Motherwell v Spittal & Co

[John MacLean]

On 28/09/2017 at 08:28, Swello said:

Never handed out a reddy - but sorely tempted at the moment.

I'll see your sickening defeat and raise you a brazil-like goal finished by Billy Davies from the next season - one of my favourite goals ever. 

 

Motherwell were absolutely sensational that afternoon. Painful watching for us though. 

[Crilly]

2 hours ago, MJC said:

That Thistle team was full of cluggers (Gerry Britton, Martin Hardie etc) and we were picking up yellow cards by the bucket load that season so that match was a real battle.

 

A bit unfair.  They usually got off with it. 

Did that Harry Wraggs side not include Stephen Craigan too? 

[MJC]

No it was us that were picking up loads of bookings that season, I dunno about Thistle's disciplinary issues. Terry Butcher ended up hiring a sports psychologist to improve our discipline the following year.

Edit: Yes Craigan was part of that side and we signed both him and toastie in the close season of 2003 to much whailing and gnashing of teeth from the Jags for stealing their players whilst in administration.

Craigan went on to have a good career with Motherwell whilst Burns proved to be as hopeless as he was in his first spell with us.

[John MacLean]

1 hour ago, Crilly said:

A bit unfair.  They usually got off with it. 

Did that Harry Wraggs side not include Stephen Craigan too? 

Was Gerry Britton really thought in those terms? Ungainly and all arms and elbows certainly but I never thought he was especially dirty. 

Fair call re Hardie though and Craigan. 

Three of my all-time favourite Jags. 

[Hammer Jag]

5 minutes ago, John MacLean said:

Was Gerry Britton really thought in those terms? Ungainly and all arms and elbows certainly but I never thought he was especially dirty. 

Fair call re Hardie though and Craigan. 

Three of my all-time favourite Jags. 

Ask Kevin Muscat about Gerry Britton. The poor guy had his career and life ruined by him. The surgeons that treated him thought he had been involved in a car crash. 

[thistledo]

11 hours ago, Swello said:

I agree and it is sad - one of the biggest reasons that average crowds have dropped is that away crowds are tiny compared to previous times.  Thistle, Killie, Falkirk, Dunfermline etc used to bring comparatively huge crowds to fir park compared to the away supports we get from even the likes of Hearts now.  It's actually difficult to remember but football was *much* more affordable then and I think this is the biggest factor.

I recently found my cup final ticket from 1991 and it was  £7 to get in - I was amazed at that. 7 (seven) Quid. I know the early 90's was a long time ago  - but inflation alone would make that ticket worth about £14.50 now and look what we are expected to pay for a run of the mill league game in the Premiership, never mind a final.

The away support at Motherwell could have easily dropped off due to the two day camel hike required to get round to the away end.

[Swello]

58 minutes ago, John MacLean said:

Was Gerry Britton really thought in those terms? Ungainly and all arms and elbows certainly but I never thought he was especially dirty. 

Fair call re Hardie though and Craigan. 

Three of my all-time favourite Jags. 

Never saw Gerry Britton like that. He was an annoying bastart who scored against us regularly - that was bad enough. I was raging when we signed him  

[Ya Bezzer!]

The attendance at the 3-1 match was just short of 7,000 (6,893 to be exact).

Other attendances from that season included

Falkirk - 6,293

Kilmarnock - 7,436

Airdrie - 6,010

Hearts - 8,249

To contrast this seasons attendances against Kilmarnock were 4,621 and Hearts 6,568.

 

[MJC]

3 hours ago, Swello said:

Never saw Gerry Britton like that. He was an annoying bastart who scored against us regularly - that was bad enough. I was raging when we signed him  

He made a sub appearance on Skippy Sunday and I remember screaming at McDonald to square it to him in the lead up to the second goal. In the end Skippy went for it alone and the rest is history.

Back on the subject of Well v Thistle nostalgia, I remember Nicky Walker throwing the ball into his own net in the last minute against us at Fir Park to get us a 1-1 draw in a match we were never scoring in otherwise. I think that was early in the 1995/96 season as I'm sure we were wearing the black away Motorola kit despite being at home.

[Swello]

8 minutes ago, MJC said:

He made a sub appearance on Skippy Sunday and I remember screaming at McDonald to square it to him in the lead up to the second goal. In the end Skippy went for it alone and the rest is history.

