Motherwell - Fir Park

Motherwell FC

Fir Park

Fir Park Street

Motherwell 

Lanarkshire

ML1 2QN

Official Website

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Ground Number: 1401
Saturday 15th March 2025
Motherwell 2-2 St Mirren
Scottish Premiership

MOTHERWELL FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

The club was established in  1886, when representatives of the two main Motherwell works teams Glencairn FC and Alpha F.C. met in Baillie's pub in the town and decided to merge the two teams to create a club to represent the town as a whole at a higher footballing level. Struggling tp find regular, organised fixtures in their early days, they turned professional and joined the Scottish Football League in 1893. They remained in Division 2 until 1903 when they won promotion as runners-up behind Airdrieonians. Motherwell would be long-time members of the top tier and were Scottish League champions in 1932. Relegation would come in 1953 but they'd win promotion back as Division B champions in 1954. The same happened in 1968 but again only one season at the lower level. They were relegated in 1979 but would win promotion back in 1982. Finally, 1984/85 was spent in the second tier but they have been in the top division ever since. They've been runner-up three times since - the latest coming in 2014.

Motherwell have won the Scottish Cup twice - beating Dundee 4-0 in 1952 and Dundee United 4-3 in 1991. In 1951, they won the Scottish League Cup, beating Hibernian 3-0 in the final. Motherwell have played eleven European campaigns. Their best progress was in the 2011 Europa  League where they beat Breiðablik and Aalesund before losing top Odense in the playoff round. The club's record European appearance holder is Steven Hammell, with 19 appearances for the club in Europe. The current record European goalscorer is Jamie Murphy, with seven goals. Also, the 8–1 win over Flamurtari on 23 July 2009 currently stands as their record victory in European competition. They also won the Milk Cup in 1983, and the Scottish Summer Cup in 1944 and 1965.

The club's main rivals over the years have been Hamilton Academical and Airdrieonians, due in part to their close geographical proximities. These matches are known as the Lanarkshire derby. Sports Illustrated has suggested Motherwell F.C.'s fans as the originators of the "Viking Thunder Clap", a supporting chant eventually popularised by the fans of the Iceland national football team, where fans stay silent and let out loud synchronised claps seconds apart, gradually speeding up; the chant received wider international attention during Euro 2016. On 5 May 2010, Motherwell were involved in the highest-scoring match in the SPL, drawing 6–6 with Hibernian at Fir Park, with Lukas Jutkiewicz scoring the equaliser in the 91st minute. This eclipsed another high-scoring game involving Motherwell, a 6–5 defeat by Aberdeen on 20 October 1999. Links with Wycombe Wanderers include strikers Steven Craig and John Sutton. The latter had two good spells with Motherwell but both flattered to deceive for the Chairboys.

 Motherwell is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, southeast of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. As well as the town's Country Park, The North Lanarkshire Heritage Centre, formerly the Motherwell Heritage Centre on High Road, situated next to the town's railway station, is a building that displays the history of Motherwell from the Roman era. The building also has a viewing tower on the fifth floor, giving visitors a good view of the town and other parts of Lanarkshire, as well as of mountains as far back as Ben Lomond. The Dalzell House is a building that is situated to the south of the town, right on the banks of the River Clyde. This house is protected as a Category-A listed building. One of the main attractions in Motherwell is the M & D's Amusement Park, which is situated next to Strathclyde Loch in Strathclyde Park. Famous people from the town include footballers Keiran Tierney and Ian St John.

MY VISIT

My second game on Saturday would be replacing the middle two on the Scottish Hop's official roster. They were quite small grounds and like Colin, I was keen to get one of the 42 done. There were not a huge amount of options as we needed to be at Albion Rovers for the late kickoff. Hamilton Academical was being ticked tomorrow and Partick Thistle and Queens Park were the other contenders. However, the standout candidate was Motherwell. I liked their colours and it was an easy bus ride to our late game at Albion Rovers. There was also a Wetherspoons tick which would be a nice bonus on a busy day. With games rarely selling out, I held off on getting tickets but aside from Albion Rovers, this was the ground I was looking forward to the most.

The local loopy juice, Dragon Soop sour apple was purchased after we had 20 minutes wait for our first bus. It turned out to be a minibus costing £2.95 to Holytown. It was a very scenic journey too, and great value for money. Another similar bus got us to Motherwell in the company of some nice fans. We visited the club shop where I got a pen before we went into the ground. I got a picture with the mascot and also a pie. £24 was a fair price to get in, the quality was roughly in line with League 1 in England. Talking of League 1, the Wycombe lineup was causing much consternation amongst the Wycombe fans for the big game against Wrexham which I was glad to be missing under the circumstances. The Motherwell fans were in great voice and everyone had been super friendly.

 

Motherwell sat in 6th place, just above the mid-table split. However, they lost four of their last six games but recently won 2-1 at Ibrox against the Rangers. St Mirren were in 9th, having won two, drawn one and lost three recently. They had lost 5-2 at home to Celtic in their most recent game. St Mirren dominated the early stages and would take the lead on 23 minutes, a deflected shot from the edge of the area by Caolan Boyd-Munce. St Mirren continued to dominate and on 32 minutes, former Wycombe man Killian Phillips put them 2-0 up with a great long-range strike. Just as it looked bad for Motherwell, they pulled one back straight away, a low shot from the edge of the area by Callum Slattery. Motherwell had plenty of possession but didn't seem to be able to do anything with it, not helped by a disruptive referee. They did equalise on 70 minutes, a great strike from outside the area by Slattery for his second of the game. A colossal 14 minutes of injury time were added due to the amount of stoppages. St Mirren wasted a late free kick and a draw was about the right result.

 

THE GROUND

FIR PARK is a decent and friendly place to visit. Amazingly, the away fans get the best stand, a huge double-decker behind the goal free of pillars. The same can be said of the smaller one at the other end. The two side stands have pillars and in the case of the John Hunter, the rake is not that deep. Even for a shortie like me, the view is OK. A good selection of pies is available in the ground, but I didn't see a bar, though the town is 20 minutes away. The club shop has a wide range of items, the prices in line with other clubs at this level.