star sail

These guys have got to be controversal. It keeps them in a job. He probably does not even believe in what he is writing. We really have an ten team league given that the Old Firm take up the Top 2 places every year. Two seasons ago we finished top of the eight team SPL with very limited resources. That's a fantastic achievement and certainly much better than any achievement of some pretensious journo who contributes nothing to the common good. If he wants to have a go at someone it should be Rangers. It amazes me that they can continually serve up awful football with the big budgets they have. That is a team who are happy to use the 10 SPL teams as punch bags and just scrape past the finishing line every year giving little in the way of entertainment in the process.

Just as well some of the punters on here don't work for the SPL. If they did we would be heading for the first division. We all saw the proof in the summer on the official website of the pitch being fixed. We played three European games at Airdrie (with financial consequences) to allow the pitch to knit together and still you people say the club have not done enough. That there is an investigation in the first place is a disgrace and just the SPL's way of being seen to do the right thing. If the club get fined for this we have to start asking big questions about issues beyond dodgy linesman. We need to get behind our club on this and stop bashing them for the coldest winter in 30 years.

Yes you a right he did come from Northampton but he was talking about his QPR days. I had forgotten that he was at Northhampton in between.

I remember reading an interview from Coke when he first arrived from QPR saying that he had blown his chance there because of laziness and lethargy and that he was determined not to make the same mistake again. Hope he is not falling back into old habits after a great start to the season.

Murphy for me. Hope he has done enough to convince Broony of a starting place next week.

On another day he could have been off. I am all for player discipline but that was one time when I would not have blamed O Brien for lamping the wee ned. Type of tackle that ends careers and under those circumstances emotion has to come into it. Thought the officials were shocking yet again. Some baffling decisions. Great 3 points and some good football played on a very difficult surface.

I know as much as the next man about all this though I can get good strips when I cut my lawn. I would guess that the expense is in the foundations of the pitch (eg ush, drainage, base layers etc) that will not be affected by current problems. I would think that re-seeding should not be that expensive. If the club do have to re-seed after the last game of this season, the pitch would have an additional 3-4 wks (from last year) to knit at the best part of the year for growth. This should not be an expensive option. Having said that my guess is as good/poor as anyones.

I know a high profile referee from the 80's who was a Well fan (will not mention his name). He said that when he reflected on Well games that he refereed he felt that he was always tougher on Motherwell because he was probably over compensating for any natural bias he may have had. I also watched him and his family get death threats and intimidation from OF fans after games he refereed that the OF were involved in. They had to have their phone number changed on many occasions. I think the decision last night was based on fear. As many of these decisions are. Self preservation kicks in and officials bottle it. That is why there will never be a fair system of refereeing in this country. What makes it worse is that the Press perpetuate and support the problem.

If Motherwell were to lose out on 4th place (or even 3rd) by 1 or 2 pts what is to stop Motherwell from sueing the SFA for loss of earnings. It may not get anywhere but it would put real pressure on the authorities to sort this type of incident out once and for all. How much is a place worth anyway? I would have thought it would be £150-£200K and last night could have taken us a big step closer to Dundee Utd.

I think we will sit in and try to sneak a goal on the counter attack. One up front (Jutkiewicz). Watched St Mirren v Rangers on Saturday and expecting a very similar game. 0-0

According to my Dad, it used to be widely recognised that Motherwell had the best playing surface in Scottish Football. Is it not the case that the South Stand is causing the major problems with the pitch due to a lack of sunlight. I am sure that I heard Pat Nevin commenting once that the problems with the pitch will never be solved till they leave Fir Park.

...and you wait untill the top of page 5 to tell us. For all those who have written on the pages before, you don't care!! Actually I came on here thinking that Kris Humfrey had jacked it in and was heading back down south. Have just spent 20 mins laughing my head off.

Is this the propaganda machine rolling? It just so happens you are absolutely right. He is a top notch keeper. His three consecutive saves at Dundee Utd were the best saves I have ever seen at a live game of football. I could not believe he had kept the ball out of the net that day. Had that been MacGregor, Chick Young and the gang would have wanted him knighted.

Could a certain Mr Gannon be causing problems in the background preventing Boyle from making a decision about the Managerial future at this time? (Sheer speculation) On another note this is a bit long winded but makes a point. Below is a list (in order) of the no of managers the SPL clubs have had over the last 20 years (1990-2010) with the average time for each manager alongside. Makes intereting reading (I think) Hearts- 16 Ave (1.25 yr per manager) Hearts have had 13 managers in the last 6 years Hibs- 12 Ave (1.7 yrs per manager). Alex Miller was there for 10 yrs (86-96) Celtic- 11 Ave (1.8 yr per manager) Dundee Utd- 11 (as above) Jim McLean did have 22 yrs in charge from 71-93. MWell- 10 Ave (2yrs per manager) This includes Craig Brown Aberdeen- 9 (2.2 yrs) Falkirk-9 Ham Accies- 8 (Ave 2.5 yrs) St Mirren-8 Gus MacPherson has been manager since 2003. St Johnston- 8 Killie- 6 (Ave 3.3 yrs) Jeffries had 8 years. Rangers- 6 Including PLG's short spell and Ian Durrant, suggesting this is not the hardest job in the SPL as some would have us believe. The point is that to get two years from an SPL manager is actually fairly good going so the issue of age should not really be a factor with Craig Brown. If he could give us to the end of season 2011/12 he would become one of the longest serving Well Managers of the last 20 years.

