Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[Swello]

7 minutes ago, steelmen said:

You might be right but £500k for a player with 2 years on his contract and bang in form seems very low.

 

The problem is that we all tend to think what players are worth compared to other players on ability - the best example being some of the relative dross that change hands between english clubs for 2 or 3 million quid vs the peanuts that clubs here get for ostensibly similar or better players. In reality, if you want a big fee for players, they really need to be on a lot more money in their current contract than any Scottish town club can manage. Unless you get some real competition for a player, then it's really unlikely that an english club would fork out seven figures regardless of how "good" a player is. 

In the case of Marvin Johnson, we at least have the insurance policy of a decent length of contract that will stop a team just waiting until january/end of the seasaon or offering a five figure joke as they have us over a barrel as we saw countless times under Leeann Dempster's time.

Finally - it comes down to what the club need out of this. If they merely need to make a profit on Johnson or cover the transfer fee, there is no need to sell him at all as we could still make enough in January or next august to make the deal worthwhile - but- if we need money now to keep the club afloat while paying off Hutchinson in line with his new demands, we may need to cash at this point if a serious offer comes in.

[Del_Superwell]

El Bakhtaoui signs 3 year deal at Dundee, que the pant wetting by some of the Motherwell support on that one.

[Gianfranco]

I get what you posters are saying about 500k so I'm going to agree to disagree.

I still think we should be aiming high for around the million pound mark or as close to that as we can get mainly because of the money getting flung about down south and the fact he's still young and can improve further.

Who was the last player we actually got decent money for? Off the top of my head it was around 850k for Clarkson. I'd rate Johnson around the same level maybe slightly higher than Clarky at that time and the English market is spending more these days than then.

[Del_Superwell]

Well done to Stephen Craigan and the under 20s beating Edinburgh city first team 2v1 in the IRN Bru cup tonight!

[Gianfranco]

I went along and was pretty impressed with how well they were keeping the ball especially in the first half.

Mackin's goal will be worth looking out for on the highlights and McLean's run and pass was great for the second goal. Jason cummings brothers goal was decent as well.

[capt_oats]

Agree on the possession based game. Thought they moved the ball well and showed a fair bit of composure. A couple of really good goals too.

I'd have been interested to hear the possession stats for the first half. Thought Campbell and Turnbull were standouts (despite the latter fading in the 2nd half), Luke Watt showed up well at centre half again, a big part of us being able to recycle the ball and play that sort of game.

[thisGRAEME]

10 hours ago, capt_oats said:

Luke Watt showed up well at centre half again, a big part of us being able to recycle the ball and play that sort of game.

Do we reckon he's going to be involved this year? His showing at Parkhead was hilariously bad, but seems to stroll it in the 20s.

[capt_oats]

Do we reckon he's going to be involved this year? His showing at Parkhead was hilariously bad, but seems to stroll it in the 20s.

I'd be surprised if he was involved. As you say the Celtic game was a shambles, he was all over the place. Having said that he played most of the 2nd half of last year's 20s season (cup final excepted) at centre back so you'd think that long term that's where we're looking to play him.

He absolutely strolled that game last night and was a massive part of how the Motherwell team were playing, building through the back and playing across the back 4. Looked totally assured.

Obvious next step IMO would be a season's development loan as we're reasonably well serviced for centre halves and Laing seems back in the picture given he's popped up on the bench the last few games.

I'd think there's probably an argument for guys like Campbell and Turnbull going out on loan as well. Both looked more than capable last night, Campbell in particular was smothering everything in the midfield and picked up all the second balls in the 1st half. I doubt they'll actually gain much playing in the 20s league this season but other than 10mins off the bench I doubt they'll see many first team starts.

[thisGRAEME]

10 minutes ago, capt_oats said:

I'd be surprised if he was involved. As you say the Celtic game was a shambles, he was all over the place. Having said that he played most of the 2nd half of last year's 20s season (cup final excepted) at centre back so you'd think that long term that's where we're looking to play him.

He absolutely strolled that game last night and was a massive part of how the Motherwell team were playing, building through the back and playing across the back 4. Looked totally assured.

Obvious next step IMO would be a season's development loan as we're reasonably well serviced for centre halves and Laing seems back in the picture given he's popped up on the bench the last few games.

I'd think there's probably an argument for guys like Campbell and Turnbull going out on loan as well. Both looked totally capable last night, Campbell in particular was smothering everything in the midfield and picked up all the second balls in the 1st half. I doubt they'll actually gain much playing in the 20s league this season but other than 10mins off the bench I doubt they'll see many first team starts.

