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What will be the structure of the club when he returns? Does this suggest the possibility of Mark McGhee becoming a Director of Football or will it push James McFadden onto the sidelines? It would seem a luxury to have a manager, assistant manager and a first team coach.

I think that McGhee is about as good as we are going to get as a manager. He has vast amounts of experience and has shown that he can bring success, even if that success is often short lived. Just like Lionel Ainsworth who's inconsistency makes him a Motherwell standard player, despite his obvious ability, McGhee would not be our manager if he was consistently good. I always feel that we have two choices as a manager. A tried and tested Scottish manager with a chequered past, or a young manager trying to build a reputation. My preference would always be for the latter because there is always that hope, however slim, that the club has unearthed the next Alex Ferguson. I enjoyed the Gannon and Baraclough era's if only because they brought a freshness of thought to the the often parochial, narrow minded Scottish Football old boy's club (that includes the press and senior players). They also did not have the Old Firm fear that drips from the likes of Stuart McCall, Craig Brown and McGhee himself. As a collective support however, we have proved that we don't have the stomach for an experiment. That leaves us with the Scottish managers, the ones who ensure mid-table respectability but are happy to accept losing 5+ goals to the Old Firm eight times a season. McGhee has been unlucky this season. He has drawn Rangers twice in separate cup competitions and Celtic once (both away from home at the knock out stage) and he has had to over-see a player budget reduction. As a positive, he has introduced some of the young players to the first team squad and has kept pace with the other teams in the league (outwith the top four). I think if we had a fully focused Mark McGhee, we would be absolutely fine. Maybe the board can use recent results as leverage, to make him focus a little more on his Motherwell responsibilities. For now I would rather have the continuity and maybe it can be looked at again in the summer.

One of the lads. Love it. That's the problem with Scottish football. It's an old boys club that has been stagnating for decades now, From the SFA down, the so called 'lads' have strangled the game in this country so that we now have one of the poorest leagues in Europe. That the Kris Boyd's and Crag's of this world, themselves mediocre at best, feel qualified to comment, I find laughable. From Paul Le Guen onwards, managers with modern ideas have been bullied from the moment they enter the Scottish game. I am no fan of Hearts, Walter Kidd saw to that, but I hope that Cathro is a massive success. The Scottish game needs something to bring it out of the dark ages.

Looking at the red card decisions, I think there was no doubt about the O Halloran challenge. Dangerous, high and reckless. On the other two, they are either both yellow or both red. Whichever way you look at 2 out of the 3 decisions are correct in my opinion. When looking at the Kiernan decision against the McDonald decision, there are a couple of factors that have clearly affected the decisions, none of which have anything to do with the rules of the game. The first is the circumstances of the game. Rangers have already had a player sent off and it is only twenty minutes into the game. It would take a very strong referee to send a second rangers player of at that time. That does not make the decision right but can make it understandable. The second is the position of the McDonald incident on the pitch. It happened directly in front of the dugout. The whole rangers bench would have been on their feet in a second instantly adding to the perceived severity of the challenge. Again does nor make the decision right but most referee's are going to take the path of least resistance. The frustration for me is that McDonald was stupid enough to lunge into the challenge. He must have known as a seasoned pro the tightrope that the whole Motherwell team had to walk for the remainder of the game. It was yet another poor decision from one of the more senior players in the squad. It must be very frustrating for a manager to watch a weeks preparation go down to the tubes in one moment of madness.

Would not like to be allocated the space beside him in the changing room.

I was going to turn it off at 1-0 and did turn off at 2-0 last night. As soon as I heard the 5 at the back gig, I knew the game was lost. Reminiscent of Stevie Hammell in midfield for the Scottish Cup Final a few years back. It's a desperate attempt to simply keep the inevitable defeat respectable. After the Cup final, I sensed a feeling of relief from the players that they had held it to 3, last night, I would not have been surprised if the players and McGhee felt some relief that they kept it at only 5. I don't think that there will be a team from any division that will go there with the same inferiority complex as we did last night. The tone is set by the manager and the senior players. I had hoped that the play off game might have represented a change in approach to Old Firm games but we are back to the same old approach and mentality.

Going by that article it sounds like Jim Gannon too! Had there been any attempt to blame Hugh Dallas and i would say that it definitely was Jim Gannon.

We are the team with the points in the bag so that makes us favorites to be in the top six come Saturday eve. I would be surprised if all three results go against us, our own result excluded. Having said that, i was not expecting the results we got last night. I am hopeful that we will take something from the game on Saturday. I would have been confident but Celtic's 3-1 win over hearts shows that they can still produce results when they need to.

