DoofersDad

It seems a conference south side didn't want him so maybe he was just sh*te.

Farcical. Will the SFA now publish a list of those rules clubs need to adhere to and those they don't?

Just as well I read the link. I thought perhaps one of our youngsters was up before the courts.

:huh:

I've been critical of Butcher's tactics in the past but couldn't fault him last night. First he tells Dougie to warm up in front of section G where he knows a handful of morons will shout abuse at him and wind him up. Then he introduces him to replace Jonny who was the best attacking player on the park by a country mile. The removal of Jonny from the park causes relief in the Motherwell ranks and they suddenly lose focus. The heavy mob are dispatched up the pitch for a set peice and there is Narius to tuck the ball away. Come the 2nd half Dougie is so fired up that inevitably he is there to silence his critics. 2 - 0 and any spirit Motherwell had disappears into the cold night air. Seriously though, a good all round performance with Narius my MOTM. Only Sanchez disappointed and he was rightly subbed fairly early. What was pleasing was the spirit. There was real commitment and a desire to be first to the ball and get the tackles in. But whilst this is all very pleasing it needs to be seen in the context that Motherwell were a poorer side than most sides we have played in the 1st division this season. It will have been a long journey back to Lanarkshire for some.

I agree with Bridge Ender. He did well enough but was never really tested. One of his strengths is the surging runs up the park often with good balls into the centre. If he did go forward at all last night he needed to check back to use his right foot and was less effective. With Hayes on the right there is less need for Tokely to surge forward so maybe the tactic was to give some solidity in the back four. If so, I'd say it worked - this time.

Where do we draw the line on this though? If the football is called off then maybe they go walking somewhere and the kiddie falls through some thin ice. A child could trip and fall when there was no ice around with the same tragic result. I just think society has moved too far in pandering to H&S issues. You can never eliminate risk so lets try and educate people about hazardous situations so that people can take appropriate actions to minimise risk and let people decide what is reasonable for them. There has to be something wrong in society when you buy a cup of coffee and there is a warning that the container may contain hot liquid. If the attitudes of today had been around in 1990 then there would be nobody reminiscing about the Airdree match today.

Kilmarnock is not a big place and they have been punching above their weight for some time now. I think Jeffries has done a great job for them and I wouldn't be surprised to see them struggle for survival in the SPL.

Police will probably call it off again for safety reasons. The snow will have melted, the roads will be ice free so people will be driving faster and that could be dangerous.

Too much baggage, sorry. I think Pele said it himself that any Chairmen would have to be mad to employ him at present. Should be a good bet then. :P

It's maybe not the draw I would choose but I bet Killie and Falkirk like it even less.

When we had a very poor start to the season everyone seemed to be saying things would be better when Imrie was fit again. Now it seems he can do little right in some people's eyes. His work rate is usually brilliant and if he could only improve in his distribution of the ball he would be one of the most effective players in the league. I hope he stays.

I can't see why there should be any debate; Boyd is far and away the best striker Scotland have got or have had for many years. His record speaks for itself and is even more impressive when you consider the number of times he has only appeared as a substitute. He should be first on the team sheet with a side picked to compliment his strengths. If there was a UK team he would be the only Scot in the squad on present form. Its a bit like saying Don Bradman should not have been in the Australian Cricket team. "yes, he scored a few runs but what else did he contribute to the team?"

A good discussion. I couldn't have got to the game as I only finally managed to dig myself out an hour ago, nevertheless, I think the game should have gone ahead unless there were good reasons why the club was unable to stage it. I agree with the argument that if the police can advise or direct the postponement of a football match, them why not other activities? Are the pubs being closed? I think not! Somebody else mentioned the ski slopes - how on earth can it be unsafe to stage a football match in the town but be fine to allow folk to drive 2,500ft up a windswept mountain? Advice not to travel unless your journey is absolutely necessary is the police just covering their backs. The fact is that any journey you ever take has risk associated with it and as long as we have some accurate information about weather condidtions then we can decide whether that information changes our minds to travel or not. I think it is wrong that when some folk have made some real effort to get up for the game, it is called off because the police won't allow us to make our own decisions. I don't know what the statistics are but because people generally drive more cautiously in the snow so that whilst there may be more accidents, they tens to be pretty minor. There are probably more people killed or seriously injured on the roads when there is no snow. People are much more at risk when the roads are wet and it then freezes - this happens a lot but would a game be called off because a weather forcast predicted that there may be a shower or two and the temperature may fall to freezing? Again, I think not! This is the increasing influence of the nanny state gone mad. Let us make our own decisions, please!

When I started this thread, I had in the back of my mind a game in the Sothern League cup a few years ago but I couldn't recall the details. I have now found it and it is remarkable not so much for the comeback but what happened after. This was in the 3rd round of the cup in 2004 and late in the 2nd half Rugby Town went 2-0 up. It stayed that way till 3 minutes from time when Sutton Coldfield pulled a goal back before equalising in injury time. Then in Extra time, Sutton Coldfield scored 6 times with one player scoring 4. 2-0 down with 3 minutes to go and then winning 8-2 is not bad!

