Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[thisGRAEME]

38 minutes ago, MJC said:

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. 

Remains astonishing it was overturned, tbh. 

[MJC]

56 minutes ago, Ron Aldo said:

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.

It certainly was a bizarre season and due the significant and hugely enjoyable nature of the playoffs it is often overlooked just how grim it was.

From the non-pre-season and the infamous lads jolly to Portugal and the 'footgolf' which was described as a team building exercise, to the utter shambles that was the Stjarnan tie that set the tone for the season.

Then we had the demise of Stuart McCall, the appointment of Baraclough and his army of signings including Straker and Nathan Thomas and that awful run from the New Year 0-5 at NDP to late February when it looked for all the world we were going straight down, then a bit of a mini revival before we ended up in the playoffs.

I don't think I speak just for myself here when I say that I could not foresee any scenario whatsoever where we would beat Rangers and stay up, let alone how we ended up actually doing it. Those two games have to be the most important and significant victories for us in the last decade and only a Cup win would have eclipsed them in that regard. 

Edited March 13, 2019 by MJC

[AndyRoss]

37 minutes ago, MJC said:

I don't think I speak just for myself here when I say that I could not foresee any scenario whatsoever where we would beat Rangers and stay up, let alone how we ended up actually doing it. Those two games have to be the most important and significant victories for us in the last decade and only a Cup win would have eclipsed them in that regard. 

I think half-time at Ibrox, 2-0 up is the happiest I've ever seen some Motherwell fans. Unbridled joy when it was least expected. 

Still felt we could mess it up three days later, we didn't though...

'We were a class above them'

[MJC]

7 minutes ago, AndyRoss said:

I think half-time at Ibrox, 2-0 up is the happiest I've ever seen some Motherwell fans. Unbridled joy when it was least expected. 

Still felt we could mess it up three days later, we didn't though...

'We were a class above them'

When we went 3-0 shortly after half time it was absolutely incredible and I can remember shouting out loud to my brother who was with me "is this really fucking happening here!?!".

I was expecting it all to go wrong at any moment and indeed the tension from Ainsworth's miss to put us 4-0 up to the end of that game was unbearable at times. I didn't fully relax and believe we were really winning the tie until the second goal went in at Fir Park on the Sunday, when from then on it was just one big party.

[Richie]

Remember going to Ibrox that night hoping to limit things to a 1-0 defeat to at least have a hope in the home leg.

Was nigh-on a miracle to get through that over 2 legs, particularly given our previous at Ibrox.

Absolute scenes though

Thought I had put my hip out at Ibrox - Flying over rows of seats, limbs everywhere for the goals.

For me the tie was over when Zaliukas blazed one over from 6 yards just before half-time at Fir Park.

Edited March 13, 2019 by Richie

[MJC]

The Ibrox leg was massive for us.

At the time of the game we hadn't won there for eighteen years that very month and hadn't beaten Rangers in any guise for thirteen years and had lost 2-0 there in League Cup a few years beforehand when they were in the lowest tier of Scottish football.

They were a poor side who hadn't been able to finish in the top two of the Championship yet given our record against them and the inferiority complex we had had over them for years then it was hard to see us doing anything that night. But for once we played the team in front of us and not the name 'Rangers' as we had done so often beforehand, especially with McCall in charge of us, and we thoroughly deserved our 3-1 win.

Obviously the playoff win was huge for us as it kept us up but psychologically it was significant and massive for us as we played OUR game and didn't turn in the usual subservient Rangers/Ibrox performances and we came out well on top. The fact that McCall was in their dugout just made it all the sweeter, as he played a massive part in us being in the playoffs in the first place and had overseen many a bottle job in big games for us during his time.

[well fan for life]

3 minutes ago, MJC said:

The Ibrox leg was massive for us.

At the time of the game we hadn't won there for eighteen years that very month and hadn't beaten Rangers in any guise for thirteen years and had lost 2-0 there in League Cup a few years beforehand when they were in the lowest tier of Scottish football.

They were a poor side who hadn't been able to finish in the top two of the Championship yet given our record against them and the inferiority complex we had had over them for years then it was hard to see us doing anything that night. But for once we played the team in front of us and not the name 'Rangers' as we had done so often beforehand, especially with McCall in charge of us, and we thoroughly deserved our 3-1 win.

Obviously the playoff win was huge for us as it kept us up but psychologically it was significant and massive for us as we played OUR game and didn't turn in the usual subservient Rangers/Ibrox performances and we came out well on top. The fact that McCall was in their dugout just made it all the sweeter, as he played a massive part in us being in the playoffs in the first place and had overseen many a bottle job in big games for us during his time.

