UPDATE

Oh my.  It appears that Mark McGhee DOES actually give a toss what we think.  The following quote appears in his Sunday Herald column today, in which the 'Well boss talks about being invited to the SPL forum next month:
"I will be, via email, asking my own supporters to raise any issues where I can represent them, or at least be made aware of, when making the argument (at the meeting)."

Today's result: Motherwell 1, Hibernian 4.

Hibs completely took us apart at a freezing cold Fir Park this afternoon, and if anything the scoreline actually flatters Motherwell.  The visitors passed up numerous other opportunities, and had it not been for Graeme Smith then the margin of victory would have been even more embarrassing.

Smith had already made one great save to deny Riordan before Hibs took the lead after 6 minutes, when Rankin outpaced Malcolm before slotting past the 'Well goalkeeper.  The visitors continued to dominate and should have been out of sight by half time, but against the run of play we managed to get ourselves back on level terms three minutes before the interval when Malcolm curled home a free kick.

Any hopes of an improvement quickly evaporated when Hibs took the lead shortly after the break, with Shiels taking advantage of a mistake by Reynolds to fire beyond Smith.  We never looked like getting back into the game, and it was no surprise when the visitors added a third on the hour mark courtesy of a cracking long range strike from Fletcher.  We finally forced the Hibs goalkeeper into making a complete of saves, but we always looked likely to be caught on the break, and that's exactly what happened in the final minute when Riordan's low strike beat Smith, but even then the final score still didn't reflect the gulf between the sides.

Since beating Hamilton at the start of the month to go third in the league, we now find ourselves ninth, and indeed today's performance was more reminiscent of a team that could be involved in a relegation battle than one supposedly chasing Europe.  And let's not forget that Hibs were on a poor run of form and are hardly world beaters themselves, but we simply could not cope with the forward play of Shiels, Riordan and Fletcher today.

Other than Graeme Smith, there's not one player I'd give pass marks to today.  For some reason, we seemed to persist with the long ball tactic when it was clearly wasn't working, little wonder perhaps when your target men are as woefully out of sorts as Porter and Sutton were today.  However, perhaps the most depressing aspect was the lack of any options whatsoever on the bench when we were crying out for a change in the second half.

Team (4-4-2): Graeme Smith, Quinn, Malcolm, Reynolds, Hammell, McGarry (O'Brien 64), Lasley, Hughes, Murphy (Darren Smith 70), Porter, Sutton.
Subs Not Used: Nielsen, Klimpl, Fitzpatrick, Connolly, Forbes.

Motherwell scorer: Malcolm (42).

Booked: Malcolm, Lasley.

Attendance: 4,957.

Mark "I don't give a toss what the fans think" McGhee's post-match comments were as follows:
"It's as bad as it's been.  I hope it's as bad as it gets.  Since I've been here it was certainly the most disconnected performance. We looked like 11 individuals with no connection between us.  The back four weren't communicating, everyone seemed to be in their own little world.  We were particularly poor up front - we never kept the ball, never won a header and gave the rest of the team, who I am not making excuses for, no chance whatsoever.

"Regardless of how poorly they played, it doesn't make them bad people but you need to question their mentality in terms of how they approached the game.  Also, I have got to look at myself. How have I worked with them this week? What more could I have done?  I'll examine myself and decide what better I could have done."

Apparently he kept the players in the dressing room for over 45 minutes after the final whistle.

Sky Sports are reporting that Swedish defender Thomas Magnusson is currently on trial at Fir Park.  He might even turn out to be as much of a success as Klimpl has been thus far...

Meanwhile, Stephen Hughes has been linked with moves to Derby County and Nottingham Forest.  Click here for details.  Had to laugh at McGhee's comments in midweek saying that Hughes should be joining Clarkson in the Scotland squad.  I'll have a pint of whatever he's been drinking.

Good to see this youth development initiative getting a bit of publicity this week.

Jamie Murphy was on target for the Scotland Under-21s in their 3-1 defeat to Northern Ireland last midweek.