MelvinBragg

To me, the £250k to Swansea seems a far more realistic story than £1million to Wigan. I'll be stunned (not to mention, a pint down) if I'm wrong...

A few people have misunderstood me. I don't think we'll be in a relegation battle. I think we'll most likely be locked in a battle for 7th with ICT and St Johnstone. These three teams are, I reckon, too good for the three teams who will be in a relegation battle (St Mirren, Accies, Kilmarnock) but way behind those that will be in the top 6. That's how I see it at the moment. A few moves in the transfer market may change things...

If you think results went our way this weekend, you're an optimist. I think we should be concerning ourselves with the results of the teams likely to be in the bottom six rather than those likely to be top six...

Someone told me that Brown said after the game that he was hopeful of bringing two more in before the deadline. Did he say that and if so did he mention any positions? I'm hoping for someone a bit creative...

While I agree withe second part of this paragraph, you have to remember that McGhee came in at a low point and therefore had much more room for making an improvement. When Brown and Knox arrived, things were in danger of sliding a bit given the unrest behind the scenes but they inherited a Motherwell team probably inhabiting its rightful place in Scottish football and helped to drag it up the league a wee bit and give it a bit of stability. Without a management team with so much experience and tactical knowledge, we wouldn't have given Odense such a fright and might not even have got past Aalesunds...

Second story not a surprise. If we are after Gow, I would have thought we would need funds to finance any deal. Progression to the group stages is the only obvious source of extra income. First story. So Dundee want us to trade a midfielder with a large number of SPL games under his belt but with a lot of years ahead of him for a 32 year old right back who's barely seen the SPL. No thanks...

I would be amazed if we signed Alan Gow if only because we have just brought in Blackman and Casagolda and have Murphy and Sutton to play up front. If Gow is looking for first team football, he'll look elsewhere (unless we're planning to sell Murphy for a truckload of cash, of course). If he's looking to join a decent team, he'll join us. At St Mirren or Hamilton, he'd be guaranteed first team football, but might find that's in the First Division next season... EDIT Of course, he could be a left midfield option as Mr Diggle points out...

If you can't put the ball in the net, you deserve to lose...

Not a terrible performance but I'm reminded of the old maxim that "it's not the despair that kills you it's the hope". We're doing OK and on the face of it coming back with a 1-0 defeat would give us a chance. But I just reckon we're going to come up short. Lack of a killer final ball looks like it will be the undoing of us in this tie...

Five words. Lukas Jutkiewicz. Previous loan spells.

Reading Brown's interview, I'm wondering if he doesn't see Casagolda as maybe not an out and out striker but more of a creator. "He'll provide fodder for Murphy and Sutton". Or maybe he means he's bench fodder. The guy Blackman interests me more. Sounds like what Lewis Grabban was supposed to be. Could be a good 'un...

Before today, I was certain of only one thing about Sunday. That we will lose. Now there is a second thing I'm certain of. As I leave the East Stand on Sunday, someone will say "Thon Spanish boy is pish, by the way..."

