star sail

I hate you for this.

That's not going to happen any time soon I'm afraid. Brown seems to be a big fan of our club captain and there are people on here who are personally offended if you criticise the big guy. It is going to be Craigan + 1 for a long time to come. Reynolds will maybe get a move in January and it is the best thing for him. I have accepted that I am out of touch with what makes a good defender and have to trust the better judgement of Brown and Knox who are seeing the players in training and are the profesionals but I prefered Gannon's idea of a good defender to Brown's.

...and when the changes did come they were the wrong ones. Going to put this one down to a bad day at the office but I think we are flattering to deceive at the moment and our 3rd place is thanks to the others tripping over themselves. The good and the bad as I see it are: Good - The 4 forward thinking players have really impressed (Humphrey, Blackman, Gow, Murphy) and flat out will cause teams real problems this year - Lasley and Jennings in midfield, strong as any in the SPL. Bad (or at least not so good) - Hately as a midfield player (as others have mentioned) - the distribution from the back. This has been a long standing problem that Gannon tried to fix and it contributed to him losing his job. - the lack of depth in the squad (don't blame anyone for this as it is purely financial) - the inconsistency of performance during a 90 mins. i.e great starts that fade away. One last thing, surely Motherwell must be the worst team in the SPL for giving struggling teams a life line. How many times have we seen teams on really poor runs come to Fir Park and end their drought. This season alone Hibs and Hamilton have got victories at Fir Park, two teams that can't buy a victory. Another example would be gifting Josh Thompson 2 goals at Parkhead last season when Celtic were having one of the worst runs in their history and this boy was having a personal nightmare. Over the years the list is endless of similar stories. Maybe othe r clubs could tell of similar woes but the Well seem to be expert at it.

Kenny Clark has suddenly becoming the great judge of all he surveys. Would not be surprised to see him pull up a chair alongside Simon Cowell in the X Factor tonight in between his analysis of the paddy-bas on Strictly.

Six weeks is actually not a long time in tems of improving fitness. It can be a slow process. A bit of patience yet and we might find we have a real player on our hands. I like Sutton but think that potentially Gow could be on a different level. Did he get a hard time as someone suggested above? Round about me it was all positive.

Agree with all of this. I'm a bit concerned that Hateley is not going to cut it as a midfield player and the difference in the way we played when Lasley went of was staggering.

If you could give it to a player for 30 mins on the park then would have been Lasley. He was running the show and the game changed when he went off, however went for Gow as for me he made the difference 2nd half and his ability to find pockets of space was impressive. Humphrey was again impressive but I would like to see him having a shot when he gets to the corner of the 18 yard box. Works for Gareth Bale so why not. His energy and enthusiasm is a joy to watch and every left back in the country is going to have a hard time this season if he continues with this form.

This may be a daft question and may have been covered before but what is stopping the building of a new ground on the current site? Ground sharing with Accies or Airdrie for a season would not been the end of the world and it would keep The Well in its spiritual home. I think that Fir Park Street is about as cool as as a venue gets for a football ground because of firstly the name and secondly the nostalgic throw back to British Football grounds of old that are slowly disappearing. Something that architecturally blended old with new and allowed us to stay where we are would be perfect would it not?

That is great news. To be Champions in any country is a fantastic achievement and it puts Motherwell's result against them in a very positive light. Champions league qualification for them next season. Superb

This is why we dream. I agree with you and particularly after the Nancy game, I was really rejected about how far off the pace we were, however the last Euro adventure gave me hope. I think we were only one or maybe two quality players away from a victory against the Danes. Where these players come from I don't know but give me those games any day over an Old Firm visit. I honestly don't think they bring anything positive when they come to town. They don't even bring good football.

That is my point, qualify for the Europa league and you need a 10,000 + stadium. That my friend is the bigger and better dream. Was Nancy not 11,000. In actual fact the Old firm don't even bring enough for 10,000 anymore. As a Well fan I would want a 10,000 seater stadium so that we could have the potential of holding big Euro nights in the future. Having 10,000 Old Firm fans in your ground is more of a nightmare than a dream.

Love it how these Old Firm punters think it's all about them all of the time. Odense was close on 10,000 and had we reached the group stages 10,000+ would have been pretty much assured. Much as it will be a shock to you, Motherwell do not simply exist to host the Old Firm four times a season, we have bigger and better dreams.

My biggest concern is that the performances are far from inspiring at the moment and I would argue that we have not seen a commanding 45 mins from Well yet this season (possibly Hibs 1st half apart but then 1-1 at Half time is not commanding). Comes down to the old debate about results against performance but personally my interest levels have increased in recent years when under McGhee and for a time Gannon we were making the effort to play the game on the deck. Not throwing in the towel just yet but if this is the level of entertainment for the rest of the season my attendance ratio for the season will drop dramatically. Yes I know that makes me a bad fan and all that horseshit but for me the game is about entertainment as much as it is about loyalty and so far this season the entertainment and spark has been lacking.

Wonder if this means we will see him get a game against the Jambo's at the weekend.

No mention of Fitzy. Time must be running out for him now given that he has till Christmas to prove himself. Would be a real shame if we do not seem him in a Well first team again before then. Somebody mentioned playing players out of position to avoid playing fringe players, was it not Brown who having lost a couple of defenders played a midfield player in defence and left Brian Martin on the bench, a player who was well overdue a Scotland call up and was playing out of his skin at the time. May have been Roxburgh at that time. My memory is sketchy.

+1 Let's distract the paying public with a pile of pish about level playing fields so that they wont notice that the game in Scotland is fading to oblivion. The irony in this story is incredible. A level playing field is exactly what the SFA should be looking at but in the metaphorical sense not the literal sense. Coming just a week after another dismal display by the Scotland National Team this kind of thing shows that we are well and truely f$*?ed.

We're doomed!!!!

I still think the squad lacks in quality and depth. Cheers Your friend the pant wetter.

Did he not get a consolation goal at Ibrox the game before the fateful Utd game. Relying on memory so could be totally wrong.

Then a run of 16 goals in the last 5. The Craigan thing is never going to be resolved, some think he is great, some think he is pish. Gannon thought he was pish, Brown thinks he is great.

Same here mate. Seems like too many people just can't let go of the long ball into the stand approach. Each to their own I suppose.

Thanks.

That is fine. We will just keep on down the old dead end road then. The status quo is working so well after all.

Hallelujah to that!! The Jim Gannon debate has been done to death but he got me interested in the Scottish game again. He is the only person in the Scottish game who has offered anything different for the last umpty tumpt years. It did not work maybe partly because of the man himself but he had a hell of a lot to fight against. Craig Brown is fine for us. He will steer us in the calm mediocre waters but he will offer nothing that has not been seen before in the game in this country. Where would Steven Saunders be at this moment as a player if Gannon had stayed? What about Forbes, Hateley, all three played their best football under Gannon. Unfortunately at the moment these players are going backwards. Jim Gannon was an experiment that did not work. I genuinely believe he could have been the saviour of Scottish Football had he had the temprement and diplomacy to put his thoughts into action. It was a sad day when Stephen Craigan won out over the big guy. That is just my opinion.

Last Sunday was shite too, we just happened to be less shite than Killie, the Sunday before that we lost having been in control of the first half at home against a crap Hibs team. Are you fairly relaxed with that?