David

What was the interest rate on it?

The whole 'tenner a match' thing was discussed in another thread, but it would certainly seem to be a more realistic price. I doubt it would happen though, so a price freeze and an installent deal is the best we can hope for.

I don't see us getting any more than 6,000 to 8,000 if the game in this country does experience a resurgence though. We simply aren't big enough to draw 10,000+ to our games on regular enough basis to make it worthwhile. You have to remember that any resurgence will also see an increase in fans from the Lanarkshire area making the trip to follow the Bigot Brothers.

There would really have to be a installment deal for me to consider buying a season book.

I don't think the odd game every few years where we score a 10,000 attendance is worth having all of those empty seats the rest of the time. At present, during a time when we are actually doing quite well, we have more than half of our stadium sitting empty most home games. Thats more areas that require maintenance, and it would add to the initial cost of building a new stadium. Our average home attendance barely scrapes 6,000 most seasons, so even allowing for an extra 2,000 fans for a game of high interest (bearing in mind that this would account for an extra 50% of our attendances at the moment), we could easily get by on a stadium holding 8,000 or so. It may do something for the atmosphere as well.

Ah, I see.

Just out of curiosity, can anyone remember when we actually drew average crowd of 10,000 fans? I'm sure we must have during the time around the Scottish cup win?

Some would say that i'm just being realistic. There are so many contributing factors nowadays to why the game is on the slide, some of which we can do bugger all about. When Sky Sports are showing shitloads of games every week, including the likes of the EPL, La Liga & the SPL, and ESPN are showing the best of the other European leagues, it's going to be hard to compete with that, especially at the prices we charge. The numbers you mention there are terribly optimistic in my view, and simply won't happen. This is one occasion that i'd dearly love to be wrong though.

I can't believe that some think we should be looking at a 10,000 capacity stadium. Look at our attendances over the past few years. Like I said, we played Hearts a few weeks back, we were on a great run, challenging for Europe, it was an untelevised game, Saturday afternoon at 3pm, and we got under 4,000 fans. The cheaper, and more sensible option, would be to look at a 7,000 or 8,000 maximum capacity stadium.

Fucking hell... So, we lambast any player who was born here but decides to play for Ireland, and if one (who happens to play for our club team!) decides that he's made a mistake and would rather play for Scotland it's a case of "fuck him!"?

It would give all of those characters we have selling the Big Issue on every street corner something to do though, wouldn't it? Taking just Motherwell & Wishaw alone, I reckon we'd have a workforce of at least a few thousand

It's a bit unfair to compare Fraser to Ruddy, as he's one of the best 'keepers in the league at the moment, but he's definately not the best. Judging by what Brown has said in the aftermath of the United game, i'd say that a new man between the sticks is a priority in his eyes, especially if Ruddy goes, which he probably will.

Perhaps it would be worth looking at the idea of a Lanarkshire sports centre in the Ravenscraig area, which would provide some public money towards the building of a new stadium if we were to incorporate the centre with a new stadium? I also don't think we would need a stadium that holds the same amount of fans as Fir Park currently does, as we rarely get close to filling it. We were on an unbeaten 12 game run and only managed to pull in under 4,000 fans for a game with Hearts, who we are competing with for a European spot. A 7 or 8 thousand seater would do us just fine.

Once Ruddy comes back i'm certain we'll get what we need to finish 5th at least.

If we get something from Tynecastle, and United win the Scottish Cup, then it looks pretty good for us, doesn't it? Hearts haven't got the easiest run-in either, with a derby match and United and Celtic to come as well.

If this Fraser lad is still in goals come next week I can see our European dream ending sharpish.

The defending has been a shambles since Craigan was taken off. Fraser certainly isn't having a good game by any stretch of the imagination, but the lad must be low on confidence, and our so-called support isn't doing anything to help that. I certainly don't envy any Motherwell players that put a foot wrong when were playing at Fir Park.

Aye, it looks like it. He's been good at the back as well. Fuck.

Pay for ESPN or get to the game or the pub then!

Are the people sitting in the Motherwell end actually supporters? All i've heard so far is heckling.

At the end of the day, the only opinion that really matters is Craig Browns, and i'd like to think he knows more about the game than you do. The fact that he's still giving him the odd game here & there tells me that he already knows how to deal with bringing young players through properly. I'd also wager that anything that the fans have spotted will have been spotted by Brown as well, and he'll be dealing with it.

Exactly. There's sometimes I wonder exactly what sport were watching here, with all these rules and regulations about not abusing opposing players, goal celebrations being regulated and the like.

Source: Official Site

I don't think anyone can really argue with that point.

I was thinking more about what your thoughts were at the time, how close we were to going under, what you thought about the players we kept and the ones we let go etc