capt_oats

In fairness it wouldn't be the first time Budge has been economical with the truth when being fluffed in a Sportsound interview. Tom English's incredulous "are you saying successful business woman Ann Budge doesn't know the difference between a loan and and advance?" shout springs to mind. It turns out either she didn't know the difference or she was deliberately obfuscating. Given the way this entire shambles as played out I'd be surprised if Budge hasn't been deliberately misleading in one way or another here. If Budge and Hearts could kindly f**k off that would be smashing.

I think you're probably right but Watt's contract was up tomorrow (along with Ferguson, Manzinga & Ilic) so that may explain it being done/announced in advance. The others are June expiries which may give a bit of leeway. I think one of the more interesting aspects of the past couple of seasons under Robinson has been the number of goals from midfield - we've been that used to guys like Porter, Sutton, Higdon and Moult that having a centre forward that others play off rather than a 15+ a season guy still seems problematic. I'm pretty certain that in the time I've been going to Fir Park (since the late 80s) Turnbull's the first central midfielder we've had to hit double figures, this season it's been Donnelly (granted a number of them have been pens), even Campbell scored more last season than he had in the previous 3 seasons combined. Tbh, if Watt's sticking around then he's here as our first choice #9 - which is fine by me but I think it all but rules out Long extending given the way we've been talking about budgets. I could be wrong though. I think the wide areas are the most pressing concern. Also, at the start of the shutdown Robinson did that interview with Craigan for BT where he mentioned we'd been speaking to "another couple of players perhaps that we had last year that we're still looking at...players that we had on loan." I'm (obviously) curious if that's still a thing. Going back to the PLZ interview, it'll be interesting to see who the six or seven that Robinson sees filling the gaps in the squad: If Robinson's true to his word and we're binning the "gambles" then IMO, that's a good thing but you'd think it'd probably have a knock on effect in terms of our overall transfer strategy.

So with #TONY signing this is (I think) how things stand in terms of who's currently contracted for next season. The rumoured pre-contracts/deals: Jordan White (ICT) Ricki Lamie (Livingston) Mark O'Hara (loan made permanent)

I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING.

It would appear that Mrs Budge's thoughts on relegation/legalling were very different when she thought the original resolution wasn't going to pass - because she had spoken to other clubs but not League 1 or 2 clubs because she doesn't slum it with them. I mean if that is what the community of football clubs agree...right?

Definitely. I mean, you had Rohan Ferguson saying cheerio Tuesday last week, Robinson telling the press Manzinga wasn't getting his option taken up, now Tait's on the PFA list and Watt's giving heavy hints that he's sticking around (the club just 'liked' this tweet from him). As @welldaft said earlier - it's not that big a deal in itself but it's a weird look admin-wise.

Going by the NareysToePoker Twitter account United, Killie, Rangers, County, Hibs and St Johnstone are the Premiership sides to have announced updates so far. Looking back to what Robinson was saying last week: If it really was the case that we were hedging our bets in terms of what was being offered until we had clarity I can understand the wait - although it's clear there were a number who were being let go anyway if we're holding off to announce stuff like pre-contracts and extensions it's probably a bit better than "X, Y & Z have been offered new contracts" only for them to sign up elsewhere. Fwiw: Ferguson, Watt, Manzinga and Ilic are the May contract expiries from the first team. Gillespie, Tait, Hartley, Dunne, Livingstone, Maguire and Long are June.

I'm not sure that was actually the case. This is what Robinson said in his interview last week: By all accounts Robinson had yet to sit down and confirm the budget with the board this time last week. So it's understandable it's taken a bit longer than other years given the circumstances. Having said that given we're sat here on Thursday and we've yet to announce Burrows' "it'll be shortly..." Twitter reply to the guy on Sunday seems like it's definitely stretching "shortly".

