Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[Al B]

I remember sitting in a box in the Cooper with him on a non-match day when we were chucking ideas about for The Kaiser's testimonial (which ended up not happening obvs), and talking about how it was funny getting to wander around "behind the scenes" when there wasn't a game on. Now he runs the whole shop. Some boy!

[capt_oats]

Kind of related to the Ciftci posts earlier on, Desp's suggestion of bringing Moult back on loan to pair him with Main and also the recruitment thing in general on that other thread. It got me thinking about what I'm assuming will amount to substantial unbudgeted income from the Heneghan, Johnson and Moult sales along with the 2 cup finals. It seems clear that we're reinvesting some of that cash in contract extensions, stadium upgrades and staffing (I noticed the ad for a u20s GK coach posted the other day). All of that is good stuff.

However it made me wonder what sort of an impact (if any) it'd have on recruitment. Presumably we'll be maintaining the whole budget for 10th, no sales and cup runs going into the next season since the whole fan ownership model relies on us being self-sufficient and we'll need to be paying Boyle and Hutchison back so we'll be limited/restricted in that respect but I'm curious as to whether there will be a knock on in terms of the scope Robinson will have to bring players in and whether it's something we'd actively pursue. Does it seem likely that Robinson would have different targets earmarked for different budgets?

There's been a lot made of Robinson's due diligence and process when it comes to bringing players in so I suppose what I'm getting at is whether the SC run might allow him to consider upscaling his targets or whether it's more likely that he'll have had specific targets in mind relative to our basic budget regardless of the cash we're bringing in from the cup competitions.

I don't for a second expect us to be spend-y but it did occur to me that there could surely be the possibility that we could look at one or two players we may not have been able to in normal circumstances.

Edited April 17, 2018 by capt_oats

[Busta Nut]

Good on 'Flow.

 

Top guy.

[Swello]

10 hours ago, capt_oats said:

Kind of related to the Ciftci posts earlier on, Desp's suggestion of bringing Moult back on loan to pair him with Main and also the recruitment thing in general on that other thread. It got me thinking about what I'm assuming will amount to substantial unbudgeted income from the Heneghan, Johnson and Moult sales along with the 2 cup finals. It seems clear that we're reinvesting some of that cash in contract extensions, stadium upgrades and staffing (I noticed the ad for a u20s GK coach posted the other day). All of that is good stuff.

However it made me wonder what sort of an impact (if any) it'd have on recruitment. Presumably we'll be maintaining the whole budget for 10th, no sales and cup runs going into the next season since the whole fan ownership model relies on us being self-sufficient and we'll need to be paying Boyle and Hutchison back so we'll be limited/restricted in that respect but I'm curious as to whether there will be a knock on in terms of the scope Robinson will have to bring players in and whether it's something we'd actively pursue. Does it seem likely that Robinson would have different targets earmarked for different budgets?

There's been a lot made of Robinson's due diligence and process when it comes to bringing players in so I suppose what I'm getting at is whether the SC run might allow him to consider upscaling his targets or whether it's more likely that he'll have had specific targets in mind relative to our basic budget regardless of the cash we're bringing in from the cup competitions.

I don't for a second expect us to be spend-y but it did occur to me that there could surely be the possibility that we could look at one or two players we may not have been able to in normal circumstances.

I don't know when the club sets their budget for the next year - but if we end up with a cash surplus from this year (which I really  hope we are going to do), then we could include some of that surplus in an increased player budget without breaking our "golden rule".  It may well be that some of our cash surplus/profit has already been invested in the recent contract extensions of course, but that's fine too.

I'm not an accountant, but I'd like to see that even when you strip away the un-budgeted income from cups and transfers, etc - that we are breaking even/profitable with a mid-table finish in the league as that is where the fan-owned thing will stand or fall.

[Desp]

Noticed on the BBC Gossip page this morning that the Daily Mail, I believe, were running a story that MLS side Vancouver Whitecaps are planning a £1m move for Cedric Kipré.

Any 'Well fans writing at the Daily Mail these days to give the story a bit of credibility?  Bit of a left field story, but selling the big man for £1m would be a remarkable piece of business.

[Swello]

I'm not sure about that story - although it would be a very weird one to make up - but with the noises being made from the club themselves, you do get the feeling that Kipre will be away in the summer and for proper money*.

 

*although Hearts or Aberdeen will obviously want to "test our resolve" with a bid of 50k to keep their supporters happy.

