David

Sorry, but I don't think anyone at our club just now is irreplaceable (well, maybe Lasley on current form), and as such I'd consider the loss of Law and Hutch as negatives for us, but I don't see it being a season destroying move. McCall will bring in replacements if we lose either of those two, that's a certainty.

I don't think so, no.

Anyone with an ounce of sense would know that the club changing over to fan ownership, coupled with the Rangers fiasco was always going to lead to some tough seasons ahead. We just have to do the best we can and build from here. Simple as that.

Which would no doubt have you two rubbing your hands together in glee, looking forward to a season of moaning like fuck. We've lost players better than the two mentioned before and we've managed to recover and avoid mediocrity, haven't we? I've seen sides with far bigger budgets and better squads on paper than us finish in the bottom half of the table and even get relegated. As players move on we'll bring new ones in who will step up and fill their shoes, be they brought in from elsewhere or through our youth system. We can't expect to do well and not have our better players move on. That's just how it goes.

I disagree. I just think that fans nowadays have easier access to the English Premier League, La Liga and so forth. Many of them don't see the point in paying £20 to watch Motherwell vs St Mirren when that money could pay a months subscription to Sky Sports.

Rocking the pessimistic gimmick into the new season, eh? I figure we'll likely put in a decent performance at home, maybe getting a draw but probably losing narrowly, and lose by maybe two or three away. Not the worst I guess, but hopefully we can throw a spanner in the works. It'll be a good occasion regardless.

No. We can be playing a home game in the Champions League qualifiers, a home game in the Europa League, an SPL match against Rangers or Celtic, or even be challenging for third spot in the table and we still won't sell out Fir Park. I don't see us getting a crowd of almost 14,000 at home again. There simply isn't enough Motherwell fans to fill the place.

I think, and I may be wrong here, that the belief was he probably wouldn't be signing for any club who'll be playing Champions League football this season so would consider playing in our Champions League qualifiers as a sort of short-term deal or something. I don't think anyone expected him to be signing a decent length contract with us, more that he may play for us short-term whilst he has absolutely hee-haw else going on.

It was actually me pointing out that I wanted some Madness tunes played at Fir Park whilst getting another cheap dig in at Rangers to be honest, but feel free to rant like fuck though.

Despite the result, this made me laugh a little. A Rangers fan got this through the post from a Motherwell-supporting mate. It was postmarked Greece.

We may as well get this thread underway for discussion on tickets, team news and so forth. Having a look at their squad there isn't anyone who immediately jumps out at me. A few Spanish names that I think I may have heard before, but I'm not entirely sure. I know it's a tired cliche, but we may actually have something of a chance here.

From what I saw Hateley did a decent job.

Well, it's pretty much confirmed that this is where our European run will continue this season.

Has he been guilty of that during the SPL season? I can't recall him doing it too much last year?

1-0 I guess I spoke too soon.

I don't think they'll be taking it too lightly. It's hardly as if we're sitting four goals behind. If we snatch one goal we're suddenly back in it, so they'll not be relaxing too much.

He's a decent SPL-level striker and he's done more than a turn for us since he got here despite what some would have us believe.

Agreed. I guess a draw is a credible result.

Yeah, we don't even remotely look like a side who can get two goals.

Almost 20 minutes gone, still 0-0.

Does anyone here use StreamPro?

"the pub" is basically Motherwell's answer to fight club mate, no one talks about it, and if you don't know what it is you probably have no business doing so Just kidding, you'll probably know the script in good time.

Obviously a victory would have been better, but considering our European task midweek I guess a draw is a decent result.

Not if we find ourselves lacking in midfield cover it won't be. The day that I park my arse in the east only to hear over the tannoy that being caught short in midfield means we have Hatelely playing there is the day I curse the release of Forbes.

Releasing Forbes may not have been the best move considering our lack of midfield cover now.