welldaft

You had to laugh or cry…..when in the Hibs presser Ketts said Obika was back in full training and probably ready for match 39 of the season…..the last part I made up of course. Nice guy but total waste of a squad player. Let’s try to keep signing perma crocks to a minimum next season eh

Well that changes things slightly. Expect Hibs to turn into prime Barcelona now . Might put a few Bob on over 3.5 goals…..

I never said the difference would be great and certainly not between St Mirren, Killie and Dundee. But we certainly could not afford to pay £8k per week or however much Killie are paying for Van Veen. Then you look at the rest of their squad and their wage bill will be higher than ours. I probably should have just said that Kettlewell has us finished in higher positions than our corresponding wage budget v other teams. Killie and St Mirren will get Euro money. Killie will also probably continue to spend slightly more as they have someone willing to cover it. I expect St Mirren to come back to bottom 6 sooner than later especially if and when Robinson leaves.

I which case sack the useless b*astard . In all seriousness I think it is accepted that the budget was cut for this season. I think I would be safe in assuming that all teams that are currently above us in the league will have a higher player wage bill.

Not going to repeat a lot of the comments from some very good posts above. But you can add me to the list of Kettlewell fan boys. I did waver a little towards the end of the winless run. But for all his lack of brevity I do find comfort in his overall attitude and passion for the game and Motherwell FC. We now know he did have the 2nd lowest wage budget in the top flight to work with. So being comfortably away from the bottom 2 spots with an outside chance of 7th is very good work indeed. He is unlikely to get a bigger budget to work with next season, so to keep us safe for two seasons in a row means I would be and I am pleased we are going into next season with Ketts at the helm.

In this season of all seasons. Somewhat bizarre but most welcome.

Well I guess it answers the Q whether the players would be up for it. Well done to all the players and the management team.

Crikey. Laidlaw is not the best GK either it would appear. He has been culpable for both Motherwell goals.

After a lovely phase of possesion and slick passing the ball falls to Halliday who puts a through ball at 100 mph to absolutely no one. Genuinely a bit disappointed we have him next season. I sincerely hope a pre season is a benefit to him . On the other hand Nicholson has looked fairly decent. I hope we can keep him next season.

O Was hoping it would be more than 20 seconds after I posted however . it was a good thru ball but again always think Kelly dives straight in these one on ones as oppose to spreading himself. He genuinely makes himself smaller and always has.

To be fair he saved brilliantly from Halliday to keep it at 0-0. We have started very brightly. Safe to say the team are up for it. Hopefully for the full 90+ minutes. But there will be more goals in this game. Probably for both sides.

If true then that is a nice wee bonus. They only managed it on goal difference over the side they beat 2-0. Pretty much guarantees KVV will be available next season. They may even cut their losses and give him a pay off. If we sell Bair one wonders if……nah not going there

I suspect the fact you really could do with a win will be the tipping point. I would love to see us coming out all guns blazing and Ketts has said we will not take it lightly and still want to finish 7th. But then he would wouldn’t he. The players….well by 5pm tomorrow we will know.

Has it ? I think it was well known he was on the highest salary by some distance. I meet a well known goalie around where I live. We both walk our dog. I talk to him all the time. Decent lad. Anyways he knows Neil Alexander well. He confirmed to me only last week the wages are accurate. More interestingly he also said that Alexander rated Oxenborough very highly. Which made me ponder why he never got a chance this season.

Probably not altogether accurate but I would say during his time with us his 1st 1/3 was very good. He was excellent for us when he came on loan from QPR. Otherwise I suspect there would have been more of a noise surrounding us signing him and his salary. His 2nd 1/3 as it were was OK. UPS and downs and I would say he was acceptable. This final 1/3 I would say had been bang average. He has had two or three good games notably against the Old Firm. But the stats do not lie. Lowest save % in the top flight and fewest clean sheets. The latter you can include the defence as being culpable and a contributory factor. The save % is what it is. Add in his howler at Morton in the cup and I would say time to go which he will be all things probable.

