Kmcalpin

Pretty much my thoughts. It was not a game to play lads who were not fit (Cadden & MacDonald). I'd have gone 4-4-2 with Bowman or Ainsworth up front with Moult and MacLean wide right. Not perfect I admit. Also a case for playing Campbell along with McHugh with Clay/Lasley dropping out. The latter two seemed to be particularly out of their depth. So much for comments that after the break we had a fully fit squad! That really gets my goat. Two players definitely out and two not fit. At the end of the day we're out of the cup anyway (no surprise) with 2 players who may have jeopardised their recovery before a crucial league game. Not seen the goals yet but I'll be surprised if McManus alone is 100% culpable.

Spot on Allan. I don't go along along with the line that Rangers are rubbish. They're 18 points better off than us in the league and that tells its own story. Their players are quicker, better, fitter and more motivated than ours are...simples. Looking at our current squad, they do lack character and bottle and thats a huge disadvantage going into such a game as todays. I haven't seen any of the game yet but I'm fairly sure our midfield would have let us down. Players lacking pace, aggression and belief and perhaps being not being 100% fit in some cases. Irrespective of what Mark McGhee said to his players in the lead up to the game, his tactics said it all and the players are no mugs and would have picked up on that. You can't expect them to be up for a fight if the manager shows little belief in them. We were set up to stop Rangers and it just didn't work. In his time with us Mark McGhee's cup record is appalling and today was never going to change that. As we've said ad nauseum on these boards, if you defend deeply you'll always lose goals. Of more concern to me are Mark McGhee's post match comments...........how on earth is he going to motivate the players for next week in what is a far more important game for me? They are reminiscent of Maurice Malpas's doom laden and depressing post match interviews or Private Fraser's pessimistic outlook on life. Hopefully Mark McGhee will take Kilmarnock and Dundee's results to heart.....things could be worse. At least we have the comfort of a good pay day.

To be fair quite a few of our players could have played regularly during the break and it wouldn't make any difference to their lack of pace. Of our starting 11 only Cadden has any real pace.

Absolutely. Who is going to link up with Moulty? Lose the first goal and thats the plan out of the window.

Just as I feared a very cautious, defensive line up. Maybe only 2 or 3 offensive players at the most. I wouldn't be surprised if Moult hardly sees the ball or has to feed off long high balls. If Rangers can snub out Cadden thats our only viable attacking option nullified. Come on Mark its a cup tie!

Agree with most of that but not your Ainsworth comment - he's too inconsistent for that. Tom Wright can take ordinary players with a bit of attitude and mould them into a decent side. More a reflection of his managerial skills than his players' talent.

Either an injury or possibly proposing to play a 4-5-1 formation or a variation thereof?

Interestingly, Blyth and Kennedy are still out injured. Still the break will have helped a few of the more minor knocks and bruises. We need to give it our best shot and not adopt an overly cautious approach.

O'Halloran is a decent player but I'm not sure where he'd fit in. I can't see us securing his loan though.

Very good post O'Neil and I agree with it 100%. Daver also makes very pertinent points about the accommodation of away fans and costs. For me nothing less than 10,000 would be acceptable. Maybe something in the range 10,500-12,000. Its not just a numbers game though. The stadium would have to be capable of accommodating large away supports of the order of 5,000 fans as Daver says and that would need to be planned in. I don't like some of the characterless modern stadia but cost is a huge issue. Certainly I'd like to see corners filled in. I seem to recall build costs were about £1,000 per seat several years ago. We'd all like to see a top end stadium but costs would be very high indeed and the money would need to come from somewhere.

This match and result ranks as one of the best I've ever seen from a Well side. We defied all the odds to get the win.

No manager has a perfect transfer record. Looking back even Tommy MacLean signed many absolute howlers. The clubs that you mention with the possible exception of St Johnstone, and indeed many Premiership clubs sign many players of which only some make it. Ross County in fact have just released Erik Cikos. Kilmarnock have been like a revolving door this season. I think our recent transfer record stands comparison with most of our rivals.

Aalesund?

Yes. From memory its zoned for green space / recreational uses in the Local Plan. Normally speaking any planning application that contradicts that would be turned down. However, this could be overturned by the Council's Planning Committee when a planning application was submitted if there were good reasons for doing so. * Land for housing is needed * What other recreational purpose could Fir Park serve? * Approval would unlock further development in Ravenscraig * Approval would help a prominent local organisation and employer * Last but not least, rejection would not go down well with many local voters. I'll be very surprised if discussions haven't already taken place with the Planners, albeit years ago. At the very worst a representation for rezoning could be made to the Council when the Local Development Plan was being reviewed. Edit: by coincidence, a new Proposed Plan (a draft) will be out for consultation at the end of this month. The perfect time to submit representations on many planning issues!!

