Jump to content

Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons


Recommended Posts

I was a big fan of McDonald first time around - but in proper football supporter grudge holding style, after his utterly classless bit of badge kissing when he scored for Celtic at Fir Park - wasn't a fan of his when he came back. That's not to say I didn't appreciate what he did in keeping us up again (his performance in midfield at Ibrox in the playoff was probably his best in a 'Well shirt) - but his attitude was pretty poor and he wasn't a good influence around the club.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, Swello said:

I was a big fan of McDonald first time around - but in proper football supporter grudge holding style, after his utterly classless bit of badge kissing when he scored for Celtic at Fir Park - wasn't a fan of his when he came back. That's not to say I didn't appreciate what he did in keeping us up again (his performance in midfield at Ibrox in the playoff was probably his best in a 'Well shirt) - but his attitude was pretty poor and he wasn't a good influence around the club.

McDonald was a quality player for us, in both spells I might add. A horrible wee nark though and very prone to spitting the dummy out.

That whole era irritated me to be honest. He was one of several players to return for a second spell at the club, and in Faddy and Pearson's cases, a third/fourth/umpteenth spell. And of course McGhee was brought back as well. It just wasn't an enjoyable time to support Motherwell, not least because we were pretty shite and awful to watch, but because we had that many wage thiefs in and around the first team and the signing policy was lazy and youth development was non existent.

I'll give Robinson his due, he may not be perfect but he moved us away from the 'sign any ex player from ten years ago' policy - with the obvious exception of McCormack - and made some decent signings in summer 2017. It's taken it's time, but of late we've seen just what bringing youth players through and into the first team can do for the team and the club. The support love it too, and that's the way it should be at a club like ours.

Edited by MJC
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Speaking of bad influences at the club and in the dressing room, I've no doubt that McDonald fell into that category, but so did McFadden I think. He was never a team player and whenever he played, especially in his third or fourth return, he always seemed to take centre stage for some reason, even though he was well over the hill by that time. That Scottish Cup tie against Cove Rangers when he came on as a sub and the rest of the team chucked it to try and get him a goal, which he didn't, still annoys me. I also don't think he was well received in his role as player/assistant manager either, but so many at the club were and still are utterly blind to him. Again, Robinson did the right thing by binning him in 2017.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I find it difficult to call into question Scott McDonald's contributions in a Motherwell shirt.

From his emergence under Terry Butcher, his contributions to dragging us out of trouble under Maurice Malpas, the scenes of Skippy Sunday and then scoring again when Celtic visited on the opening day of the following season. He was a massive player for us in his first spell.

On rejoining us he played a crucial role in surviving the play-off's and then was often quoted as a huge influence on Louis Moult's success at the club. 

There were rumours he threw the toys out of the pram when he was denied a move back to Sydney ahead of Mark McGhee's meltdown at Ibrox, he later said McDonald was injured as he'd been 'carrying the rest of the team', but even then he still knuckled down and helped the team somehow finish 9th.

Sure he was offside about 90% of the time, kicked up about missing his 'dream move' to Rangers before joining Celtic, had an unfortunate knack of scoring against us with them and kept us waiting for the duration of pre-season on multiple occasions, meaning it took him a few extra months to actually be match fit, but there were a lot more positives than there were negatives.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

McDonald was one of those players who you love if he's in your team but despise if he's playing against you.

A real quality player who bagged us plenty of crucial goals and gave me one of my all time favourite days following Motherwell in 2005. He was a defenders nightmare as he was capable of getting something out of nothing, be that a goal or a foul.

There were times though I found him frustrating when he was with us, as he was prone to throw a strop if he didn't get the service or pass he wanted and then spend the rest of the game running about with his face tripping him before getting subbed and storming straight up the tunnel. I was mightily pissed off when he openly spoke of his disappointment at missing out on a move to Rangers whilst we were in the middle of a relegation fight and obviously I hated him when he played for Celtic and inevitably scored against us every time he played us.

One thing that did piss me off when he first joined was how so many Well fans simply called him 'Dougie' due to his height and build similarities to Dougie Arnott, and that seemed to stick with him for a good while.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, MJC said:

McDonald was one of those players who you love if he's in your team but despise if he's playing against you.

A real quality player who bagged us plenty of crucial goals and gave me one of my all time favourite days following Motherwell in 2005. He was a defenders nightmare as he was capable of getting something out of nothing, be that a goal or a foul.

There were times though I found him frustrating when he was with us, as he was prone to throw a strop if he didn't get the service or pass he wanted and then spend the rest of the game running about with his face tripping him before getting subbed and storming straight up the tunnel. I was mightily pissed off when he openly spoke of his disappointment at missing out on a move to Rangers whilst we were in the middle of a relegation fight and obviously I hated him when he played for Celtic and inevitably scored against us every time he played us.

One thing that did piss me off when he first joined was how so many Well fans simply called him 'Dougie' due to his height and build similarities to Dougie Arnott, and that seemed to stick with him for a good while.

Not got a lot of bad things to say about McDonald either always liked him. But wasn't that pleased when he got himself sent off at East End Park in the infamous Malpas (Donald Duck) game.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 minutes ago, MJC said:

One thing that did piss me off when he first joined was how so many Well fans simply called him 'Dougie' due to his height and build similarities to Dougie Arnott, and that seemed to stick with him for a good while.

I completely forgot that used to be a thing.

Still, good of the 'Well fans to move onto something a bit more original like 'Skippy'.

Edited by Desp
Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 minutes ago, Desp said:

I completely forgot that used to be a thing.

Still, good of the 'Well fans to move onto something a bit more original like 'Skippy'.

Indeed, though I was just glad that 'Dougie' petered out, as it was just daft especially as Dougie Arnott was a club legend. Some fans even used to chant 'Doou-gaay .. Doou-gaay' at McDonald.

22 minutes ago, nsr said:

Did folk go through a phase of calling McGhee "Noah" because the "P" fell off the side of Fir Park?

Rings a bell certainly.

Also loved how Jim Gannon quickly acquired 'Jimbo' after ahout two weeks and nobody knew who he was, but already had 'Jimbo' as the Messiah, and we all know how that turned out.

Then we had Brown and Knox who were 'Jack and Victor' until they left for Aberdeen when they just became 'they two auld c***s'.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, thisGRAEME said:

Tbf, we'd need to have scored about 6 to have stayed out of the playoffs, wouldn't we?

Yeah, results went against us that day - though it didn't help we managed to lose 3-2 to the side already relegated - losing two goals in the final four minutes. 

Some laugh when you consider what proceeded being consigned to the play-off's mind you. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, thisGRAEME said:

Tbf, we'd need to have scored about 6 to have stayed out of the playoffs, wouldn't we?

That sounds about right but if my memory serves me correctly, had he not won his subsequent appeal then he would have missed the first leg of the playoff, which would have been potentially disastrous for us. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, AndyRoss said:

Some laugh when you consider what proceeded being consigned to the play-off's mind you. 

Speak for yourself, I was greetin' for most of that season.  That was properly grim. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, Desp said:

Speak for yourself, I was greetin' for most of that season.  That was properly grim. 

That season was abject misery. Football that was eye-bleedingly bad to watch. 

But we closed it off by spending 180 minutes ragdolling Rangers and tbh I wouldn't change it for the world.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That season was a strange one to say the least. From Josh Law scoring 2 against Stjarnan to look like a goal-machine (before Lasley then conceded about 6 penalties) and then pumping Rangers in the play-off. Then you've got the Anthony Straker experience to go along with it.

What a time to be a 'Well fan.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...