Motherwell Bottom Of Spfl

[iainmac1]

That's fine for Aberdeen, they did pick a great year to be the worst team in the league - the only year since the Second Division was introduced over 100 years ago when being utterly hopeless and finishing last didn't result in automatic relegation. They should be proud.

Did it not happen to Motherwell as well later on?

[AberdeenAngus]

That's fine for Aberdeen, they did pick a great year to be the worst team in the league - the only year since the Second Division was introduced over 100 years ago when being utterly hopeless and finishing last didn't result in automatic relegation. They should be proud.

Not true.

[adamntg]

Not true.

Elaborate.

Are you saying Aberdeen weren't utterly hopeless, morally deserved relegation as any team finishing last would and only avoided this ignominy by dint of the very strange and unfair rules - lacking in sporting integrity you could say - put in place for league reconstruction?

Edited February 23, 2015 by adamntg

[adamntg]

Did it not happen to Motherwell as well later on?

Only after dodgy mid-season rule changes. The only time it was predetermined was when the SPL was trying to ring fence its power and keep the poor outside the walls in 99/2000.

[sbcmfc]

I believe motherwell have dodged relegation twice, once in the mid 80s due to league expansion from 10-12 and once due to Falkirk not having a 10,000 all seater stadium.

We also avoided any punishment for going into administration.

(Although to be fair a 10 point penalty would've made no difference as it was the same season as the Falkirk stadium rescue)

[AberdeenAngus]

Elaborate.

Are you saying Aberdeen weren't utterly hopeless, morally deserved relegation as any team finishing last would and only avoided this ignominy by dint of the very strange and unfair rules - lacking in sporting integrity you could say - put in place for league reconstruction?

For the love of f"ck how fecking tedious are Utd fans about that season?

How many fecking times must we go through this?

The league was expanding from 10 to 12 the following season.

Top team in Div 1 St Mirren were automatically promoted.

The side finishing 10th were scheduled to play the 2nd and 3rd teams in a 3 one play offs at neutral grounds with the side finishing bottom of the 3 way play off playing Div 1 football the following season and the other 2 in the Premier League. Falkirk finished 3rd and were denied, as they full well knew, entry into the play off as their ground did not meet the conditions of entry. Dunfermline were automatically promoted too.

Both the ground rules and the play off rules were agreed before the season by all the club's including yours. I don't recall anybody moaning about it in the August. It has only become an issue because the club who avoided the play off.

Aye we were poor that season but finished with some decent results and would almost certainly have won the play off.

Your 100 year claim is an out and out lie too.

[iainmac1]

Only after dodgy mid-season rule changes. The only time it was predetermined was when the SPL was trying to ring fence its power and keep the poor outside the walls in 99/2000.

I thought it was the same reason both times. Falkirk's ground was too shit. Granted that Aberdeen would have been in a playoff but they would have still had the opportunity to go down. The playoff was scrapped when Falkirk finished 3rd whereas relegation was scrapped when they won the league.

Luckily the rule was changed at the end of the next year for Caley to come up much to the delight of Partick fans. Then the seating ruled was changed mid season for us to move home.

Edited February 23, 2015 by iainmac1

[Rossy]

Only after dodgy mid-season rule changes. The only time it was predetermined was when the SPL was trying to ring fence its power and keep the poor outside the walls in 99/2000.

The rule wasn't changed mid-season.

The league was always going to expand, and the punishment for finishing bottom of the SPL was always going into a play-off.

Aberdeen were brutal though, and we could well have been relegated.

[AberdeenAngus]

I thought it was the same reason both times. Falkirk's ground was too shit. Granted that Aberdeen would have been in a playoff but they would have still had the opportunity to go down. The playoff was scrapped when Falkirk finished 3rd whereas relegation was scrapped when they won the league.

Luckily the rule was changed at the end of the next year for Caley to come up much to the delight of Partick fans. Then the seating ruled was changed mid season for us to move home.

Quite a few clubs were against Caley coming up and ground sharing and there was quite a campaign to change minds. Could be said there were sporting integrity issues at play there.

Clydebank finished bottom in 1986 and weren't relegated too.

Automatic promotion and relegation did not start until 1921 with clubs voting on who played in which division until then.

[Donaldo87]

5 wins needed I reckon...

So aye that's us fecked

[iainmac1]

Ross County seem to come good towards the end of the season and it looks like they've clicked just now. I can see them finishing 10th or even 9th.

St. Mirren or Motherwell I think will make up the bottom two positions. I can see Ross County and St. Mirren picking up some points next sat whereas hopefully Motherwell pick up none!

[deecie]

I thought it was the same reason both times. Falkirk's ground was too shit. Granted that Aberdeen would have been in a playoff but they would have still had the opportunity to go down. The playoff was scrapped when Falkirk finished 3rd whereas relegation was scrapped when they won the league.

Luckily the rule was changed at the end of the next year for Caley to come up much to the delight of Partick fans. Then the seating ruled was changed mid season for us to move home.

Aberdeen FC were very kind to allow Caley to use our beautiful facilities.

Even kinder when we went against what was best for us and allowed you to leave mid-season.

What a great club Aberdeen FC are.

[AberdeenAngus]

You do have to wonder about the clubs as a whole though agreeing to a process which was/is heavily stacked in favour of the top league clubs (though maybe not this season).

They are all equally to blame for that and it is a bit nonsensical to think that any 1 club managed to single handedly change the rules in their own favour when they were in trouble.

I did have less sympathy with Falkirk though as it could be argued that they were spending money on the likes of Mo Johnston, Simon Stainrod and Andy Gray which they probably could not have afforded had they been upgrading their ground to the required standard.

Never understood why ground sharing was an issue though.