It's the big problem with the 20s, really, in that the step between it and first team football appears to be massive. Like you say, I'd be very unsurprised to see Campbell, Turnbull and Watt heading off to Ayr/Albion/Airdrie(w**k w**k w**k) until Christmas. All seems very sensible, if only to make sure that we get others game time in the 20s, really.

[capt_oats]

It's the big problem with the 20s, really, in that the step between it and first team football appears to be massive. Like you say, I'd be very unsurprised to see Campbell, Turnbull and Watt heading off to Ayr/Albion/Airdrie(w**k w**k w**k) until Christmas. All seems very sensible, if only to make sure that we get others game time in the 20s, really.

Craigan seemed to be saying in his wee pre-game interview that there were a few they were looking to get out on loan. I agree, it's a sensible approach.

Another thing that I noticed was that we seem to have been actively recruiting for the 20s squad, the boy who scored the 2nd last night was brought in from Bristol City and there's a left back arrived from Sheffield Weds.

I know we've brought in the likes of Hutchison and Hall from other clubs in the past there are loads of them but the fact that we seem to have been picking up players from English academies for our 20s was mildly surprising.

[Del_Superwell]

Yeah last night showed the future appears to be bright at Fir park which is promising.

On a slightly unrelated note I see Aston Villa have had a bid of £12 million for our former striker Ross McCormack.

[thisGRAEME]

17 minutes ago, Del_Superwell said:

Yeah last night showed the future appears to be bright at Fir park which is promising.

On a slightly unrelated note I see Aston Villa have had a bid of £12 million for our former striker Ross McCormack.

Just in case we needed any reminding that getting a sell-on with Marvin is vital...

[capt_oats]

So there you go, it'd seem that's the club made the sort of figure they're thinking about for Johnson public. http://m.eveningtimes.co.uk/sport/14660490.Motherwell_knock_back_bid_for___1million_rated_Marvin_Johnson/?ref=twtrec

Given it's being reported by Scott Mullen you'd imagine it's accurate. I still have my doubts that we'd actually get £1m cold hard cash but equally for the market you'd think we'd be wanting to sell to (top half English Championship) it's not totally prohibitive, so the club are hardly pricing him out the market. In that respect it's a fair position to take.

If nothing else you'd hope it'd at least stop teams like Oxford disrupting things with low-ball offers. Interesting to see the Evening Times still reporting it was a formal offer MFC knocked back which is slightly different to how it's being reported in Oxford. Definitely explains why from the Oxford side of things they were saying it was "unlikely" they'd be following it up though.

Very much enjoying this "if you have to ask, you can't afford" stance from MFC.

[thisGRAEME]

It's a fair step away from, for example, when we were trying to punt Murphy or Reynolds, and closer to what Dundee United did before they were shit.

Plus he was my first pick in fantasy football, so I reckon I'm safe til Christmas at least.

[capt_oats]

McGhee sticking the boot into Oxford at his press conference it seems. Bid must have been pretty low if he's comfortable saying that. Tie this to Scott Mullen's story re: £1m valuation along with the general sort of fees paid in League 1 then it's pretty much Motherwell telling them to sit down.

 

[Al B]

Jesus....what a refreshing change!!

[well fan for life]

Good to see us showing some baws though. At least it's a change from the days under Dempster where we never renewed contracts and let everyone piss off out the door for nothing.

[Swello]

6 minutes ago, Al B said:

Jesus....what a refreshing change!!

Exactly - it does no harm at all to do what other clubs do and try to get the perception that we have a £1m player (even if we don't) - as a "£1m player" on form generates more interest than a 90k player. It will be nice to read "£1m rated winger Marvin Johnson scored a fine opening day hatrick at Rugby Park" on Sunday

[capt_oats]

Ooooft! That's a belter of a press conference from McGhee. Unusually for him hits the right tone. Basically says that Johnson's better than League 1 level in England, bid was well below MFC's valuation and he doesn't see it being an issue for Marv. Points out that if the right club comes in and it's a deal that suits all parties then the club can't reasonably stand in the player's way but it has to be a good deal for Motherwell.

As others have said it's been incredibly refreshing to see the club adopt this sort of stance.

[s_dog]

It makes a huge difference when the player in question a) has 2 or 3 years on his contract, and b) has publicly said he's happy to stay where he is. That doesn't happy very often, especially not to clubs in Scotland, and Motherwell would be crazy not to show short thrift to any club that hasn't offered them silly money for Johnson.

It does make a refreshing change to see a player doing this (though does this mean he's on a decent wage at Fir Park?), and means just for a change one of our clubs can stop a lower league English club grabbing a player cheaply.