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Marinello

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Posts posted by Marinello

  1. Listened to tonight`s BBC podcast and I am beside myself with the direction it took.

    First of all the MAJORITY vote which at 64% is pretty sizeable was given hardly any acknowledgement nor was the vote by definition seen for what it was namely that the bulk of clubs did not believe an inquiry was necessary. Instead what we got was an over concentration on those in the minority. Yup lets note their discontent  but c`mon  lets get a grip!

    Meanwhile aside from Mc Intyre`s bombastic and sensationalised questions which were clearly geared towards continually pointing the finger at the SPFL board we then had Tom English!!!!

    Clearly pissed off that that his `take` on the conflict has now run aground he came out with the clearly inferred view that the clubs behind the resolution were acting in the best interests of Scottish football.  Not only is this tripe as even the most objective fan knows that Rangers and Hearts to name but 2  have had their own vested interests in the conflict [which of course are unconnected with the welfare of others] , but more importantly he again chose tonight not to address these interests in any shape or form.

    That these `elephant in the room interests` did not get the attention they deserved in the podcast nor indeed did  the known widespread view held by many fans that the SPFL would be well within their rights  to now initiate disrepute charges against  Rangers  for their actions and comments throughout , simply leaves me with the view that the BBC coverage is not fit for purpose. Gone is balance and an avoidance of taking on the real issues. Indeed I`m left with the feeling that the BBC has been neutered preferring instead to pussy foot on the issues that matter . 

    Journalists of the standard of Ian Archer and Hugh Mc Ilvanney will be turning in their grave.

  2. Me as one of the ' auld yins' who vividly remembers the 18 team top league set up before 1974 , I have to say that as a supporter of Motherwell who were almost always mid table at the time I found the arrangement to be terrible.

    Basically having no chance of Europe , little risk of relegation and invariably papped out of both cups early, we found ourselves as early as February with nothing to play for. Consequently our attendances plummeted sometimes getting as low as 2,000 when up against clubs in a similar position. 

    So for all I understand why some others see the attraction of playing each other only twice and blooding more youngsters the reality is that this is considerably outweighed by the drop in attendances , loss of revenue and the mind numbing boredom when playing games that don't matter. Contrast with just now when invariably deep into the season all clubs have something to play for.

    Therefore I would recommend that unless we can retain the current arrangement ( which with Dundee's quid pro quo making this unlikely) I would go reluctantly with an increase to 14. But I would insist on keeping the play offs which to me have been brilliant.

     

     

  3. I could be wrong but fwiw I feel a compromise is in the air.

    Bear with me but I feel in exchange for the SPFL getting the 'bulk' of their proposal through an agreement with Dundee will take the following shape ;

    1. All league leaders get their respective titles as planned.

    2. All bottom teams are relegated as planned .

    BUT 3.  The play offs in all leagues are retained. Thus ICT , Dundee and Falkirk give their support as will the support be retained of the other ' top end' play off teams on understanding that once eliminated they get their due monies immediately.

    Appreciate the second bottom teams won't be jumping for joy but I suspect Dundee's thinking is that for the ' greater good' as per needing a decision asap for the other teams re freeing monies ,  the second bottom teams will bite the bullet and run with it.

    Likewise Dundee I feel will believe the TV companies and sponsors will run with it as considerably more revenue will accrue from what are eye catching play offs------ moreso when the public are football starved.

    Bit of tweaking would be involved re Kelty, Brora and Brechin but Dundee I believe see this as resolvable.

    As for the player contracts the attraction presumably would be that this difficult matter would be restricted to the rump of teams involved in the play offs rather than all 42.

    The above thinking might have weaknesses which I haven't thought of but the pros seem to outweigh the cons more in this outline than in the other possible solutions.

    Just my thoughts.

     

     

     

     

     

  4. I'm concerned about this fixture.

    Before Alessio's ' departure' I felt Killie were in a rut and that the worst outcome for the 'Well would be a draw.

    Now however I'd snap anyone's hand off for a draw. My reasoning is that I feel the Killie players like Dyer a lot and will be ready to dig deeper for a result.