Tough one to know where I stand on this one.. Deal with the easy bit first. The lack of an OAP discount is bang out of order. But totally in line with the shabby treatment the elderly get in our society. Disgraceful. Nothing I type that follows this applies to the issue of OAP concessions... £20 as a price in itself is too expensive for football. Personally I reckon £15 is too expensive but it's the world we live in now. The club have not raised the price to a level unheard of for football games. I remember going to Livingston when they were in the SPL (not yesterday) and I'm sure the gate prices then were £20/£10. I think if the club had hiked the price to £28 or £30 for this game, it would have been a clearer issue of fleecing the fans. Thing is, we can't have it all ways. This forum has been full of posts bemoaning the lack of signings, to then criticise the club for attempting to maximise income seems to me a bit two faced. As others have pointed out, we are running a business here. To mention Dundee United is interesting. If we had kept the lower price and Dundee United made a lot more money from their play off game than we did, then we would have had people on here slating the lack of business sense at the club. To say "the other two games were £15, therefore this one should be as well" just invites a response from the club saying "£15 was a goodwill gesture, we could have charged £20 for every game". Would that consistency in pricing have made it alright? People were on here praising the club for the £15 price. Well, if we knew that £15 was a bargain (in terms of today's football pricing), we all know you don't get a bargain every time you go to the shops. I think talk of around 10000 fans if they dropped the prices to £15 is ludicrous anyway. "If the club kept it at £15 and got 10000 in we'd make...", aye, well if yer granny had baws she'd be yer grandad. There is no way we'll get 10000 for this game, irrespective of a £5 price difference. The more I think about it, I reckon the club have called it right. Would I rather it was £15? Aye, of course. Putting the sensible head on, should the club be trying to maximise their income and is £20 in today's market a reasonable price? Unfortunately, yes. Oh and to the person who stated that they wouldn't now go because they couldn't afford to spend £100 watching football over the course of 6 weeks, are you really trying to tell me that your budgetting is so precise that you couldn't afford £100 but £90 would be something you could afford? As others have said, it's £5 difference. How much do each of us spend on stuff we don't need every week? Newspapers that are out of date when you get them. A packet of chewing gum while you're in getting it and maybe, oh aye gie me a can of juice and a packet of crisps. Or "Are you having another pint afore ye head up the road?" "Ach, aye go on then". These examples may not apply to everyone, but I'm sure if we all thought long and hard we could come up with something we spend a fiver on in a week that looking at it is "waste". All I would ask is that you think about that before stating that £5 is a bit of a hike. Football is too expensive, we all know that. But sadly £20 for a game is not exorbitant in today's climate in football. Some people on here are talking as if it's the first time they've had to pay £20...

Can we now officially "HOTD for the pish" this thread...?

This. Our strongest asset in this tie is Craig Brown. If we had any of our previous 4 or 5 managers going into this tie, I'd have written us off already. Craig Brown and Archie Knox know the game inside out. And I get the impression that there's a bit of determination on Brown's part to prove this as I reckon he hasn't had he credit he deserves over the years. Dour, dull Craig Brown and his dour, dull teams are the underlying impression you get when you read the media talking of his time with Scotland. No mention of the fact that Smith and McLeish used the same tactics when with Scotland. I think (and this sounds ridiculous) Criag Brown feels he has something to prove. And I think we might be the benficiaries of that...

That kind of sums up my feelings on the matter. He has the tools, just requires a good coach to smooth off the rough edges. Like telling him to slow down (just a wee bit, he'll still be fast enough for most defenders) before putting a cross in. I think when his delivery has been poor (and it's getting better), it's because he's been going at full pelt and is having to slam the brakes on to get the cross in...

I'm guessing something like this... Manager Craig Brown has "no complaints" after Motherwell were drawn to face Danish outfit Odense in the Europa League play-offs. "It's accessible for the fans and it's not too far to travel. I would hope it's an even game," said Brown. "Some of the other teams like Manchester City were much more formidable than Odense. "I have no complaints, the draw has been reasonably kind to us. It's another Scandinavian team." Motherwell booked their place in the play-offs with wins over Aalesunds and Breidablik. "I like the prospect of the second game at home, you know what you have to do, if it goes to extra time and penalties you have the home advantage," Brown added. 'Well travel to Denmark for the first leg on 19 August with the return at Fir Park seven days later.

What he said...

Missed this as I was under a pile of bodies at the time, what was his reaction?

John who...? Let's move on, people...

I'll worry about that if (and it's a big IF) we get there. The group stages are at least a possibility. If we had drawn Man City or Villareal, that wouldn't have been the case. The money for reaching the group stages and the chance of seeing at least one "proper" European name (not Man City, someone with history) is enough for me...

Anyone know when the signing deadline is for the next European round out of interest? Obviously Odense is not the money spinner John Boyle might have been looking for but I'd imagine the money for getting through last night might help a wee bit on the signings front...

The "glamour tie" everyone was looking for wasn't available to us after the pots were drawn up, perhaps with the exception of Villareal. Man City aren't a glamour tie for me, they're a rich club but I'd have been more excited with a Liverpool, Feyenoord, Borussia Dortmund or Porto. For me a glamour tie means playing a team with a real European tradition. Bucharest and Dortmund were glamour ties. Man City would just have been a financially rewarding tie. And even then only if the first leg was at home...

Where's Stephen Hawking when you need him...?

Then we can have our glamour ties... It will be difficult, but at least we have a slight chance of going through. If we had a glamour game against Man City or Villareal, that wouldn't be the case...