star sail

Great result today. Many is the time teams have come to Fir Park and stolen three points. Think we did that today but not complaining. Ruddy's saves really were World class and I am really looking forward to seeing them again on the TV. For me the ref ruined the game a bit today. Surprised he was not wearing a t shirt saying 'look at me'. He was equally poor with both teams so no complaints about the balance of decisions but he ruined any chance of a flowing game. As other have said, felt sorry for Jennings but it was the right decision. Anybody on a yellow card today was going to be in real danger of getting sent off.

No Reynolds? I think Reynolds may be in at left back again. Up front I think it will be Sutton. I think the interesting thing is that you can disagree on one or two positions and the team still looks strong and that is without Laslay, Humphries etc in the starting 11. Good times. Somebody mentioned Billy Dodd's predictions earlier. I have noticed over the last few seasons that he goes for Motherwell defeats very regularly so not overly concerned with his prediction of a Well defeat. I think he actually predicted Well for the drop this year.

Hard to believe that we suddenly have four capable players to pick from in the centre of defense. I cannot make up my mind about the best partnership at the back so thought I would ask for peoples thoughts from Reynolds, Craigan, Hutchison and Saunders. I have been really impressed by Saunders over the last few games (Aberdeen, Rangers). For me any combination of the four would be ok. I think Hutchison/Saunders may be too much of a gamble because of a lack of experience but then I would have said the same about Reynolds/Saunders before I saw them cope so well on Saturday. For me Reynolds is the most versatile so could be played elsewhere but I think CD is his best position. Can Craigan be left out given his experience and captaincy? Could we even switch to a back three? Seems like a bit of a headache for JG albeit a good one to have.

I don't think as a support we have a leg to stand on given some of our various chants over the last few seasons. Its why I am so disappointed when we start out own brand of bile because it brings us down to their level. If a large minority of our fans think that the Aberdeen singing a few weeks back was fine then they have no reason to complain when the Old Firm come to town. It's a shame because I would like to think that we cld take the moral high ground.

I just hope that we have a real go at them. They have a pensioner in defense so a bit of pace will cause them problems. No reason why we cant win. Looking at the team posted above, it looks fairly decent.

I don't doubt that this is what the journalist heard and what probably Mark McGhee heard as well but it does not mean that was what was sung. Says more about the sub conscious of the listener than it does about the beliefs of the Well support. The chanting that did take place was out of order but I think this shows how deep into some peoples psyche the sectarian issue is. Glasgow journalism. Canny beat it for paranoia and narrow mindedness.

This is from an Aberdeen fan? Speaks a lot of sense.

I find it amazing that over a third of the votes have landed on the side of this being ok. Can dress this up any way we like but if this is considered ok by a significiant minority of our support then we are no better than the Old Firm. I have heard a few suggesting that what the Old Firm sing is different, suggesting that what they sing about is worse but I would say that singing songs about child rapists is pretty bad. I always pretend that as a support we are better than the Old Firm but it is getting harder for me to believe my own dillusions. I sat at the Nancy game and listened for 90 mins to some disgusting racist comments from some neds behind me. Nobody (including myself) told them to be quiet. It actually takes a lot of courage to stand up in a situation like and if normally you try to live your life in a non violent, non confrontational way. The point is that saturday was not an isolated incident. The question I would like to ask is, as a group of supporters what do we actually stand for? Are we just the Old Firm scum in disguise? I am struggling at the moment to feel a sense of togetherness with my fellow Well fans. At Pittodrie on Saturday I remember saying to my Dad that it was kind of funny that we should pay money to sit in that environment on a Saturday afternoon. Is was a long way to drive for the priviledge as well.

As I say I hope not. Would be very disappointing if it was. Maybe the players themselves decided to stretch their legs.

I hope he was not trying to intentionally embarass them Steelboy but I do agree it looked a bit odd. I do agree with you on Forbes. He looked tired before the third substitution was made and I thought he might come off. For just now however I am going to continue to enjoy the Gannon honeymoon period.

Gannon must go!!!!

So for all the people that are thinking that this is all fine, boys will be boys a bit of a laugh, the next time Celtic or Rangers come to Fir Park and start all their Sectarain chanting you will be ok with it? Or is that different?

How many do you think will travel? We are taking the trip up to Pittodrie for the first time given all this early season optimism.

Forgot to say, delighted to see Crags have a good game. Had a chuckle to myself when he went on that run in the first half. Great to see.

Just back. Thoroughly enjoyed today. As has beeen said, lots of positives. Coke particularly impresses me as being an excellent signing. Was excited enough to decide to make the trip up to Aberdeen next week for the first time in many years. Do feel that as a support we could be doing a bit more to improve the atmosphere. On the subject of Slane, I don't think it is wrong to mention the mistake towards the end as it seemed to me that he was trying to be a bit too smart. I hope he is not believing the hype too much already. I think we can be fairly certain that Gannon will let him know about playing as part of a team, so no reason to be concerned. One other point, I thought Taoule for Kilmarnock was fantastic. Kilmarnock had done well to keep in.

