Steve Diggle

I'm just delighted to see 11 lads in claret and amber take to the field for another season in the top flight and be able to talk fitba again with the guys that stand around us.

Fuck sake. I think raging common sense has broken out

Really?

So what are they doing about proactively stopping drawing fans payments

Baws

I'm disappointed we've stopped moaning about the Portugal trip, the football golf and how much David Clarkson owes us (without even having the slightest fucking clue how much any of it cost)

McCalls Achilles Heel is his risk averse nature which means he's not as successful in cups as he should be (well not really successful in cups at all) and we are very reticent about blooding youngsters. Some terrible cup results and a terrible track record regarding the 'IN' column of the club accounts. Other than that we're fine. There's not a soul anywhere near this forum that would have the merest clue about doing any better in the long term performance of the club. The squad is a better unit than any in the league on and it would appear off the park. The ones questioning McCalls overall suitability - be careful what you wish for

I was more referring to Krasnodar last year where we lost money Comments were about Europa overall not just MFC this year.

This Europa League is a definite fuck up In the early stages all this last minute travel and ticketing arrangements with a mixture of minnows and 'regular' sized clubs who could be called at short notice to make long costly trips is just a clusterfuck. It needs to be regionalised firstly. Then, although clubs have the right to play if qualified they surely need to be able to host a small professional football game involving more than 1000 fans. On top of all that it's then important that the all seating rule is relaxed for stadia below a certain size with facilities regularly used for standing. It was always a risk unfortunately but it's pretty breathtaking now it's come to pass Let's hope a loophole is exploited or an 'oversight' inadvertently occurs that allows well fans to stand around the perimeter. I hope we get through this tie now.

There are some minor criticisms that could be levelled at Vigurs last night, being 'lost' without McFadden is absolutely not one of them. Ainsworth was ripping them apart first half man.

Portugal was a jolly? Holy fuck we are bitter and twisted. Being a bit short on match sharpness an fitness probably means we started back too late and played too few games rather than done fuck all in Portugal. Of course we could have killed that game off in the first half - it could have been 4 or 5. Instead we eased of and retained possession too deep and drew them further up the park. Bad decision making in the final third and poor finishing caused us the problems. If we apply ourselves and maintain the pressure we'll see this side off over there. A lot of times in Europe we treat teams playing at Fir Park with too much respect and I think that was the case last night. Not ruthless or offensive enough. If at some point during the game last night (even briefly) we'd had Ainsworth right, Thomas left and Erwin and Sutton in the centre we'd ve caused them all sorts of shit. Like sieb said earlier Lasley on a yellow having a mare plays the full 90 isn't clever. Love the man but he needed the hook last night. Like the Llannelli shocker at Airdrie. We'll come away from it and do the business when it counts Mon the Well

Some Radio Clyde reporter on Twatter claiming that McCall has stated that the clearasil kid is purely training here and has options elsewhere to take up. (Probably Hibs) So that means he'll probably sign

Ticket uptake slow

Now now, don't be a fanny and put your handbag down. I'm perfectly clear on how football works. It was a discussion about a chief executive leaving a club and within a few short weeks returning to the old club to poach staff. She left with our best wishes and she slevered long and hard about the moral family fibre of the club. 10 minutes later she's scrolling through her phone contacts. McCall signed for us when he was between clubs if I recall and he signed two players from one of the ex clubs. It's not really comparable. I'm pretty sure there are some pissed of people at fir park at the moment (although obviously not with JP"

Cheers

Would you start any of the three on Thursday OTF?

I can only think of Ramsden coming directly from Bradford though. Comparison is dempster coming directly to motherwell after leaving. Jones, Law etc were all elsewhere when he signed them were they not?

Really, what percentage of his signings came directly from Bradford?

Who knows maka

Do you no know who either? I'm befuzzled too mate

I realise that staff need to be free to move if they like and that this might be a very sensible, practical and lucrative move for John Porteus who I wish all the very best. But. By fuck are we not the nice guys of Scottish Fitba? While I realise part of our appeal is that we're not difficult to deal with when it's time to move on. Dempster should have been told straight when she left - 'fucking hands off' - 'go do your thing but don't deplete us when you go'. A wee greet at Pittodrie about a great well family achievement as she leaves - then a matter of weeks later back for the key staff. Fuckin bolt! I'd like to have seen - "we wish John Porteous all the best, but we are extremely disappointed that our ex chief exec is coming back for our staff" get the fuckin message out there. 'beat it doll!'

Aye he could. During the game as well. For information purposes. In Motherwell colours, Forbes, a midfielder scored 7 in 70. McHugh a striker has scored 5 in 66. One of the things that Bob will have to change, extremely quickly is his aversion to taking a risk. Yesterday he seemed always on the back foot, never gambled on a pass coming through or a ball breaking. His reaction time to the ball breaking to him or via a pass, a dummy, a break of the ball is the difference between a successful Premiership striker and a Championship one. Is it a confidence / risk taking thing?. It looks from the stands that he's trying to not make a mistake or do anything wrong than demonstrate a strikers instinct for gambling / taking a chance

McCall explains the reason for the DC decision. Having watched the game earlier you can see where he's coming from. Motherwell manager Stuart McCall has decided against offering David Clarkson a Fir Park return. Having been released by Bristol Rovers at the end of last season Clarkson has been training with the Steelmen over the past few weeks in the hope of earning a deal for the 2014/15 campaign. But after travelling with the rest of the Motherwell squad for their training camp in Portugal, McCall has decided not to offer Clarkson, who spent seven years at Fir Park, a permanent deal. Instead McCall is looking for a more direct replacement for Henrik Ojaama and Henri Anier, who were sold in each of the last two summers. McCall said: "David is no longer with us. He trained well and is a decent lad, but he's not exactly what we're looking for. "We're looking for someone with pace to go in beyond, someone like Ojaama and Anier." Clarkson started his career with Motherwell between 2002 and 2009, making over 160 appearances for the club. A free agent since leaving Bristol Rovers at the end of last season, he has also played for Brentford and Bristol City. McCall was speaking as Motherwell suffered a 2-0 home defeat in their final friendly before their Europa League opener. Fulham's £11m signing Ross McCormack made his debut against his former club. Cameron Burgess opened the scoring in the 19th minute with a free header from a corner and home goalkeeper Dan Twardzik fumbled a second-half strike from Konstantinos Stafylidis over his line. The summer signing from Dundee recovered to make some decent late saves, including a diving stop from McCormack, who played 90 minutes alongside fellow former Motherwell player Shaun Hutchinson. Zaine Francis-Angol went off with a tight hamstring 10 minutes after coming on as a second-half substitute for Motherwell, who host Icelandic side Stjarnan in the Europa League at Fir Park on Thursday.

Good point - and possibly if there have indeed been tentative discussions about an 18yr old midfielder with Everton (likely to be bullshit but who knows?) - our budget outlook may be significantly different in a few weeks. Good point also by milo on DC. Two very different things indeed.

If he canny track back he'll get strung up by the goolies by the Alan Hansen's on here.