MJC

I want to give him time but I just can't make a case for him right now. An awful summer of transfer business followed by dreadful football which is getting us nowhere and he doesn't seem to want to change it or indeed doesn't seem capable of changing it. We had 3,000 there on Saturday and that was a bit of a drop from the Livingston game two weeks earlier. That number is only going to drop further as we head into winter and the performances continue as they are...and let's face it, there is nothing to suggest that they won't. We are basically in a situation where we are relying on St.Mirren and Dundee being worse than we are in order to keep us in the league and indeed the next two games will tell us alot, but the very best we are going to finish this season is 10th and by the looks of things we'll have scraped 10th should we get it. I like Stephen Robinson, but for me his time is up.

This was a exactly a year ago, or a year tomorrow if going by date. Oh for a Louis Moult in this current side. What a difference a year makes, this was one of my favourite ever days following Motherwell and one of the top moments.

The problem with Main and Bowman is that they are not goalscorers in the mould of McDonald, Higdon or Moult but are both the type of forward player that would benefit from playing alongside someone like those guys as a foil. It's no coincidence that Bowman's best spell with us was August - November last year when he was partnering Moult up front but Moult then left and we have brought in another Bowman to partner Bowman. And surprise surprise it isn't working. Main in particular cuts a very frustrated figure, completely lacking in confidence but he simply does not possess the ability to be a Louis Moult type player and he has had one decent performance since the Scottish Cup semi final six months ago. The problem is that Robinson seems determined to persist with the Main/Bowman partnership or else the even worse Main/Sammon one.

I'd certainly be happier with Craigan being handed the job than Lasley. He has a bit of managerial experience under his belt, albeit at youth level whereas Lasley has none. In our position we really cannot afford to be handing the job to someone cutting their teeth from scratch in a managerial role. The problem there is, as touched on, would Craigan really want the gig just now?

That's two points which are the most worrying. That we are more likely than not just going to hand the job to someone like Lasley if and when the time comes and that we have no one in that team you can look to and think "he can make the difference today". In that infamous 2002/03 season we had Faddy, in 1995/96 we had Paul Lambert and Tommy Coyne, in Malpas' season we had Scott McDonald and then Ross McCormack and even in the playoff season we had Johnson, McDonald and arguably Sutton. This current side has nothing to offer any hope whatsoever.

I like Stephen Robinson, but his time is up. He is living on the 'grace' of two cup runs last season but we cannot ignore; - a shocking summer of transfer business - zero football being played - being on five points in mid October - one solitary point picked up from home games against Hamilton, Livingston and St.Johnstone. That is simply unacceptable and the squad look devoid of confidence and belief and the crowds are dwindling - 3,000 today - that will only drop as we head into the winter months. He did well last season and he seems like a genuinely good guy, but the results and performances are nowhere near acceptable and we need to part company and soon.

Some people out there would say the same about Davie Cooper tbh, yet he has a stand at Fir Park named after him. Just saying. I didnt/don't know either guy but I do know that both were excellent servants to Motherwell FC and played a major part in winning the only major honour that we've ever won in my lifetime and the fact that one or both of them may hold some views that aren't 'politically correct' doesn't dilute that for me. Nobody is whiter than white.

He does though have a Scottish Cup Winners medal from his time at Fir Park, something many far better players who have contributed much more to Motherwell FC can boast and for his part in the 1991 Cup run and win, Colin ONeill will always be a Motherwell legend in my eyes. That article of his though is cringworthy.

I was never Ainsworth's biggest fan but you're right, someone like him would give this team an option out wide that we desperately need just now, even as an impact player in the latter stages of a match. Likewise a Chris Humphrey type who would provide something in the way of width and creativity, because at the moment we are a side devoid of any creativity and are rigid and slow with no idea how to play without thumping it long in any direction.

Yesterday's tactics of punt the way you're facing and run like headless chickens was like watching a five a side match full of overweight guys in their 50s. It was utterly chronic to watch and embarrassing for a top flight side to be playing like that. Robinson, or indeed whoever the manager is when January comes around MUST recruit a wide player to give us at least the chance of changing the way we play as if we continue to play the way we have over the last month then we will be in serious relegation trouble and our stands will be more or less empty as the pay at the gate punters simply will not part with the cash to watch that dross.

It's difficult to argue with any of that to be honest.

Re: our summer transfer business, there's no doubt it was dreadful and we're paying the price for that. That said, I'm still behind Stephen Robinson and I hope he turns things around. Obviously our cup exploits last season put a lot of credit in the bank for him, as did his transfer dealings in summer 2017, but I think the rapport he has with the club and the support is what is keeping a lot of the support off his back just now. He gives the impression that he genuinely loves being at the club and has done more than many a Motherwell manager in terms of building bridges with the support. He can't though get by on this forever if results and performances don't pick up soon and indeed failure to win today, at home to Livingston, would see bigger questions being asked of him.