[crazylegsjoe]

I must say I'm firmly in the camp against signing Ciftci permanently.

His performance on Saturday probably consolidated that - I considered it to be the only negative of the day.  Both the attempted Zidane turn and the dive were dreadful and embarrassing in equal measures. If anything, his play acting probably meant the ref and Aberdeen players took Newell going down less seriously, when he actually had cause to be injured. I know he hasn't played in a few weeks, but still, he looked more fatigued than anyone who had played the previous 75/80 minutes when he came on.

We knew we were signing a bit of a maverick in Ciftci and while we thought we might have got 10 goals and an on field assault charge, what we have got is a single goal and complete mediocrity. I would definitely have considered him to be worth a punt in January and thought it could've worked out for both parties. However, rather than trying to take the view that it could still work, I'd rather use now as the point we decided that it hasn't worked and move on.

I feel anyone's attraction to signing him is at least partially based on what he produced in the past, not what he is producing now.  Sure, we have had duds like Fletcher and Blyth in the recent past, but our scouting department has got us Moult, Main and Tanner to name but a few in forward positions in the last few seasons. I would prefer us to take a punt on a player who may achieve his potential, not one who had a couple of decent seasons once upon a time, but has only scored once in the past two seasons.

In our budget, there's an argument there may not be anyone as technically adept as Ciftci available, but I dare say there will be a few about who we could get more input from.

[capt_oats]

32 minutes ago, crazylegsjoe said:

I must say I'm firmly in the camp against signing Ciftci permanently.

His performance on Saturday probably consolidated that - I considered it to be the only negative of the day.  Both the attempted Zidane turn and the dive were dreadful and embarrassing in equal measures. If anything, his play acting probably meant the ref and Aberdeen players took Newell going down less seriously, when he actually had cause to be injured. I know he hasn't played in a few weeks, but still, he looked more fatigued than anyone who had played the previous 75/80 minutes when he came on.

We knew we were signing a bit of a maverick in Ciftci and while we thought we might have got 10 goals and an on field assault charge, what we have got is a single goal and complete mediocrity. I would definitely have considered him to be worth a punt in January and thought it could've worked out for both parties. However, rather than trying to take the view that it could still work, I'd rather use now as the point we decided that it hasn't worked and move on.

I feel anyone's attraction to signing him is at least partially based on what he produced in the past, not what he is producing now.  Sure, we have had duds like Fletcher and Blyth in the recent past, but our scouting department has got us Moult, Main and Tanner to name but a few in forward positions in the last few seasons. I would prefer us to take a punt on a player who may achieve his potential, not one who had a couple of decent seasons once upon a time, but has only scored once in the past two seasons.

In our budget, there's an argument there may not be anyone as technically adept as Ciftci available, but I dare say there will be a few about who we could get more input from.

Most of that is totally fair comment however I'd argue against the part in bold. Certainly from my POV I'm simply looking at the fact that in December with the likes of Bowman and Fisher leading the line we struggled to score goals. The manager was very public about that. Post-winter break with a pairing of Ciftci and Main assisted by Tanner we started scoring again. That's what my attraction to him is this time round, I can't speak for anyone else on the forum.

It's been discussed quite a lot on here but the value (for me) that Ciftci brought to the side has been in build up. I completely agree that he's underperformed in terms of goals but on the whole I feel he's slotted into the side pretty well.

Without wanting to be forensic and micro-analysing things a lot of our goals in 2018 have had Ciftci involved in the build up; it was his back-heel to Main that won the penalty in the cup game against Accies, it was his winning the ball back and cross that played Main in to make it 2-0 against County. It was his knock down to Campbell that helped the counter in the opening goal against St Johnstone, it was Ciftci in the target man role who assisted Tanner for the opening goal at Dens in the cup, he was also the foil knocking the ball back to McHugh to play the ball through that resulted in Holt's O.G in that game and it was virtually the same move that led to the winning goal in the 1-0 at Dens. Added to that he equalised against Thistle and could easily have had an assist but for the offside flag going up.

Ultimately the question is whether or not all that is enough to warrant taking a punt on him. A player who has the potential to be so much better but who even when out of form and struggling for fitness has fitted in pretty well to the side (relative to where we were in December). Plenty will say it's absolutely not and that's totally fine however I'd argue that if you put Bowman (as an example) in the same situations on the park then chances are we wouldn't have scored the goals.

Edited April 18, 2018 by capt_oats

[thisGRAEME]

12 hours ago, capt_oats said:

Does it seem likely that Robinson would have different targets earmarked for different budgets?

