ONeils40yarder

I've heard Ross McCormack wants to move back to Scotland...

I know its an almost impossible question to answer just now, but anyone any idea what our post-split fixtures might look like?

While Samson had a few saves, I'm not up for giving man of the match to a goalkeeper because he managed 90mins without a fuck up, and/or because he made a few saves that were almost all down his throat. Ryan Bowman is raw, but there appears to be a player there, good movement, strong and quick...hopefully someone is going to teach him how to time his jumps.

With age, the effects of a loss have become less significant for me. As a teenager, I'd have been distraught for days at a loss like the one against Dundee, but I brushed it off and enjoyed my Saturday night. My almost-teenage son, was different though, it looked like his World had just caved in around about him when I met him after the match. In my teens and early twenties, all I had to worry about was getting myself to school or work on time, scraping enough cash together to get a swally at at the weekend and the entry fee to Fir Park, and when I was next going to get my hole. Nowadays there are so many other things on my mind that going along on a Saturday is genuinely a release, and just about as soon as I've sat my arse back in my car after the match I'm back to thinking of what is on my 'to-do-list', along with wondering when I'll next get my hole, and the poor result tends to go out my head pretty quickly. Kids, money, work, running a fitba' team, a moaning Mrs...so many things that take my mind off Motherwells latest fuck-up. The effects of a win though, are still highly significant, I still get the buzz of walking out at the end of 90mins having watched us take 3 points, and it can be the difference between buying one bottle of red or two, on my way home and it also makes going into work slightly easier on the Monday morning. Maybe I've built up some sort of resistance to negative results over the years, or maybe it just come with maturity, that really it is only a game and not the end of the World. Relegation doesn't scare my as much now as it once did for example, its the nature of the beast. How would I feel if Motherwell went bust? I'd be utterly devastated...a poor result or relegation is one thing, but losing a thing that has been part of my life since before I can remember, something that offers that release from a working week and something that I share with my kids and hopefully will with grandkids is a completely different question. As for the game tonight? Its utterly massive, our biggest game of the season...not because its a local derby, but because a win will put a bit of light between us and the teams in 11th and 12th, it will also go someway to proving that we are too good to be down there, that our squad of players is more than adequate to be competing in this league and that over the past 3 weeks or so we have seen some measure of improvement, a loss though sees us dragged right into those relegation places and will really set us up for a critical end to the season. For what its worth, I think we'll win relatively comfortably, if we go at them from the 1st to the last, they'll struggle to cope with what we have in advanced positions.

Are you blaming McHugh solely for both goals? If so, I reckon you should watch them back again. Ferguson was poor at both, Hammell was poor at both and Samson was standing on his line, not giving any help at all to the defence either by his presence or communication. In my opinion, there was no one individual solely responsible for either goal, and Samson isn't even close to being a decent keeper

I came away from the match on Saturday relatively content with the performance, with a bit of luck on our side, or even a referee that done his job properly we'd have came away with at least a share of the points. Scott McDonald has missed a guilt-edged sitter, Cadden has scooped a shot over that he should really have sunk, Moult has had 3 or 4 half decent opportunities, Bowmans crashed a header off the post and there were a rake of instances where St Johnstone players have been throwing themselves at shots in their box. We've also had two stone-wall penalties denied by an incompetent referee, McDonald has clearly been pulled to the ground by Easton and Cadden has been fouled, absolutely no doubt about either of them, and its not the referees job to make a decision based on any players reputation for diving, he has to call it as he sees it, not as he perceives it. A makeshift defence like that was always going to ship goals...Hammell is completely done, Zac Jules is a poor fitba player, and Ferguson is a centre-back being played at full-back. McHugh for me was our best player, he won challenge after challenge, and header after header, although he can be implicated for partial blame in each goal. I wasn't one of the 'morons' who were sarcastically cheering Samsons every touch, but I can understand the sentiment. My Killie supporting mates, warned me how bad he was, but I was prepared to give him a shot, but by fuck they were right...he is fucking shite, of the highest order. On a day, where we have a patchwork defence, 2 of which are youngsters, I'm expecting a 32 year old goalkpeer, with over 300 appearances in the top flight, to use his experience to help take the pressure off. What we get though is a keeper, rooted to his line, offering fuck all in the way of guidance to his defence and slapping balls right into the middle of his own box. A decent keeper (not an outstanding or a great one, just decent), would be looking to come and collect the cross at the 1st goal and for the second one, he's got to be speaking to Ferguson giving him an instruction of what to do. I don't see us remedying our goalkeeping issues, or defensive frailties anytime before the end of the season, but we are clearly missing McManus (more so than Tait in my opinion), and it really does seem like folly to have released Laing and replacing him with Jules, while Kennedy has just vanished into thin air it seems. Therefore, we are going to lose goals week after week, which puts pressure on our strikers to find the knack of getting goals again. Cadden needs a rest, but we seem a bit light in the wide player role at the moment, unless Robinson can get Ainsworth into our formation somehow. Cadden hasn't kicked a ball for a good while now, and I've said previously that he looks as if hes either struggling for fitness with a niggling injury or, he's just being found out now. Clay is a lower league journeyman that is playing in a league that is above his ability...don't get me wrong, he very rarely gives the ball away and is generally neat and tidy in that regard, but he neither offers any real protection to his defence, nor does he offer anything in a creative sense, very rarely even having the faith in himself to take a shot at goal. I liked the look of the boy Frear, and with more games and an improved level of fitness, I think he could become an important player for us...he gave Ricky Foster a torrid time in the 1st half. Pearson has shown, nothing since he came back to us. I still believe we'll stay up, as ICT and Accies are poorer than us, and I'd expect once we get the Rangers game out the way we'll start to pick up point against the teams around about us.

