David

Is there any information on when tickets for next season will be available? I would have thought the club would take advantage of Scottish cup final fever by getting the renewals etc out eas soon as possible.

Did anyone catch the Hearts game on Alba last night? I missed it

According to the media, such as Keevins etc, it'll be a 50/50 split, with any tickets we don't take up being shifted over to Celtic shortly before the final. What kind of prices are we talking here? Anyone got an idea?

With Mr Boyle due to call it a day at the end of this season I thought a thread to remember some of the positive stuff (although I'm sure there'll be those who wish to concentrate on the negative) he has done for the club over the past 14 years or so. First of all, no one will ever forget the turbulent spell from 1997 until the early 2000's, when we saw a managerial roll call that included Billy Davies, Eric Black & Terry Butcher. We were close to going to the wall, and managed to avoid relegation on a technicality. Whilst no one will ever forget or try to downplay that period, it's worth remembering that Boyle steered the ship out of those waters, making some unpopular & difficult decisions, but doing what had to be done to get us back on track, including reducing our yearly losses to one of the lowest in the SPL at the time. Excluding a short stint with Malpas as manager it can be said that most of Boyle's managerial appointments have been sound. We've seen the likes of Butcher, Mark McGhee, Craig Brown (boo, hiss etc) and finally Stuart McCall. We've also seen the likes of Faddy, Don Goodman, Andy Goram, John Spencer, Dirk Lehmann, Scott McDonald, Jim Hamilton, Phil, Ross McCormack, the Juke & big Klimpl to mention but a few pass through the door of Fir Park. Couple all of that with various European excursions through the years, I think it's safe to say that Boyle has given us more ups than downs. Let's hope he finishes his stint at Fir Park on a high come May 21st.

I think we'll be fine for tickets. I even think that the majority of Celtic fans who are desperate enough to be there will get a ticket for their own end as well.

I haven't heard any reports to the contrary Maz, so I think we'll be due around 20,000 or so?

I posted it in the fan display thread, but for anyone who missed it, here's footage of the ticker tape display from the semi-final; Forward to 2:40 of the video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzZKXAakm6E

MMA classes don't consist of numpties "battering the shite" out of each other. In fact, you'll usually find that they consist of some of the nicest, most decent characters you'll find anywhere.

Look, I'm not sure you're reading what some of us are saying. No one is talking about going down any sectarian route. All I said is that I think it would be a nice touch to attend the Scottish cup final with claret & amber saltires. Simple as that. I've seen enough cup finals with Irish, English, Israeli & Palestinian flags, and thought it would be nice for a club who's fans pride themselves on being Scottish to fly the (claret & amber) saltire. There will be those who don't want to do it, and that's fine. I think it would be a nice touch is all.

Nah, there's no need for that. He'll likely be out by the summer anyway

I've taken the liberty of updating the thread title. If those who are helping run this thing want the thread unpinned or whatever just let me know. Sometimes when a thread is pinned it can get passed over quite easily in my opinion.

Who's trying to organise it as some sort of mass protest? Not me, that's for sure. I don't think there's anything to protest against for a start. I simply said that I thought it would be a good idea. Nothing more. If you don't want to do it, then don't. I like the idea of a claret & amber saltire because it's Motherwell colours and our national flag, both of which I hold dear to my heart. Considering this is Scotland's showcase cup competition final I don't see where politics comes into it.

If the club shop are going to be stocking Saltire flags either with the Motherwell crest in the centre, or a claret & amber saltire I'll certainly be rocking one at the final. I may not be as mature as some of our more refined members, but if I can fly the claret & amber whilst adding a Scottish lining to it in the face of the plastic Paddies then I'm going to do it. In the famous words of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, "fuck the lot of them".

I see no reason why anyone would really want to fly a Union Jack, as that just plays into the idea of being "mini h**s" that we hear Celtic fans bumping on about.

You'll be able to get tickets if you want them I reckon.

Well, we already have a travel thread, which will feature the various buses etc that will be running to the final. An actual match thread, and a pre-match festivities thread should realistically cover it all I think. We may end up with a seperate thread for ticket info & sales (like we did for the semi-final), but I don't think it would be enough to warrant a seperate forum really. Just my opinion though. Admin may feel differently.

Do you work in the shop?

I assume there's no chance of a 50/50 split ticket-wise then, no?

I think I'll have claret & amber and be infantile.

I don't see why we can't do both to be honest.

I'd hope that they would never clash, and I wouldn't have to choose between my country or my club.

I think we should go out of our way to ensure that there an abundance of saltires at the final to combat the Irish tricolours that our Glasgow friends will be flying. Let's emphasis the Scottish in Scottish cup final!

If we get Celtic I'd like to see an abundance of Saltire flags at the game, to combat the undoubted sea of Irish flags we'll see in the Celtic end.

In a more compact, busier environment it would have looked top notch. As it was, it was a great touch. Not too sure the St Johnstone fans knew what was going on. They were, just like their team, outclassed today.

I was sitting in the stand directly across from the display and managed to catch it on my phone. The picture quality isn't too hot, but it's better than nothing. Forward to 2:40 of the video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzZKXAakm6E