I'd be amazed if this isn't the case. 

I remain solidly in the camp of 'pay back the debt' as soon as absolutely possible. Whatever we do with 'extra' money short term is always going to be a risk, and fundamentally, we need the debt paid. Pay the debt, then every penny more we make than budgeted goes right back into what we do, and that's all that matters just now, for me.

That and chasing Celtic out of Hampden like they're a shiny Charizard.

[crazylegsjoe]

10 minutes ago, capt_oats said:

Most of that is totally fair comment however I'd argue against the part in bold. Certainly from my POV I'm simply looking at the fact that in December with the likes of Bowman and Fisher leading the line we struggled to score goals. The manager was very public about that. Post-winter break with a pairing of Ciftci and Main assisted by Tanner we started scoring again. That's what my attraction to him is this time round, I can't speak for anyone else on the forum.

It's been discussed quite a lot on here but the value (for me) that Ciftci brought to the side has been in build up. I completely agree that he's underperformed in terms of goals but on the whole I feel he's slotted into the side pretty well.

Without wanting to be forensic and micro-analysing things a lot of our goals in 2018 have had Ciftci involved in the build up; it was his back-heel to Main that won the penalty in the cup game against Accies, it was his winning the ball back and cross that played Main in to make it 2-0 against County. It was his knock down to Campbell that helped the counter in the opening goal against St Johnstone, it was Ciftci in the target man role who assisted Tanner for the opening goal at Dens in the cup, he was also the foil knocking the ball back to McHugh to play the ball through that resulted in Holt's O.G in that game and it was virtually the same move that led to the winning goal in the 1-0 at Dens. Added to that he equalised against Thistle and could easily have had an assist but for the offside flag going up.

Ultimately the question is whether or not all that is enough to warrant taking a punt on him. A player who has the potential to be so much better but who even when out of form and struggling for fitness has fitted in pretty well to the side (relative to where we were in December). Plenty will say it's absolutely not and that's totally fine however I'd argue that if you put Bowman (as an example) in the same situations on the park then chances are we wouldn't have scored the goals.

Very fair counter points. I agree that he started his spell very well for us, which you do highlight in your examples. When he was contributing such as the games against Accies and Dundee, I was thinking to myself "he could really be a player when he gets match fit". However, after his "settling in period", I feel he has regressed if anything. He was trying things in his first few games that I thought would come off when he was match fit. However, now he has played more games, I still feel these aren't coming off (see Saturday's Zidane turn). He still lacks urgency and holds on to the ball for far too long.

For what it's worth, I don't think Main and Bowman is a long-term option of a partnership. I'm fairly pleased with Bowman getting a contract extension, but that's on the basis I see him being a lesser version and backup to Main, not a partner. Based on what I have seen of Ciftci this season, I could probably live with him being an option next season, but not a first pick. Taking that into consideration, it's a no go for me as I doubt any wage he would accept would reflect that of an option, but instead more of a first pick. Our squad doesn't require too much work this summer I wouldn't say, but signing a more dynamic partner for Main, who isn't Ciftci, is probably number one priority for me.

You could argue last summer signing Bigi was heralded as something of a marquee signing, yet he hasn't made the impact we would have hoped. I fear a permanent signing of Ciftci could go down that path too.

 

[thisGRAEME]

 

I mean, Ticketmaster are generally robbing b*****ds, but I'll take it to be able to print out a ticket in the house like.

[well fan for life]

6 minutes ago, thisGRAEME said:

 

I mean, Ticketmaster are generally robbing b*****ds, but I'll take it to be able to print out a ticket in the house like.

I'm looking forward to picking up 40 tickets to Motherwell - St Johnstone before selling them at exorbitant prices on GetMeIn.

[Swello]

One thing the club really should do is update their hosting package so that a run of the mill news story doesn't crash the official site (unless there is an exciting news story on the go that I don't know about)

[well fan for life]

1 minute ago, Swello said:

One thing the club really should do is update their hosting package so that a run of the mill news story doesn't crash the official site (unless there is an exciting news story on the go that I don't know about)

I think they probably will at some point. There's been talk of a new website for a while now so I'd expect the whole lot to be less clunky and not fall on it's arse whenever more than 6 folk get on it. 

[Swello]

Quote

Motherwell enter partnership with Ticketmaster

Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Motherwell enter partnership with Ticketmaster

Motherwell Football Club have entered a partnership with Ticketmaster which will see the company become our official ticketing partner.

