Motherwell FC News – October 1999
Motherwell FC News
October 1999
31.10.99
Andy Goram was stretchered off with a torn calf muscle after only five minutes of yesterday’s 1-0 win over St Johnstone, and is likely to be out for three to four weeks.
30.10.99
Billy Davies has signed his brother John from Ayr Utd. The midfielder has agreed a one-and-a-half year deal for an undisclosed fee, and goes straight into the squad for today’s game against St Johnstone. The Motherwell boss said:
“I have signed a very skilful player from the First Division and a player of great ability. The fact hes my brother has nothing to do with it and as far as I am concerned I leaned very heavily on the views of my coaching staff. At the end of the day, he will get no favours from me. We have not broken the bank for the signing and John is no spy in the camp. I also have my brother-in-law, John Spencer here, but forget about that because no-one can deny that they are very talented footballers. They just happen to be part of my family.”
Meanwhile, moving in the opposite direction is Derek Adams, who has moved to Ayr on loan for a month. The 23-year-old, signed by Harri Kampman from Ross County, has been unable to command a regular first-team place this season.
29.10.99
Shaun Teale is suspended for tomorrow’s game and Goodman, Spencer, McMillan and Harvey are all carrying knocks.
28.10.99
Ricky’s report of last night’s fabulous win over Celtic is now available!
27.10.99
Just in case you haven’t heard tonight’s result from Parkhead, we won 1-0 thanks to a 15th minute goal from Kevin Twaddle. Yes, that’s right, despite playing with 10 men for almost an hour after Shaun Teale was sent off, we managed to beat the Tims. Ya f*****g beauty!
26.10.99
John Spencer is struggling to shake off a hamstring injury and will face a late fitness test before tomorrow night’s game at Parkhead.
A worrying rumour on the Mailing List suggests that Shaun Teale might have played his last game for the club. Apparently, Shaun does NOT have a contract with the club and is not in the same wage bracket as Motherwell’s top earners.
Former Motherwell youth coach Bobby Jenks has been appointed as Hamilton Accies new commercial manager.
25.10.99
Ricky’s report of the Dundee Utd game is now available.
22.10.99
Motherwell have signed experienced Dutch defender Benito Kemble from Eindhoven and midfielder Paul Harvey from QoS. Boss Billy Davies has denied the signings are panic-buys following Wednesday night’s defeat by Aberdeen. Kemble, who signed on a free under the Bosman ruling, was first targeted when he arrived at Fir Park on trial five weeks ago, while Harvey, who cost a reported £100,000, has also had spells with Airdrie and Raith. The duo trained with their new team-mates today, and afterwards Davies was expected to decide if they should be included in the squad for tomorrow’s trip to Tannadice.
Lee McCulloch has recovered from the injury that kept him out of the Aberdeen game and will play against Dundee Utd tomorrow. Hopefully this means Don Goodman will be dropped.
A rumour on the Motherwell Mailing list suggests that the club are trying to offload Tony Thomas.
Ricky’s report of Wednesday night’s disgrace is available here.
19.10.99
Ricky’s report of the Hibs game is now available.
Just when you thought I’d forgotten all about it, the Sweepstake league table has been updated.
18.10.99
Long-term Motherwell target Tosh McKinlay has left Celtic to sign a short-term contract with Grasshoppers Zurich.
17.10.99
The quarter-final draw for the CIS Insurance Leage Cup was made this afternoon…
Dundee Utd | v | Motherwell |
Aberdeen | v | Rangers |
Celtic | v | Dundee |
Kilmarnock | v | Hearts |
Ties to be played Nov 30/Dec 1.
The Official MFC Website will be launched on November 15.
16.10.99
Motherwell have reacted furiously to a report on Radio Clyde yesterday lunchtime which claimed Billy Davies was to be sacked and replaced by Tommy Burns. Both John Boyle and Pat Nevin denied the speculation, with Boyle saying:
“I have never, formally or informally, met or spoken to Tommy Burns and there have been absolutely no negotiations between us or indeed any other party for any management position at the club. I wouldn’t recognise Tommy Burns if I passed him in Buchanan Street.”
