star sail

We had 8500-9000 at the beginning of the season for Odense. With only a small minority being Odense fans then it would be fair to say that there is about 8000 Well fans that have shown themselves willing to go to an important game. 10-11000 against nancy as well would back up the theory that there are still fans out there willing to come along. The problem is that ticket prices and an almost empty Hampden will put some of the fans who could have been convinced off coming along. Poor decision making from the powers that be are putting the fringe fans off at every available opportunity. I am still hopeful however of between 8000-10,000 Well fans. Anything less would be slightly embarrasing.

Some really difficult decisions for the manger tomorrow. It would be ideal if Jennings was back to give him a game before the Semi Final but he is not so I don't think Lasley (my player of the season so far) can be rested unfortunately. Hopefully Jeffers is back (McHugh might play instead), would rest Sutton and the rest play. The young lads can recover in a week. What we don't want is a doing to knock confidence. I'm going for an almost full strength squad with a 1-1 draw. On the point of the head to head stats. 21-15. For a team the size of Hearts thats an embarrasment.

Hi Lip I don't totally disagree with what you are saying and like MJC at least you are giving good reasons for your views but I think you are being harsh about the Utd game last Wednesday. Dundee Utd are the form team in Scotland at the moment and we held them to a draw on their patch and took them apart on ours. They did not turn up because they were not allowed to play by a Well side that did not give them a second. There were signs in the first 5 mins last week that Utd were very much up for the game. Motherwell were simply too good.

I was less than impressed when he signed up for two main reasons. One his record at Bradford was poor and two his Rangers connections. As some on here will try to trip over themselves to call me a bigot, I should deal with the second point first. There was always going to be a media love in with the Rangers thing when McCall joined us as it turned out to be with the cringe worthy McCall/ McCoist lunch interview before the CIS Cup game and constant references at other times. McCalls reaction to this has been excellent however. I thought that he looked uncomfortable during the lunch interview. He has never welcomed questions about his Rangers past and I thought it was a really good move to try and distance himself from these questions in one of his e-mails. On the first point he has gone some way towards persuading me that he could be a good manager. I thourougly enjoyed the Cup game last week because of the dynamic style of play and the obvious fight and togetherness within the squad. He has made some decent signings and made tough decisions when he had to (eg dropping Craigan). I still think that the jury is out but a top six finish and a Scottish Cup Final would go a long way towards converting me. The true test will be in the summer when he has to rebuild the team but we have to remember than Brown did not make a good job of that last summer and McGhee made a total arse of it two summers on the trot so we have to be aware of the precedent with this. Gannon's summer signings were in some ways an exceptional set of circumstances. There has been the bad too, ICT away, Hamilton away, Killie away, St Mirren home but again those types of performances have been present under any manager you could mention. Pleased to be proved wrong (yet again). I thought McGhee was good (got that wrong), Gannon was good (probably wrong), Brown I got about right (filled a gap but dull as dishwater) and McCall (proving me wrong once more). Long may it continue.

Jennings for me. Absolutely superb. Jeffers a close second.

Is that the same common knowledge that said we would be getting a new manager with Premiership management experience that the fans would be happy about? Seems like the common knowledge that flys about this board isn't really up to much. I don't know if Casagolda is good or shite but I am pretty certain that you don't have a scoobie about McCalls views on the goal machine.

Fair enough. As a complete aside Malky, are you a Tolstoy fan or do you just like that particular quote? I have always wanted to read War and Peace but never get round to it.

To bin the thread because someone uses a defeat to back up a point seems a bit extreme. Is that not verging on censorship of a sort in fact? I am actually wanting to defend McCall today. I did not want him to get the job and there is warning signs that he may not be the man for the job but I am starting to warm to him. Todays defeat was not his fault. Individual players making really poor decisions at crucial moments in a game is not something that a manager can do much about. Players that give up after the 3rd goal goes in is,but only after the game is finished. The response from the players will be interesting over the next few weeks. What I like however is the way in which he is getting the team to play the game. He is obviousy an advocate of the ball on the deck football and even at 3-1 the team did not revert to the long ball which is a plus in my view. I liked his interview after the game today. He sounded angry which I am pleased to hear and he hit the nail on the head regarding the deficiencies in the team. One thing though, the suggestion from some that motivation is not a managers responsibility seems crazy to me. I think that it is the most important part of a football managers job. This is the bit that is still up for debate as far as McCall is concerned in my view. Being up for the fight against the Old Firm and in the Scottish Cup is one thing but not turning up against Killie, St Mirren, Accies etc is where he needs to prove his worth.

No complaints. Lack of fight, lack of know how and a lack of direction. Jennings could and maybe should have been off. Suicidal defending for all three goals. Definate penalty, what was Gunning thinking about? Craigan tried it again second half with the shoulder barge, good thinking Captain. Hately is not a right back (not a midfielder either). Humph has not been the same player since Brown left. All in all I think that was a performance today that gives a good indication of our level. Killie deserve top six because they are a better side than us and for my money so do ICT. We are now a bottom 6 club. Good luck to Killie. Hope they can upset the apple cart in the run in.

