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Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons


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That looks pretty good when you see it written down like that - a bit of everything there...
 


My thoughts exactly.

For our budget that group would, on the face of it, offer a really good mix of the strength, physicality and work rate that has served us well this season with Main and Bowman, the guile and trickery of Ciftci and Tanner, and some much needed pace from O’Halloran.

It’d also allow us to mix it up depending on the opposition which we weren’t really in a position to do at any point this season, aside from maybe the first few games after the winter break before Tanner and Nadir’s injuries.
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I couldn't see us being able to afford both Ciftci & O'Halloran. 

While we've made a good profit this season, you need to remember a lot of that goes towards servicing the previous debt.  What we have made, I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with us spunking it on TWO huge gambles. 

One or the other, please.  If I was choosing, it would be Ciftci over O'Halloran. 

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2 hours ago, Desp said:

I couldn't see us being able to afford both Ciftci & O'Halloran. 

While we've made a good profit this season, you need to remember a lot of that goes towards servicing the previous debt.  What we have made, I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with us spunking it on TWO huge gambles. 

One or the other, please.  If I was choosing, it would be Ciftci over O'Halloran. 

That was my immediate thought too.

By all accounts (from both Robinson at a press conference & actual ITK types) we've got a very good deal on Ciftci's loan which meant it was a low risk, low cost option. Clearly if we're taking a punt on him permanently that becomes more of an investment.

O'Halloran's contract runs through to 2020 so while he's clearly living his best life at the moment pitching up at chapel and kicking about at the Celtic end of cup finals he's still surely going to be due a fair wedge of cash in any pay off.

With the imminent Stevie G Ibrox Revolution it's a question of whether they're daft enough to pay him a massive settlement. If they're wanting to clear the decks then given the state of their fans on the whole MOH thing you'd think the club would be desperate to get shot of him.

Far be it from me to trust an agent trying to dig his client out a hole, but yer man was quoted thus in the Record:

Quote

“He’s still got two years left on his contract and Motherwell were probably the closest to signing him earlier in the season but Rangers wanted him back in January.”

We signed Ciftci on loan on the 9th January. So given that used up our loan option from another club in the same league which means that IF TRUE it would presumably have meant we were looking at getting him permanently. How true that would be ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

FWIW the chat around our interest in MOH on Steelmen was around January 29th so long after Ciftci had arrived so it wouldn't have been an either/or situation. Also, that was just prior to the deadline day deal for McCartan (because it was clearly him) falling through, so we were definitely in for another striker at that point.

Edited by capt_oats
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O'Hallorans been rumoured to be negotiating his release for the past week or so. 

His wages at Rangers were rumoured to be anywhere from £5k-£10k a week. 

You'd assume we'd front any queue for him. 

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1 hour ago, Acaplegic said:

The way you lot go on, you'd think you were Champions League Final material.

Delusions of grandeur.

Got a feeling you won't be near Hampden again for a long time.

Queens Park excepted.

 

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17 hours ago, RandomGuy. said:

O'Hallorans been rumoured to be negotiating his release for the past week or so. 

His wages at Rangers were rumoured to be anywhere from £5k-£10k a week. 

You'd assume we'd front any queue for him. 

That is as maybe - but if he joins us he is guaranteed cup finals :-) Just kidding..

He clearly has an affinity with the Perth saints but maybe he wants to try something different. 

Truth is he still has 2 years left on his contract and unless he gets a decent pay off will be going nowhere - maybe out on loan yet again.

I would imagine there will also be other clubs down south - even in the top flight up here that could offer him better wages - Hearts & Aberdeen for example.

Would like him at Motherwell but reckon it is probably a long shot all things mentioned above..

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Ciftci is a risk but one I'd be willing to take.  Our other options are realistically going to be guys that are out of favour at Rochdale Athletic or Northampton, who'll come up, do a Bow-main-esque job and score 9 goals in all competitions.

An on form Ciftci represents a chance to get a quality player way above what we could usually attract for much less than he's potentially worth. Obviously it could massively backfire but that's part of the fun of the Nadir hype train.

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1 hour ago, YassinMoutaouakil said:

Ciftci is a risk but one I'd be willing to take.  Our other options are realistically going to be guys that are out of favour at Rochdale Athletic or Northampton, who'll come up, do a Bow-main-esque job and score 9 goals in all competitions.

An on form Ciftci represents a chance to get a quality player way above what we could usually attract for much less than he's potentially worth. Obviously it could massively backfire but that's part of the fun of the Nadir hype train.

I'd say there's an an argument that Ciftci's less of a risk than the League 1 market we'd be looking at based purely on the fact he's already been here for 6 months. Assuming there's no unforeseen backroom upheaval in the offing then he knows the club, the staff and the majority of the players. There shouldn't be any real period of adjustment other than the fitness question.

I'll admit that I always felt that this loan was really more of an extended trial to let both him and the club size each other up and see if it was a good fit. He's clearly got no future at Celtic and we had been in for him 3 windows running and had managers going back to McCall talking about wanting him at the club. The fact that we was going to be with us just as he was going into his final year with Celtic seemed like it was something we'd be leaving open for something more long term.

1 hour ago, Swello said:

If he came back clean-shaven and held his gut in for the team photo - it would fool most of us into thinking he was fitter and we could all just get on and enjoy it :)

His fade was on point at the cup final tbf.

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Edited by capt_oats
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8 minutes ago, Acaplegic said:

Why don't you just go the whole hog and go for Paul Pogba or Mesut Ozil?

Worldbeaters like yourselves should be aiming higher.

Or would these 2 examples be good enough for your squad?

They would get a trial pre-season, same as Cedric

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