Ricky’s report of the Inverness Caley game is now available.
Just received this from Derek Prentice. Remember where you heard it first!
A wee birdy tells me there will be a BBC exclusive on Motherwell FC today. Could be the Tommy Burns thing, but I am told it is significant.
15.10.99
John Boyle has angrily dismissed reports that Tommy Burns will be the new manager within the next couple of weeks.
Newspaper reports are linking Motherwell with a £25,000 move for Queen of the South midfielder Paul Harvey. The 31-year-old became Raith Rovers’ record signing when they paid Airdrie £225,000 for him three years ago, but the move turned sour and he was offloaded by former manager Jimmy Nicholl.
The draw for the quarter-finals of the League Cup will take place on Sunday.
12.10.99
Result from tonight’s CIS Insurance League Cup tie: Inverness CT 0, Motherwell 1 (McCulloch 48).
At long, long last, the End of Season Poll results are now online. Sincere apologies for the delay, but I’ve got the fairly reasonable excuse that I haven’t been in the country much recently. Many thanks to Keith ‘two here’ Peppiatt for his help in compiling the results.
10.10.99
The Sunday Mail is linking us with Ayr striker Nigel Jemson and Celtic defender Tosh McKinlay (again).
09.10.99
Motherwell won last night’s friendly against Airdrie 2-0 with goals from Derek Townsley and Stephen Halliday. ‘Well fielded a near full-strength side with the exception of Simo Valakari and John Spencer, and cruised to victory against their 1st Division opponents.
Today’s Fir Park open day saw the launch of the new away strip and a new book, “Images of Sport – Motherwell Football Club 1886-1999” by John Swinburne, which is basically a pictorial history of the club. The new strip is mainly back with white sleeves, and I think it’s awful!
08.10.99
The Aberdeen game has been re-scheduled for Wednesday, October 20. And in yet another fixture switch, the Killie game scheduled for Saturday, November 13 has been moved back to Wednesday, December 8.
A worrying rumour on the Motherwell Mailing List suggests that there are serious problems with the Fir Park pitch, to the extent that home games might have to be played at Airdrie’s Shyberry Excelsior Stadium. Apparently six drains under the playing surface have broken, leaving the pitch under a massive puddle. If the story is to be believed, the entire playing field will have to be relaid next summer and John Boyle is considering suing the contractor.
In a letter sent to season ticket holders, Karen Paterson, the club’s new Commercial Manager, highlights a number of future events at Fir Park, including tomorrow’s “Open Day at the Park” which will include the launch of our new strip. Other initiatives include “Sunday Lunch at the Park” and “Party in the Park”, and the letter also promises that the official Web Site will be launched within the next six weeks.
04.10.99
I’m working in Vienna for the rest of the week, so no more updates for a while I’m afraid. Not that there’s much happening just now anyway.
03.10.99
Our home game against Celtic, originally scheduled for Saturday November 27, has been put back until the following day with a 6.05pm kick-off to acommodate Sky TV. This means that we will have two live games on Sky in less than a week, with the Hearts match on Tuesday the 23rd also being transmitted.
No new date has yet been confirmed for the Aberdeen game, although the Motherwell Times reports it has been pencilled in for Wednesday, October 20. This means that apart from the friendly against Airdrie this coming Friday, we have no fixture until the League Cup tie with Inverness Caley Thistle a week on Tuesday (12th). Tickets for that game are now on sale from Fir Park.
Hibernian were the winners of last week’s Andy Thomson Memorial Tournament held at Dalziel Park. Motherwell’s under-18 side finished the competition in 5th place.
So much for the Daily Record‘s “exclusive” story on Andy Goram’s imminent return to the Scotland international side. The Goalie was not named in the squad to face Bosnia and Lithuania in next week’s Euro 2000 Qualifiers. However, Simo Valakari was once again called-up to the Finnish international squad.
Our new away kit will be launched at a Fir Park Open Day next Saturday (Oct 9th). Rumours suggest the strip will be predominantly black.
Last month’s news
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