McGhee's achievements are incredible. My feeling is that when we have a focused, motivated McGhee, we have the best man manager in the league. Looking back over the last 10 years, I think we have done exceptionally well with managers. Not all of them have been a long term success, but they have all contributed in timely fashion, to Motherwell's continued Premiership survival. Gannon and Baraclough built squads at times when we desperately needed players to allow the experienced man managers in Brown and McGhee to then mould these squads into top six teams. McCall provided a time of almost unparalleled success for the club but there was always a sense at that time that it was a live for the day mentality, with no forward planning at all. The point I am making is that few of our managers have been the complete manager, but they have all contributed in their own way at just the right time. In fact since Tommy McLean, the only two managers that for me, had an overall negative effect were McLeish and Malpas. That's not bad for a spell of 25 years in a clubs history.

That would be a miracle. Changed it.

Credit must go to Mark McGhee on what has been a fantastic string of results. Thinking back to the Kilmarnock game at FP when I really believed our season was falling apart, it's hard to believe that was only 5-6 weeks ago. Also Ian Baraclough has been vilified by some but Moult, Johnston, Ripley and others are looking like shrewd signings now. The squad had to be overhauled when McCall left and Baraclough built a platform for the club to move forward. Ironically the last time an overhaul was required a certain Mark McGhee left us with a thread bare squad. I think when we look back Jim Gannon and Ian Baraclough can both be credited for helping maintain the clubs proud history of top division football.

Talk that the foul leading to the goal was not a foul but for me it was a foul any day of the week and should have been a booking. Studs showing, two footed, reckless, dangerous. In European football that could have been a sending off. I know that people pine for the days of Peter Grant/ Colin O Neill type players and challenges but those days are gone and rightly so. Nothing better than seeing strong robust challenges but that one was dangerous. Good result. Great to see some fight. Also now seen two great goals from former players at FP this season, Vigurs and Anier. Vigurs one hurt because we lost, Anier one we can enjoy because in the end it did not matter.

Shit!!! Maybe I am getting confused by Claudio Ranieri mentioning 40 points for safety in the EPL.

I think 41 points (26 +15) would see us safe. Be unlucky to end up in the play off's with that total I think.

Fact is that nothing seems to work at the moment so a radical change may just do the trick. It's the old story, win and the manager has pulled a rabbit out the hat, lose and we will all be back on to add 10 pages to the Mark McGhee thread. My only feeling is that we need three in the middle. Lasley is just too immobile for a midfield two. Gomis, Lasley and one other in the middle would suit me. All the best to MM on a bold team selection.

The thing is though that, taking personality out of it and McGhee is not covering himself in glory at the moment. Publicly criticising players , contradicting himself in interviews, playing some baffling formations and being out thought by the likes of Lee McCulloch on Saturday. You make the joke about dinosaurs and it reminds me that you were a strong critic of Ian Baraclough. What would your view have been if Baraclough had put in the same performance as McGhee has since the start of the year? Ian Baraclough's Motherwell comfortably beat ICT in the first game of the season. Fast forward six months and ICT seem to have taken a step forward when Motherwell have gone backwards. McGhee himself made a big play on this before the ICT cup game. This is not about personality it's about performance. For what it's worth, my belief is that the problem lies with the players. McCall, Baraclough and now McGhee have all been (or are being) shafted by players that just don't care enough. I happen to believe that all three (Baraclough included) are decent manager being let down by a poor squad of players.

Funny how different people see things but i did not think it was a stupid question by the journo. It was exactly the type of questions they should be asking more often rather than asking players and managers sterile questions. My disappointment was that the journo backed off when McManus got hot under the collar about the question. My take on it was that McManus became very defensive. You make your own luck and Motherwell's problem of gifting goals in the last 5 minutes of games is actually one that has lingered for a few seasons now. It is perfectly reasonable to think that fitness may be a factor. I am by no means saying that the players are not fit, but it is all relative and if the players of other teams are slightly fitter that's all you need to give you the edge, particularly in the last 5 mins of a game. McManus knows it was a reasonable question to be asked, he just did not like being asked it.

The league is incredibly tight. Ross County are only seven points ahead of us in 4th and we have a game in hand. Was there not times last season that they were the same distance ahead of us and were only one/two places above us in the league. For this reason I don't think any team from 4th to 11th can relax. Any of these teams going on a bad run could find themselves in 11th and likewise a good run could see a team rocket up to 4th. For us I think that it is so important that we bring in the right players in the next week. Get it right and we will be fine, get it wrong and it could be another play-off. The possibility of Davis going to Killie makes the situation all the more critical. Regarding the penalty, if the Dundee player has made any contact with the ball and Cadden has not, the ref will be able to justify his decision. Would be very harsh all the same. Maybe slightly naive from Cadden in what otherwise was a really good performance.

