David

I'm actually really glad to see you say that. Because most of the time you're absolutely wrong, and hopefully this is yet another of those instances.

The players are professionals playing at a relatively high level. You don't get this far by not caring if you win or lose.

We all know how it works with the Old Firm, and moreso Celtic these past few years. We need them to be off their game while we're on ours. All we can do is go out and give it a go. We could easily get humped 5-0, but we could also sneak a draw. Depends on which Celtic show up, and unfortunately under Postecoglu they don't seem to have many off days.

I'd be surprised if Moult wasn't on some sort of appearance-related salary from our side of things, with Burton picking up the wages otherwise.

Yeah, it's never a red.

At least it wasn't the 4-1 defeat you predicted.

No, don't make the mistake of thinking I believed Alexander was the man to take us forward long-term. I thought the timing of him going was insane, more so than him actually going. If the club had sacked him at the end of the season they'd have been able to bring someone new in and give them a full summer and transfer window. I personally would have given him until end of October at the most to make the changes needed. He'd managed to secure 5th place, he'd kept us up. If we were still playing the way we were at the end of last season then you make the decision to move him on. I think we sort of botched the whole process by letting him go a few days before the new league season started. The fact he went so quickly suggests to me that there was already issues and the feeling that it wasn't going right, so I would say the board should have made that call earlier. Again, not saying he was the man to take us forward, but I'm willing to bet we'd have had a wider range of potential managers available if we'd sacked him at the end of the season. We'll see if that process comes back to bite us on the arse come the end of the season. I hope not, and at the moment I don't think it will. Yes, but you're completely missing the point. How many other teams are relatively successful due to one of their better players being the common denominator? That's why we signed him, isn't it? To score the goals that make the difference? You can't say "yeah, well, if we didn't have Tony Watt scoring our goals..." because the fact is we did have Tony Watt. He was part of the team, it was nothing to do with luck. Also, he didn't score those goals in a vacuum. His team-mates, the tactics, how he was deployed, those all played a part. If it was just the fact that we were lucky to have Tony Watt in our team then you'd surely see him do the same at Dundee United? Yet, he isn't. Also, I can understand you saying that we were lucky to win a one-off game, or even a cup or something, but the league isn't about luck. We finished top six because we secured more points than six other teams over the course of the season up to the split. Again, it's this mindset of "we're lucky" when we accomplish anything, but "it's the team/manager/burrows fault" when we fail. The reluctance to give credit where it's due is baffling.

Yes, but the point is, that's what good players mean to a team. When teams lose their best players, they suffer. That's why teams sign strikers. To score goals. It's part of the whole process, so it's kind of weird to say "ah, but the only reason we won games is because we had a good striker!" Basically, when we were winning games and putting points on the table we were lucky, and when we were losing games it's because we were rubbish. Zero credit to the manager and the team as a whole for the positive results during the season. It was all down to luck, Tony Watt's goals (which he scored in a total vacuum, of course. The rest of the team and the managers tactics played no part at all) and our overall league finish had nothing to do with the team and manager doing better than the teams around us over the entirely of the season, but was instead down to other teams being crap. Honestly, the manager and team can't win when it comes to some fans.

This kind of chat really does my head in. How many fans will be saying that Man City will only win the league this season due to Haaland's goals? Of course Watt's goals helped us, that's his job! He was part of the team! As for "a lot of luck" getting us the finish we got? By the same token, a lot of bad luck stopped us finishing higher in the second half of the season then? Of course not, because the narrative is that when a manager we don't particularly like does well it's mainly down to luck, but when he does badly it's entirely on him and him alone.

I'm not questioning the appointment of Hammell, for the record. I actually think he'll do okay for us. What I am saying is that as a fan base we need to be realistic, and take the positives from whatever kind of approach the manager at the time employs. If we find ourselves in a position where the stars align and we're getting decent results and playing some nice football those are the days to be really enjoyed, as they don't happen all that often. Alexander, for all his faults, can sit there today and point at the actual end results his football attained. Arrived in January with the club in relegation trouble, and took them to a relatively comfortable 8th place finish, followed by a 5th place finish and European football qualification in his only full season. Sure, those who didn't like him for various reasons can point to the five draws, six losses and zero wins we got between December and March, while his supporters (if they exist) can point to his nine wins, four draws and seven losses from August to the end of December in the same year. Along with some decent draws against Rangers. Promotion and relegation isn't decided on an arbitrary period of time in any given season. It's based on the entirety of the season, and if we're going to take into account the zero wins from December to March we have to acknowledge the nine wins between August and December. And everything you said in your post there about Hammell is true. He's made mistakes, he will make more, and there has been circumstances that if they had been different we'd be in a different place today, but the same goes for any manager. I seriously doubt any Motherwell fan wants Stevie Hammell of all people to fail so they can point at the results of a manager who's history with the club lasted 18 months. I certainly don't. I don't think Alexander was anything special, by the way. He was a good, solid manager at a time when we needed a good, solid manager. I just don't think he was as bad or calamitous as some people are painting him to be. Hammell's teams play better football, but do seem to show the naivety you'd expect from a manager just learning his craft at the senior level. He also needs at least three transfer windows. The summer wasn't the best period for him to put his stamp on the team, so I'd personally like to see him given until this time next year or thereabouts before we start making any decisions on him, unless we fall into a tailspin, which hopefully won't happen.

