Remember when we were in administration and there was the wonderful Motherwell against everyone attitude in the stands? People were delighted just to have a club to support and while the football on display was frequently abysmal everyone got right behind the team. For various reasons – and there are too many to list here! – that feeling has well and truly gone. At the minute the pinnacle of complaints focus on Maurice Malpas and his management of the club. It may well be the case that he is not up to the job but we have to remember that just as young players would be excused mistakes and given time to settle in, our relatively young manager must be excused mistakes and given time as well. Not only that, regardless of your feeling for Malpas, the decision to keep him on has been made. Therefore given that we all want the best for the club it is surely better to get behind him and the team. It is not certain that support from the stands will bring us more points but it will surely help the players more than moaning and abusing.
And, believe it or not, things are not actually that bad. The off-field state of the club is cause for long term concern but on the field we are still in the fight. In 1992/93 we were seven or so points adrift at Christmas and those were the days of only two points for a win. Our side had been hit by several injuries and those present on the terraces in those days will vouch for just how lost our cause seemed. But the injured players came back in the new year and went on a run which culminated not only in top-flight survival but in third spot the following year. It is fantasy to believe this will happen again but our present situation is not looking nearly so drastic.
Corrigan, our best defender, is fit again and we are just over a month from the return of McLean. O'Donnell, even if not up to a first team role every week, will also be in contention again soon and his experience around the squad should be vital. Malpas seems to have learned from his mistakes in the transfer market in summer and has moved early with Danny Murphy already lined up to make his debut against Rangers in the new year. We seem set to add Trevor Molloy and Paul Keegan to the squad that will strengthen right wing and the attack and even if, as the worst would be, one is a direct replacement for McDonald, at least we're getting our man in early rather than scrambling around at the last minute.
In the league we are still five points clear of Dunfermline and even if we lose at Killie on Saturday, Boxing Day gives us a wonderful chance to prove our SPL credentials. Two things should be remembered; we are not the only bad team in the league. Dunfermline are below us while St Mirren and Inverness are only just above us having not won in eight games. We are not alone in suffering a crisis. Secondly the almost universal level for acceptance as a Motherwell player is 100% effort. We know we can't afford the best players but so long as they give everything we cannot ask for more. The same courtesy has to be extended to the manager as he will be giving everything for our cause. We are not so bad as to be all but relegated by the middle of the season. The prudent course is to see how we're doing after the January buying and selling is done and if things are looking grim – we're five points adrift rather than five points clear – then the panic button is still there to be pushed. But in the meantime we should be behind everyone on the football side of the club. It is time to show that Motherwell fans can still be supporters as well as customers.