I don't agree with the decision, all I'm saying is that it doesn't surprise me and I can understand the reasoning.

I am not at all suprised by this news and would have been suprised had he stayed. Hughes has been there sometime now and has had the opportunity to buy new players to blend with the better players he inherited. Since he's come in the team have not made much progress and recent form suggests they are going backwards. Before the start of the season all the pundits were predicting that if any team was going to break into the top four it would be Man City but that looks pretty unlikely at the moment despite Liverpool's woeful form. With the resources made available to him, the new owners are right to feel disappointed. To give him the benefit of the doubt would be a big risk. If he doesn't turn things around then to let him go on for another few months would not give a new manager the time to rebuild prior to the new season. If he is going to going then now has to be the time. This means the new manager can strengthen the team in the transfer window. If that doesn't act as a springboard for the relatively modest improvement required to get into the top 4 then it will be an opportunity to consolidate the team for next season. Having said that, I rate Hughes as a manager but think his strength is more in getting the best out of hard working average players rather than managing the prima donnas of the game. He'll get a post at a Bolton or Wigan where he'll do a great job and be appreciated. He's not been sacked, he's been presented with a career diversification opportunity.

I find a packet of Werther's originals is cheaper and lasts longer. An added bonus is that the rustling of the wrappers adds to the atomosphere at the stadium.

Back to the mighty Soham Town Rangers. Having decided that being 4-0 down seemed to guarantee a 4- 4 draw, they went 4-0 down again this week. However, the tactic is not infallible: they lost 6-0.

I stand corrected. I heard a radio report earlier which said it was Suso Santana and Goncalves who had been summoned to the referee's room but a later report confirms it was Black and not Goncalves who was red carded. Still, there must be some serious problems with Hearts and they could be serious contenders for the drop if they don't begin to get their act together.

What's going on at Hearts? Two red cards during the match and two after and none of them shown to Ian Black. Has he lost his competetive edge?

What a lot of rubbish has already been said about the World Cup draw! It is to be expected that the Scots have a moan about how lucky the English have been with the draw, but the surprising thing is that the English seem to think that just because they avoided France and Portugal, they've got an easy draw. They haven't. Now that all the initial knee jerk reactions have been made, it is maybe time to comment on the draw based on the facts The facts are that England are in a tough group and they are statistically more vulnerable than any other top ranked side. Two go through from each group so it doean't really matter how strong the second strongest team is. A strong 2nd team will have a bearing on the likelihood of winning the group but it is how strong all the teams are that matters in terms of how easy it will be to qualify. It is qualifying rather than winning the group which is the most important thing. The average FIFA ranking of all the teams in the draw is 25.125. In England's group the average is 21 with only group H (Spain) at 18.5 and E (Holland) at 20.75 being tougher. So it is not any easy group. In addition, England (at 9) are the lowest ranked side of all the highest ranked teams in the groups. If you look at the difference between the ranking of the top ranked team in the each group and the average ranking of the other 3 teams the average difference is 26.8 but in England's group the difference is only 16 making their group the tightest of the 8 groups. Of all the teams that are the lowest ranking sides in their groups, Slovenia, at 33, are the highest ranked side. The other sides in England's group may have no great international pedigree but, based on current rankings, will all provide a stern test for England. It is Italy who have the easiest group and it is worth noting that all the other sides in England's group have a higher FIFA ranking than all the 3 other sides in Italy's group. Based on the facts, perhaps the anti English sentiment could change from moaning about England being lucky to looking forward to England's early exit due to them being in tough group.

The TV companies are happy when a lot of people watch the games. If the TV companies are happy then that suggests the fans are happy too. With 2 going through from each group there is plenty of opportunity for the less fancied teams to progress.

It seems as though we have the nucleus of a pretty good team and there is not a lot of squad rebuilding required - although we certainly need more in the way of defensive options. It is not all doom and gloom. People should keep in mind the first half of the Alba cup final when we totally outclassed the team that is generally regarded as the favourites to win the league. Remember too, that away from cup action, we are the leading scorers in the league. What I think we do need to rebuild is the team spirit. I don't know what is going on behind the scenes but the kind of spirit that used to be a feature of the team just isn't there. There is far too much blaming and not enough mutual encouragement when things are not going well. There is not the same level of competetiveness on the park as there used to be. Perhaps fitness levels are also a factor here as the players in general do not look as sharp as they used to be in the Brewster days. And it seems to be the old guard that are most at fault here as one certainly can't fault the effort put in by the like of Foran, Hayes and Rooney. If we can improve on that and have somebody whisper a few words of tactical wisdom into TB's ear from time to time, there is no reason why we can't make good progress for the rest of the season with only minor personnel changes.

Think positive. Inverurie Locos in the 5th round.