Motherwell v Rangers 11/02/2026

[well_said]

20 minutes ago, grizzlyg said:

Only defence I will give MacLean was he was ref when we won at Pittodrie with Craig Reid classic winner to guarantee 2nd place in 2014.

He awarded yellow initially but obviously Beaton gave him the call to check VAR which in all honesty was correct.

One good one out of dozens, he must hate Aberdeen more than he hates us. Cheating bastard.

[grizzlyg]

15 minutes ago, well_said said:

One good one out of dozens, he must hate Aberdeen more than he hates us. Cheating bastard.

I did say his only one defence.

It's a bit like me,  one good joke out of 3 dozen doesn't make me a comedian 🤣🤣

[wellup83]

46 minutes ago, Kmcalpin said:

You must sit near us in the POD. We had a clear view of the incident and it was a stick on red. However, it was a mistimed tackle with no malicious intent. No complaints about that. What did annoy me though was Raskins getting in Steven MacLean's face after Fadinger had been yellow carded pleading for him to be sent off. His opinion obviously carried great weight. Very poor behaviour which needs called out.  

Steven Maclean had a very poor game as mentioned by many others. His decision making was riddled with inconsistencies.

* His failure to play on when Said was fouled. We assumed, wrongly, that he stopped play to card the Rangers player but no. 

* Why wasn't Soutar red cardd for cynically bringing down a breaking Just? 

I'm not one to push conspiracy theories with referees but Steven Maclean really does seem to dislike us for some reason. 

Agree with your comment about the crowd. Yet again, our figures are substantially different from the BBC's.  Aunty says 9,800 whilst MFC says 11,200. I very much doubt if there were about 4,000 empty seats. Great to see increased crowds.  

It's not even just those incidents. What also boils my piss is when he was blatantly ignoring Tavernier stealing countless yards at every free kick or throw in he took. Trivial I know but these things can affect games.

[joewarkfanclub]

Raskin is a good footballer.

But he is an odious little cretin.

Always diving under minimal contact, but always in the face of the referee moaning his face off.

I thought that had been outlawed and it was "Captain only" for going to the referee? Just was certainly yellow carded for it last night.

McLean isnt our worst referee, but he is weak. He allowed the Rangers players to get away with murder last night and they took full advantage. Thats only fair if it cuts both ways and it clearly didnt (numerous examples above).

I love Big Eythor already. He saw the Rangers backline bullying our forward players last night and decided he wasnt having any of it. Some of his contacts with Souttar and Djiga were delicious!

His assist for the goal is magnificent as Djiga has him in a stranglehold and he still gets his head onto the ball.

I think with him on from the start we win that game and he might just be the difference maker in a cup run.

Edit: Jens will have to work out how to tweak the system and who he is dropping in that scenario as JT will probably have to come out to the right again. I dont see us going 2 up top.

[MJC]

Obviously pleased we didn’t get beat, but overall I don’t take too much from last night other than frustration.

Yet again we have drawn with Rangers at Fir Park and we should have won. That’s now three games in a row against them here where we’ve only managed to get one point when it should have been all three. The 2-2 in December ‘24 when we threw away a 2-0 lead and the two this season where we were clearly the better side but needed to rely on late equalisers to get the absolute least that we deserved from the games. 

In a way both games at Fir Park against them this season have encapsulated our season within a single game. Really good ball work, dominant in possession, some lovely play, largely nullifying the opposition but just falling that little bit short of what we really could have achieved because we lack the cutting edge up front.

Take nothing away from the magnificent job Jens has done and hopefully will continue doing until the end of the season but as I said the frustration is there.

[Kmcalpin]

32 minutes ago, joewarkfanclub said:

Raskin is a good footballer.

But he is an odious little cretin.

Always diving under minimal contact, but always in the face of the referee moaning his face off.

I thought that had been outlawed and it was "Captain only" for going to the referee? Just was certainly yellow carded for it last night.

