Ya Bezzer!

I remember this game cos I got the shit kicked out me close to Mount Florida station by some unhappy Celts!

We will actually end the season playing 12 more matches than Hearts and St. Mirren who played 41 matches, the lowest in the SPL. We even played more than our cup final opponents Celtic, who, including the cup final will end up on 52.

Got to be honest I don't really agree with squad rotation systems but when we beat Celtic earlier in the season it was after a home defeat to St. Mirren in what was one of the worst performances by the team in many a season. The players will know only to well how important this match is, most of them will never get a chance to win major silverware again in their career so I don't think form will mean too much going into this one. Those other games didn't mean much and this one does. The players will know the difference. Even looking at it rationally our recent form hasn't been that bad, away defeat to Dundee Utd, defeats to both the old firm and draws against Hearts away (twice) and Kilmarnock? It's not great but it's roughly in line with what you would expect. The team will either freeze on the big stage because the players we can afford don't have that special mentality you need to win things or they will rise to the occasion and give their all. I don't really think that either of those possibilities will ultimately depend on who played when or what the results were of our last few matches.

I'm not predicting a score but I honestly think we can be the cup holders this time next week. Celtic are favorites and we will have to play better than we have since the semi final to stand any chance but we've already beaten them (quite comprehensively as it turned out) this season and we can do it again. This Celtic team is not some all conquering juggernaut. They lost to Inverness quite recently and have bottled quite a number of high profile games under Lennon's stewardship. I'm a lifelong fan of Motherwell FC so you'd expect me to say this but I've just got some kind of hunch, a 'feeling' that we can do this against all the odds on the 20th anniversary of our last victory. 'Mon the 'Well!

Maybe our tactics can be start with Casagolda and then sub him immediately after the kick off.

Aye. There will be a few disappointed players and Casagolda will be one of them.

I read recently the guy that ran Joe Bloggs went bust with huge debts and basically lost everything so good luck with that. Also, Stone Roses stole most of their tunes from Can, pre acid house Primal Scream and a obscure bunch of C86'ers!

Just to clarify I said it was generally accepted that he was going to leave but I don't think the Chelsea deal was done and dusted at that point.

Yes please. Shame we are about 5 grand a week short of the bare minimum he would consider.

Someone needs to set up a surveillance unit in one of those houses across from Fir Park with a camera with a big ass lens on it and one of those hand held radar dish things that picks up conversations from miles away. Then put it all up here and we can forget about My Mate Says stuff.

Don't think this is right. As I remember it Tom Boyd's future was still up in the air. I'm almost certain that after the final he was interviewed and asked if he would still be at Motherwell next season. He answered something like 'you never know what might happen'. It was fairly obvious he was going but I don't think he'd actually settled on Chelsea at that stage and there was still a strong possibility he might end up at Celtic or Rangers.

I agree with the first paragraph there is a lot of that at Fir Park from the crowd. I disagree with the second paragraph though. I thought our passing was pretty shocking to be honest and we gave the ball away far too easily. If we do that against Celtic we'll get fucked. And I have to say Hateley, although he made a few decent defensive tackles was one of the worst offenders along with Humphrey. Defensively we were all over the place all down the right half of the pitch. Hutchinson had a bit of a nightmare which didn't help but you have to look at the midfielders as well.

Been thinking about this. Our old guard are Craigan, Lasley and Hammell who have probably a 1,000 appearances between them in claret and amber and have been the backbone of our team for donkeys ages. Great servants all except for one problem - none of them ever score, well hardly ever anyway. Well, Lasley scored at Hampden in the League Cup semi final against Rangers, one of only 2 goals he scored this season. Then Craigan scored for the first time in about five seasons or something when he scored at Hampden in the Scottish Cup semi final against St. Johnstone. That leaves Stevie Hammell and one more 'Well appearance at Hampden this season. Surely it's written in the fates that he'll score against Celtic. Free kick, couple of minutes to go, nicely placed for a left footer, Stevie takes it, curls over the wall looks like it's going over like most of them, but no it's dipping, surely it will hit off the bar like a half dozen others down the years, aye, that's what will....no...wait....GOAL!!!!!!! Hammell scores, we've won the cup, tie our ribbons on it SFA bods, its held aloft, get it up you Celtic. Celebration in the streets of Motherwell. That's what's going to happen. Get down the bookies now and make a fortune.

Craigan. He might not be the best defender we've ever had but he always gives you 100%. Something not everyone out there last night could say. Crags was far and away the best performer last night.

I'd be amazed if Rangers didn't brush Killie aside without too many problems so I don't really think anything we will do will affect the title race. I've been a bit worry about the sort of end of season lethargy our team has fallen into and last night didn't do much to dispel those fears. We look so off the pace I find it hard to believe that we can just turn up at the Final and start playing an A game after a month of half paced, not concentrated or competitive football. Obviously if anyone has niggles or injury problems they should sit this one out but I'd play as strong a side as possible because this is the game where we really need to get back up to speed and I don't think it will be beneficial in the long run to give players an another rest. They have had enough rests over the last 4 matches. Get stuck into them, let them know they are in for a hard game in the final, put the fear of god into them and if Celtic lose the title and their heads are down a bit and they think 'oh no, we have to play them again at a neutral venue with 15,000 fans behind them' maybe we'll have a chance. I don't really care if we win or lose but I want to see the right physical and mental attitude from our players.

We need to get things back on track. All though we lost the last game of the league season before the last Scottish Cup final we went into that final on a great run of form with all the confidence that brought to the team. We don't want to go into this final on the back of a run of calamitous results. We should play our strongest team in the next two matches and tell players if they don't play in these games they won't be playing in the final. My worst fear is we switch off in the run up to the final and then can't switch back on. And I personal think it will be very difficult to go from 5 matches of constantly alternating line ups and a general lack of effort to suddenly then go to the top of your game, which we will need to be to win.

He's no Randy but I don't think Langfield is a bad goalkeeper, he's much better than say, Graeme Smith. Certainly got Aberdeen a few points at Fir Park down the years.

Or maybe it was all the Union Jacks in our end when we traveled to Celtic Park in those days...

Hughes falls into the same category as Gow. Loads of technique but just doesn't perform consistantly enough.

If the bonus was agreed then we should just pay up. Maybe put in a wee handwritten slip with the payslip... "The last performance bonus of your career, from your former employer. John."

The way I read that he put in £435k up £300k on the previous season, ie he put in 135k the season before. Dundee Utd have big debts so they probably are paying out more on interest and repayments than we are.

Well Michael Stewart left the club, that probably accounts for about 4 red cards a season!

Hearts only have 2 red cards this season, same as us. Think Accies are the Red Card Kings this season.

If Randolph goes, I'm pretty sure Tomas Cerny is out of contract at Accies. Would be a decent replacement.

I'm guessing the vast majority of season ticket holders got their tickets today considering it was a public holiday. I think there will be a steep decline in sales over the next the rest of the week with it picking up again on Saturday. It's looking like we will sell all or most of the tickets but I fancy there to be a few thousand left for the ballot at the end of the week although I can imagine some folks will be sweating over getting one.