capt_oats

No supposedly about it. They were on camera at Firhill. They were definitely at the game. Possibly entirely unrelated but Alexander was very quick to shut down chat of a "direct replacement" for Watt when it was confirmed he'd fucked off. That was a couple of days after he and Lasley had been at Firhill (presumably watching Rudden rather than giving Robbie Crawford support). I'd be surprised if we based any decision on one game (I agree he was underwhelming against Killie) but I wouldn't be surprised if we cooled our jets a bit and I mentioned this in the Dundee thread, when it comes down to it chances are he gets more of a shot of starting at Dens than he does here. If he signs with us does he start ahead of Van Veen? Nope, absolutely not. Does he start ahead of Danny Mullen? Possibly. If he signs with us he probably arrives as a project in the same way Conor Shields is. Maybe that didn't appeal and fair enough. McPake and Dundee chuck an extra couple of hundred quid a week his way and make a realistic pitch that he starts for them. I'm happy enough we were taking a look at him as he's exactly the profile of player worth our time but all things considered...

Rudden's 6ft 2. Maybe he's your centre forward. I mean, he's a pest and a poacher who plays on the shoulder rather than a target man but who knows. Someone clipped together this video, I'd posted it on our thread when the story was we were looking to speak to him and the jury was massively out after that live game against Killie on the telly.

Tbh, if Cummings is away and Sheridan's injured (unlikely to be there next season?) I'd imagine he'd have far more of a shout of first team football with you guys. We were obviously quite keen but he'd definitely have been more of a "project" for us. Also, while I doubt we'd make a decision based on one game, he struggled a bit in the game against Killie the other week when Alexander and Lasley were there (presumably watching him).

Nah, you posted it right about the same time as my edit.

Unrelated to the Tony Watt chat... Also...

Tbh, I found the interview unintentionally hilarious. It's an absolute car crash on so many levels. I didn't read it as a "f**k you" or anything I just read it as him really awkwardly trying to flex and he seems quite rattled by the criticism he's taking. Also, his talking about himself in the 3rd person is absolute *chef's kiss*. Talking at length and trying to show how unbothered he is by getting called out has the same energy...

This window feels absolutely nuts in terms of teams trying to chuck some money around.

Aye it's mentioned in the news story the Sounders put up.

Announced a couple of days ago but that's Andy Rose retired at 31. https://www.instagram.com/p/CYufXaOvhti/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link He's taken up a role as assistant coach at Seattle Sounders.

Thinking back to last January's window when we kb'd Millwall's approach for Campbell, Rowett came out after the window had closed and said: The fact that he ended up at Luton where they seem invested in him and brought him in with a view to making him part of the first team rather than "potential for the future" feels important. On @YassinMoutaouakil's earlier point about trying to be selective with the clubs we deal with I kind of wonder if the fact that both Robinson and Alexander played for Luton came into things. Like, Campbell was OOC so we didn't really get a say but I half wonder if we helped sell them on the player. As a league the Championship just feels like the sort of platform where you get one shot, one opportunity (if you will) and if you don't take it you're fucked. If you don't hit the ground running then you're quickly forgotten and they'll find another player to take your place. There's absolutely zero settling in time. Jimmy Scott seems like a good example of Championship move gone wrong. Signs for a club comfortably mid-table, injured on literally his first day of training, he's out for 6 months, pandemic hits, players refuse to extend their contracts to enable them to play the remaining games and by the time he's back Hull have slipped from 13th to 20th and end up relegated. Now he's papped out on loan and can't get into the Hibs team (though by all accounts he's not really helped himself much there).

He's only started one league game since their new manager came in. Unused sub in their last 3 in the league although he started their FA Cup game against Cardiff.

Just look at his wee face... Tbh, I think it kind of feeds into the discussion that was going on in the St Johnstone thread about Ali McCann not starting under their new manager. It's such a meat grinder of a league that there's a degree of satisfaction seeing a player that we're invested in actually making a go of it. He's some boi.

