MJC

Alan Burrows was far more courteous and accomodating to that cretin than most in his position would be I'd imagine. Apart from being extremely unfair and harsh in his criticism of the situation he got personal in his abuse which was totally uncalled for and had Burrows basically told him to bolt and not had any further conversation with him then I doubt anyone would have blamed him.

We have rode our luck on a few occasions this season, most notably the Ross County game at Fir Park, the Cup Semi Final and even the Accies game where we were poor for the most part but still won. However as a team we have most definitely improved on last season and as a result there is a much better mood around the club as a while and the players actually look as though they are enjoying their football, something which just wasn't the case last season. You can argue that we were perhaps unlucky at times last season but I think it's fair to say that we were on the whole absolutely awful for the most part and it was an absolutely turgid campaign. We had a squad filled up with aging players in their second and in some cases, third and fourth spells at the club, mixed with utter garbage like Zak Jules & Craig Clay who couldn't string two wins in a row until MAY! We also had a manager for the majority of the season who was no good for us whatsoever and his massively inflated ego contributed greatly to our downfall. Ya Bezzer! correctly points out that we went from top six in early January to a sticky situation by the end of the season but you have to look at the turning point here. Where and when was this? In my opinion it was 100% at Ibrox in the Scottish Cup in January when we lost 2-1 to two late goals. On paper that sounds unfortunate, but we were dire that day and were set up to take the game to a replay until Moult puts us ahead against the run of play before our late collapse. Bad enough, but our manager then takes to national TV/radio to tell the world that it's the worst he's ever felt in 900 games and that he feels hollow and he can't even look at the players and basically puts the entire team bar McDonald right under the bus taking no responsibility whatsoever. It was no coincidence whatsoever that our performances and form nosedived dramatically from this point onwards and we would go on to lose 7-2 and 5-1(at HOME) within the next five weeks. Stephen Robinson had a tough, tough job to do to keep us up last season due to the shambles his predecessor left us in and he just did enough and has made some good progress this season, on and off the park. His summer transfer dealings were far more astute than our business the previous year and he seems to instill confidence in the team. Yes he's made mistakes but he is relatively inexperienced but I see nothing to suggest we are not now moving in the right direction.

I even remember the days where we did really well in the league, second best only to Celtic indeed, yet for some reason just couldn't or didn't turn up in Cup games. This meant we had to suffer watching the likes of St.Mirren & Kilmarnock winning domestic honours all whilst we were being pumped out by Albion Rovers etc. Well I wouldn't swap a League Cup win or indeed even our run this season beating Aberdeen then Rangers for one of those seasons where we qualified for the utter dross that is the Europa League qualifiers only to be humped by some nonentity from the armpit of eastern Europe. The feeling we've had about this Cup run, the buzz, the excitement at scudding Aberdeen then going to Hampden and humiliating Rangers to reach a National Cup Final has been brilliant and has reinvigorated my love of football and dare I say it, that of many other Well fans. THIS is what it's all about...preparing for a Cup Final which puts us 90 minutes away from winning Silverware (slim as that chance is given the opponents, I do concede) not contesting some European qualifier against a side no one has ever heard of in a competition we are never going to make a scratch in.

My concern with Kipre all season and in particular of late is that he looks badly exposed in his position. I'm wondering if a set up with Cadden protecting him on the right like that in the final would be to his and our benefit as if we are honest, we defend the way we have done over the past few games and Celtic will murder us. If we are to stand any chance in the final we need to do everything we can to negate Celtic's wide players like Roberts, Sinclair & Tierney on the flanks. We were lucky against Rangers in the semi that they couldn't punish us even though they got plenty of joy down our right side in the first half but Celtic will be a different kettle of fish altogether. I honestly think that our best chance is that we shut up shop and try and take them to penalties but we will need to be far more defensively sound than of late to have any chance of that.

We've come on leaps and bounds this season but our fixture list between now and January is horrible and a dip in form can't be ruled out. Away to Aberdeen, away to Hearts, away to Rangers, home and away to Celtic all before the end of 2017 and it'll be a tough ask to pick up points from that set of fixtures. I think if the money is right then Moult will be sold regardless whenever the offer comes in to be honest.

I actually love Stephen Robinson. He has completely transformed us on the pitch and improved our mentality tenfold. He never accepts defeat with a shrug of the shoulders no matter who the opposition and has instilled a winning mentality in us, something we have lacked for God knows how long. For all McCall did well for us, we would never have won today, or against Aberdeen in the Quarters, with him in charge. SR was absolutely loving it at the end today, absolutely loving it.

Imagine beating them in the League Cup Final then parading the Cup to the home support three days later when we play them again at Fir Park. Carlsberg don't do 'GIRFUY Sellics' but if they did, they'd be the best 'GIRUY Sellic' since the 22nd of May 2005.

It's great to hear talk of players talk of bonding with the support and it helps fuel the feel-good factor that we've already got going at the start of this season. For years the club's PR was utterly dreadful; from Dempster's time when the only communication we got was about how we were skint and making losses despite qualifying for Europe; to McGhee's second stint when he seemed keen to argue with supporters and throw players under the bus resulting in a bad atmosphere in general around the club. I feel like since the summer we've seen a bit of a sea change at the club for the better. Gone are the 'old boys network' with the exception of Hammell from the first team, something which greatly held us back as a club and we now have a younger, hungrier looking squad who actually seem to enjoy playing football. In Stephen Robinson as manager we have an enthusiastic and dare I say it, adventurous individual who puts his heart and soul into the job, something we definitely did not have last year, this reflects on the players too. He was not my first choice as manager but he's done well so far and I get the feeling we could be entering into an era like the Butcher one where we surprise a lot of people, even ourselves. We have done reasonably well in the past with managers who have failed elsewhere yet been a good fit for us, ala Butcher & McCall and hopefully Robinson falls into the same category. Since the win at Queen's Park in July this season has been more enjoyable than the last two put together and long may it continue.

