It's official - Motherwell finish third

[Footymad]

After weeks of bickering a decision has been made. Season 2019/20 has ended and Motherwell finish in third place. - External Link

[Handsome_Devil]

Very mixed feelings. On the one hand third is excellent, we had some great wins, played good stuff and over 30 games definitely deserved it.

On the other, the last two months - until the last two games - was truly horrific and then you wonder what the point was...there's no celebration of a great season and the chance of a wee jaunt or two - which is the main appeal of Europe to the likes of us - virtually non-existent. We probably won't even get the other big bonus of a seeded spot in the League Cup.

Beyond that, while the club may not immediately be facing an existential threat due to the situation, we will surely be gutting this team even quicker than normal.

So aye, well done to all involved but it's a quick beer and move on for me.

[LawSteelman]

Mixed views for me as well.

This is obviously the correct decision that has FINALLY been reached after a ridiculous process that only Scottish football could manage to make a pigs ear of. Common sense should have seen this outcome sealed six weeks ago. Hopefully we can now begin to look ahead to next season and football returning, whenever that may be.

As for 'finishing third' in season 2019/20, I know for some that will be seen as an achievement but for me it's nothing more than a hollow one. Firstly for the most obvious reason that the season wasn't completed and with the way we were playing at the time of the premature end, it would have been a brave man that would have bet on us staying third had the season finished as normal.

It was a strange season, in more ways than one. I thought we were pretty dire throughout and only sat where we did on 13th March because of how inconsistent other clubs had been, especially Aberdeen. For us there was no standout results, no big wins and no real standout players. If I was going for a player of the season though it would be Declan Gallagher hands down - an excellent signing and I hope we can keep hold of him. The Cups brought nothing but misery and the customary early exits in both to fellow top flight sides. The Hearts loss in the League Cup was one of the worst performances of the season and the St.Mirren debacle was the last straw for me. I was as good as my word at the time that I was done with Motherwell for the season after that stinker and didn't set foot in Fir Park for the rest of the season, albeit that was alot shorter than anyone could have anticipated.

For me it was a bland, uneventful season peppered with some absolutely awful and crushing disappointments. What has happened in the world with the Covid-19 crisis has obviously put football into perspective, but I would hope that when we do get football back that Motherwell FC can serve up some better fare than they did in season 2019/2020.

[LawSteelman]

the chance of a wee jaunt or two - which is the main appeal of Europe to the likes of us - virtually non-existent.

Ah well that is something to be positive about. No two legged tie against some third rate side that barely anyone has heard of which we would inevitably have embarrassed ourselves in.

[Handsome_Devil]

Agree this team doesn't compare to previous that have had high finishes but the table is relative and doesn't lie.

While we didn't have a signature win perhaps, the games wins at Tynecastle and pittodrie were superb in different ways, the dismantling of hibs was excellent, the comeback at Ross county a joy.

Gallagher in particular but also Polworth and Gillespie had great displays in the first half of the season.

There were plenty of positives.

As to where we go from here, who knows. You'd expect us to survive next season but it's a total guess at this stage not least because - bizarrely - the bigger clubs with higher wages could well be under bigger threat financially. They coild make cuts, either enforced or voluntarily, so the gap might not be the same. Anywhere between 3rd and 12th is possible.

[Wellup4it]

As for 'finishing third' in season 2019/20, I know for some that will be seen as an achievement but for me it's nothing more than a hollow one. Firstly for the most obvious reason that the season wasn't completed and with the way we were playing at the time of the premature end, it would have been a brave man that would have bet on us staying third had the season finished as normal.

It was a strange season, in more ways than one. I thought we were pretty dire throughout and only sat where we did on 13th March because of how inconsistent other clubs had been, especially Aberdeen.

The league competition is relative. Aberdeen weren't any better and in fact finished below us. We finished 3rd because we were consistently better than 9 other teams. Agree about Declan Gallagher. It would be difficult, night near impossible in fact, to make a compelling case as to why one of the 9 other teams, including the Dons, should have finished above us.

[LawSteelman]

Well we'll never know obviously but I think that Aberdeen would have overtaken us eventually simply because they are a better team and were beginning to find form when the season was stopped. We on the other hand had been awful from the end of January when we lost our only creative forward asset in James Scott.

I agree that there wasn't a serious case for anyone other than Aberdeen finishing above us if you go on form alone, but the reality is that that just shows how poor the standard of the league is and how inconsistent the majority of sides were. We were dismal on the whole. We played very little in the way of entertaining football, recorded no memorable wins (albeit winning 3-2 at Tynecastle and 1-0 at Pittodrie were very good wins) and turned in some utterly awful performances/results especially at Fir Park. The aforementioned Hearts and St.Mirren cup defeats, the 2-1 loss to Ross County, getting humped 3-0 at home by Aberdeen, five gutless, subservient performances and defeats to both sides of the Old Firm(I know, I know, money, budget, big supports, oor wee team canny compete etc. etc) and the dismal loss to Accies at home at New Year.

In years to come no one will look back at season 2019-20 with any great fondness from a Motherwell FC perspective. It was a largely forgettable campaign which was brought to a premature end by a global health crisis. That's how I'll remember it.

[Handsome_Devil]

I reckoned all season Aberdeen would catch us but even if they had - and it's not certain - fourth for us is an excellent league campaign and would have been beyond our wildest dreams at the start of the year.

As for little entertaining football, I think you're letting December-February cloud the September-December run. We weren't Brazil but we went through a spell of scoring incredibly well worked goals almost every week. We have had much, much worse teams and campaigns and this and will no doubt do so again.

[LawSteelman]

I do take your point, we did have a decent (but by no means brilliant) run through September to Christmas but there was nothing that really stood out performance wise and the results we got that stood out were undoubtedly the win at Tynecastle, St.Johnstone at home in November and Pittodrie in late January. Winning at Ross County on boxing Day was impressive given how we turned it around. We did pick up a number of good wins but there was nothing that stood out as hugely impressive.

We certainly have had worse squads and worse campaigns but for me there was just nothing special or memorable about that season. We good some good results, but no great ones. Had some good players, but no great ones and were largely uninspiring to watch, especially once we lost Scott in January.

[jwok]

I'm delighted for everyone at Fir Park that we managed to finish third but there's no doubt that we got a hand from the inability of the chasers to put up a decent run. Since the break we have played nine league games (WDLLLDLWD) and stuttered along. Still, it's hardly our fault that nobody could catch us.