McLean isnt our worst referee, but he is weak. He allowed the Rangers players to get away with murder last night and they took full advantage. Thats only fair if it cuts both ways and it clearly didnt (numerous examples above).

I love Big Eythor already. He saw the Rangers backline bullying our forward players last night and decided he wasnt having any of it. Some of his contacts with Souttar and Djiga were delicious!

His assist for the goal is magnificent as Djiga has him in a stranglehold and he still gets his head onto the ball.

Great post Joe. What got to me was when he rightly pulled up Rangers players for stealing yards at throw ins. They retreat, as instructed, but then continue to steal yards before the actual throw in. No action taken. 

At Fadinger's yellow card he is surrounded by 3 Rangers players, including Ratkins, mouthing off at him. 

 

 

[well_said]

42 minutes ago, grizzlyg said:

I did say his only one defence.

It's a bit like me,  one good joke out of 3 dozen doesn't make me a comedian 🤣🤣

Let me know when that good joke is imminent 😂

[KS_3]

Just loving this take on the SPL table after last night. Is the Celtic (1 game in hand) for their hard of understanding fan base or are the Well operating under a different currency? 
 

Long live Jens-ball!

[Mad Dog]

Regarding McLean, it's the basics that he gets wrong, and how he gave two goal-kicks to them in quick succession in the first half baffles me. Butland tipped Maswanhise's shot onto the post, then Ratkin (actually did really well) headed the ball off the line and behind under pressure from two of our team.

[AllyMax]

1 minute ago, Mad Dog said:

Regarding McLean, it's the basics that he gets wrong, and how he gave two goal-kicks to them in quick succession in the first half baffles me. Butland tipped Maswanhise's shot onto the post, then Ratkin (actually did really well) headed the ball off the line and behind under pressure from two of our team.

Spot on, I'm sure there was another one in the same time period as well. Two or three goal kicks that should have been corners. A number of little things like that across a game can change the momentum completely. That's the thing when playing the likes of them. Small shifts in momentum giving them the edge, consistently helped by referees. It doesn't all have to be dodgy VAR penalties and extra minutes. The whole flow of the game is changed by these constant 'small' decisions. 

[wellsince75]

The ref frustrated me on the basis there's a general understanding that the OF are far superior to everyone else and therefore allowed the benefit of the doubt. 

Had it been Livingston I think they'd have been booked far earlier for some of their challenges. 

Similarly he booked Just for his reaction to the penalty claim  - which is reasonable.  However as others have mentioned there were so many similar reactions from Rangers players that were unpunished.  

The issue is the OF entitlement - they have the bigger crowds, the money, the media etc in their pocket, so much bias its disgusting.  I don't think the ref was deliberately favouring them more that the environment and broader pressure mentioned creates a bias which really is hard to swallow.

The bitter sweet though was big Welsh taking the goal like a CF . What joy, in someways that made everything else that maddened me last night very worthwhile.   

[weeyin]

16 minutes ago, AllyMax said:

Spot on, I'm sure there was another one in the same time period as well. Two or three goal kicks that should have been corners. A number of little things like that across a game can change the momentum completely. That's the thing when playing the likes of them. Small shifts in momentum giving them the edge, consistently helped by referees. It doesn't all have to be dodgy VAR penalties and extra minutes. The whole flow of the game is changed by these constant 'small' decisions. 

I agree, but I still don't want VAR reviewing corner kick decisions.

[robsterwood]

Thor got good assist. Nice lay off for Welsh. Thor looks an asset. 

[GrahamH]

55 minutes ago, AllyMax said:

Spot on, I'm sure there was another one in the same time period as well. Two or three goal kicks that should have been corners. A number of little things like that across a game can change the momentum completely. That's the thing when playing the likes of them. Small shifts in momentum giving them the edge, consistently helped by referees. It doesn't all have to be dodgy VAR penalties and extra minutes. The whole flow of the game is changed by these constant 'small' decisions. 