  5. On 19/11/2019 at 11:45, well fan for life said:

    Jesus wept. I'd forgotten Saunders got called up. 

    I think you are harsh in dismissing Saunders.

    At the time of his injury , which he picked up when playing as Captain for the Scotland Under 21's, he was widely regarded as a very promising defender.

    Coming through at the same time as Hutchinson there was belief they would form a good central defence partnership for years to come.

    Thus can be the impact of injuries. Not unlike Craig Moore who many had high hopes for.

  6. Being a Motherwell exile in Livingston I have seen the lions 3 times this season. No goals conceded against us, Celtic and Hearts.

    We ( as we all know) will face a team who will press us high and attempt to stop our threat at source.

     

    Important we score earlyish as the longer game goes Livi will become more adventurous and seek to play on our nerves-----something they are very good at.

    On flip side Livi are quite blunt up front especially if Dykes doesn't make it.

    Going for a 1-0 home win.

  7. Excellent post by Cpt Oats .

    Yup 'Well fans are heartened by our start but we know to our cost the dangers of getting too far ahead of ourselves. The County experience is the perfect example .

    Strangely because of the County game I feel we will be better placed to get the win against the buddies as will be fully guarded against complacency.

    Also feel that it's a big opportunity for O'Hara to come in as Donnelly's replacement  and banish the memory of his 'give away' for County's second goal.

    Can see a very difficult game against a well organised team with a 1-0 win to us the outcome.

    Ain't putting the life savings on it though😲

  8. 1 hour ago, capt_oats said:

    I don't think there's any doubt that Young Sherwin looks a bit of a punt (hopefully more Kipré than Newell). I'd imagine the "undisclosed fee" is a fairly nominal amount. Curiously it's not mentioned in the MFC announcement. There's only mention of money being involved is in the spiel from Wolves.

    In terms of our scouting we brought in Akeal Rehman for Craigan's u20s last year from Wolves Academy (with much less fanfare, he didn't even get a squad number or player profile on the OS). I wonder if we've got someone who's covering that area (geographically speaking) and level.

    Joining the dots based on comments Maurice Ross has made the problem with Rehman was that he was a bit of a pointless signing rather than being a poor player (I thought he showed up pretty well in the Irn Bru Cup games I saw FWIW). Essentially, the question Ross seemed to be asking was why were we signing a player from an EPL Academy in a position we were pretty well stocked in terms of our own Academy players: Turnbull, Semple, McAlear, Kettings, Cornelius et al.

    It's been well established that we're very, very short on wide players for a side that seems to want to play a system that relies on wingers. In that respect it's not as if signing Young Sherwin is blocking any pathway for anyone. It's really a case now of whether he's actually any use. I'd imagine he'll get more of a chance here than he was going to at Wolves or the shitshow that Bradford seem to have become.

    In that respect suppose we'll need to wait and see what the squad looks like at the end of the window. While Seedorf may well be a punt this time last week it was looking like we were about to re-sign a 28 year old winger who couldn't actually get into our starting XI last season. So that's probably a bit of context.

    If we're able to bring in a couple more established forwards on loan (Hiya Gboly, hiya pal) it'll probably take the edge off a bit.

    Incidentally it looks like we've got a bounce game vs Oxford u23s/18s this morning. No idea whether it's our Reserves or what.

    Being a left winger Seedorf's signing could put the mockers on a move for Ariyibi.

  9. Like Captain Oats I can see some form of compromise agreement being reached which saves face and reputation all round.

    Technically though unless Blyth does something really stupid thereby giving MFC the opportunity to dismiss him he can see out his contract. Would take a hellava lot of resolve/balls for him to do this but it is open to him, including the year option.

    I suspect and hope matters will become clear soon.

    Have to say on a general point that due to his injuries [ physical and emotional---remember Mc Ghee`s comment!] , poor form and me not being around I have yet to see him play in over a year !

    For all I know he may be a budding Lewandowski but I suspect not.

     

     

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