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Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons


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Aye it's shite that we've went two weeks without a game, we'll have that farce on Saturday before another two weeks without a game. 

Fucking ages without proper fitba. 

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There's no doubt more to it on attendances but one of the things that struck me about the 2-1 win in 98 posted recently was the home crowd. You used to expect to lose to the OF but at least be competitive and there were enough upsets people turned up and offered a bit of atmosphere...now we're in a vicious cycle of never winning, apathy in the stands etc.

FP when the OF came to town was hardly Istanbul ofc but at least it something to appreciate about the day. And you do wonder if a bit of hatred in the stands helped some players find an extra half yard occasionally which the resigned and here out of an obligation attitude doesn't.

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A couple of stats I came across the other day which surprised me.

In the last 5 years, we've played them 15 times competitively.

- Drawn 5 of those games

- Scored against them in 11 of those games.

We've had our chances and it's not all been absolute pumpings. But the absolute pumpings live fresh in the memory usually and alongside that search for a league win against them drive the apathy.

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Is this whole Thursday press conference a Kettlewell thing then? Hammell and Alexander's were usually on the Friday eh?

Anyway, as far as the games against the **** go, they really just feel like necessary evils at this point although I'm not entirely surprised by the 5 draws. Either way, we beat them in the games that actually mattered (play-off and the LC semi).

I'd guess that what with our 38 consecutive seasons in the top flight situation we'll have had to play them more than most over the past few decades?

That said, I'm all for nostalgia and the 90s were great.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by capt_oats
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27 minutes ago, capt_oats said:

Is this whole Thursday press conference a Kettlewell thing then? Hammell and Alexander's were usually on the Friday eh?

Anyway, as far as the games against the **** go, they really just feel like necessary evils at this point although I'm not entirely surprised by the 5 draws. Either way, we beat them in the games that actually mattered (play-off and the LC semi).

I'd guess that what with our 38 consecutive seasons in the top flight situation we'll have had to play them more than most over the past few decades?

That said, I'm all for nostalgia and the 90s were great.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Was at every one of those and it's no surprise that for me 90's Motherwell was the best Motherwell.

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Yeah the main memory for me from 90's Motherwell against the OF is that there was never any fear going into the games. I used to go to Ibrox and Parkhead as well back then because it never had that pointless feel about it. The strange thing is that back then they both had plenty of genuinely world class players, and yet for some reason it wasn't as difficult to take points off them.

The only exception to that is peak McCall era when I genuinely believe in an isolated game we were a better side than Celtic, and I was actually going to games against them not necessarily expecting to win, but confident. The difference there was that Celtic had the consistency to deliver week-in, week-out, and a squad depth without the drop-off in quality, that we didn't have.

Edited by Al B
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I started going to games halfway through the 1996/97 season.

The first two games I was consicence of us playing Rangers were both at Ibrox - which we accumulated four points in. The title party crashing then that draw where Shivute scored.

The first three times I saw us play them in the flesh we got 7 points - the draw that @capt_oats has posted above, the Willie Falconer game floating about yesterday and then Spencer's debut where we won 1-0.

We then beat them in the final game of the season that followed.

Safe to say my early years (playoffs and league cup semi aside) of Motherwell and Rangers games are far better than the recent ones!

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The first wins over the OF that I saw were late 80's (the Richard Gough OG game at Fir Park and the Bobby Russell Shimmy King game at Parkhead) - it was the point where the club first went from hanging on trying not to relegated to building something good under Tommy McClean. From the point that Cooper arrived (I still think he was the most important signing we made in my time watching us), the mentality completely changed playing against them to the point that in the 90's, you were turning up at Parkhead and Ibrox expecting to take something - and Fir Park really was a difficult place to go (and the fact that Dougie Arnott genuinely gave international defenders the absolute fear was one of the most enjoyable things in my whole time watching us).

