Kmcalpin

Is that surprising? That will not change much until Kenny Black's influence is diminished.

Scottish football is simply reflecting Scottish culture. Change that and the footballing culture will change too.

I made my mind up last weekend...I'm going. Team line up will have no bearing whatsoever on whether I go or not.

I'll respect confidences. I simply posted that to completely refute the comment that "Do you seriously think any motherwell player would be out "partying" the night before a game???.....seriously??? Christ on a bike....get a grip."

I have no idea whatsoever about the current squad but it has happened on at least one occasion in the past decade we'll say (the player and his manager are no longer at the club). Officially the player in question picked up a "late injury". The term "Injury" can euphemistically cover a whole host of situations.

Ian Baraclough is in a tricky position here. He is more capable than you or I of assessing his squad and will know full well players' shortcomings. I don't doubt they will have been told behind closed doors in a manner which will be appropriate to each one. He will also know about any underlying factors about which we know nothing, except unsubstantiated rumours. He has to get the very best out of the squad he has at his disposal between now and May. I for one was impressed with Chris Cadden and certainly Dom Thomas to such an extent I feared the latter would end with a broken leg if he continued to play as he did. So yes there were positives, although not many. The squad is very short on confidence and if the Boss goes public to slag them off then they simply will not recover. He has to be a good man manager.

Pretty much agree. I think he'll need about 21/2 - 3 years though. In 18 months time he'll probably have "his" team pretty much in place but they may need time to gel. In the meantime he'll have to use players he would not have signed himself. As far as young players are concerned, he'll have to bring on players other managers brought in, but our record for those signed in the past decade is not great. With one possible exception those breaking into the first team just now don't seem to be anything special although it can be hard to tell at that stage.

We've had no left side cover for weeks now. Even Stevie Hammell plays well inside. Opponents frequently have the freedom of our left flank. In effect Ojamaa's being asked to do the work of 3 players.

Ticket update from the Official Site: Motherwell fans should note the following ticket information ahead of Thursday’s Lanarkshire Derby with Hamilton at New Douglas Park. As of close of business on Tuesday, Motherwell have sold approximately 1,100 tickets from a 2,200 allocation in the Spice of Life North Stand, behind the goal. Tickets are on sale (prices listed below) up until 1pm on Wednesday 31st December 2014. What is left, if any, will be returned to New Douglas Park and sold on the day of the match at the turnstiles. Visiting supporters who buy on the day, and tickets will be sold on a first-come-first-served basis, should enter via Turnstiles 7, 8 or 9 at the North Stand. ‘Well fans who have already pre-purchased tickets (or do so before 1pm on Wednesday) should enter via turnstiles 10, 11 or 12 at the North Stand. There will be no overspill facility in the temporary stand, as was the case in the League Cup match back in September, as Accies are utilising this area for community ticketing initiatives.

We might have limited scope for manoevre, as Ian Baraclough hinted. Hopefully Ojamaa will extend his stay. Our priority must be central midfield where the root cause of problems have lain this year. We badly need a mobile defensive player and someone creative with pace. However a small budget will dictate if we can achieve this or not. No doubt there's the possibility of moving a player or two out on loan to supplement the war chest if only modestly.

Car sharing?

Any unsold tickets for the end stand will be available on the day at NDP. Many folk will simply turn up at 3.00 pm.

In short yes. I think the tent will be used for any overspill from their Main Stand - not for us. However loads of free tickets have been given away and additional seats have been allocated for their season ticket holder initiative. In theory the ground will be nearly full but in reality there will be loads of spare seats BUT not for Well fans. You could have a situation whereby there are loads of empty seats in the Main Stand and tent but the Spice of Life Stand is full and some of our fans can't get in. If anyone knows an Accies season ticket holder.....

Recently we've had Tommy Wright saying that he wouldn't risk playing Faddy at Kilmarnock and Alan Johnston saying that Eremenko's injury was caused or, at best worsened, by the artificial pitch there. Also a month or two back Alex Neil at Hamilton said that some of his squad's injuries had been caused by the artificial surface. These surfaces should be outlawed at top level until they're advanced enough not to cause injuries. Almost invariably at clubs the Directors are all in favour of them for financial reasons whilst footballing staff dislike them intensely.

Most support have sections of fans like this. Its always been part and parcel of the game. I don't mind it providing that no OTT foul language or abuse is involved. Banter is, and always has been, part and parcel of the game. As far as Higginbotham is concerned he did upset our support at Firhill; so there is some history there. If you were at Paisley you'll have noticed that O'Brien and Law in particular came in for constant barracking. Dundee United fans are notorious in the game for constant moaning and hassling opposition players. A few years ago at Tannadice I recall Don Goodman almost colliding with an advertising hoarding and then laughing as he did a wee dance in front of the United fans. He was expecting some reciprocal reaction but instead was met with foul mouthed dogs abuse. Our support is no different to any other.

