MJC

5 minutes in and we miss a penalty. And just like that you know it's not going to be our day.

Xxx

The difference being though that I don't merrily accept the club having a losers mentality. I may be a bit negative but it's up to the club to give me reasons to be positive, not the other way around. On the other hand we have a core in our support who thrive on us being the underdogs, us "punching above our weight", and that is, in my opinion, an attitude that holds the club back.

Ironically enough, this Sunday will be twenty years to the day of that debacle(at least from a Motherwell point of view) of a match. I know some Motherwell fans like to look back on that game in some kind of awe, but it truly was a horrendous and embarrassing night for our club and there was nothing to celebrate at all. Before that game Aberdeen had picked up one point all season and scored only two goals having lost 7-0 at Parkhead on the Saturday befofehand, indeed they were a national laughing stock. Yet they rolled into Fir Park that night and put six past us. Absolutely criminal from us and to make matters worse, you had and still do get some Motherwell fans going "aww but I really enjoyed that game, great spectacle for the neutral, great entertainment, bla bla bla". Talk like that absolutely infuriates me from our fans and it reeks to high heavens of a losers mentality. We LOST that game in the most embarrassing of manners possible, there was nothing to take from that in terms of enjoyment.

We're not winning this one, 2-1 to Aberdeen with Considine getting his regulation goal against us.

I'm pleased he didn't play. I want him as fit and as focused as he can be on playing for us and not running the risk of picking up injury whilst playing for another team and potentially attracting interest from would be buyers.

You certainly will be in a minority, because the vast majority of Scottish football fans have at the very least an interest in the Old Firm and all the circus that surrounds it. I certainly do, without being a lover of either club, but the pantomime that the fixture brings is always worth watching especially if Celtic lose then the fallout is car crash material that you can't take your eyes off. Like it or not, love them or hate them, but the Old Firm are a big, big part of Scottish football and Scottish culture and attract alot of interest from the majority of football fans and even some folk who normally aren't football fans take an interest in the fixture.

And yet it's you who sounds angry.

That's simply not true. It is clear that a significant amount of non Celtic/Rangers fans DO indeed care who wins the title, the amount of posts/threads about them, particularly Rangers on this forum alone is testament to that. And that's why I hope Rangers win the league, because the fallout from it will be hilarious and there will be much weeping and mock outraging about x, y and z on here and similar forums. Plus the fact that I fucking hate Celtic and it'll be great viewing to see the cameras pan round Parkhead on the last day of the season showing their crestfallen hoardes who have been so used to lording it over everyone for the last decade. They won't be able to handle losing the league to Rangers after all that has gone on since 2012 and having their precious ten in a row ripped away from them. Clyde SSB will be utterly epic should that come to pass as they all phone in to greet and whinge with auld Keevins. Finally, it is absolute nonsense to suggest that "any supporter that has a preference between the two arse cheeks has a 'big team' and is an utter glory hunting disloyal failure of a football fan" indeed, I'd go so far as to say that that is schoolboy patter. Ironically enough, your next paragraph bemoans this thread for encouraging the idea that Scottish football is all about those two, but by your suggesting that anyone who has a preference or dislikes one more than the other "has a big team", you actually give credence to that mindset. There may be the odd few non Old Firm fans who do have a liking for one of them, but I'd imagine they are very few and far between. On the other hand, I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever that the majority of non Old Firm fans DISLIKE one more than the other for whatever reason and I refuse to believe anyone who tries to tell me that they dislike/hate them both absolutely equally.

I don't think you'd find a Motherwell fan out there who would have expected any player we signed to be 'superstars' but I think that the questions raised over Hylton, Seedorf, Long and Ilic(which are still there) were perfectly legitimate especially in mid August. Perhaps you could argue there that those holding such views were skewed by summer 2018's poor business but I think that's perfectly understandable given how poor we were for the first half of last season as a result. I would defy any Motherwell fan who saw us in our first two league games and League Cup last 16 game to say that they thought that the aforementioned Hylton, Seedorf and Long looked anything other than hopeless and that they didn't have serious concerns over their capability of playing at the level we require them to. The jury is still out on them IMO though they have shown since that they can offer something, though that doesn't render the mid August concerns about them as nonsense.

