GLF 70: Geoff gives us a view from the seaside.
Blackpool Rock
MOTHERWELLIt surprised me to find that we have accumulated as many points as we had at the same stage last season.Maybe it's because we haven't been turning in the quality of displays we did last year that I thought we weren't doing so well.Maybe it's been the blind panic of being caught short in central defence and having to play Bob Malcolm there that's lowered my expectations.So, all things considered, it's not been as bad as we thought.
On the other hand, how much better could it have been?What if we'd managed to fill out our squad a little and didn't have to push square pegs into round holes just to accommodate players.What if everyone felt pressured for their place in the starting eleven?What if the quality of our play matched last year?Imagine the strides we could have taken.We might even have given Nancy a bit more of a run for their money.
So what have we got to look forward to?A big panic in January when we should be looking to boost our squad, although Mark McGhee is on record as saying that the best players don't move in the January window.Let's hope that applies here as well because Chris Porter and Stephen Hughes, despite not being at their best this season, will surely attract interest as they are out of contract in the summer.It would be typically Motherwell to fill the current gaps and to create two more at the same time.
BLACKPOOLI've not been back since they inflicted massive price increases on their fans.I still look out for their results and wish them well and I have no intention of following another team, but until they come to their senses I will not go back to Bloomfield Road.I intend to take in a couple of away games this season.This might bode well as results on the road haven't been too bad and it will let me go to a couple of grounds I've never seen.
On the field Alan Gow appears to have made a bit of an impression with some of the players likening him to Pele!A Pele maybe but not the Pele surely. Off the field there is still no sign of the (promised this year) South Stand, nor of the increase in capacity for away fans.The Oystons price rises mean that a ground that was full last year is running a thousand short of capacity this time.All the more reason for them not to build a new stand.Surely they wouldn't be so devious!
PRICESThe thinking of those in power at Fir Park never ceases to amaze me.Only we could completely cock up a reduction in prices and alienate our own fans to such an extent.The initial announcement on the official site was greeted with astonishment.Astonishment that such a badly written piece could be exposed to the world.People who could read English struggled to understand exactly what it was trying to say.Once it was all explained people began to question the wisdom of the hierarchy down Fir Park way.
Let me get this right.Old Firm fans have been coming to the ground in smaller numbers but are still more than willing to pay the asking price.Because of increased stewarding and policing costs their games are marketed as Category A. So the obvious thing to do is keep their costs higher than for the other teams.But no, we decide to reduce their admission cost to less than the other teams pay.What do we get in return?An increase in the stinky hordes through our gates peddling their pseudo-religious garbage yet still probably not enough of them to make up for what we will lose from the original admission charge.Prices announced to get into Parkhead show that we will still have to pay full whack to see about two thirds of the pitch and be treated like scum.
What will Mark McGhee get out of it?Supposedly increased money to spend in the transfer market.There will be little or no increased spending money.This is yet another move that will backfire on us and show us for the amateurs we are at times.Maybe Mark will get a little loanee gift from the Old Firm come January.And what does John Boyle get out of it?Justification for moving Motherwell season ticket holders, the lifeblood and future of our club, out of the Cooper Stand.Surely he wouldn't be so devious.
As for us Well fans, if you pay your money at the gate each game and are lucky enough to have a child you will benefit greatly.If you are a season ticket holder John Boyle will send you a letter.Just don't expect it in your lifetime.The plan has been half-baked and announced at the wrong time.It came as no surprise to me to see Ian Stillie leave the club.Did he jump or was he pushed as I certainly feel that this latest fiasco was the last straw.
KRIS BOYDHow lucky we are to have someone as good as Kris Boyd show up George Burley and Scotland for what they are.Mr Boyd is one of the greatest players in the Scottish game and only needs to perform in very brief spells for Rangers, such is his quality.Why George Burley should fail to consider him fit or good enough for Scotland on the grounds that he rarely plays for Rangers astounds me.Or maybe Mr Boyd is just a gobshite who thinks he is greater than he is.He and quite a few others down the years who just happened to ply their trade at Ibrox.I remember the days when players were proud to pull on the Scotland jersey and played with pride and passion.Sadly the money mad players of today have too much of a sense of their own importance to understand such thinking.Kris, don't let the door hit you on the way out.
MARK MCGHEEI sometimes wonder just what Mr McGhee is up to.He often puzzles me with his selections and tactics but that's what he's paid to do and he accepts that responsibility.But when I watched the Nancy game at Fir Park I was bemused as to exactly what his intentions were from the game.
Okay, Nancy got the goals that killed the tie but it was the increasingly cavalier attitude of the team, under McGhee's direction, that threw me. We ended up playing in almost a 3-2-5 formation.Yes, the game was lost but it was only the inept finishing and lack of effort from Nancy that prevented us enduring a very embarrassing defeat.After the game McGhee announced that he had thrown on forwards in the hope that someone would bag themselves a European goal.Call me naïve (You're naïve-ED) but in doing so he completely lost the shape of the team.If you play with ten forwards you won't become a goal machine. There must be some semblance of order and build up to a team.Throwing on forwards certainly didn't create a barrowload of opportunities for us.
The last manager I recall doing something similar was Andy Roxburgh when Scotland needed to score six against, I think, San Marino.Did it work then?No!For me this was a bad day at the office for our manager.Thank heaven he doesn't have too many of them.
RACISMAh, that old chestnut as everybody at Fir Park gets tarred with Hugh Keevins' brush.Not a pleasant thought.So some Motherwell fans chose to give abuse to James McCarthy because he chose Ireland, for whatever reason, over the country of his and his parents' birth.Anyone who makes such a choice has always been subjected to banter and abuse from supporters and always will be.Just because Keevins had his own agenda this was blown up out of all proportion.Wherever McCarthy plays in Scotland he will face the same abuse.Will we hear about it every time?I very much doubt it.Wherever Celtic and Rangers play in Scotland we hear all sorts of sectarian abuse.Will Keevins have the guts to alienate half his readership by rounding on the big two?I very much doubt that.
Come On Ye Well
Up The Pool
Geoff Baby
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