You might be right and to be honest I did not enjoy what I was watching from October onwards however what struck me was that he had the balls to try something different. Hooking players after 15 mins, playing young boys in all areas of the park, insisting (at least at first) that the ball be played patiently from the back were all really positive signs and gave my Dad and I the enthusiasm to travel to Aberdeen in September, something we have not done for some time. That it did not work is really disappointing and we could be getting the very opposite end of the spectrum with Craig Brown. Not that I'm expecting John Collins and Gary McAllister to start on Saturday but I would expect some very experienced if not entirely exciting players to be coming to the club if Brown stays. I really hope I am wrong and that Craig Brown can bring something that the average Scottish Football Manager can't but the fact that Murphy, Saunders and possibly Forbes have already dropped down the pecking order does not fill me with hope for the future.

I suppose it is all speculation but there was certainly enough to suggest that there was player unrest from a very early stage. I remember watching Laslay, McGarry and Hammell warming up at the corner flag in the early stages of the Flamutari game and they looked like three schoolboys talking behind the teachers back. I remember JOB making a couple of mistakes early doors at right back and the reaction from the three players was (at least looked) less than supportive. Added to that there was mention (was it from Gannon himself?) that there was a player/players trying to undermine what he was doing at the club. Maybe Craigan, McGarry et al had the best interests of the club at heart but I would be more inclined to think that there may have been a little bit more self interest involved. It's seems strange to me that a man who was almost naievely loyal to Stockport should only a short while later be so disloyal to Motherwell. I have no doubt that he wanted to go but there must have been exceptional circumstances that made him appear to give up so quickly. I am sure than Gannon is no angel and will not be blameless but I would guess that there will be some players at the club who have had some say in the failure of Gannon's time at the club. Interestingly we hear an article from Saunders today talking positively about Gannon's time. It's seems like the players view of the man is somewhat dependant upon which side of the touchline they found themselves on, on a Saturday afternoon. No doubt the truth lies somewhere in the middle but I feel really dispondant that the Gannon experiment did not work as it was maybe the one chance we had to rise above the crowd.

So what you are trying to say Postie Jim is that you are happy for Scottish Football and Scottish players to wallow in mediocrity just so long as nobody comes along and tries to rock the boat and drag them forward. This my friend is the reason why Scottih football is heading for oblivion. Here is an example (Rangers dressing room) P Le Guen ' Boydy, I don't think you should be turning up for training hung over and eating Monster Munch as a diet' B Ferguson ' How dare you treat my friend in such a way. Come on Boydy, let's go to Newcastle get hammered and get this guy the sack' Result PLG gets the sack and Rangers are to this day playing the same old shite they always have and getting pumped 4-0 in Europe. I would guess you could swap a couple of well players in this general scenario and you would have a similar story. Gannon will be delighted that he has got himself out of the hole that is Scottish Football.

Great post and hits the nail on the head for me. Last night for me shows why Gannon did not think much of our little squad of players and wanted out. The fact is that a 2-0 defeat to ICT has become acceptable and nobody is overly surprised. The old guard really showed us last night what we have been missing.

Got ya!! Cheers

That sounds a bit too Rangers like for me. Can we ditch 'Britannia' and 'loyal' from all things Claret and Amber? (or am I missing something?) Delighted with the result today. Only word of caution, we had a similar comfortable 3-0 win over Killie earlier in the season. Actually forget those negative vibes. Europe here we come!!

I agree to some extent. I think players are often very quick to deflect responsibility, however the Motherwell players were still getting on with their jobs in the sense that they turned up and were playing a game of football. The difference is that they were giving maybe 80% effort when for a club like Motherwell 100% is required at all times just to stand still. I think where Gannon has got it wrong is that he has been too focused on the technicalities of the game and not focused enough on the man management of the players.

Agree with this. I was really excited at the start of the season by what Gannon was trying to do and really thought we were onto something. I was happy till I heard his interview after the St Johnstone game and suddenly began to worry. The real story will come out but I somehow feel that we have missed a great opportunity here. I would think that Gannon could still go on to be an excellent manager. His comments about the press and referee's were ill adviced but ultimately he was speaking the truth. Look how the old boys network of Scottish Football rounded on him. Maybe the same has happened on a smaller scale at the club. I happen to think that Scottish Football generally is a bit of a poisoned chalice at the moment and we should rule out a manager from outwith Scotland. Get someone who knows how this weird little microclimate of Scottish Football works. Lets humf it up the park and be done with it. Really down about all of this. It has a bit of the Paul Le Guen's about it.

I was not at the game yesterday and when I heard the result I was disappointed but not concerned because I have been thinking 'bigger picture' all season. However I have just listened to Gannon's interview and I am now concerned. That is not a man thinking 'bigger picture' It's a man who sounds beat, concerned and out of ideas. It's sounds to me like his teenage hero's have let him down and he has decided to turn on them. Really poor interview. Could this be another manager who has underestimated what is required in the SPL?

I had a problem with tickets a few weeks back and found the service from the ticket office and Leann Dempster herself absolutely first class. I sent an e-mail late on a Friday eve and got a reply almost instantly and the problem was solved the next morning. I should point out that the initial problem was not of the ticket offices making. Can understand the frustrations on both sides in this case but I think we have to support the obvious effort the staff at Fir Park are making.

Pleased to see Lasley get a chance today. I thought he looked good last week and yes he did have a couple of slack balls in midfield but for a man who is not match fit you have to expect that. Also Cokes been losing critical balls in the midfield for weeks. Pleased that Gannon has seen the positive aspects of his game.