I think the worst thing about our recent games against them is the overwhelming sense of apathy that goes around them. In the 90's, a midweek league cup tie against Celtic would have been a great atmosphere and a hard game for them but this season, a smaller home crowd than you'd get against Ross County turned up, sat in silence while Celtic strolled about without being unduly hassled by a Motherwell player and got an utterly routine win - for a supporter it literally wasn't worth being there.

In unapologetic Yer Da mode - I'd genuinely be happy if we just attempted to make Rangers as uncomfortable as we did with Hearts a few weeks back. If that means being physical and kicking them all over the place, so much the better TBH. They will be too good for us and will win but trying to change the mentality around these games where they actually need to work for the win would be a big change for the better.

 

 

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I get that the 90's is a fair distance to remember and I was a kid back then (12 in 91) but I don't remember them getting the north terraces. there was no segregation at that area.

Amazing the difference in atmosphere between the terraces and the stands. 

 

 

 

ps i love Dougie Arnott and Tommy Coyne...

Edited by steelmen
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I'm quite looking forward to Saturday but that's probably just a by-product of Kettlewell not really letting us down yet rather than any genuine belief we're going to do something. 

The McCall era has obviously been mentioned but I worked a lot of Saturdays during Robinson's spell and would always try and swap my shift if it meant I could get to a game against the OF at Fir Park since it always felt like we'd get a result. That's generally not been the case either before or after that wee period.

I still feel Van Veen is due a goal against them though. 2-2?

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1 hour ago, steelmen said:

I get that the 90's is a fair distance to remember and I was a kid back then (12 in 91) but I don't remember them getting the north terraces. there was no segregation at that area.

Amazing the difference in atmosphere between the terraces and the stands. 

 

 

 

ps i love Dougie Arnott and Tommy Coyne...

When I started going as a young boy - they got the entire ground apart from about a quarter of the shed. There was no segregation on our side of the fence - so it was pretty intimidating in a 20k+ crowd.

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3 hours ago, Swello said:

In unapologetic Yer Da mode - I'd genuinely be happy if we just attempted to make Rangers as uncomfortable as we did with Hearts a few weeks back. If that means being physical and kicking them all over the place, so much the better TBH. They will be too good for us and will win but trying to change the mentality around these games where they actually need to work for the win would be a big change for the better.

Tbh, this is kind of why I think Robinson let himself down a bit by deciding that he wanted to try and play *football* against them at FP. It seemed to largely be because he took the huff at the hammer-thrower tag he was getting as he possibly felt it was damaging the CV his Mr 20% was sending out.

These were his Thunderdome results at FP against both Rangers and Celtic until the 433 sexy Motherwell era.

06/08/17: Motherwell 1 - 2 Rangers
29/11/17: Motherwell 1 - 1 Celtic
18/03/18: Motherwel 0 - 0 Celtic
31/03/18: Motherwell 2 - 2 Rangers
28/08/18 Motherwell 3 - 3 Rangers
05/12/18 Motherwell 1 - 1 Celtic

Edited by capt_oats
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27 minutes ago, YassinMoutaouakil said:

The closest I've ever been to getting in an actual scrap at a game was in that 2-2 game. It was already 2-0 by the time I got to FP and the baldest Rangers da imaginable was on his way out of the ground in a huff and lost the plot at me.

Genuinely, why are so many Rangers bald and fat? It's remarkable :lol:

Edited by Desp
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48 minutes ago, YassinMoutaouakil said:

The closest I've ever been to getting in an actual scrap at a game was in that 2-2 game. It was already 2-0 by the time I got to FP and the baldest Rangers da imaginable was on his way out of the ground in a huff and lost the plot at me.

The Rangers fans around me in the 3-3 Peter Hartley game were furious.

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I suspect his realistic thinking about the game (basically - they've got too much quality for a straight fight - it's a free hit, we'll approach it differently from other matches) might not go down so well on SO.  But I think it's fair enough. 

He's still talking about 'wanting to compete', hopefully a bit of ...

tina turner auntie entity GIF

Edited by RostokMcSpoons
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