Ya Bezzer!

He's fucking honkin'. He makes O'Brien look like Franck Ribery.

I'm afraid we look out of our depth here.

If we can keep it down to a one goal margin I think that gives us a real chance. If we could get an away goal - great. I just hope we don't curl up in a ball and try not to get hurt. Have a go and you never know what might happen.

We've gone over this before. Hammell is often out of position because our midfield can't hold a line and have the positional sense of a group of headless chicken. That often leaves Stevie in a no win situation. Cover for the midfield and leave a gap at the back? Or fall back and let the opposition run at you? Or have two players on your side and have to pick one and leave the other? And I'm not saying he is Paolo Maldini but a lot of the stick he gets is unfair especially in terms of positioning and defending. We saw how useless Jim O'Brien was as a full back last week. We'll he's equally useless in midfield when we should be in 'defence' mode. Not that the rest of them are much better but he's the worst offender for being out of position, not tracking back, not picking up a player etc etc. If Gannon wants us to lose fewer goals, he needs to start by drilling the midfield in how to play in defensive mode with the opposition attacking because that's where a lot of our problems stem from.

1. Next season is a journey into the unknown. I don't think anyone can say with any certainty what's going to happen. It could be great, it could be terrible, we'll just have to wait and see but I'd be happy with 7th and no relegation worries. If we can do better than that then great. 2/3. I'd say we should be aiming to be a Top Eight team in Scotland at least and that means we should be getting to Quarter Finals. Again anything better than that is great but it all depends on the draw in the cup competitions. 4. I'm not even thinking beyond the Steaua Bucharest game but for some reason, I'm strangely confident about it. Just getting to the group stages would be massive.

Flawed logic - have you heard of Yves Makalamby?

Just read this on P&B. Terrible news. Always liked McGrillen. Should never have been sold in That Deal. Let's hope this is the last one for a very long time.

I don't want to over stress our relationship but I kinda knew John. I was a long time listener to his show and when e-mail came in I e-mailed a question about record shops in London. He sent an e-mail back asking for my phone number, put a 12 inch techno record on and phoned me up during the show and proceeded to chat away and tell me everything I wanted to know! After that I spoke to him a few times on the phone, exchanged plenty e-mails and met him down at Fabric when he was DJing. He was a great guy, I was pretty upset when he died. Can't really add anymore than has been said except that he did watch Motherwell whenever he was up here and there was a game on although perhaps saying he was a fan is taking it a bit far. And of course The Delgados were one of his favourite bands and they have a good Motherwell supporting pedigree!

McGhee let us down by letting so many players leave? Let's take a look at them. Stephen Hughes - Had no intention of staying at 'Well, now on 7k a week at Norwich. Graeme Smith - Had no intention of staying at 'Well. Has said as much in the press. Bob Malcolm - Didn't you want rid of him anyway? Steven Coutts - Wasn't good enough. David Clarkson - Under contract, transfer nothing to do with McGhee. Club cashed in on him. Paul Quinn - Under contract, transfer nothing to do with McGhee. Club cashed in on him. Maros Klimpl - Loan signing brought in by McGhee in the first place. Brian McLean - The only player McGhee can really be criticised for leaving the club by not offering him a contract. McGhee neglected the youngsters? Shaun Hutchinson, Paul Slane, Robert McHugh and Steven Saunders all made their debuts under McGhee. Jamie Murphy was a regular and Ross Forbes was on loan at Dumbarton so wasn't illegible for selection. Give us peace. McGhee took the worst Motherwell side in 25 years and gave us a third place and a seventh place, two Euro qualifications, some of the best football we've ever seen at first park in his first season, a long unbeaten spell in his second. Yeah, we have a lot to 'hate' McGhee about. All this resentment about players and managers moving on is pathetic and childish. And newsflash, Humphrey, Ruddy, Coke, Jennings, Gannon, Slane, Forbes, and however else you like will all be off just as soon as they get a better offer. And I wish Jim Gannon all the best, I've put my money in after all, but when we've beat a team that wouldn't embarrass the Ayrshire Junior leagues let me know.

He only played twice for us. Made his debut against Celtic and its fair to say he looked a bit nervous. His other match was a meaningless away match to Hibernian on the last day of the season so I doubt many 'Well fans actually saw it!

I was reading the Steaua forums and a lot of them were saying the game was rigged and that "someone" put a lot of money on the scoreline.

Unfair to comment on players after one match but I'll give you my initial impressions. Humphreys. Sort of like O'Brien, fast, runs with the ball but no delivery. Was also poor in front of goal, had two excellent chances to score and should have put away at least one of them. Reasonable in the air and won a few headers. Was involved early on but faded out of the game possibly due to lower fitness level than the other players. To be honest I don't think he made much impact and the game sort of went on around him. You can see some potential there but could be the sort of player that causes a lot of frustration. Jennings. Had a bit of a nightmare early on, hardly looked a player at all, slow, gave away possession, hardly any awareness of what was going on around him. Later he settled down a bit and looked like a slightly more restrained Maros Klimpl, not the greatest technician in the world but someone that will put in a shift and act as a ball winner. Fair to say I don't think he'll shirk many tackles. Again, his fitness was lagging behind most of the other players. Overall the better of the two but neither player had a huge influence on the proceedings, it was all about our young players last night.