We did what we should have done in the League Cup group games - win them all comfortably. As the only Premiership side in our group then anything less would have been unacceptable and what our top flight rivals did at the same stage is totally irrelevant. We were dire at Livingston on the opening day and only Gillespie's fine performance saved us from defeat. Celtic hammered us with clinical finishing but we didn't help ourselves that day with slack defending and extremely naive midfield play throughout and the Hearts cup game was a disaster in every sense of the word. In all of those games we looked poor in an attacking sense, with summer signings Hylton, Seedorf and Long looking utterly hopeless and out of depth at our level and that raised justifiable questions over Stephen Robinson given his disastrous performance on last summer's transfer window. Since the Hearts Cup game our form has improved and Robinson and the team have been given the credit they deserve for that, but it's still relatively early days yet.

I did yes, as did a fair few Motherwell fans. After the poor start to the season culminating in the Hearts league cup debacle where we looked utterly hopeless and there were serious and completely justified questions over the summer signings then it was only natural that I and others were saying it was time up for the manager. Since then he and the team have largely redeemed themselves and it is only natural that Hearts would be looking at our manager should they be needing to replace Levein. If I'm honest I don't really know how I'd feel about Robinson moving on as we're always going to lose manager and players to bigger clubs, my bigger concern would be that we would simply hand the job to Lasley should he move, as I don't think that would be of any benefit to us whatsoever. I suppose should he go, Robinson may well want Lasley to go with him mind you.

If things keep going the way they are then I don't expect Robinson to be with us much longer. I expect Hearts to be looking for a new manager before too long and possibly Hibs too. Maybe even add Aberdeen into the mix soon too if we beat them in a couple of weeks time. Robinson is bound to be linked with any jobs going at those clubs.

Not the greatest performance today but by God, I am delighted with that result and especially pleased for James Scott for getting that beauty to open the scoring. Results elsewhere have went our way today also and unbelievably we are four points clear in third with Aberdeen next after the break. I did not picture this scenario six weeks ago.

1-0 to us in a tight game.

As a Motherwell fan who is not a Scotland fan I'm more than happy with Gallagher, or any of our players for that matter not playing for Scotland. Obviously it would be a feather in the cap for the player himself, but from a Motherwell point of view I'd prefer our players not to have the distraction of international football where there is the risk of them picking up injuries and also gives them more exposure to bigger clubs which would make keeping them at Fir Park more difficult. What I would say though is that Declan Gallagher is a stronger contender for a call up than Mark Reynolds ever was. The howling and greetin' about his exclusion back in the day on steelmenonline and FPC was always amusing.

Ahh magic, this has been a good day all round. Motherwell win in Perth and go third thanks to Aberdeen getting bossed and put firmly in their box by Rangers as natural order is resumed between these old rivals. Well done Rangers - You Are The People

Excellent result and up to third in the table. Not many would have seen that one coming but we'll take it all the same and hopefully we can use home advantage properly next week and get a win over St.Mirren and that would set us up perfect going into the international break with a home game against Aberdeen when we return.

Pleasing so far, this would be a big three points if we can hold on, especially given our record in Perth.

3-1 away win. 2-0 up then in true Motherwell fashion let them back into it at 2-1 before we clinch it late on.

Well done Hearts. GIRFUY Aberdeen.

Don't mind Hearts Can't stand Hibs Hibs fans singing "sacked in the morning" to Levein then getting beat is hilarious. Enjoyed watching that

^^^Thinks being denied a penalty at 2 nil up is the same thing as scoring a goal and having the officials ignore it. A bad decision is a bad decision, no matter how much you try and shift the goalposts to suit your agenda. And it wasn't really a goal was it? Because replays have since showed that the entire ball hadn't crossed the line so therefore the decision was correct after all. Who knows, on another day and another referee, he could have given that as a goal which would have given Saint Johnstone the chance to get back in the game, when they may well have been dead and buried had the stonewall penalty been awarded.

No but that won't stop the conspiracy theorists. Who will, naturally, completely ignore the fact that Rangers were also denied a stonewall penalty.

St.Johnstone score but it's not given and Rangers break up the park and make it 3-0. Come on moon howlers let's hear it..."Dallas is a cheat, blatant cheating, just like his da, he'll no need tae buy a drink doon the lodge the night". As I speak, 4-0 to Rangers.