McHugh man of the match for me (again)...quickly turning into my favourite player, or most consistent player and our most important player. Yes, he made a couple of errors, but he seems to have a knack of being in the right place at the right time and had two relatively untried youngsters either side of him and a mute, flappy goalkeeper behind him. The boy Frear had a smashing 1st half, before falling away in the 2nd, hopefully his fitness will improve with time, as the step-up is no doubt a huge one.

Partick and Dundee will be fine Killie can be pulled right into it, while ourselves and Ross County, are teetering on giving a horribly poor Accies team and an ICT team managed by Richie Foran a life line. For me, Accies and ICT are clearly the two worst in the league, and we should gain enough points to finish at least 10th

I'm hearing that Coyle was the man the board wanted, he initially suggested that he would be up for it and then reneged on that when he was informed that taking on a role so soon after being bagged by Blackburn would harm his compensation payments from them... ...now, if this is true (and I was told right at the start of this that Coyle was a shoe-in for the job), then it looks to me like we have at least had a plan in our heads for who we wanted to replace McGhee. Unfortunately, something outwith our control has scuppered that deal and left us scrambling about a wee bit. Now, I have no real opinion on Steve Robinson as an individual, I'm almost certain that I've never heard the guy speak or even read any quotes attributed to him, but his c.v. is spectacularly unimpressive. By all accounts he's a good, defensive-minded coach, who has to some degree played his part in Northern Irelands recent, relative, success. Other than that, he was part of the Ian Baraclough regime that was a total disaster and then lasted a few months as gaffer at Oldham before being bagged while they were rock bottom of whichever league they play in. Now, I accept and understand that Oldham are a basketcase, with some hellish financial problems that culminated in transfer restrictions, and I wouldn't hold being sacked in those circumstances against anyone...BUT...take that off his c.v. altogether and his resume is basically as a part-time coach with NI and as our Assistant Manager for a few months. This is a guy we are entrusting to firstly, save our bacon this season and secondly, to renew contracts and rebuild a playing squad that will be (and should be) decimated by players going out of contract, or hopefully retiring. It doesnt add up for me, yes, I understand that those at the Club know him better than I do, and hopefully see a potentially great manager with the ability to add a bit of longevity to his career with our Club, but I get the feeling that he's been the best of a bad lot in terms of risk, particularly when we have a look at the other names that were quoted as being on the shortlist, albeit unofficially. If the deal was 'get us to the end of the season and we'll re-evaluate the position then', I'd have been much more comfortable with it. I fully expect us to steer clear of relegation, like I thought we would under McGhee, by shitfesting our way to as many points as we can gain through draws or sneaking 1-0 victories, which I am completely fine with, needs must and if he wants to go 5 at the back like up at Pittodrie I am fully supportive, as our survival this season is paramount. What I am struggling to believe is that we gave him a contract for next season as well... ...in my opinion, Robinson has held them to ransom a wee bit, when its became clear that their No1 target wasn't available and they didn't fancy the other guys on the shortlist, at this time*. Robinson has hinted that he has other options (ie a coaching role down South) and we've shat it and offered him a longer deal than we wanted to. The whole thing has been handled poorly, from bringing Robinson back to assist McGhee (at who's insistence?, why did we still go onto get pumped with him in the dugout?), to the board sacking McGhee (yes, results were horrific but would he have been safe if the protest hadn't taken place, and do we just need to get a bus full of youngsters to stage a demo, armed to the teeth with a loud-haler, a black ink marker and some lining paper anytime we want change going forward), to the timescales we've worked to (16 days of limbo, while stuck in a relegation battle) and to ultimately promoting our 1st team coach over the head of the Assistant Manager, which says even more about the management structure at the Club. I'm 100% behind him and will be at Fir Park on Saturday, like I said I would be regardless of who got the job and hope to God that it works out for all concerned, but I'm far from convinced that the Club have got the result that they wanted from this and worry that we are rudderless in terms of leadership right at the top, and I include Alan Burrows in this, who I know reasonably well. I also worry, about the influence of, what appears to be, a senior player clique at the Club and our over-reliance on the opinion of these players. The likes of Lasley, Hammell and McFadden are now on the coaching staff as well as being within the playing budget, and while they have been tremendous servants to the Club and have been recompensed adequately for that servitude over the years I'd imagine, I'm not totally comfortable with their presence in 'both camps' if you like. I can understand the Club, wanting to try and manage some sort of succession plan with the management team, but I just wonder if thats in their thoughts when they appointed Robinson, given the noises coming from some of the senior players about how they were behind Robinson...of course they would, because to some extent it makes their coaching jobs safer, than say if Simo Valakari came in with his own ideas for the Club. Then you have the Craigan link...I'm pretty sure he'll have given his thoughts on Robinson somewhere down the line. *by 'at this time', I'm thinking of Valakari...while he ticks a few boxes, young, ambitious, done well in his previous role, former player, bit of a fans favourite...it would have been a monumental risk, and a mistake, to appoint him now, and to expect him to hit the ground running. Thats the type of appointment you make in the Summer if you ask me.