Our summer of poor transfer dealings have more than caught up with us and we are firmly in a relegation battle. I like Robinson, but time is running out for him imo and sadly I can't see him turning it around as that would require a drastic change in how we play, and I'm not convinced he is capable of that.

It was a great goal but it counted for nothing as we were soundly beaten on the night. Apart from that moment there were no positives to take tonight and we are out of yet another Cup. Tonight we yet again paid the price for our poor summer transfer business. We have a squad lacking quality and filled with slow, flat footed and uncreative players and yet again, several individual errors as has been the case since day one this season and as ever, one of those leads to us conceding a goal. We have failed big time to build on last season's Cup exploits and as a team we have regressed badly. I like Stephen Robinson but that is 100% at his door and he is in danger of losing alot of the goodwill he build up last season.

A very accurate piece and echos my thoughts completely and I have no doubt, the thoughts of the majority of the support. I have made my feelings on Mark McGhee very clear over the past few years on here so I won't bother going into it all again, but what I will say is that no matter what has happened since he was rinsed or what will happen in the future, we as a club are well shot of him.

Highly concerning if that's what SR's thought process is. At this rate we'll be looking at 1995/96 levels of goalless games.

I like Robinson but he has made a complete horses arse of the summer transfer dealings. Last season it was clear that we needed to address the forward line and add some creativity and flair into the middle. What we got though was Connor Sammon and another midfielder that's apparently here to sit on the bench. Result of that is we haven't kicked on from last season and are in fact going backwards. We have zero flair or attacking quality and thus don't score goals and don't pick up points. We'll be out of the League Cup by the middle of this week and the big 'release' from last year's turgid league form will be gone for this year, so it's going to be a grim time for us between now and January.

I've always liked it and kind of grew up with it as it started when I was a youngster in the mid 1990s and it was always my Saturday evening after the football, listening to it on the radio or my tranny if I was at the game. I always loved their phone in after the games and thought it was ten times better than the Scotsport 'forum' and the Celtic/Rangers eejit phone in on Clyde. Together Cowan and Cosgrove are good and make for good listening and their insight and views on the game are always worth hearing, though I must admit I'm not a fan of either on their own and indeed I found Tam's TV programme (On the Ball?) years ago to be quite cringworthy. He's a good guy though and unashamedly biased towards Motherwell so that's good enough for me.

McGhee's ridiculous post match interview that day was the turning point in that season where it went from dire to absolutely fucking stinking. I said at the time and stand by it, he lost the dressing room at that moment and while the players weren't blameless for what happened in the next month following that, it's understandable that they did perhaps 'down tools' somewhat after hearing their boss publically throw them under the bus like that. McGhee was always one for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time and making ill advised comments but that interview took the fucking biscuit.

Anyone trying to deny the levels of paranoia and obssesion from both sides towards the other is either lying, blind or deaf. They are basically a mirror image of eachother from the top of the club all the way down to the scummiest, most bigoted wee shitebag that "supports" them. That's your opinion and you are of course entitled to it, but in my experience that's not the case. They are not a 'mirror image' of each other, infact they are actually very different as groups. There are some similarities, namely that both have an 'arrogant' core in their supports. However with Rangers, their arrogance is driven by entitlement, the 'We are the People' mentality which they often tie themselves in knots in, to their own detriment. The video that did the rounds at the time they were in the process of dying(explaining debt to a ***) was very accurate in capturing their arrogance. "Rangers will never die, we're too big - why do you think that? - because WATP" etc. With Celtic, their arrogance is driven by bitterness, a sort of wee man's syndrome which is what they operate on as a club themselvrs and use to their advantage when things don't go their way. They are definitely more obsessed with Rangers than Rangers fans are with them though and I think that's as plain as the nose on the end of your face.

Sounds more like some Rangers fans are so fixated on the idea of Celtic fans' obsession that it's become an obsession of their own. Perhaps they are, you'd need to ask a Rangers fan about that, but anyone trying to deny the levels of obsession for Rangers from Celtic fans, and alot of other sets of fans, is either lying or blind and deaf.

Maybe because Celtic fans are well noted for their utter obsession with Rangers? One of them even went to a European game at Ibrox years ago to invade the pitch and chain himself to the goalposts with handcuffs. That's the level of obsession some folk have for Rangers in this country.

On closer inspection I think it's actually last season's shorts (and socks) our youngsters are sporting there, but the point stands. For me a Motherwell home kit should always consist of a predominantly amber top with predominantly claret shorts. I hate the white shorts with our home kit but actually think they would go better with our current away top than the home one.

The goals from the reserve draw with Dunfermline. Is it just me or does the home kit look so much better there with the 'away' shorts being used?

Did you mean to post that in here? The Motherwell FC thread? Still, best wishes to Craig Levein, that kind of thing puts football in perspective.