I have just had the chance to catch up on all the chat since McGhee's appointment and can't quite believe what I am reading. For me the biggest disgrace in the whole McGhee story the first time round was having to endure 90 mins of filth at Pittodrie when there was the paedo chants from the Well fans. It was a total embarrassment that day, not to mention totally distasteful on any level you care to think of but that's it with football fans, first to offend, easily offended. McGhee has more to forgive us for than we have to forgive him for. I think it takes someone with great emotional intelligence and leadership to be the face and voice of a group or organisation in mourning and McGhee performed those duties with genuine dignity. For that alone, McGhee deserves our support. I happen to think that this is a great appointment. There can be few, if any managers in football, willing to consider the Motherwell job, that has the managerial experience that McGhee has. He has a presence that, much as I liked Baraclough, has been lacking and in the prime of life regarding football management. Yes he has made his mistakes, but he will be a better manager for it and he was pretty decent the first time round. Was reading Jim Paterson, Stephen Craigan and Keith Lasley wax lyrical about the impact he had on the team the first time around and about how he knocked them into shape. Anything like the same reaction from the players again and we could easily be top 6. The best football I have every watched was under McGhee. I remember a game against Aberdeen at FP in late November (I think) of that first season and in the first half hour Aberdeen hardly touched the ball. It was superb to watch. Stephen Hughes ran the show from memory that day,Were we 3-0 up after half an hour in that game? Welcome back Mark McGhee. All the very best!!!

I was having a look on a Dundee Utd forum the other day to see what names were being touted on their boards and if those names could have any relevance for us. At that point in time Paul Lambert was being discussed as a genuine possibility for them. I could not believe the amount of negativity towards Lambert. It was a minority, but enough to surprise me. To me, he would be a no brainer for any SPFL club with a huge amount of experience and a fantastic managerial record (if his last months at Villa are disregarded). Even he was not good enough for some on the Utd forum. I think this proves your point about football fans in general, not just our own. We could only dream that Lambert would come to us, but you could guarantee that even that would not meet with universal approval on here.

Pitch looks great. Is that Jim Gannon in picture 4? A team bus in the background and it would feel like deja vu! Good pictures. Cheers.

Does anyone else feel that this process seems to take too long? I can understand the theory that the club must take time to get the right man but back in November the process was lengthy and it appears now that we got the wrong man. Dundee Utd have been manager-less for 10 days and could be close, if rumour is to believed in appointing shortly. Liverpool look as though they will take less than 7 days to appointment. It is now 2 weeks since Baraclough was sacked with no real sign that we will hear news any time soon. It took from Wednesday to the following Monday for the board to even meet to decide the way forward. It just all seems a bit slow. I know that in business these appointments can take time for a number of reasons, but they say that in football a week is a long time so it would seem that maybe what is an acceptable timescale in business may not be in football. Maybe I am just getting frustrated by the lack of news but there does seem to be me to be a slight lack of urgency both this time and the last time.

Of the names being mentioned: 'Craggs' - cannot understand why he is even being considered unless it is simply out of courtesy. Up until the summer he had no more experience than I have of managing a football team. Also this 'senior players' chat concerns me. We need one manager not half a dozen and I don't think Craigan is the man to distance himself from all that. 'Jimmy Calderwood'- it is very difficult to argue with his record. His success as Aberdeen manager was impressive and he achieved heights with them in Europe that McIness has yet struggled to match. It just seems like a step back in time though, with potentially old school method, so maybe a little uninspiring. Mark McGhee- 'August to Christmas of his first season was the best football I have ever watched a Well side play, and arguably the best football I have watched any Scottish side play. His handling of the Phil situation will never be forgotten which is why I was really saddened by his treatment by Well fans on future visits to Pittodrie. His second season however was at times torture to watch and he has a 9-0 thumping by Celtic as Aberdeen manager on his CV. A switched on McGhee however I would take back in a second. Simo Valakari- the kind of appointment, I would love to see our club make but it could be Baraclough all over again. Success at a lower level, thorough, professional, hard working, forward thinking but would he have the presence to knock the ego's in the dressing room into shape? Would be very interesting to find out but a risk. So in summary, who would I want based on all this. Jim Gannon of course!!!!!!!!!

I can't understand why Craigan would be considered. Many of the fans were unhappy with Baraclough's appointment because of his sketchy management experience. The reality is that Baraclough had considerably more management experience than Craigan currently has and played at a higher level in terms of club football. Was not good enough then so why should even less be good enough now?

Pressley is one of those guy's that likes to stick the word football in front of every second word. ' The football players at the football club want to win the football match by putting the football football in the football goals' He must be keen to make sure that people don't think he is talking about snooker