Jemima is trying her hardest but she knows a lot more about hockey and yachting.

Last night was a great performance and result and was very encouraging BUT we have lost two out of four matches against very poor sub Division 1 opposition. Hardly 'astounding'. It's easy to get carried away after a result like that but I'd still urge caution at this point because we've not played a team of the caliber that we'll be facing week in, week out in the SPL.

I actually think the heat could be a pro for us. Do we want to be playing Steaua away from home in cooler temperatures when they can operate at 100% capacity? Obviously the heat will effect us but I think it actually acts as a sort of an equalizer because Steaua won't be able to play all out in 37C just the same as we can't. Also if I've picked this up right from the Steaua forums, they will be missing up to five 1st team players for the ties against Motherwell through suspension and injury.

First he probably needs to lose some weight. If you look at the team photo in the programme tonight he's almost as big as Andrew Mumford! I've always rated Hammell, I think he's a good player and just because he's been dropped for one match doesn't mean its the end for him. It's also pretty annoying when people praise Reynolds for having one decent game at left back when Hammell has literally had a hundred good games for Motherwell in the same position. Hammell also played really well in the away tie against Llanelli and put in a beauty of a cross for one of the goals. Gannon is just being canny and giving him a wee kick up the arse to get more out of him. He's already crossed swords with Craigan and dropped Lasley tonight as well. Looks like he's working his way through the experienced players in the side and letting them now they won't get an easy ride. I'd expect Hammell to play a big part in the upcoming season.

Apparently it's "mut".

I think I'm right in saying Jamie Murphy now ties with Stevie Kirk as our all time top European goal scorer!

I was in the Main Stand and there was actually quite a few scouts there tonight. At least four, all taking notes. I tried to sneak a peak over the shoulder of one of them, I didn't see any names but he wrote "favours the inside every time".

Murphy was superb in the first half but drifted out of things in the second half. Forbes had an excellent match but you have to give it to Paul Slane. Superb. The 'new Faddy' comparisons will be coming thick and fast...and they might actually be right! MOM - Paul Slane

I keep expecting to wake up and it was all a dream. Even now back from the game. I can't believe what I just witnessed! The first surprise was the named team. The second surprise was the apparently 2-4-4 formation. Admittedly being fortunate not to be 2-0 down in the first couple of minutes wasn't such a surprise but then things went from surprising to wondrous to frankly unbelievable! And the really great thing about the performance tonight was it wasn't the experienced hands that shone, or the new signings even, it was the young players. Mike Fraser - 5 Not much to do but still had some butter finger moments. Jim O'Brien - 4 Not really his fault but as a right back he was heart attack country, let's not do that again. Ever. Stephen Craigan - 7 Had some tough clashes but bossed it. Shaun Hutchinson - 6 A little rough around the edges and raw but did reasonably well and capped it off with a goal. Mark Reynolds - 7 Looked quite comfortable in a left midfield/left back role. Chris Humphrey - 5 Started off well but faded badly, should have buried an excellent chance in the early stages and went backwards from there. Steve Jennings - 6 The opposite of Humphrey started off pretty ropey but looked more composed as the match went on. Ross Forbes - 8 Great display tonight. If he can perform regularly to that standard, a first team place will be his. Jamie Murphy - 8 The first half was maybe his best 45 minutes in a Well shirt. He's always had the ability but last season he looked lacking in confidence and frankly was going backwards. Greatly encouraged by his performance tonight, he's set a new standard now he has to match that each time he goes out there. Paul Slane - 9 I don't think I've ever given a 9 before in the three or four seasons I've been scoring the players but Slane is my new hero. I fucking love this kid! He's got the technique, the pace, a good brain, he works hard, he's got a bit of aggro about him and what I loved most of all was his reaction to being subbed - you just knew he loved every minute of being out their in a Well shirt. Bravo, Mr Slane, bravo! MoM for the second time in two matches. John Sutton - 6 Won the penalty and did a decent enough job tonight acting almost as a decoy while Murphy and Slane came in from the flanks. Subs Robert McHugh - 6 His goal was a gift but showed some promise with some intelligent runs. Jonathan Page - 4 Came on to a dead match. Keith Lasley - 5 Tigerish as usual but the match was over by that stage.

Well, I didn't say they had to be established at our level, just that they had a track record that you could point to and be confident about. As for David Robertson coming through the ranks, why haven't we produced a similar player since Stephen Pearson? What I'm saying is you don't need to spend £400,000 to get the type of player we are looking for.

Motherwell 4 Celtic 4 When we went 4-3 up from being 0-3 down (I think, maybe it was 1-3), I lost it to such a degree during the goal celebration that I actually passed out for a couple of seconds. The first and possibly last time I'd ever seen Motherwell put four past the OF. If only we'd held on....but then frustration is a big part of being a Motherwell supporter. Thankfully we can re-live the moment thanks to You Tube.

I'm pretty sure Inverness didn't pay £400,000 for Don Cowie, nor did St. Mirren for Andy Dorman. Are Craig Bryson or David Robertson £400,000 players? Probably not but they will chip in 5-8 goals for their teams. We don't have anyone like that and we badly need someone who will do that.

I don't know if any one noticed but the Northampton fans seem to be convinced that striker Abebayo Akinfenwa will be following his good friend Giles Coke to Fir Park.