The whole thing has been a farce ever since the protest against McGhee...we appear to be totally rudderless

Underwhelming if that is the case Mitch.

Its now 2 weeks since McGhee was binned, this is a critical appointment and at a crucial period of the season with us ball-deep in a relegation battle. What can possibly be taking so long to get someone in?

From what I've seen of McMillan, he's either not good enough or just not ready for this level. I'd be surprised if we start this game with all three of McHugh, Jules and Heneghan in the stand, I'd expect 1 or 2 to be able to play through their knocks... ...if they can't though, I don't see what other option we have than to go with McGuire and Ferguson, and lets be honest given the goals we have lost recently with Heneghan and Jules at the back, it might not be a bad thing to see what the kids have to offer.

Hold on, you don't want Coyle because a Blackburn Rovers fan has appeared here bad-mouthing him, yet you want Valakari despite a fan of his most recent Club has appeared on here bad-mouthing him? I know precious little about Valakari's record in management other than that he has won a couple of trophies in Finnish football, and think that appointing him now would be extremely risky. I know a bit more about the situation at Blackburn Rovers, where they go through Managers like nobodies business, and have been on a serious downward slope ever since the Chicken-farmers tookover. The situation at Blackburn is mirrored at umpteen Clubs in England nowadays, where Clubs that have previously been of Premiership standard, find themselves relegated before drifting off into obscurity...Bolton and Wigan another two, who Coyle has had the misfortune (other than bulking up his bank balance) of managing. I'm not saying Coyle will be our saviour, because he hasnt managed up here for some time and his reputation has taken a pounding recently, but I'd have far more faith in his ability to understand what is needed over the next 6months than a guy that happened to play for us almost 2 decades ago, and probably hasnt set foot in the country or taken any sort of passing interest in Scottish Football since he left for Derby.

A strong list? I'd have thought they could have come up with a better set of names than that to be honest. Owen Coyle is the only one of those 5 that I'd be happy about... Robinson, isn't the experienced head we need at a time like this, he seems highly regarded as a coach, but then so was Maurice Malpas Duffy, I actually felt was a half-decent contender until his comments about the Well Society and the Club/Fan Relationship going on...to be fair, I agreed with what he was trying to say, but I dare say his comments were enough for folk within our support to take an instant dislike to him, which isnt something we need right now, given the carry-on we've had over the past couple of years Davies, maybe its just because I was at an impressionable age when he made a cunt of the job the last time, and yes. he is a whole lot more experienced now, but Davies for me gives me far too many bad memories, much in the same way as Alex McLeish does Hughes, I just think hes an absolute nugget. He'd no doubt kick some arses and save us from relegation, but going forward I'd be surprised if he was able to push us on much further than that. Coyles reputation in England is at its lowest ebb, a couple of years back there is no way he'd have come near us, but previous to that he had a great time at Burnley and St Johnstone before that. I'd be keen to see what he could bring to the table. If either of the other 4 get it though, I won't be flinging my dummy out the pram, stamping my feet like an over-sized child and telling all and sundry that 'ah'll not be back until that cunt Robinson/Duffy/Davies/Hughes is away' right enough.

Hughes is an absolute balloon... as for McGhee to Killie and McCulloch to Motherwell, I'd be happy to place money that neither of these moves will happen.

Aye, you know that Joe Jordan thats got a better track record than Owen Coyle, the Joe Jordan that hasnt managed a team for fuck only knows how long, that yin.

Yip...folk paying a tenner a month to the Society thinking that means they should be on the panel to select the new gaffer

26 applications made yesterday apparently Mitch...no wonder the media are getting the run around so far

Coyle would be a decent appointment

I'll be the first to say it...'if Barry Ferguson gets the job, I'll not be back until the cunt has gone'

For 'swift' read...Robinson until the end of the season

A fantastic player for us no doubt about that...that's not what we're talking about though.

His rants on Facebook are quality, entertaining and depressing all in equal measure