I'm kind of in the same place in terms of his versatility but I think Grimshaw and Carroll have the FB positions on lock now so there's also the possibility that Tait might want to be playing games rather than be a back-up on a reduced wage as you say. He signed his last extension at the end of the 2 Cup Finals season when he was a guaranteed starter. He made 20 appearances this season but only 12 league starts. That's compared with 45 appearances and 37 league starts in the 18/19 season and 45 appearances and 32 league starts in 17/18. If he is away then 142 games, it's fair to say he's more than done us a turn - he's the only player still at the club from those signed in the 16/17 season. I see Jack Brown from the Reserves/u20s is on that list as well.

Throwing Copy Haho in here...a great bunch of lads.

That's not exactly new information though...

Annoyingly the Watt/Gallagher vs the **** spat has overshadowed the real Motherwell story of the day.

I was wondering that myself. Robinson was saying in that interview last week that he'd spoken to players last Monday but he hadn't sat down with Burrows and the board yet to confirm the budgets which probably accounts for the delay in part. In previous, less weird seasons it's been 21st or 22nd May the updates have been published: 2017, 2018, 2019. Burrows replied to a guy on Sunday saying the update would be announced "shortly".

That's absolutely brutal news.

That's the club made a pledge on the season tickets.

Replay of the Aberdeen semi-final...

As @craigkillie mentioned in his post on the previous page the suggestion seems to be that if it's an issue for Sky then the SPFL are looking at/have already agreed a deal to have them as headline sponsors in lieu of any monies owed.

Declan Gallagher (10/10) - Easily our POTY add in Scotland call-ups and actual caps and it's hard to argue that his season could have been any better. Liam Polworth (9/10) - Absolute baller. It says a lot for him that we finished 3rd* with him stepping into David Turnbull's boots for pretty much the entire season. Could do with adding some more goals but I'm not going to be too picky about that. Jake Carroll (8/10) - Solid enough and so far seems immune to Stevie Hammell's cursed amulet. Should probably be a 7 as he's prone to rashness and has had a few red cards but gets an extra point from me simply because he's nowhere near the disaster Thistle and Cambridge fans were predicting. Hits a decent free kick too. Casper Sloth (-/10) - Danish international, signed for Leeds. Played 44 minutes against Annan for Motherwell and that was his lot. Binned our of his 2 year deal after 6 months in the January window. Likes a haircut. Jermaine Hylton (7/10) - There's a fair chance Hylton will come good. Ripped the Betfred groups to bits - then started to get found out once the real stuff started. Puts in a shift and has roasted full backs on the regular. Like most wingers at our level could do with a bit more consistency. Chris Long (8/10) - Finished with double figures for the season - turned into a very good player for us, petulance aside. Would happily have him stick around. Gets an extra point as he ended up scoring some big goals for us despite Motherwell da's taking the huff when he signed after looking up his goal-scoring record on Wiki and being raging he wasn't Louis Moult. Sherwin Seedorf (5/10) - Cartoon fast, scored arguably our goal of the season at Tynecastle. Pretty much disappeared once we hit December. Christian Ilic (3/10) - FIFA 19 says he's a left back, FM 19 says he's a left back, he played left back in trial games for the Romanian club we picked him up from. For some reason Robinson decided he's a right winger. Picked up an injury, barely played. Christy Manzinga (3/10) - Played in the PSG youths with Cedric Kipré who recommended him to us. Scored an overhead kick in a friendly against Gretna that got our socials #numbers. Scored against St Johnstone and looked like he might be fun. Sent off 10 mins after being subbed on at 1-1 against St Johnstone for a hilarious dive...and after that his tea was oot. Ross MacIver (6/10) - Signed for the reserves, scored a worldie of an equaliser shortly after being subbed on at 1-0 down making his debut against his former club up in Dingwall. Used in games when we were short up front with Long injured, Cole back at Wigan and us counting the cool £1m for James Scott. Bevis Mugabi (5/10) - Drafted in after Charlie Dunne picked up another long term injury. Started off well and put in some decent performances but was part of the absolute shitshow of a defence in the 4-4 cup game against St Mirren. Subbed off at H/T. Might actually be OK if he can get his confidence back. An absolute unit and has a great name. Tony Watt (7/10) - Arrived having not kicked a ball in over a month and a half. Was starting to find his form when the shutdown happened. Scored 2 goals in 3 starts. He's absolutely welcome back. Harry Robinson (-/10) - Signed on a short term deal 'til the end of the season for the Reserves. Son of Stephen. Devante Cole (7/10) - Didn't score many but between him and Scott they made our front 3 work. 100% noticed his importance to the team when his loan ended and he went back to Wigan. Would have given him an 8 overall but for that sensational open goal miss against St. Johnstone. Mark O'Hara (7/10) - By December you'd genuinely have forgotten we'd signed him. After the winter break he appeared and started monstering midfields. Watching him go full maniac cop, chucking bodies around the midfield is an absolute treat. Mikael Ndjoli (3/10) - Barely played. Arrived, picked up an injury and then fitba' stopped. Rolando Aarons (6/10) - Last minute signing after Scott left for Hull. Really only started to find his fitness and form when the shutdown happened - which is annoying.