Back on the subject of Well v Thistle nostalgia, I remember Nicky Walker throwing the ball into his own net in the last minute against us at Fir Park to get us a 1-1 draw in a match we were never scoring in otherwise. I think that was early in the 1995/96 season as I'm sure we were wearing the black away Motorola kit despite being at home.

It must have been torture for Britton to play in that game watching his beloved hoops blowing it. I've always imagined him deliberately skying it if McDonald had squared it. He actually looks pissed off when it goes in

I remember the Nicky Walker one - very reminiscent of Cammy Bell in the Play off - but I remember it mainly as Scotsport did a comedy edit on it and showed Walker dropping the ball in 10 times in quick succession - bizarre. 

[MJC]

Sounds about right.

Partick Thistle were a serious bogey side for us back then, they beat us home and away that season (their last win at FP mind you) and we won 2-0 at Firhill late in the season. They were then out of the top league for six years after that but even then we had to wait until February 2004 before we got a league win against them again when we won 3-0 at home. I remember being delighted after that at FINALLY getting a result over them. A washed up Jorge Cadete was playing for Thistle day day if I remember correctly.

[Dosser-fae-the-shire]

Don't know if it's been mentioned but can mind a game years ago when Iain Brines was the ref. Think Faddy got sent off and Thistle won 0-2. I was fuckin seething that day.

[Fuctifano]

That 2-2 game gets mentioned all the time in these threads  I was doing commentary for the blind / partially sighted that game- we were in the wee dug out / bus shelter thing in between the away stand and the main stand, don't know if it's still there. Got a cracking view of Burns' FK but not much else. I'm sure there was a link to an absolutely beeling fans report at the time, but here's a link to a newspaper one.

Even the first game that season McFadden booted someone up in the air about 10 seconds after kick off and Leitch (I think) got sent off for kicking Hardie off the ball.  All pretty feisty affairs

Anyway, back to tomorrow, and Cerny is back according to the BBC (OS has long since stopped giving team news outside the paywall), which means I can confidently predict Motherwell 1-2 Thistle...

Until the 37th minute when Cerny goes off injured, final score Motherwell 4-2 Thistle.

 

 

[Barney Rubble]

23 minutes ago, Dosser-fae-the-shire said:

Don't know if it's been mentioned but can mind a game years ago when Iain Brines was the ref. Think Faddy got sent off and Thistle won 0-2. I was fuckin seething that day.

Faddy only ever received one red card while at Motherwell, which was in the 2-2 draw mentioned earlier in the thread.

[Barney Rubble]

1 minute ago, Fuctifano said:

Anyway, back to tomorrow, and Cerny is back according to the BBC (OS has long since stopped giving team news outside the paywall), which means I can confidently predict Motherwell 1-2 Thistle...

Until the 37th minute when Cerny goes off injured, final score Motherwell 4-2 Thistle.

Hmmm - that has an ominous ring of probability attached to it.

[Dosser-fae-the-shire]

Faddy only ever received one red card while at Motherwell, which was in the 2-2 draw mentioned earlier in the thread.

f**k. My old mind playing tricks on me.

[Dosser-fae-the-shire]

Faddy only ever received one red card while at Motherwell, which was in the 2-2 draw mentioned earlier in the thread.

Ian Fife was the ref's name. My memory is fuckin terrible.

[Gianfranco]

2-1 Motherwell I think.

[Barney Rubble]

7 hours ago, MJC said:

No it was us that were picking up loads of bookings that season, I dunno about Thistle's disciplinary issues. Terry Butcher ended up hiring a sports psychologist to improve our discipline the following year.

Edit: Yes Craigan was part of that side and we signed both him and toastie in the close season of 2003 to much whailing and gnashing of teeth from the Jags for stealing their players whilst in administration.

Craigan went on to have a good career with Motherwell whilst Burns proved to be as hopeless as he was in his first spell with us.

Is my frazzled brain correct in recalling that PC Kinniburgh was in the Motherwell team that day?

[YassinMoutaouakil]

Somewhat related to the mid-90s stuff- those that were alive at the time, what were the 1993-94 and 94-95 seasons like? We finished 3rd in the former, 4 points off first and 2nd in the latter. Were these considered legitimate Motherwell title challenges at the time? And would that have been perceived as a Leicester-esque underdog story, or was a non-OF champion a lot less unthinkable at the time than it is now, due to it only being a decade after Dundee United and Aberdeen had done so?