MJC

See, this is partly what I am my 'Rangers act' at on here, this idea that if you dislike Celtic then that equates to you being pro Rangers as if the two were mutually exclusive - they most certainly aren't. I'm no lover of Rangers at all, far from it actually, I don't though hate and obsess about them to the extent that many on here do, to the point that they seem to lose the ability to think rationally and in some posters cases(not necessarily you) start blabbering a whole load of absolute drivel and basically turn into a seething mess at the mere mention of their name. I'm not motivated by hatred of any other club, the only thing that motivates me in football is my support for Motherwell FC and unlike several posters on here with Rangers, you won't find me on every single Celtic match thread talking pish and getting myself into a rage about just about anything. Granted you'll find me on Rangers match threads trolling and reeling in the Rangers obsessed moon howlers, but then again they make it so,so easy for me.

No you've missed the point, I was referring to the usual suspects who frequent Rangers threads who amongst other things moan about the way Rangers celebrate, or over celebrate goals. This isn't the thread for me to post my reasons for disliking Celtic, if you really want to know what they are then use the search function with the keyword Celtic and with my username as the author. This thread is about the match tomorrow between the team I support and Rangers, so let's keep it on topic, eh?

I make no secret of my dislike for Celtic and believe I have legitimate reasons for disliking them. My dislike of them does not however override my love for my own club and unlike the Rangers haters/obsessed on here, I'm not on every single Celtic thread posting nonsense, feigning outrage and making up daft wee stories about them, their fans, their players and the manner in which they celebrate goals.

Normally I wouldn't be in the slightest bit bothered when Rangers won, indeed when I would then log on here and read all the usual greetin and pish from the usual suspects who hate Rangers more than they like their own club I would be quite pleased that they'd won, as it always provides a good read on here. However all bets are off when they play Motherwell so the only thing that'll please me tomorrow will be Motherwell picking up a result.

What about game of the decade? The obvious standouts are the two playoff legs, 6-6 v Hibs, 3-0 v Aberdeen in the League Cup QF, 2-0 v Rangers at Hampden, 3-0 v Dundee United in the 2011 Scottish Cup. For me I would need to go for the away leg of the playoff, that was a hugely significant and ultimately enjoyable night and completely unexpected. The feeling and celebrations when Ainsworth scored the third goal was incredible, after seeing many a Motherwell no show in games like this and many a heavy defeat at that ground, to be 3-0 up at Ibrox felt totally surreal. It was a great goal too. For as awful as we were that season, our attitude that night was spot on, we went out there and went for the win, where previous Motherwell teams and Motherwell managers would have went there with the usual inferiority complex and tried to play for a 0-0 and ended up losing 3-0 (Hiya Stuart McCall) but for once we gave them nothing.

Anthony Straker was so bad it was almost funny - though the chant of 'Strakers on, we're takin the piss' from some of our fans in the playoff was one of those unforgettable moments.

Can you imagine how good that team would be if it had all of them at their peak(for us anyway)? Randolph is/was one of the best goalkeepers I've seen at Fir Park and Hammell is a guy we've never replaced. The thought of a 2002/03 James McFadden playing in an attacking line with 2012/13 Humphrey and 2018/19 Turnbull is sensual.

The manner of the playoff victory often makes you forget at times just how awful we were that season and probably kept Baraclough in the job longer than he might have been. I would put that season into four sections when looking back. The first section was from July - November and the downfall of McCall starting with footgolf, then the Icelandic debacle to that horrible run from mid September until McCall chucking it. Then the second section with our managerless/Kenny Black period starting with the Friday night win over Dundee United when it looked like there might be a bit of hope. The third section was the arrival of Baraclough and after his initial chat about winning the league we entered that utterly hopeless run from New Year's Day until late February, the influx of new signings, the occasional big win against Accies and St.Mirren before we were finally condemned to the playoffs. The fourth and final part was the playoffs themselves when we did what many of us thought completely unthinkable and hammered Rangers 6-1 over two games, condemning them to lower league football for another year and ensured that Stuart McCall had an even more miserable end to the season at Fir Park than his beginning to it.

Was the story at the time not something like McCall being a family friend of the Laws, hence why Nicky and later Josh joined? You could tell McCall was done at Fir Park when Law jnr joined.