Which you just did.

In answer to the OP Goram Jardine--Gough--Mjallby--McGrain Johnstone--Lambert--Souness--Cooper Dalglish--Larsson

Boo boo boo booooo down with this sort of thing booooo. One of these threads when everyone tries to get all high and mighty and adopt the "I hate the Old Firm, feel superior" then those same people will be glued to the TV/radio/Twitter on the day of the first game between the two and give it laldy with the mock outrage.

Have to say I'm chuffed with the clubs dealings so far. Heneghan will be a loss but good luck to him and impressed that we've conducted business to replace him straight away, we've clearly been proactive in this window. Good to see Grimshaw back as well.

We can recruit any McGhee we want, even Debbie McG(h)ee, as long as that particular McGhee who was our previous manager never darkens our door again then they'll get my support. On a serious note I would happily take Jordan McGhee at Fir Park should we lose Heneghan.

Imagine going in for a 50/50 with him! I can't ever remember us having a central defender with such physical presence and the look like he can bounce opposition strikers into next week before. The closest I can think of is Karl Ready from 01/02 but he was a bombscare for us.

Cadden is a target for Hull according to The Sun. He's obviously going to go eventually but he'd be a major loss at this point in time so hopefully this comes to nothing.

Not too surprised to see McManus retire, he's 35 and obviously age and injuries have caught up with him over the last year. I would expect us to be looking at bringing in another centre half before the window shuts.

Next Saturday is absolutely crucial for us now and although I wouldn't use the term 'must win' this early in the season, we really could do with winning given we've had two defeats back to back in the league. The early signs are worrying for us as for all I think we now have a team with a lot more bottle and will to win about them than we had last year, we just don't have goals in us and continue to be very sloppy at the back. You could make the case for us being unlucky last week against Rangers but in truth we were fortunate not to be 3-0 down inside the first half an hour before getting ourselves level, but I really thought we shot ourselves in the foot with poor finishing and dreadful attacking play in the final third. I wasn't there today but from the sounds of things we were in the game and possibly on top in the first half yet couldn't make it count and found ourselves 2-0 down before a complete collapse in the second half. I said it last week but a frontline of Tanner, Fisher and Bowman just won't do for us as they aren't clinical enough and we seriously need to work in our distribution and forward play or else we will seriously struggle for goals and points this season.

Nope, if you'd read the Ross County game thread you'd have seen that I would take a win in the Cup game even if it meant we lost the league game. Curiously, we have had a bit of a habit in the past of playing Aberdeen at home in a Cup match either just before or a week or so before playing them again in the league and each time we have lost the Cup game then beat them in the league. It happened in 1996 when we lost 0-2 in the Cup then beat them 1-0 in the league two weeks later; then in March 2012 we lost 1-2 in the Scottish Cup on the Sunday then beat them 1-0 in the league the following Saturday (Hammell wonder goal). Finally in December of 2012 we lost 1-2 again in the Scottish Cup then two weeks later thumped them 4-1 in the league. This time, I'd prefer us to reverse the trend and win the Cup match, but a win in both would be grand.

Huge result for us tonight. A very tough and challenging 120 minutes and EXACTLY the type of game that we would normally lose, we certainly would have last year so all credit to Steve Robinson and the players for getting through that. Hopefully this will be a springboard to a good season and a good Cup run at long last. Aberdeen at home will be a tall order but we're at home and quite simply we need to believe we can beat them and be right up for it. Give me a Cup run over European qualification ANY day of the week. Well done Motherwell.

Had to happen after his 'antics' and when you combine that with the fact that he was garbage then emptying him was the only sensible option open to the club. Good to see a short, succinct statement to confirm it too, we're getting there.

The St.Mirren fans seem very bitter about Plummer, I'm starting to like him already. I seem to remember them telling us how shite Higdon was when we signed him and look how that turned out for us.

It's like a throwback to 2007/08 with St.Mirren fans all over Motherwell threads on here. What's Captain Sensible up to these days?

We're going to give Rangers a guard of honour on Sunday, cos they are the peepul after all.

Richie Foran was a decent player for us when he could be bothered but that wasn't often enough and he often disappeared during matches. I said when he was with us that one of the main reasons he had such a cult status with our support was because he was a bit of a character who was often found bevvying in various local boozers. Bob McHugh I'll give you did put plenty of effort in but ultimately just wasn't good enough at this level. Vigurs was a lazy imposter who chipped in with the odd spectacular strike. But regardless of all three's varying levels of committment and ability, they should not be being cheered or applauded by our support when playing against us, trying to score against and beat us, in my opinion. It's just wrong to me when they are playing for the opposition. Some may disagree and that's their opinions, but that's how I see it.

No doubt it'll get an airing and Bob will get a nice big cheer from the usual suspects in our support who love to cheer opposition players playing against us, ala Foran & Vigurs.