I am impressed by those on hear who have managed to get a handle on Gannon's formations. It has been very interesting and like others I have been pleased to see that he is not scared to change if all is not going well. I have found it difficult to keep track of the players and the positions they are playing. What I find most interesting has been his use of Reynolds. Like McGhee, Gannon seems to see Reynolds as one of the few automatic starts and yet he has not looked totally comfortable in any of the positions he has played so far this season. There is no doubt he is a talanted player but his proper position is still a bit of a mystery. For me he is too lightweight to be a Central Defender. I would like to think that the holding midfield role is the place for him but he has not been totally convincing in that position yet. That leaves Left Back. I think that may be where he plays this Saturday. The question then is what happens to Hammell? I think he will be on the bench as Slane, O Brien and Humphries are the prefered wide players at the moment. The rest is full of questions. Will Craigan start? Will Sutton start? Where does Jennings fit into the plan? Is Hatley our new Right Back? It's all very exciting and what's more Jim Jefferies will be scratching his head wondering what team he will be up against. I think there are only three positions that are fairly settled Ruddy, Coke and Forbes. I am not going to begin to guess a scoreline as it could be anything. We could score 5, they could score 5. Fun times to be a Well fan.

I did not mean that he is displaying arrogance in any way. All I'm saying is that if anyone is critised in their profession it can be hard to take and to change you have to swallow your pride and accept another opinion. Edit: Sorry, just realised what I said. Ooopps!

I don't think it is the end for Crag's and I hope it's not but I would say that all is not well with the relationship between Captain and Manager at the moment. As someone said about, Gannon appears to want snappy passes played on the deck. As we know Craigan likes to play long balls and his accuracy at times is woeful. Watching Gannon at some of the Euro games, you could see his frustrations when Craigan was playing these balls and what's more he was no shy about letting him know. For me the alarm bells from yesterday was not the change at Half Time but Gannons comments on why he made the change. He mentioned wanting players on the park who were showing energy and enthusiasm. That suggests that he felt Craigan was showing neither. I think that if Craigan wants a future at the club he will have to swallow his bride a bit and change to play the way the manager wants. The question is can he do this after playing a certain way for so long? Finally it's a high risk stratagy if Gannon does make an enemy of Craigan. If things go well then no problem but if we are struggling supporters and the media (as Craigan is a bit of a media darling) will turn and use Craigans absence as the cause of the problems (as per Christmas last year). I hope Craigan does adapt and goes on to have the best season he has had in years.

I don't see a problem with having 'revisionist behaviour'. I think you can only make an opinion based on what you see at a particular time and after Season 1 we were looking at a Manager who had taken us to 3rd in the league, handled the Phil O Donnell situation with great dignity and was being touted for jobs with Scotland and Hearts. To make a decision that we have a good manager at that time is not unreasonable. Season 2 was not so good and particularly towards the end McGhee began to show some weakness. That people should re-evaluate their thoughts is perfectly reasonable and actually fairly open minded. If you saw these weaknesses in Season 1 and had the man pegged from the beginning then well done, you have more insight than most fans and certainly me, however I don't think there is a need to criticise supporters for changing their mind as more information became available as time went on. For what it's worth McGhee may yet show us that he is indeed a very good manager. I will apply my revisionist thinking at the end of the season before calling it.

Anyone have a link to The Herald/Evening Times Predictions. I don't understand where they get these predictions from. The only thing I can think is that Jim Gannon is the only manager they know nothing about, so they have come to the conclusion that he is rubbish. What exactly are Falkirk, St Mirren, Kilmarnock, St Johnstone and Hamilton doing to suggest that they will be stronger than us this season? I suppose I should read their thoughts before jumping in but it seems like a strange choice to me. Do they actually give it any thought at all?

Glenmorangie you are the new John Hughes (Film Director) not John Hughes (my players all have six packs so they deserve to avoid relegation). Life affirming, who needs Miracle on 34th Street or Home Alone. You start with the trials and tribulations of life and build up to happy ending. Only thing is you need to work on the ending. It should read. Motherwell to finish 1st, going on to beat Barcalona in next seasons Champions League Final! Good post and sums up the life of the Well fan.

I think it's 7 after last night but that is just a hunch. I am sure that it was 6 towards the end of last season. While every og may be unlucky it is not totally independant of ability. It is not simply fate that causes og's. I think last nights og was unlucky but better defenders would have dealt better with the ball that came into the box. Some of Craigans og's have been avoidable but I agree that that does not condemn him to being a bad player. I would rather see him in the team than not. If Marc Fitzpatrick had scored 7 og's in his time at Motherwell I wonder if he would be getting off so lightly?

Hugh Sproat (can't find pic).

Absolutely. I like the wording of some of his phrases that while they may be subtle say a lot. The one that got me last week was (when talking about Slane) 'I'm looking forward to working for him' or words to that effect. There is an element of selflessness about his comments and even if it is slightly manufactured it is a big improvement. Certainly at least in the aftermath of a rather bruising defeat he was not focused on his reputation as a Stockport Legend.

With talk of Fitzpatrick, McGarry etc and the different opinions thereof I think it is Craigan that is the biggest enigma at Fir Park. My first post on Steelmen online was to criticise Craigan for what I thought was a really poor run of games that concluded in (I think) 6 own goals. The reaction I got was so extreme I thought I was going to have to hide out with Salman Rushdi for a while. I still think he is a bomb scare and yet when he was out the team last season we went through our poorest run of form at that time. The conclusion I have come to is that he does more for the team than is immediatly apparent. I would like to see him play along side another really strong CD before I cast a final judgement as I feel that he has been coaching Reynolds through the last few seasons. The first two posts of this thread highlight to me the two camps in the Craigan debate. Those who question his worth and those who show him a loyalty and backing that almost puts him beyond reproach. Having said all of this he has been a fantastic servant to our club and a great spokesman. To me a total enigma.