We've had some cracking players throughout the 2010s, namely Randolph, Moult, Ruddy, Juke, Turnbull and Higdon. Plus guys who've made a huge contribution like Nicky Law, Ainsworth, Hammell, Sutton, Lasley, Ojamaa, Kipre and Faddy(from February - May '13) . But for me the best Motherwell FC player of the last decade is Michael Higdon, hands down. Not only was he a prolific and reliable goalscorer but he brought so much to that team and seemed to genuinely enjoy being involved at our club. He was underrated by many but we've never properly replaced him since he left.

#Scenes

I always had steelmenonline down as a largely happy clappy club where anyone posting pessimism nwas shouted down and labelled a troll by the lazy majority.

Well if you're going to refer to previous games this season then that's "living in the past" as well surely? I hope that they underestimate us too but I still don't see how we can trouble them as we are too lightweight in attack. Seedorf, Long and Scott will be bullied and marked out of the game like they were against Aberdeen, Celtic and Hearts in the cup and defensively we are shaky and will struggle against Defoe and Morelos. I don't know if Hartley will be fit after he went off injured at the weekend, but if he is out then that's a big blow for us.

It didn't make up any stats. It is a fact that we have not won at Ibrox in a league match since May 1997. It is a fact that we have not beaten Rangers in a league match since Boxing Day 2002. It is a fact that we have a terrible record at Ibrox and various Motherwell sides of differing levels of quality have capitulated there, and against them at Fir Park for that matter. And it is also a fact that in our last ten league matches at Ibrox going back ten years we have won none, lost seven and only drawn three, two of which were end of season dead rubbers. We will lose on Sunday, as sure as night follows day.

We've had a few bad refereeing decisions go against us in this fixture over the years but we've also contributed greatly to our own downfall too. Think about Reynolds selling the jerseys with ten minutes to go at Fir Park, McManus selling the jerseys at Ibrox in the Cup when we managed to lose after leading 1-0 with six minutes left, Jim O'Brien missing a last minute penalty, the numerous occasions when we've just froze at the mere sight of their jersey, Terry Butcher and Stuart McCall telling us beforehand that we had little to no chance against them - then we went out and got pumped and of course contriving to lose to them in the League Cup when we were sitting top of the league and unbeaten and they were in the third division. We rarely get the breaks in this fixture but we certainly don't help ourselves either, we as a club have a massive inferiority complex when it comes to the Old Firm, particularly Rangers.

Neither, it was a fact.

We also haven't won a league match at Ibrox for 22 years. With the exception of one night in May 2015 it has been a graveyard for Motherwell teams of varying levels of quality. We have also not beaten Rangers, in any form, in the league since Boxing Day 2002 when a teenage James McFadden scored the winner and it was still legal to smoke inside a football ground. Motherwell do not beat Rangers in the league and that will not change on Sunday.

Andrew Dallas is the ref for this one.

We're still far too lightweight especially in the final third to take advantage of that. I expect Scott to be nullified yet again up front and I would be dropping Seedorf for this, as thus just isn't the match for him. I get why you'd think that given our tactics a couple of years ago but we have lost alot of the physicality that served us well a couple of years ago.

So Sunday sees us make the short trip along the M74 to Ibrox. Given the humping we got on Saturday and that Ibrox is almost always a graveyard for Motherwell sides then you'd be hard pushed to see anything other than a comfortable home win here. Given that Rangers are playing in Europe on Thursday night(and best of luck to them, I might add ) then some of our more optimistic fans might point to this as a reason for us to be hopeful of getting something. However I can't see us doing anything other than our usual Ibrox no show. 4-1 home win.

Pathetic, we have been a disgrace today and yet again have failed to turn up when it really mattered.

We're carrying no threat whatsoever, instead we look in danger of conceding every time they attack. Their counter attack is dangerous and pacy and we're struggling to deal with it, I expect them to score again. The penalty was as clear a dive as you'll ever see but I'm not having that as a "great save". It was the right height and ant goalkeeper worth their salt saves that if they go the right way.

Scott and Seedorf are totally ineffective against sides defending as stoutly as Aberdeen are today, they are just so easily nullified.

It's just one of those days when it doesn't go our way, it's as obvious as the nose on the end of your face. I've watched Motherwell long enough to know when it's not going to go our way. So far we have missed a penalty, lost a key player and in true Motherwell fashion conceded a goal while we've had in injured player. Bad day at the office.

Game over. And now we've lost Hartley. Disaster of a day.