[OLAS]

Can't believe Thistle haven't had a mention on this thread yet. 5 games lost in a row... we're doing the Hibs.

Tough couple of games coming up, too. Away to both Dundee United and Ross County.

We're due something at Tannadice right enough.

[Angus_Young]

Always had a soft for Motherwell, mainly due to a close mate of mine being a die hard, and a little bit because of Helicopter Sunday. There is also the McCall and Cooper factor.

I really do hope they turn it around, although it's looking bleak at the minute

[Scotty CTA]

You do have to wonder about the clubs as a whole though agreeing to a process which was/is heavily stacked in favour of the top league clubs (though maybe not this season).

Two teams came up last year, and two teams could very likely come up again this year.

The whole process has pretty much guaranteed fights at both ends of the table and eliminated many 'nothing' games at the end of the season.

Instead of decreased gates, there will be increased gates.

[adamntg]

For the love of f"ck how fecking tedious are Utd fans about that season?

How many fecking times must we go through this?

The league was expanding from 10 to 12 the following season.

Top team in Div 1 St Mirren were automatically promoted.

The side finishing 10th were scheduled to play the 2nd and 3rd teams in a 3 one play offs at neutral grounds with the side finishing bottom of the 3 way play off playing Div 1 football the following season and the other 2 in the Premier League. Falkirk finished 3rd and were denied, as they full well knew, entry into the play off as their ground did not meet the conditions of entry. Dunfermline were automatically promoted too.

Both the ground rules and the play off rules were agreed before the season by all the club's including yours. I don't recall anybody moaning about it in the August. It has only become an issue because the club who avoided the play off.

Aye we were poor that season but finished with some decent results and would almost certainly have won the play off.

Your 100 year claim is an out and out lie too.

Touchy touchy. Funny how Well fans happily embrace and even laugh at their good luck in avoiding the drop while for Aberdeen fans, the tainting of their never relegated record is even more precious than the Second Star. Edited February 24, 2015 by adamntg

[adamntg]

The rule wasn't changed mid-season.

The league was always going to expand, and the punishment for finishing bottom of the SPL was always going into a play-off.

Aberdeen were brutal though, and we could well have been relegated.

The dodgy mid-season rule change comment was aimed at Motherwell. I know the stitch-up was preordained in Aberdeen's case.

[adamntg]

Quite a few clubs were against Caley coming up and ground sharing and there was quite a campaign to change minds. Could be said there were sporting integrity issues at play there.

Clydebank finished bottom in 1986 and weren't relegated too.

Automatic promotion and relegation did not start until 1921 with clubs voting on who played in which division until then.

Apologies, 100 years was a guess. Please amend my earlier statement to 94 years. You could exclude WWII if you really wanted be pedantic.

"Lie" is strong though.

[jimstroma]

You do have to wonder about the clubs as a whole though agreeing to a process which was/is heavily stacked in favour of the top league clubs (though maybe not this season).

They are all equally to blame for that and it is a bit nonsensical to think that any 1 club managed to single handedly change the rules in their own favour when they were in trouble.

I did have less sympathy with Falkirk though as it could be argued that they were spending money on the likes of Mo Johnston, Simon Stainrod and Andy Gray which they probably could not have afforded had they been upgrading their ground to the required standard.

Never understood why ground sharing was an issue though.

Brockville could not be converted into a 10,000 seater stadium unless it was knocked down and rebuild. Falkirk were depending on the sale of the land to make it affordable. SPL rules did not allow groundsharing at the time, they even refused to allow them to move to Murrayfield.

[Parklife]

Falkirk were depending on the local council giving them a shit load of cash to make it affordable.

Fixed.

Edited February 24, 2015 by Parklife

[Cove_Sheep]

Never understood why ground sharing was an issue though.

It was due to the SPL needing priority over fixture scheduling, so that ruled out them sharing with an SFL club.

[John_B81]

Motherwell have suffered by losing too many key players for nothing over the last couple of seasons (Law, Randolph, Hutchison, Higdon) and haven't had the money to bring in decent replacements, which is partly why they are now in the position they're in and is certainly a factor in McCall leaving. Should still be doing much better than they are and the appointment of Barraclough is baffling, doing well in Ireland is far from being qualified to do well in Scotland - look at Kenny and Fenlon.

The team that need to get their act together right now is Partick. They're form since thumping Hamilton is shocking, including losing home games to St Mirren and Ross County since then. Thought they were comfortable, a bit like Hibs last season.

[sbcmfc]

I heard a bit on sportsound before the game where they were talking about the appointments of Gary Teale and Barraclough, and thought with the exception of Richard Gordon who piped up in defence, it showed the bizarre insular nature of scottish football.

There's ceratinly a history of managers whose face didn't fit. While chick Young is championing the same old faces like Jimmy Calderwood.

The media have already started rounding on Barraclough, with players leaking stories to their mates....

http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/31595657

[Robroysboy]

Motherwell have suffered by losing too many key players for nothing over the last couple of seasons (Law, Randolph, Hutchison, Higdon) and haven't had the money to bring in decent replacements, which is partly why they are now in the position they're in and is certainly a factor in McCall leaving. Should still be doing much better than they are and the appointment of Barraclough is baffling, doing well in Ireland is far from being qualified to do well in Scotland - look at Kenny and Fenlon.

The team that need to get their act together right now is Partick. They're form since thumping Hamilton is shocking, including losing home games to St Mirren and Ross County since then. Thought they were comfortable, a bit like Hibs last season.

Hoping Motherwell can hit some form and catch teams above them, but I would be quite relaxed if I was a plastic whistle fan. I just don't see where motehrwell are going to get thier next goal? If you don't scaore you can't win games. Shocking shots on target stats coming from Fir park.