I bet that's what the St Mirren fans thought as well. Thus far in the league they've lost one in ten, scored 35 goals and conceded 6. We have less of a chance of beating them than they had of beating Real Madrid in reality, but it's still a chance. As always, we need them to be off their game and us to be right up for it and on ours in order to have a chance. I wouldn't bet any money on us, but until we go 2-0 down I'll have hope.

I remember the fans crying out for entertainment when Alexander was apparently stinking the joint up. Under the previous manager we got two draws at Ibrox and a draw at Fir Park against Rangers, which is decent going, but none of that really mattered. He came in when we were looking terrible, and guided us to an 8th place finish, then a 5th place finish and a quarter final in the Scottish Cup in his first full season. All in all, a decent record, even if the season was a bit mental with that run without a win from end of December until March. But, many fans were quick to say that they paid their money to be entertained, so we're getting what we wanted. One way to look at it is if we're in 9th or 10th at the tail end of the season it's going to be exciting watching to see if we can play our way out of relegation trouble. That's maybe better value for money than holding Rangers to a draw at Ibrox and boring 5th or 6th place finish. If we're wanting entertaining football which also puts wins on the board then it's going to be really difficult to get that with our budget. I wouldn't bet on Guardiola accomplishing that at Motherwell, never mind Stevie Hammell. As things are we're certainly easier on the eye, but that comes with more risk and a higher chance of mistakes being made that could cost us. Just the way it is.

As with all games against the old firm, it'll come down to three factors: The opposition being off their game to some degree Us firing on all cylinders A nice dollop of luck If we can get the above then we'll see a result. However, if the first point doesn't work in our favour it won't really matter what we do.

He's got almost 50 first team games under his belt now, played across leagues in Scotland, England and Holland. He's maybe not a veteran, but it's hardly as though he's a teenager coming right out of an academy with single digit first team appearances.

While taking anything at Celtic Park is a nice bonus, we have Ross County away the following Tuesday, followed by Hibs away on the Saturday. Four points from these three games would be a decent return in my opinion.

It's going to be tough. Like it or not, this Celtic team are very good. Possibly the best team they've had in quite some time. What they did in that first half against Real Madrid shows that they're no mugs, and that a team on our level should not be able to lay a glove on them if they're on form and up for it.

Hearing that the reason for games being cancelled down south is due to lack of available police, so that may very well be the case up here as well. Not only will there be more crowds gathered in various parts of the country, but the terrorist threat level is automatically bumped up in these circumstances apparently. I guess that makes more sense than the authorities just cancelling games for no real reason.

To be fair, a night at the opera is probably cheaper than paying to see Ross County play Motherwell!

Confirmed as Hammell's assistant.

Will be interesting to see if we do any better at retaining our young players if they see a clear pathway into the first team. Perhaps that disconnect when Alexander was in charge is what led some of them such as Bailey Rice to move elsewhere? Might as well make a decent wedge while not getting into the first team!

I understand the thinking behind this, but when a club appoints a manager they have to support him. Refusing his requests for players doesn't exactly scream "backing the manager," does it? Basically, the board appointed Alexander so they had to either back him, or move him out. If they started refusing his requests (if they were reasonable, of course) for new players and so on then the position becomes untenable. What's to say Hammell won't be a Howe or Neil type appointment? In fact, Howe's first two games as caretaker manager at Bournemouth were defeats before he got the job full-time, and Neil got the Accies job on an interim basis initially after managing the youth team. I'm not saying he'll be as successful as either of them, but there's shades of Hammell's situation in both.

Forgotten? No. But most people have moved past it. He apologised, promised to do better, and most people have taken those promises at face value. isn't that what we're supposed to do? Otherwise, what's the point in him apologising?

Apparently he believes that he has "never quite won the Linfield supporters over" and that online abuse is affecting his family. Let's hope if he is our number one target that he doesn't call Graham Alexander before making his choice!

You're on top form recently!

It's been a while since we gave someone a right good doing, so why not Aberdeen? 1-3 to the good guys.