steelboy

to be fair if only 3 or 4 thousand people are actually interested enough in a particular game to turn up why should it be on tv?

it's no time to judge anyone yet. we've really no idea what the actual level of any of the teams we've been up against were. the boys looked like world beaters against the albanian's but i'm not sure i'd put money on flamutari beating pollock juniors. staeua looked great against us and might be full of guys who'll end up in serie a and la liga or maybe we just didn't compete in midfield and gave them time and space to play. we'll have a good idea after the first three games against st johnstone, killie and aberdeen but now it's impossible to say. first impressions are a different matter though. humphrey - not impressive at all so far. looks like he could be a very frustrating player. i'd have o'brien ahead of him at the minute. jennings - thought he was going to be a more mobile lasley, turns out he's a less mobile lasley just now. he was chasing shadows in a shaun faganesque manner in bucharest. if he gets the fitness up then i think he'll do a good job for us though. coke - showed a few good touched on the ball and looks promising. didn't seem to be the ideal man for the battle on thursday but he looks like he's got ability. ruddy - outstanding start, keep it up! kicking looks a bit sus tho, but we can live with that. and the youngsters since they might as well be new signings. slane - superb, i hope we don't end up depending on him too much but he looks outstanding. he struggled to get involved out wide in romania but was far better in the middle. forbes - i was excited about him after seeeing him at ayr a couple of years ago and in a few reserve games. it's obvious he has a wand of a left foot but he still has to prove he can compete in centre mid in the spl physically and to be able to play at the required tempo. his passing is definitely special, hopefully the rest of his game won't let him down. saunders - looks composed on the ball and very good in the air. the best thing we can do for him is to bring in a first choice right back and let him develop at his own pace. hutchison - he already looks the part physically, thursday night showed that he's got a lot of learning to do. he reminds me of stephen mcmanus a bit and is another one who will benefit most from a couple of seasons as back up to learn his trade rather than being thrown in straight away. mark reynolds at left back - not a fan. i don't think he's got good enough distribution to play fullback, it's telling craigan takes the free kicks from the back and not him (and back in the day craigan left them to partro). he might be handy if we need to nulify a right winger but i wouldn't want him there every week. for all the criticism of him and craigan as a partnership they must have a pretty decent record together. they played together all through the season we finished 3rd and we only lost six of the 25 domestic games they played together last season. to me that's impressive and gannon would be foolish to disregard it. we definitely need two new strikers and a right back and anyone else with a bit of quality who is available. also guys like hammell, lasley and o'brien shouldn't be marginalised too much as our squad is too small to lose guys who have done a good job in the spl previously (obviously in a smaller way with o'brien). i think these three guys are out of contract at the end of this season so if you add that to jennings and coke that's five out of contract next june plus ruddy only being signed for six months. the long term view has to be looked at as well.

there's a regular bus that runs into urani square from the airport and only cost about 2 quid for a return. it's the 783 and you buy the ticket in the airport.

i'm going to take some euros to pay my digs and just get romanian lei out an atm when i get there.

we were joint third through the first 11 games. being in europe was magic. we had our great run. we made it into europe through the fair play. in the grand scale of supporting motherwell it was a better than average season. one amazing season and one better than average puts mcghee well ahead of the curve.

quality video. do you have any idea how many fans steaua will have at the game on thursday?

chill out. we had a great two season's under mcghee with loads of highs that we'll be talking about for years and years. it ended badly and there were obviously a few rough patches but it's undeniable that during his two seasons it was a great time to be a motherwell. it's onwards and upwards for us. get yourself up to aberdeen on the 29th next month and call him all the names under the sun but don't tarnish our many achievements over the past two seasons.

there's no way the club are subsidsing any fans. i think what flow means is that the £49,000 pounds from 'well fans doesn't quite cover the total cost of the flight and the club will have to pay a bit of the costs themselves. can't see why anyone would pay over the odds for this anyway. there are cheaper options from glasgow and it wouldn't feel like your on a school trip.

just booked my accomodation there. decided to give hotels a miss and have hired an apartment for 3 nights instead. 164 euros between 2 of us for 3 nights. quite a smart wee pad as well, definitely an upgrade on mr bed. got it through eastcomfort.com

mcghee improved every aspect of the playing staff in his time here. we were a complete shambles under malpas and we're probably still benefiting from the professionalism he installed. bit unfair to call him a waster.

you'd fancy your chances in a foot pursuit against toastie nae bother.

never a truer word!

i wouldn't read too much into tonight's game, i'd imagine that gannon had them pegged as the shower of shit they are after the game over there. heard a boy behind me say he thought reynolds was probably at left back to nulify there right winger who was clearly there tap man. think that could be the case and as much as reynolds strolled it i still don't think his distribution is good enough to play fullback.

you leave giles "grammy" coke alone!

reading back through the thread i'm the same flights as you, mate. going to leave all the accomodation details til tomorrow but i'll sleep happy knowing i'm going next week

i've just booked from glasgow leaving early wednesday morning and coming back saturday afternoon. £250. not that cheap but if it saves going to manchester or luton it's probably worth it.

i've got a pretty good memory and i don't recall phil getting too many motm's on here in his second spell at the club. and he did struggle in the later stages of games, in the 3-0 victory against aberdeen, the snow game at tynecastle and the ibrox game on boxing day he really, really struggled to keep up with play. he never wasted a pass when he got the opportunity and he was smart enough to be two steps ahead of most players but his physical limitations meant he couldn't dominate games the way he did in his first spell here. regardless of everything that happened after that, i had conversations along those lines with several people after those games.

aye but dropping established players (who have been great servants to the club) to live up to a reputation of giving youth a chance is very risky.

anybody got any video of the game at pittodrie where coyne scored the chip and rab mckinnon rattled in a free kick after coyne back heeled it?

aye totally agree. i also thought lasley played well week and created our only chance. i hope this isn't gannon trying to put his stamp on to the detriment of the team.

hughes (as well as clarkson) put in a superhuman effort in the home game against hibs in march 08 that effectively saved our season. and while phil did always did a good job for the team i think you'd struggle to point out any games where he was outstanding. he was also chasing shadows in the late parts of many games as he didn't have the fitness levels.

i will not be impressed if that's the line up.

lasley created the one decent chance we made last week. his leadership qualities also can't be undervalued especially now quinn is gone. i'm obviously a big fan of lasley but he was almost unaminously thought to be our best player last through the first 11 games last season (when we were 3rd) then he went downhill a bit after getting shunted to rightback for a spell. i hope he'll be around to play a big part this season as i think he can contribute on the park and help maintain the ethos we've built over the past 7 years or so.

or perhaps sign both? that's all i'm saying. i'm not critiscing gannon at all i just think the squad is still a long way to go from being of the required standard but i'm sure gannon feels the same way and he's got til the end of august to bring players in. i'm afraid i just can't put blind faith in a manager we know very little about. we had a dice with oblivion under malpas so for me the jury's out til i see what he puts on the park come the start of the season.

i didn't agree anything . simo was one of my favourite players but he's completely different to hughes. the reason he's been mentioned alongside the likes of gary mac, bobby russell, lambert and phil is because they are all ball players. when simo arrived he couldn't trap a bag of cement and although he improved himself hugely through hardwork (which deserves huge credit) he wasn't a natural footballer by any means.