Fair enough on the last point. I still think Ketts would blurb out the truth. But maybe he is more astute and devious than I give him credit for. The only other thing I can think of is I am sure Ketts said many moons ago that he does not go near social media. Maybe he thinks that we fans are all desperate to keep Kelly as future No 1 and Captain and does not want to upset us by confirming he is 100% offski…

Without being glib you are not really telling me something I don’t know…. However the reality is Kettlewell stated clearly that he has not spoken to Kelly about this, is unaware of any other clubs interest in him and is hoping to keep him. He could just as easily say - we are aware of interest in Liam and that does not surprise me. We still hope to keep him but finance will be a factor etc. I mean I really see little point in our Manager telling porkies over a GK most of us would be happy to see move on. Also for all his lengthy chats Ketts gives me the impression he tends to tell it as it is. Kelly is moving on I think that is a given. I just hope if it is Joe Lewis then he is here as experienced back up to another No1.

Joe Lewis is only 36 yet he has started only 3 games in the last two seasons. 3 with Aberdeen in the 22-23 season. So you would like to think it is as back up. But then again at 36 a GK is hardly over the hill. Perhaps if he has so few options, back up at Motherwell and fighting for No1 position is an option he would seriously consider.

I agree in that he should be one of our better paid players as it is such an important position to fill and hopefully get right. As for Joe Lewis. I am hoping that the comments Ketts made re keeping Kelly means that he has not committed to a No1 GK. Unless it is all smoke and mirrors and he is telling wee fibs, we would hardly agree to a contract with a potential No1 keeper not knowing if the current incumbent is actually on his way out. That provides me with some comfort. I mean we may have said we will take you if Kelly leaves but again hoping that particular rumour is just that and no more .

Well I have just read the headline on news now that Ketts wants to keep Kelly and is not surprised there is interest in him…… He is on £4k apparently. Down from the £6k he was on at QPR. Still a decent wedge for us. I assume we have offered £2k per week to stay possibly a little more. Like most of us I think his time is done. Time to start afresh although a few on here inc well fan for life is clearly making me think the alternative is possibly even worse. I hope whomever it is so many are sceptical about is coming here as back up. If we genuinely get a downgrade on Kelly……I mean….not a good start to the transfer window….nope.

Safety assured. Job done. If we lose it won’t hurt as much as if we were still in the mix for the play off. That said the Financial table over on our thread shows a loss of circa £1.6m. So the extra £60k per place in the table becomes very important to getting an extra player or two should we finish 7th rather than 9th. As an aside as it is relevant - it also shows the Staggies with a wage ratio of 102% compared to 61% for us..mmmmm

Bottom 7 trophy still up for grabs. And for such a prestigious trophy the Well will be very focused on taking 3 points. Also with Hibs playing Aberdeen a win gives us the chance to leapfrog one or both of them. I still think St Johnstone will finish 11th regardless the outcome in this match.

Some of the comments have given me the fear that Craig Samson is on his way back

All fair and valid points. It was rumoured he cost them circa £500k and they are apparently looking for £7m +. To me that is wishful thinking right enough. I still think if Bair was at Hearts or Aberdeen and scoring like he is they would be looking for more than £750k. Probably double that and then some. To me there should not be such a premium or lower valuation just because he is at Motherwell FC. Time will tell if we even get bids but hopefully he can score a couple more in the next few games. I know it is probably wishful thinking, but if we could persuade him to sign on for another year that would help boost any potential fee.

At the start of the season I would have taken £75k for Bair. Improving on 15+ goals is going to be tough. But I think he has it in him to do that. Bair in mind …most of his goals have come in half a season. His two goals on Sat were the sign of someone very high on confidence. He is also 8 years younger than KVV. What I would like is immaterial, but I genuinely would be rather peeved should Aberdeen somehow manage to get a multiple of 4-5 times more for a striker that could end the season with less goals than Bair. That in a team should be creating more chances as well.