Just what I was thinking. He doesn't fit the bill of being a left sided player.

You'd hope not but the pitch may sit above shallow mine workings. Still such things aren't insurmountable.

Fir Park is a brownfield site and redevelopment would entail remediation costs. Still the site may attract interest from housebuilders.

Maybe not Partick, who seem very laid back at the proposals but according to Mr Maxwell there are other clubs uneasy at the proposals. Maybe its the way that the Evening Times wrote the story but Partick's approach seems a bit odd and certainly very relaxed. There seems little point to me in training youngsters who are mediocre or reasonable and giving them longer contracts, which is what they seem to be aiming for. If they want to attract and develop the best prospects they'll have to up their game. To attract the best youngsters you would have to be in the top section of academies. Odd too that the Weirs invested heavily in Partick's youth system if thats the case. Trying to make sense of Partick's model it would seem that they are developing a youth system but it'll take them a few years to catch up and so there's no concern currently at Project Brave. Head in the sand?

Presumably the 8 "Elite" academies would have some signing restrictions placed upon them? By that I mean they'd be allowed to sign up say 20 15 year olds, 20 16 years olds and so on. If there was no restriction they could hoover up an unlimited number of promising youngsters, with most of them having no hope of progressing or of getting decent game time. I heard Alan Burrows go on at length about this project at the shareholder's AGM and was impressed. Whatever is eventually proposed I have no doubt whatsoever that he and Jim McMahon will vigorously fight our corner by any means necessary. Much has been made of our position but I can't see the likes of Partick, Dundee, Dundee United and Kilmarnock taking this lying down.

Pretty much my view too Al. A modern day Stewart Rafferty if you like. Always busy, full of energy and running but didn't actually do very much when all was said and done.

This is the first time I've sat through a complete Podcast and I found it very interesting. Sometimes though I found the sound quality a bit difficult and maybe 1 hour 30 minutes is a tad long? However see my comment at the end to put this in perspective. As for the content I'd make 2 points. I think it was Jay who brought up the subject of local authority playing fields in Blantyre. Its a sad fact of life that for most Councils leisure and recreation & sport come bottom of the pile due to financial constraints. They simply aren't on the radar. National land use planning policy too hasn't helped matters much. Politicians of all shades really have to take responsibility here. In short I don't see change any time soon. Secondly Project Brave. I wholeheartedly agree with what was said by the contributors. I'm still unclear what the SFA's objectives actually are. I assume from the roughed up proposals that we've heard that its to boost the performance of the national team and enhance the level of our top clubs in Europe? Thats how it appears to me. However it simply won't work if youngsters at the top clubs aren't given game time. The proposals certainly won't help the quality of our game as a whole. My plea to the SFA - lets not forget clubs in the Championship and lower leagues. A lot of the young lads from the academies might not make the top grade but they are helping to enhance smaller clubs. I 100% agree that the academy system needs overhauled but these proposals won't do that. A fundamental and perhaps fatal flaw was to hand over responsibility to a committee comprised of clubs which were involved in the academy system. That renders the project unsafe in my view and tainted by vested interests. Instead it should have been conducted by a totally independent body or committee. Finally well done to the lads for organising and setting up these podcasts. It gives us an insight into the club that we wouldn't have otherwise and the lads are giving up their time. Despite what many think time, not money, is most the important thing anyone can contribute.

Not strictly true Graeme. Grehan had previously played professionally, although not at a senior level. He played in the Fife juniors for Dundonald Bluebell having started out with East Fife youths.

Not necessarily. If he signs early in the window we have to shell out more in wages. Also, if he puts pen to paper early it gives rival managers more time to see our hand and prepare for it. All that said its by no means guaranteed that he will sign. Mark McGhee said that he'd be talking to him last week - thats the last I heard.

This is a good point that was made at the club AGM. In theory it wouldn't be a closed shop but.....who decides the qualifying criteria? The committee of overseeing clubs, who have vested interests?

Quote from Stewart Regan "And what of Motherwell, who have criticised the plans as threatening their very existence? 'They have the same opportunity as every other club to put themselves forward as one of the leading academies in Scotland. 'There's no reason why Motherwell cannot put in a bid and we would encourage them to do that." Sidestepping the question Stewart?