The game was also slowed by McLean allowing Rangers players to walk off in slow motion when they were substituted. All very well saying he’ll add time on but it killed the momentum of the game. Same with Rangers free kicks and goal kicks, they were allowed to take ridiculous amounts of time with barely any acknowledgement from McLean.

[joewarkfanclub]

3 minutes ago, GrahamH said:

The game was also slowed by McLean allowing Rangers players to walk off in slow motion when they were substituted. All very well saying he’ll add time on but it killed the momentum of the game. Same with Rangers free kicks and goal kicks, they were allowed to take ridiculous amounts of time with barely any acknowledgement from McLean.

1 minute added time in the first half was a joke considering how much time wasting they were doing.

Should have been at least 4 minutes.

Again not a big thing, but add in all the other small decisions and you get the picture described above.....

[mio]

1 hour ago, Mad Dog said:

Regarding McLean, it's the basics that he gets wrong, and how he gave two goal-kicks to them in quick succession in the first half baffles me. Butland tipped Maswanhise's shot onto the post, then Ratkin (actually did really well) headed the ball off the line and behind under pressure from two of our team.

Totally agree, these were terrible refereeing decisions and there were dozens last night went against us.
I don’t care what some people on this forum believe there are and always have been injustices against the smaller sides, against Rangers in particular.

In my time I can think of dozens of “rangers referees” starting with JP Gordon (banished from the game due to bribery) right up to the Dallas’s and the Beatons of this world. 
 

[joewarkfanclub]

I dont disagree that there is bias.

But as Wellsince 75 says above, I think its more institutional than deliberate cheating (Celtic get their unfair share of decisions against us as well.)

JP Gordon on the other hand. Thats a different argument. My 8 year old self will never forgive that one.....

[wellfan]

McLean is a useless twat and it showed again last night. 

[BettySwallocks]

2 hours ago, AllyMax said:

Spot on, I'm sure there was another one and the same time period as well. Two or three goal kicks that should have been corners. A number of little things like that across a game can change the momentum completely. That's the thing when playing the likes of them. Small shifts in momentum giving them the edge, consistently helped by referees. It doesn't all have to be dodgy VAR penalties and extra minutes. The whole flow of the game is changed by these constant 'small' decisions. 

I‘Ve said this for years against the old firm. They don’t just get all the big decisions they get all the 50/50s that then swing the momentum in their favour or kill the momentum that we have built. 
There’s no way that it’s down to individual referees, it’s been going on for decades with multiple different officials and not just against us. 

[Yoshi-1991]

22 minutes ago, wellfan said:

McLean is a useless twat and it showed again last night. 

He let the goal stand against Aberdeen on the last day, he will always get a pass from me. 

[santheman]

1 hour ago, GrahamH said:

The game was also slowed by McLean allowing Rangers players to walk off in slow motion when they were substituted. All very well saying he’ll add time on but it killed the momentum of the game. Same with Rangers free kicks and goal kicks, they were allowed to take ridiculous amounts of time with barely any acknowledgement from McLean.

Another minor point along the same lines. At the end of the first half, Tavernier was having a long discussion with him on the POD touchline which lasted 2 mins ( i timed it) and 1 minute gets added on.

Not game changing by any means but just another inconsistency among many others.

[bobbybingo]

2 hours ago, robsterwood said:

Thor got good assist. Nice lay off for Welsh. Thor looks an asset. 

He also looks like he wants to be here.

[well_said]

33 minutes ago, Yoshi-1991 said:

He let the goal stand against Aberdeen on the last day, he will always get a pass from me. 

One good one out of dozens, the guy is a cheating twat.

[grizzlyg]

58 minutes ago, bobbybingo said:

He also looks like he wants to be here.

His attitude and commitment to us has been first class.  Would love to keep him but no way could we afford him

[joewarkfanclub]

14 minutes ago, grizzlyg said:

His attitude and commitment to us has been first class.  Would love to keep him but no way could we afford him

Never underestimate the Jens effect!

😆😆😆