bobbybingo

Who's the 'one out'?

He must've missed the first week back due to injury. Which explains why we've signed him.

Is that Dunne's report to Robinson?

Paid for a month's subscription. When I phoned to cancel it, the chancer told me the St Mirren game was being shown live on telly. I pointed out no 3pm kick offs are shown live and he said, my mistake, we've moved it to 6pm and we'll be telling the clubs nearer the time.

Yeah, that's a realistic take on it and I wouldn't disagree with most of what you say - but I'll keep that wee bit of belief that someday, somehow, we'll win something. I wonder, when people say our cup form since '91 has been crap, when was it that much better or different? My first game, I saw one of the best Motherwell sides I've watched losing a semi final replay to Airdrie. I learned the way things usually end very early, and given our history, I know how lucky I am to have been there when we won a cup.

Just 29 years since we did the same to Celtic. We knocked Rangers out in the semis of this cup 6 years ago. It'll end the same way for Killie or St Mirren, if not both of them. Then their fans can bemoan the missed opportunity and their team's lack of winning mentality.

As I said, most seasons might have provided poor cup runs, but 4 finals in 20 years is good going for Motherwell at any time. League wise, our recent record is right up there too, and far better than what a 'wee club' mentality would expect. Our record against the Old Firm, especially Rangers, is undoubtedly shittier than it used to be, even allowing for their ever increasing dominance, but losing to them in cup finals is same as it ever was for us, even during the most successful period in the club's history.

If folk want a winning mentality in cups, then it is all about trophies. Finals might be good days out, but personally, losing them without laying a glove on your opponent pisses me off more than going out in an early round. If you're not the winners you're just another one of the losers, harsh as that may be at times. If you want to talk about records in cup games, 4 finals in 20 years must rate as one of the most successful periods in our history. If you want to talk about younger fans not witnessing us winning a trophy, fair enough, but they have regularly seen high league finishes and European football, which I didn't for a long, long time. The other teams you mentioned have been relegated on numerous occasions since 1991, so maybe we should be grateful, who knows.

So, other than Hunter, Stevenson & McLean, our managers have all been losers. And our lack of trophies over the years is not an external impression, it's a fact.

Yeah, leaving aside the 3 finals we've reached in that time - why would you count them - our recent record's poor. As is our historical record of winning trophies. You've spoken about the club having a losing mentality when it comes to the cups. We know it's not the same players or managers every time we go out, so seriously, who is it you're blaming?

Did you type that with a straight face?

Then who are you blaming - who at the club is affecting the winning mentality of successive players and managers in cup competitions? Motherwell have won 3 domestic cups in 130 odd years. We may have been particularly shit in the last few years, but we are a club with a long established tradition of losing in knockout competitions at some point, and reasonably early most years.

Numerous players and managers were involved in the games you're talking about, so what do you suggest we do to rectify that?

Who said he was injured?

Like we didn't win the QotS game last month, you mean?

Why's that?

Unless Paton's injured, as he was at the end of last season, and has been since starting against East Fife. Nearly a year without playing probably won't have helped.

Obika out again.

"Nam Sorth" Fuck sake.

When Efford signed in January 2022, his contract ran till this summer. Does anyone recall it being extended?

Jim McInally

Looks like Kelly thinks so.

I would never have thought you did, and on that we're absolutely in agreement.

It was the extreme nature of your assessment. We've all said this guy or that guy is shite, or he needs to drop a division or two to find his level, but to look at Bair's stats and declare he isn't capable of playing professional football was a bit much. Folk who are paid to make these decisions, whose jobs depend on them, clearly see something the stats don't show.

Yeah, it's very, very early. But nowhere near as early as some people wrote him off as a waste of a shirt. If everything in football was certain, we'd have packed up watching Motherwell years ago. He'll probably score an own goal and get sent off now.