It's running on Sky Atlantic just now and I'm halfway in. It's a weird vibe. Part Alive, part Lost, part Lord of The Flies, part Pretty Little Liars.

Goalkeepers are generally pretty difficult to get any sort of money for unless you're talking about genuinely elite. Not for want of trying we ended up with Randolph walking away at the end of his contract. Gillespie went on a free to Newcastle as well. The story was that we were after something like £500k from Celtic for Carson but that didn't go through. We were expecting bids for him the following summer after getting to two cup finals and the like but the only interest was supposedly from Cardiff but there was never an offer that motivated us to sell. Compare that with fees for outfield players where we were getting £1m for a player who'd only played 42 first team games.

Aye, I noticed that Scott Burns, who had been pretty much been fed the story, was sticking with the vague 'six figure fee'. The £100k number seemed to come from United fans rounding down the 'six figure fee' thing and it stuck. Had Burns reported it I'd have said there's a fair chance it was accurate but less so The Courier. Don't get me wrong, I doubt it's significantly more than that given we had little leverage and how much United would realistically be able to pay in cash but still... Actually, I'd missed this comment in the Record from Alexander.

The cumulative total of fees appears under the 'Gains on disposal of player registration' line (last year was £1,098,608 - mostly for Jimmy Scott). Given the AGM hasn't been announced yet (last year's was the start of February with the accounts formally submitted to Companies House 12th Feb 2021) I actually wondered if it'd appear in this year's accounts for year end 31st May 2021 under the 'Events after the reporting date' section. Although there's a lack of detail there eg: last year's accounts read:

I'd guess (much like the Lawleff signing) that was something that had been in the works while Robinson was at the club so it's probably up for debate how much input Alexander had. Alexander got the job 7th January and Carroll's contract extension was announced on the 21st - https://www.motherwellfc.co.uk/2021/01/21/jake-carroll-signs-new-contract/ I mean, I'm not saying Alexander didn't want him (he kept playing him for long enough) but presumably it wouldn't have been great man management to stroll into the club and whip a contract extension off the table.

It wasn't even that long after Alexander took over...it was this season. His red card was in the 79th minute against Dundee on 28th August. IIRC he picked up an injury and went off early against Hibs at Easter Road last season and that gave McGinley a look in for the cup games and post-split. Carroll was actually Alexander's first pick for a fair chunk of last season (and the start of this season up to the red card).

Aye, someone (I'd guess @RandomGuy.) posted a heatmaps of Watt and Tierney a while back and they were pretty similar IIRC. I get the impression that Tierney is here more with a view to next season but bumping up the available subs means there's a decent chance to drip feed him into the side. He's still a slightly weird signing as to all intents and purposes he's a #10 (and we don't play with a #10) albeit Alexander was clear in pointing out that we actively target players who can play in 'at least' two of the roles we have in the team and swerve players who have one specific position. Short term I'd have thought Shields/Roberts are more likely to take up Watt's position on the left of the 3. Like others on here I still wouldn't be surprised to see another 'across the front 3' forward come in and tbf, while he said he wasn't looking at bringing a "direct replacement" in for Watt Alexander's press conference didn't rule out other players coming in.

Yeah. It's a question of how much weight you put in what he says publicly but his whole spiel was interesting:

Tbh, I think @Desp called it right earlier on in the thread. It's semantics but Alexander's point was "We are not looking for a direct replacement for Tony". I wouldn't be surprised if we brought in another forward but I'd say there's more chance of it being 'across the front 3' type.

Tbh, Alexander's already been quite pointed in saying he doesn't plan to bring in a direct replacement for Watt. Which is fair enough, Van Veen's our first pick #9 and we've got Woolery, Shields, Roberts and Tierney as options for forward positions. I'd say it'd be more likely that we'd just PCA Rudden (assuming he wants to sign etc) and pick him up in the summer for whatever nominal development fee is due. I'd be surprised if we chucked money at Thistle for him.

Aye, the last time our top scorer left for another club mid-season this was the copy posted...slight difference. Link

I wondered the same thing.

Booooooooooooooooooooo......