The fact our team was managed by an 'outsider' probably helped. If we'd had McCall or McGhee we'd have been beaten before a ball had even been kicked. 

1 hour ago, Richie said:

Remember going to Ibrox that night hoping to limit things to a 1-0 defeat to at least have a hope in the home leg.

Was nigh-on a miracle to get through that over 2 legs, particularly given our previous at Ibrox.

Absolute scenes though

Thought I had put my hip out at Ibrox - Flying over rows of seats, limbs everywhere for the goals.

For me the tie was over when Zaliukas blazed one over from 6 yards just before half-time at Fir Park.

Strangely this is how I felt too. That was a sitter from about 6 yards out and from then on I knew we'd be fine. 

 

[AndyRoss]

I've got little doubt many of those who have read this thread since 4pm have viewed the highlights on YouTube since then...

[JamesP_81]

Was convinced we'd missed our chance by allowing them that late goal at ibrox. All day before the 2nd leg was certain that would be our undoing and preparing myself for heartache. The result was made sweeter by so many things : mccall in their dugout, mohsni having his meltdown at the end, the fact that all week before it I'd had workmates working themselves into a frothing mess about the ticket allocation 'scandal'!

[well fan for life]

4 minutes ago, AndyRoss said:

I've got little doubt many of those who have read this thread since 4pm have viewed the highlights on YouTube since then...

I reckon I'm in triple figures in watching both games right through. 

[MJC]

5 minutes ago, JamesP_81 said:

the ticket allocation 'scandal'!

Our handling of their ticket allocation was a really good move by the club and also very significant in that tie. Previous regimes at Motherwell would have been only too happy to give Rangers the full South Stand plus the North and South wings of the POD for that game with us 'needing the money' being the obvious reason given for it. For once though we stood up for ourselves, off the park as well as on it, and ensured a reduced allocation for them and rightly so. It was our home game, a massive one for us and we needed a big, vocal home support behind us, which we got and the reduced Rangers support were barely heard throughout. That was the end of Alan Burrows' first year in his new role and he'd faced alot of criticism, some fair and some unfair, throughout the year, but he did an excellent job handling that situation and really showed Rangers that he and the club weren't going to be pushed around.

[YassinMoutaouakil]

One of the weirder parts of that season was the two week spell where we somehow clicked and looked like 1970 Brazil, put 9 past Accies and St Mirren and beat somebody else (Killie?), then immediately forgot how to play football again for the rest of the season.

[Swello]

24 minutes ago, YassinMoutaouakil said:

One of the weirder parts of that season was the two week spell where we somehow clicked and looked like 1970 Brazil, put 9 past Accies and St Mirren and beat somebody else (Killie?), then immediately forgot how to play football again for the rest of the season.

The Accies game where Lionel scored 2 in a minute and set up the other for Handsome John was my favourite game of that season, playoffs aside obviously.

 

[Pettigrew]

51 minutes ago, YassinMoutaouakil said:

One of the weirder parts of that season was the two week spell where we somehow clicked and looked like 1970 Brazil, put 9 past Accies and St Mirren and beat somebody else (Killie?), then immediately forgot how to play football again for the rest of the season.

Was that the St Mirren game where the bold DT23 sent Jim Goodwin for the Motherwell Times?

[capt_oats]

1 hour ago, Pettigrew said:

Was that the St Mirren game where the bold DT23 sent Jim Goodwin for the Motherwell Times?

It was, aye. 

As a sidenote Thomas was roughly the same age (19) then as both Turnbull and Hastie are now. The difference in physicality is quite something. Big ups Andy Boles. 

For all the changes in terms of business model and the like since then, the introduction of Boles in the strength and conditioning department has probably been one of the most significant IMO. #hammerthrowers

Edit: Incidentally, on Hastie even Barry fucking Ferguson is telling him publicly not to sign for Rangers.

Edited March 14, 2019 by capt_oats

[JamesP_81]

Our handling of their ticket allocation was a really good move by the club and also very significant in that tie. Previous regimes at Motherwell would have been only too happy to give Rangers the full South Stand plus the North and South wings of the POD for that game with us 'needing the money' being the obvious reason given for it. For once though we stood up for ourselves, off the park as well as on it, and ensured a reduced allocation for them and rightly so. It was our home game, a massive one for us and we needed a big, vocal home support behind us, which we got and the reduced Rangers support were barely heard throughout. That was the end of Alan Burrows' first year in his new role and he'd faced alot of criticism, some fair and some unfair, throughout the year, but he did an excellent job handling that situation and really showed Rangers that he and the club weren't going to be pushed around.

