Well Up For It!

Agree with you Wellfan. I'm not Fizzy's biggest fan by any means, but he was the best I've seen in in a very long time on Sunday and it would be unfair to drop him. I hope he can build on Sunday and prove his critics, me included, wrong. Think the only changes will Quinn for Saunders and Sheridan for Sutton. Excited about McLeans return but thats still a few weeks off. Would love to see the turk on the bench, desperate to see what he can do - even if he is just given 20mins. That said - see this being a very tough game. El Tel has rallied ICT and they will be fired up for this one with all the 'Well connections. I'm gonna go for a hard fought 2-2. I'm not going, but all Dossers who are I'd encourage you to show your respect and appreciation to Butcher and Foran, but make sure you torment Kerr and Malpas!! On the 'Well!!

18months minimum and at least £4m for suitable calibre of stadium me finks

I thoughts Hibs were already relegated before he jumped ship??

Take the points on McLeish, and I agree. Point I was making is his money grabbing antics led to him leaving us for a team that has just been relegated. While I was glad at the time of the change, in hindsight his replacement was a shocker. And he will always be the guy that signed Van Der Gaag - my absolute favourite player while growing up!

Spot on mate, and well said. I find the new name funny, but that adds to the character of it.

Agreed. Or maybe Leeann noes something we don't know... Is Santa bringing the 'Well a new stadium???

Wonder how much cut of the ticket price Motherwell will get if any? Is it just a general fundraiser? Sounds like a good night though...

Just saw this... Daily Rancid Motherwell warned to fix Fir Park pitch or face SPL ban Feb 24 2009 By Hugh Keevins The SPL plan to send in an independent expert on playing surfaces during the close season. If work to restore the pitch isn't up to SPL standard by then the ruling body will implement the suspended fine of £20,000 hanging over Motherwell's head. And further sanctions could be imposed rather than have what was supposed to be an elite league left open to further criticism. Last night the Lanarkshire club's general manager Lee-Ann Dempster promised the club would pay £250,000 in the summer to avoid a pitch battle with the SPL. She said: "That might not be a lot of money to some people but it's a significant sum for Motherwell. "The undersoil heating system will be upgraded, new drains will be installed and every eventuality will be looked at. "I've given the SPL my personal assurance that the work will be done and last the club for as long as we stay at Fir Park." Television pictures beamed throughout Britain on Sunday when Motherwell played Celtic highlighted the laughable state of a pitch that visiting manager Gordon Strachan said wasn't fit for playing rugby, never mind football. Players Union boss Fraser Wishart, a former Motherwell defender, is anxious to see his old club avoid sanctions. He said: "Taking money from clubs as a punishment ultimately leads to the players and fans suffering. "If there's a health and safety issue relating to the pitch then nobody's ever raised it with my office. "But there's obviously a problem that needs to be addressed and the players won't be enjoying the surface." Last night the SPL's director of operations Iain Blair said: "We've received a written undertaking from Motherwell that they'll rectify the problems with the pitch during the close season. "It's the club's responsibility to make their ground fit for play. Comments were made at the weekend concerning possible health and safety issues relating to the pitch at Motherwell. "But hopefully we won't go into a legal minefield where that's concerned. "Nobody's saying it's an unsafe environment at Fir Park but the pitch doesn't reflect well on the SPL and the criteria we set for high standards. "It's not of an acceptable standard and it's an embarrassment to have matches called off there when they should be able to be played. "They will need to bring their playing surface back to a high standard and we will send in a suitably qualified individual to make sure the work has been carried out to our satisfaction. "At the moment there are no plans to ask Motherwell to play away from their own ground but the SPL can act if we have doubts about any facility." Anyone heard more on this...? We really need to get our finger out!

Point taken, and I wholeheartly agree. Apologies, never realised what he meant with the Andy Russell statement.

Hats of to Pat for coming out a explaining once and for all the route of the problem. Although it is not an official explanation to fans, it surely is nice to finally hear the depth of the problem. I'm a bit pissed off that there has never been an official response from the club re the extent of the problem. And I'm sorry Fatcalf, but I see no reason for Nevin to lie - I don't think it's in his character. As for the original idea of the park, etc - I do think it is a possibility. But reading Nevin's comments, I'd much rather see any money ploughed into a new Stadium rather than the bottomless (sand)pit that seems to be our park. A nd while Boyle did promise our fans that it would be sorted in the summer, I'm sure the reapirs, etc that were done weren't done under his direct supervision and maybe the finger has to be pointed at others a bit too. The whole matter that sickens me is that the club tried to cover up the whole matter. All the fans thought that the undersoil heating had been fixed, the grass had been returfed and last seasons problems were history - as did the SFA - and we are dam lucky to escape only with a 20k fine! God must really be a Motherwell fan - first we avoid relegation due to a problem with Falkirks grounds, and now this - which is a slap on the wrist compared to what it could/maybe should have been.

I think we have done ok with managers over the years, but McGhee is definately cut and paste above the rest and stands just behind McLean in my eyes - going on the time I've followed the club. Here's my view on the gaffers I've seen at the helm... McLean - Legend! Led us to that great cup win and built the team that saw us finish second in the league. McLeish - Not Bad. Although we finished 3rd under McLeish, I basically think he took McLean's team and screwed it up. Good showings against Dortmund earned him kudos, but will never forgive him for leaving us for relegated Hibs. Kampman - Disaster! Least said the better really. Davies - Ok. He was in charge at a time when we were splashing the cash, but never really made the most of this and failed to get that Euro spot we craved. Black - Unproven. I think Black would have led us to some success. His signings were majoritly impressive and had we held out till the summer to see what happened rather than go into administration, who knows what he could have acheived. Butcher - Good. Despite finishing bottom and luckily avoiding relegation, Butcher led us to a CIS Cup Final, Scottish Cup semi-final and pulled the team together after administartion - blooding many youngsters. Malpas - Shocking! Negative, boring, useless! Makes Kampman look good. McGhee - Very Good. Re-invented a confindence stricken team that avoided relegation and led them to the UEFA cup playing an attractive style of football that was a joy to watch. So, I think we have done well with managers. Obviously there are two black spots in Malpas and Kampman, but I'd give the rest pass marks.

