1.40pm

Speaking in today's local press, Terry Butcher dismissed reports Motherwell are set to sign Inverurie Locos striker Stuart McKay:
"We did have a scout taking in their game at the weekend, but we always have a number of scouts taking in plenty of games every weekend.  To be honest, I’ve never even heard of Stuart McKay before and we’ll certainly not be signing him at the moment!"

Butcher also moved quickly to deny speculation linking him with the vacant manager's position at Ipswich:
"It’s obvious I will be linked because of my ties as a player, but I love my job at Motherwell and it’s a job I’m just starting."

Meanwhile it has been revealed that summer signing Khaled Kemas (remember him?) could feature in the next Under-21 game against Rangers at Fir Park on Monday night.  Butcher added:
"Khaled joined in training last week and it was the first chance he’d had to meet his new team-mates.  He’s really enjoying being back in training and it’s a boost that he’s finally able to run about pain free.  Obviously, for me, it’s like having a new player and I’ve set him a target of 20 goals before the end of the season!  Seriously though, he gives us something different to what Lehmann, Ferguson and McFadden offers us and I’m confident he’ll be a huge hit for us."

Terry then looked ahead to the match at Ibrox on Saturday, and said:
"All the players are really looking forward to the game as it’s such a big one when you play Rangers at Ibrox.  I want them to go out there and enjoy the atmosphere, but they’ve got to realise they’re going to have to work hard to get anything from the game.  However, we’ll go and have a go at Rangers because we like to play attacking football and that’s the way I want us to play.  Rangers are the top team in Scotland just now, but we have already beaten Celtic already this season and they were top of the league, so we have proved we can do it."

Terry admitted a repeat of last month's shock victory over Celtic was unlikely:
"It was a tremendous result, but, to be honest, we can’t really take anything from it because we’re not at home this time.  The only thing I’m hoping for is that we do ourselves justice and the players enjoy it the same way as they did against Celtic.  At the moment, Rangers are the form team in Scotland, but we’ll be focussing on their strength’s and weaknesses later in the week.  I’ve been to Ibrox before with Dundee Utd and we managed to win, although it’s just your luck on what happens on the day."

James McFadden will miss the match through suspension, although he will be available for the CIS Cup tie at Aberdeen the following midweek.  Butcher added:
"Obviously, losing Jamie is a blow for us, but you expect to lose some of your key players through the season because of suspension.  However, we’ve got people who can come in and replace him and it’s up to them to take that chance.

"The Aberdeen game is another one we’re looking forward to as we more than matched them at Fir Park and really should have won the game.  We’ve got a bit of a score to settle with Aberdeen because of that defeat and it’s certainly fired me up to get a bit of revenge, although I don’t know about the players!  It’s a chance for us to make the quarter-finals, but we’re not looking beyond the Aberdeen game as it’s going to be an extremely difficult match for us."

Stephen Pearson has recovered from his knee injury and is expected to be available for the Rangers game, while Scott Leitch could also make it after responding well to treatment on his leg.

Time for a new opinion poll!

Should Steve Woods be replaced when the transfer window reopens?