Robinson's made some comments about where we are in the press today. Seem like we'll be stripping back the first team squad from the 23 first team players on the books just now to 15-16 with 7 or 8 being promoted from the Reserves/Academy. We had a ton of players out of contract anyway but has still left us with a decent core and I think there are plenty Motherwell fans who'd be keen to see a bit more of folk like Jamie Semple and Dean Cornelius. Contracted: Carson, Carroll, Grimshaw, Mugabi, Gallagher, Campbell, Turnbull, Polworth, Donnelly, Seedorf, Hylton, Devine, Semple, Cornelius, MacIver Out of contract/loans expiring: Ferguson, Gillespie, Tait, Hartley, Dunne, Livingstone, Maguire, O'Hara, Watt, Long, Manzinga, Ilic, Aarons, Ndjoli Of the 14 out of contract/loan ending 6 would be considered regular first team starters (Gillespie, Hartley, O'Hara, Watt, Long, Aarons). Tait's been used as back-up/cover for Grimshaw and Carroll. Dunne's missed virtually the entire season through injury. Ferguson's been on a season loan to Linfield and Livingstone was loaned out to Morton then Clyde. I'd imagine we might offer deals to a couple of those whose contracts expire but we haven't officially updated the squad list yet although Robinson's confirmed Manzinga's away and Rohan Ferguson apparently said his goodbyes via his socials.

Noticed there are a couple of quotes from Robinson in McGarry's article that weren't in the PLZ one.

Also one with Lasley from the other week;

That's McGarry filed a piece for The Herald that covers the same stuff. Curious to know who the "six younger players who are at the lower end of our budget" we've offered deals to are. Semple, Cornelius, Devine and MacIver are all contracted. Fwiw, it's probably a good thing we're reining in on the "gambles" tbh. Kipré and Ally Gorrin are obvious examples where it's worked out for us but Plummer, Petravicius, Mbulu, Ilic and Manzinga are all folk we've had in on trial and taken a punt on but ended up nowhere near the first team. I know we're not out there paying "life-changing" money but focusing on what we've got in the building for a bit probably isn't the worst idea generally speaking.

Here you go... Pre-contracts we've been linked with: Rickie Lamie (Livingston) and Jordan White (ICT) Loan made permanent: Mark O'Hara Out of contract/loans expiring: Gillespie's been linked with Newcastle though whether their new oppressive regime ownership changes that who knows. Going by the interview with him in the Record there's been Championship clubs interested too.

He's in a weird position I suppose, he's always been "one for the future" but he'd be going from first choice who's playing week in, week out with Linfield (who last I checked were top of the league) to sitting on the bench behind Carson. He's been first pick at Airdrie and now Linfield. You'd think at his age he might fancy getting regular games as he's proven he's capable, if not at Premiership level. We're also sitting with 3 x first team 'keepers and 3 x Reserves (though 4 of those 6 are out of contract - Ferguson, Gillespie, Morrison and Hemfrey).