Do you think that maybe SNSPIX aren't getting what the expected out of the club when they signed the contarct at the start of the year, hence offering this deal? Even with the discount for Well fans, more than £6 for a small picture it is not feasible in the slightest.

Point taken Bop. Mayb the watermark could be moved to a corner, etc and all downloadable images will contain said watermark to stop people printing it and ripping off the photographers? Still think the price for pictures is a bit dear to be honest, but at least the club will benefit - I'm assuming they do. Would be nice to see some exapmples in Club Shop, maybe at a cheeper rate to comabt this. For example, print out the five most popular at a larger size and sell them in the shop with a 20% discount? Can you clear up what Sarah said about people featuring in pictures?

Was just gonna post a new thread about this too. While I agree it is a good idea, the pricing structure is way off - £5 small print pic. I would have like to have seen a download to computer option for the pictures, as personally i'd only use any of these pics as a desktop background. Would happily pay up to £1 for that priveledge. Wonder how this has come about - obviously a tie in with our new photographers, etc. Out of interest, if any supporter is featured in a given picture and the club are making a profit from selling their image, surely the person is due some sort of royality, etc? Not that any Well fans would take advantage of that (well, maybe), but to charge over the top prices isn't fair. Thoughts?

I know what it entails - but surely it can be done by a team of engineers over a week or so? That would give us a month to relay the park heading into spring. Before the April 4th game. I doubt very much that it would happen, but I'm fed up being the target of ever clubs rants of late and the club could easily pull this off - maybe not for the Dundee Ut game, but most definately for the Aberdeen game. And surely the SPL and United would be accomodating in rearranging the fixture due to it's implications.

The park is shocking - no doubt about it! I have a rather radical idea... Get it fixed now as we haven't got another scheduled home game until 14th March - and we could even look into possibility of playing that game on a Cup weekend as both ourselves and United are out. That would take us to 4th April, so plenty of time. If we ain't got the staff I'm sure we could get a few extra cons from Shotts prison to help out?! Then we can bring back the flowing attacking football from last season and push for a good finish, stop teams whinning like skelped weans and Yeah we might have an advantage by playing on the park, but I fear another game could be called off before the end of the season resulting in our fine. Plus the risk of injury is greater, and the quality of the football has greatly diminished.

Just watched the highlights there... What about Clarky absolutely ripping Hinkel!!! Never saw it on Sunday as I sit nearer the other end of the East, but was a joy to watch there. While he does have a horrific first touch, every now and then the wee man pulls out a moment of absolute brilliance!! Quality!

Totally agree - Brines is one of our worst referees, and a ref who must be the centre of attention in the games he referees.... That said, I thought he did ok yesterday - well ok in the 2nd half at least. I have seen him have much worse games. But still - not near enough to the standard that is accepatble.

The whole Cooper issue has dragged on so long and I hope that our new General Manager can see that giving the Cooper to old firm fans is pointless. There would have been more Well fans in the Cooper yesterday - and we have to look after our fans first. With the whole problems after the game, I never saw anything other than the usual pish we come to expect from Celtic. To hear of trouble doesn't suprise me though, I've never come across a team or support who can't take things going their way as much as Celtic. They feel it's their god given right to win every game, and it's pathetic! My cousin, a Celtic man, was at the game yesterday and he saw trouble after the game and claimed it was embarassing to see. A small percentage of these Old Firm fans play up and it leaves all the smaller SPL clubs hating them even more - and I genuinely feel sorry for all the decent old firm fans who get dragged down with all the arseholes and clowns. Solution: Find them, single them out and ban them all from Scottish grounds for life!! Cause there is no place in Scottish football for them!

From my personal experience - seen in the flesh: GK Brown LB McMillan RB Corrigan CB Martin CB Van Der Gaag CM Matthei CM Lambert CM Deleamoux FW Faddy FW Elliot FW McDonald Don't really mind seeing O'Donnell and Cooper playing week in week out, so they are the obvious exclusions.

Thought the whole team put in a good shift yesterday, especially O'Brien, Klimpl and Shuggie. A point was probably a fair result, although I thought we were the much better side in the first hald. As someone who is usually critical of Fizzy, I just want to hold my hands up and say he put in a fine perfomance and I hope he can maintain it and ultimately prove me, and many of the other Dossers on here, wrong.

Heard that too - and his partner and new baby are still down there I think. But still don't see it happening, don't think he left Brighton in the best of terms and it would be a step back for McGhee.

Well off the mark here! I think McGhee is the exact opposit - from the way he talks to the media in refernce to us, etc - he does in no way whatsoever take us for idiots. The fact he said that before the game, and then his comments afterwards, so how gutted he is. And I'm sure the players would have had burning ears after thursday! McGhee came in from nowhere and took our relegation battlers to European football. And while he has failed to repeat that form this year, he still has my full support and backing! I don't think you should treat McGhee like an idiot!

Spot on! McGhee is a great pedigree of manager and we should all be grateful to have him at the helm while we do, as a Manager of his pedigree will no doubt have the opportunity to move up a level.