I thought it was a great move and quite significant for that tie. The few shiny pennies that we lost out on by not bending over and letting them have the stadium advantage have been more than made up by staying up. The fact it wound a load of folk up no end by upsetting the natural order and denying such a great institute their rightful place in the top league is merely a side note!

[crazylegsjoe]

That season was truly one of the worst I've experienced, probably accentuated by the fact we came into that season on the back of consecutive second place finishes.

I think the majority of the group of players we started the season with under McCall had maxed out their luck finishing second the season before. Much better Motherwell players than Reid, Kerr, Francis-Angol, Lawson, Nielsen, Hollis etc haven't come close to a runners up spot.

The infamous footgolf as a standalone did little harm to me, having a bit of downtime in pre season is key. It was the fact that we came back looking unfit and the fact that we gave Clarkson a free pre-season, before he joined Dundee and scored nine games in a row, including a vital goal against us.

Mark O'Brien is at the very bottom of the barrel of Motherwell centre backs with Gunni Jonsonn and Zak Jules for me, Ojamaa wasn't quite the same the second time around although he did have flashes. Sutton wasn't great without service and what you would think would be our two main sources of creativity, Ainsworth and Vigurs, both jut couldn't be arsed.

I was gutted it ended the way it did for McCall, but it definitely was time for a change. Baraclough played a masterstroke at the playoffs, but in all seriousness, just about every other aspect of his time in charge was hideous. I've no doubt that had Pearson and McDonald not signed, we would have been dead and buried without the playoffs.

The run of 1 point from 24 in January/February was as dire as things have ever been with Motherwell and Baraclough's other signings weren't too inspiring either, Johnson aside. I liked Louis Laing at the time, but I think it soon became clear I liked him specifically for not being Mark O'Brien.

How terrible that season was is probably highlighted by the lack of a "Player of the Year". Every other season we have been brutal there has been a talismanic figure who done his best to get us out of the mess (2003 McFadden, 2007 McDonald, 2017 Moult etc) but other than McDonald from March - May, you really struggle to think who comes out of that season with pass marks.

[Richie]

15 hours ago, well fan for life said:

The fact our team was managed by an 'outsider' probably helped. If we'd had McCall or McGhee we'd have been beaten before a ball had even been kicked.

 

This is very true.

Being out of the bubble, Baraclough's 'ignorance' of the OF mentality definitely helped here.

As you say if McCall or McGhee had been in charge, everything from the press conferences to the team selection and tactics would have been full of shitebaggery and deference.

Baraclough ultimately didn't work out long term term, but I'll remember him fondly - By hook or by crook he kept us up while facing what was the worst possible scenario.

[ONeils4Oyarder]

17 hours ago, AndyRoss said:

I think half-time at Ibrox, 2-0 up is the happiest I've ever seen some Motherwell fans. Unbridled joy when it was least expected. 

Still felt we could mess it up three days later, we didn't though...

'We were a class above them'

I broke a self-imposed ban on going to that fucking place just because of how important the situation was for the Club...the scenes following each goal and at 90mins wasn't just excitement, it was a relief that I've never felt before. I'm pretty certain that I could handle my Club being relegated, but being relegated in a play-off against the resurrected ***, when I had spent the previous 4 years or so, slaughtering their every move, would have been utterly grim. The thought of it still gives me the fear.

 

The 2nd leg was just a fucking party...everyone knew, including the ****, that they didn't have a hope in hell of over-turning that 1st leg defeat.

[Londonwell]

2 hours ago, ONeils4Oyarder said:

I broke a self-imposed ban on going to that fucking place just because of how important the situation was for the Club...the scenes following each goal and at 90mins wasn't just excitement, it was a relief that I've never felt before. I'm pretty certain that I could handle my Club being relegated, but being relegated in a play-off against the resurrected ***, when I had spent the previous 4 years or so, slaughtering their every move, would have been utterly grim. The thought of it still gives me the fear.

 

The 2nd leg was just a fucking party...everyone knew, including the ****, that they didn't have a hope in hell of over-turning that 1st leg defeat.

Really? I was still shiteing it come the 2nd leg personally, probably despite the reality of situation. I don't think i relaxed at all until that sweet sweet moment of Bell punching it in his own net.