A bit harsh. After his knock O'Brien was thoroughly examined by the team doctor both on and off the park and deemed fit to continue. I'm no medical expert but it was obvious that the player was being checked for concussion.

Partick are having a decent run I wouldn't argue about that. However they are in 9th position for a reason.

Maybe its more what hasn't been said Andy. We know that Kenny Black wasn't happy at the way the selection process was handled and he wanted time to consider his position. As far as I know the statement on the BBC said that he'd be retained until the end of the season; effectively the end of his contract. Nothing was mentioned about a contract extension. Thats about as much as we know. I don't put much store on expressions of support from Ian Baraclough or the players. Thats not to say I don't believe them. However it wouldn't make for good working relationships if the manager or the players said that they wanted someone new to come in as number 2. Behind the scenes dressing room unrest is the last thing we need just now. My own guess is that KB will see out the end of his contract and then move on to be replaced by someone Ian Baraclough knows. This would give IB some 6 months to settle in and get to know Scottish football and his own squad. In the meantime KB would provide him with some continuity and therefore this working knowledge. Time will tell.

They have an initiative for season ticket holders to bring along friends to the game. They "expect" the main stand to be near a sell out.

On reading the latest Well Society statement 2 pieces of text jumped out at me. The first was that John Boyle/Club directors issued a statement cum ultimatum to the Society and secondly "John Boyle sympathised with our position but came to the conclusion that, unless we could quickly provide some optimism that we could raise enough cash, he would have no alternative but to seriously progress talks with another party who were interested in acquiring his shares. This interest has now been widely reported in the press but we could not give any details of it at the time...." Now I realise that those who attend Fir Park regularly comprise a number of groups ranging from fans to those who simply want entertainment on a Saturday afternoon. Some want to see the club survive and prosper at all costs; others would quite like to see it continue but not at all costs others would simply do something else on matchdays. I would now say to all fans, that if you can afford it, you should support the Society. We have to deal with the here and now. Its the only option at this point of helping our club. I do realise of course that some fans genuinely believed the South American buyout was the best way forward and thats as may be. Many fans have already signed up, but the Society needs more to do so. It needs donations as well as memberships but it also needs members to participate and give of their time. To the current Society Board - thanks for getting us this far.

Probably in a minority of one but I've never been overly impressed by Ryan Stevenson. Not the fastest guy around and has a reputation, rightly or wrongly, for a poor work rate. Yes, I hope Steve Hammell is back. If so I'd be tempted to replace Carswell with Reid in the middle as the latter is far more mobile and versatile. If available, I'd like to see Lawson back in midfield. Law is a great shout for right back. However this season its a real lottery trying to pick our team in advance.

I'm all for giving youth a chance but yes you're right, if a tad harsh. This was the surprise selection for me. Still an injury to ZFA didn't help. Make no mistake this was Kenny Black's team with a bit of fine tuning from the boss. Now he can start to form opinions for himself. Over the piece a great result and thats was the important thing today. Our new man has got off to a winning start. We have to be a bit wary of BBC comments on the game as St Mirren tend to be media favourites. Given their luck against us last season I'll take any good fortune that comes our way. We were due it. A win. That is all.

As Superward had said, your questions will be answered further down the line, I'd guess late 2018 at the earliest. Most of them relate to operational detail. Don't forget the Society won't be in a position to do much about these issues until it actually owns the club, by which time some of these matters will have moved on anyway. Once the Society actually owns MFC it will then have a good idea of the club's finances and the future transfer market. If you signed up as a member I'd hope you wouldn't have too much say in the details of running the club. It would totally unworkable. Frequent meetings of members would have to be convened to vote on every significant issue. If the Society opted for an across the board price reduction in ticket prices would you expect a vote to be held on the extent of that reduction? Would you feel disenfranchised if your favoured option was voted down by say 51/49? Members should have the overall say on strategic matters and elect board members. If those board members are out of tune with the membership then they could of course be voted off. The Board members should be left to take care of the running of the club and members shouldn't try to micro manage. Why pay for a dog and then bark yourself? Double funding? Yes that would be the case to a certain extent. However at the moment ordinary fans do not own the club or have a say in its running. Currently shareholders have a limited say on strategic matters. If the community wants to own the club then it has to pay for it.

I'm not sure Iain. Certainly no shares can change hands without the authority of the Directors. In theory they could veto any transaction if they deemed it to be not in the best interests of the club. Anybody can buy shares in MFC - they only have to contact the club. They cost about £10 each the last time I heard and you can buy as few or as many you want - 5, 10, 15, 20 or whatever. There are 2 ways to do it. Firstly arrange to buy issued shares privately from an existing shareholder. In this way the club's owner's shareholding could presumably be reduced if they agreed of course. That wouldn't really benefit the club unless the majority shareholder wanted out. Secondly there are a good number of unissued shares i.e. not currently held by anyone and any sale proceeds would go directly to the club.