front it will not survive much longer. Players, managers, clubs all have to have a long hard look in the mirror. So do referees but the mud slinging has to end now, with everyone coming together to work things and and try and build a better game. The alternative is oblivion, its as stark as that.

Sometimes you think the memory is playing tricks but no, that was a fucking monster of a free kick.

No offense to Stevie but this is just proof that Levein has lost the plot since he became Scotland manager. The guy has cracked. What a massive snub for Mark Reynolds.

Be fair to McGhee, right now Alex Miller has the worst record in Aberdeen's history. Not saying McGhee won't eventually take the unwanted crown though!

Note to self, next time you book concert tickets 3 months in advance, look before hand to see if there is a midweek game. Going by the attendance, a lot of people were elsewhere!

Is that when we were getting fucked a home by St. Johnstone with a team full of 18 year olds and a nutjob for a manager? Oh aye! I remember now, we've gone backwards ever since! The reason a lot of youth players have gone 'backwards' since Brown came in is obvious - they weren't ready for the first team when Gannon introduced them as 17 or 18 year olds. Its also a well known phenomenon in football that youth players often start strongly, fade, with only some of them recapturing their initial form. But anyway Humphrey has done more for Brown than he did for Gannon, Jamie Murphy is finally showing his potential having only shown brief glimpses for previous managers, Saunders is more or less a regular in the team, Forbes still features either from the bench or from the start, Smith was given his debut by Brown, Page has probably made as many if not more appearances under Brown than he did for Gannon etc, etc. And does anyone honestly believe that McHugh should start before Sutton, Blackman, Gow or Murphy? Does anyone honestly believe Pollock, Meechan, Hutchinson etc warrant a place in the first 11 or even 16 given our resources?

I was away all weekend and didn't get a chance to follow the match but another great away result. Just waitin' for the highlights to go online.

Didn't make it to the game today so I can't say much (well, anything!) about the match but I suspected the midweek game would take its toll on the players. Usually when there is a 'high' a 'low' follows immediately after but if we were to win two of the last three games this is the one I would have chosen to lose.

Murphy came back on and he walked off so it can't be THAT bad. We'll miss him if he's out for a week or two but I'd be more worried about Lasley's injury which looked much worse. Any word on that one?

Craigan, Hammell and Randolph were the stand outs for me. I go for Craigan for MotM.

Not the best match but at the same time there weren't many failures in the team. Everyone was trying hard but the final touch wasn't quite there. That said we deserved the victory although Randolph probably had more real saves to make than his opposite number. The keeper and back four were all very solid, midfield a wee bit sloppy at times and the front players all showed good touches with out ever looking very dangerous as a goal threat. We missed Lasley and Murphy when he went off injured. Churned out the victory, can we go one or even two steps further?

I'd give it to Stevie Hammell. Very good solid game throughout. Humphrey started well and finished well but there was about 50 minutes when he hardly had a kick.

Though the stick Gow was getting was a lot of nonsense. Give the guy a break, it was his first home start and he was no better or worse than Murphy or Blackman. As for the second point, that's exactly what I thought when the full time whistle went - "OK, that's us out the cup!".

Barnsley or Italy? Tough one! Love Italy, a great country to live in, only wish I could.

The first 15 or 20 minutes were very good, looked like we could score three or four and Dundee United weren't at the races. However Lasley's injury really knocked us off our stride, it was another 40 minutes before we started playing again. Luckily we rallied again in the later stages and probably deserved to win the match although it was fortunate that Dundee United scored both or goals for us. Really poor refereeing performance again, although I did think he got the penalty decision spot on.

A move outside of Motherwell will see smaller crowds, especially if it's located in a ''nowheresville' like Ravenscraig. As for the fanciful nonsense about any new stadium being of architectural merit - dream on. 'Securing the clubs future for 100 years?' I'll take that with a pinch of salt. Will there even be professional football in Scottish provincial towns a generation from now? I don't think anyone can answer that question, never mind three or four generations into the future. And, yeah, I am in a bad mood.

I thought today was the poorest I've seen us this season but I don't get this either. We've not hit any great heights but at the same time I don't think we've been poor or boring either over the season. Sometimes we seem to lack a little cutting edge but I think the team are trying to play the right way but we have a small and inexperienced squad and it's not always going to work out perfectly. This time last season we had 6 goals from open play, this season we have 9. Last season we scored in open play in 4 out of 7, this season 6 out of 7. The only really 'pish' performance that sticks out in my mind under Brown (and I only see home matches) was the 1-0 defeat to Falkirk last season. We weren't great today but maybe a little perspective is needed. To do that just remember back to St. Johnstone thumping us at home in Jim Gannon's last match as manager. Much worse than anything that's happened at Fir Park since.

Looked about 3 yards off from where I was sitting! May have been the angle though...

No great performances. Lasley and Jennings worked hard, Murphy took his goal but I'll give it to Humphrey, felt he was unlucky to get hooked unless he was still feeling the injury he got on the East stand wing. Took his goal well, made a few good tackles and looked dangerous, still needs to improve his delivery though.

I missed the Celtic match but today was easily the worst home performance of the season. We score in 3 minutes and never got out of first gear. When St. Mirren scored to make it 1-1 it looked like there was only going to be one winner and it wasn't us - we were all over the place, no organisation, no plan, very unusual for a Craig Brown team. We got lucky on a few occasions. St. Mirren went close just before half time and Saunders got injured putting his head in a dangerous place to prevent a certain goal. Really we were gifted our goals by St. Mirren who looked very poor at the back. The first goal was a bad mistake from the defender although Humphrey took the goal well. The penalty was bizarre, what the defender was thinking about is anyone's guess, still good to see us score from the spot for a change! Third goal looked offside to me but maybe the television will show something different, anyway it was a good counter attack and nice to see Murphy getting nearer to double figures for the first time. Randolph [6] Difficult day for defenders and goalkeepers looked a wee bit dodgy on some crosses today. Saunders [7] Saved a certain goal with a very brave header, some great but possibly flukey cross field balls! Craigan [6] Not his best day, big boys up front gave him some problems. Reynolds [6] Partly to blame for St. Mirren's goal with a slack clearance but did OK. Hateley [6] Decent enough performance at left back - for most of the match anyway. Lasley [7] Worked hard Jennings [7] Some good touches, grafted Humphrey [7] Took his goal well, started in good form but faded as the match went on, still one of his better performances, was unlucky to be subbed felt Blackman should have hit the bench before Humphrey. Murphy [6] Not his best match but got the goal that made it safe Blackman [5] Little impact today Sutton [5] Like Blackman didn't offer much of a threat Forbes [2] Gow [4] Had a role in the goals Hammell [2] Rare sub appearance!