From the start of the 2018/19 season, Ticketmaster will provide ticketing technology, a fully-branded Motherwell ticketing site, plus a range of services including access control, client and customer support.

In addition, Ticketmaster will also manage ticket allocations for any future Hampden Park events from 2018/19 onwards. 

The agreement will allow supporters to continue to buy match tickets at the stadium as before but also benefit from being able to buy and print in advance online.

Alan Burrows, the club’s chief executive, said of the news: “We are pleased to welcome Ticketmaster as our official ticketing partners.

“We recognised that there was a pressing need for Motherwell FC to modernise how supporters could purchase their tickets, both for attending matches and also season tickets.

“A survey of Well Society members earlier this year told us that 75% believed the current ticketing system at the club was not fit for purpose. Furthermore, 73% told us they would like the ability to buy their tickets either on their computers or using their smartphones.

“Entering this agreement with Ticketmaster allows us to meet the expectations of our fans.

“We will also be modernising how supporters get into Fir Park. We will migrate from the traditional season book to season cards, as well as using electronic scanners handled by our turnstile operators. We will release more information on this in due course but fans shouldn’t experience any drastic difference in how they enter the stadium.”

Information on season ticket pricing for the 2018/19 season will be announced shortly.

Chris Belt, Ticketmaster Sport business development director, added: “We’re delighted to be working with Motherwell FC and to provide them with best-in-class technology and services.

“We look forward to what will undoubtedly be an exciting new season for the club and its fans.” 

 I'll miss the shite perforations.

[capt_oats]

Tanner interview...

and Hartley...

 

Edited April 18, 2018 by capt_oats

[AndyRoss]

http://www.mfc1886.com/mfc-podcast-2017-18-episode-33/

Grant Russell has made quite an impression since arriving at Fir Park. In this special episode of the podcast he joins Sparra to discuss his time at Motherwell so far including the ‘Time for New Heroes’ campaign and the incredibly successful #Pete6 video, as well as the difficulties that came with back-to-back controversial fixtures with Celtic.

Grant also outlines his visions going forward including a new club website, online ticketing, cup final/ season ticket campaigns and much, much more.

[Del_Superwell]

I see the sun tonight has an exclusive for their paper tomorrow linking us and Hibs with a move for Kenny Miller.  Bizarre one if you ask me.

[Ludo*1]

32 minutes ago, Del_Superwell said:

I see the sun tonight has an exclusive for their paper tomorrow linking us and Hibs with a move for Kenny Miller.  Bizarre one if you ask me.

Extremely bizarre. Dundee fans have been whoring themselves out on social media wanting us to sign him. Truly bizarre. Miller is 38 year old, he'll be 39 before next season is even at the half-way stage. He's played 23 games this season scoring 5 goals.  Only 3 of which have been in the league for a side that arguably has the quality to creat double the chances my side or indeed Motherwell do on a weekly basis. He'd likely command a very high wage to boot.

Then there's the fact that he's now fell out with his past 3 managers, clearly being a disruptive influence.

I don't see why any top flight club would sign him. It's a case of who he is, rather than what he can deliver.

[Swello]

1 hour ago, AndyRoss said:

http://www.mfc1886.com/mfc-podcast-2017-18-episode-33/

Grant Russell has made quite an impression since arriving at Fir Park. In this special episode of the podcast he joins Sparra to discuss his time at Motherwell so far including the ‘Time for New Heroes’ campaign and the incredibly successful #Pete6 video, as well as the difficulties that came with back-to-back controversial fixtures with Celtic.

Grant also outlines his visions going forward including a new club website, online ticketing, cup final/ season ticket campaigns and much, much more.

Really enjoyed that and quite a lot of wee exclusives in there  I was really not a fan of Murrant but Grant seems to be much more attuned to things and seems to understand  what the club is about. At the end he mentioned the video on the pitch after the Semi - and I have to say, it's probably my favourite bit of content that the club has produced this season (which is high praise) - so most of those hits are from me

29 minutes ago, Del_Superwell said:

I see the sun tonight has an exclusive for their paper tomorrow linking us and Hibs with a move for Kenny Miller.  Bizarre one if you ask me.

I'm going to call "utter bollocks" on that one - Kenny Miller is so far from the profile of player that we have been going at, it's simply not credible. Robinson himself on more than one occasion  has said that there is no point having guys at 21 and 36 in the dressing room as they have nothing in common.