That is not a bad result. I would think that Craigan will miss out but Randolph could play given that he will probably be on the bench for Ireland. Of the two, I think he is the more important given that we have some cover in Gunning, Saunders, Hutchison. I can only think that the reason why the game is not the week before is due to the pitch problems.

I don't think they would. Give the fans something to be positive about and they will be positive. Like this board tonight for example. Sutton is fast approaching Well legend status in my eyes. Undervalued and goes about his business, quietly and professionally and the important goals are toting up. Good game. Happy with the result. Bringon the replay!!

This is a kind of chicken and egg comment? What comes first? The pelters or the misplaced pass? Football fans are the same up and down the country. The more misplaced passes the more pelters. Give a crowd something to be positive about and they will be positive.

On the first point, Craigan, Lasley, Hammell, Jennings, Jeffers, Sutton are all players with years of experience between them and that is more than half the team. On the second, It is the managers job to motivate the team. It is probably the managers main, most important job. If the manager does not have responsibility for motivating the team what does he do? Craig Brown had a successful first half to the season with the same bunch of players minus Gow, who most thought was rubbish, Reynolds and Blackman.

The fact is that they did beat Hamilton but that does not tell the full story. Yes Well won but with a penalty against the poorest side the SPL has seen for a few years. I made this point about motivation after the Celtic game and was accused of being a negative vibe merchant after such a historic win but the fact is that if you can play really well against Aberdeen, Rangers (CIS Cup) and Celtic and not really show up in other games it would be niave not to spot the patterns. I don't buy this argument that the current squad of players are not good enough. You don't beat Aberdeen at Pittodrie and Celtic at home with a bunch of diddys. Sacking McCall would be a disgrace as our board appointed him only two months ago but I am no more confident that McCall is the man for the job now than I was on the day he was appointed. This season will fade away probably with a bottom six finish. Next season is the real test.

Interested to see if Craigan will play. I think it will take a bit of balls from McCall to keep him out but for me it would be the right thing to do. Three points would be massive today. The teams below us are going to be tripping over each other from now untill the split so I think that anything above 40 points could just be enough. Aberdeen and Hibs are still the teams I think we have to be wary of so if we could stretch the gap between ourselves and them to 8-9 pts this weekend it would be massive. Hibs- St Johnstone to draw and Aberdeen to draw and a tight 1-0 victory for the Well would do nicely.

One of the top referee's from the 80's and early 90's was a family friend of ours. He was a Well fan and admitted that when he refereed Well games he tended to be harder on Motherwell that the opposition. Was not a conscious thing on his part, just something that he used to reflect upon after the games. He reckoned that it was a subconscious fear of given Well something soft and the finger being pointed. Maybe an argument for not refereeing the team you support. Only problem then would be that Euan Norris would be the only ref available for OF games.

Thanks. I'm not being negative about today, all I am saying is that we want to see a few good performances against the teams round about us before the McCall fans start the told you so routine. While I am being so negative I may as well continue. Keep Craigan out the team and give the young lads at the back a chance now. They deserve it. Gave Celtic nothing today.

I know the point you are trying to make but to be honest I think this makes things look worse for McCall. The three games that we have shown some fight and spirit ie today, CIS Semi and Aberdeen are games where he does not have to motivate the players. St Mirren, Accies x 2, Utd etc are the games a manager makes the difference. If we win today then go on a run beating the teams round about us then come back and post this. Win lose or draw today it's not really a sign of McCalls strength or lack of.

I don't know you from Adam Milo but from what I have gathered from your posts on here you are someone who has invested time, emotion and money into supporting the well over the years. You seem to be representitive of a whole group of people I know who after years of putting their money where their mouth is, have reached the end of their rope. The 'real fans' (copyright) can be as positive as they like but when attendances are falling and their is a raft of currently attending fans who are on the verge of jacking it in , it is a concerning time. That's a fact, not a subjective opinion. On current form Motherwell are a bottom 6 SPL club. This time next year, unless something changes dramatically we could well find ourselves in the same position as our Lanarkshire rivals. As far as the game this weekend goes, don't know how many Celtic will score but I am fairly confident that Motherwell will not score.

Aye because that's why we are fans, so that we can see our team getting horsed and go out celebrating the bad times. These winning ways are not for me. What a load of pish!!

Thanks. Gave me a chance to practice.

So it was. Tried to quote Rickoza there too. How do you double quote?

Delighted for Franny but did Casagolda not score in his debut against Killie?

Me too. It feels great!!

Did someone say it would be a ghost town on here today because there would be nothing to moan about. 21 pages is not a ghost town Give the fans something to be positive about and the will be positive!!