Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[thisGRAEME]

Just stick him on a plinth outside the front door.

[capt_oats]

The only real surprise for me is that we're speaking to Griffiths about a deal. I'd have thought that he'd just have headed back to Everton at the end of his loan and that would have been that. Pleased that we're at least having a conversation with Lionel and Lasley tbh, just binning both of them wouldn't have sat that well IMO.

You'd think Pearson would be off back to India (he'll be 35 next season as well), McDonald probably away to Australia and will be 34 next season. Mackin, Ferguson and Moore are at the stage of their careers where they need to be playing regular first team games and it's not something that we're going to be able to offer. I'd imagine it'll free Moore up to join Ayr on a permanent deal with them having gone full time and Mackin could certainly do a job for a Championship side.

There's absolutely none of those that I can genuinely think of an argument about.

Other than that; Samson, Chalmers, Lucas, Jules.... let's not do that again.

Edited May 22, 2017 by capt_oats

[thisGRAEME]

I'd be happy enough for Griffiths to stay for petrol money. He's looked faintly okay in his brief appearances.

The rest of them:

[mjw]

Griffith was in front of the press last week talking about his deal being up and how he was open minded about a move.

[BigTamMuller]

Nothing really surprising there from that list. Mackin and Ferguson not being offered new deals were perhaps the ones that jumped out as I thought they'd help with squad depth while seeing if we could develop them, but both are at an age where they'd be better playing every week at Championship/League 1 level.

Interesting that Andy Devlin has said we're trying to punt off Bowman and Blyth, would imagine we'll just try and cut our losses with them and hope some other clubs back down in England take them off us for nothing so we can reduce the wage bill.

[steelmen]

Sign him up for that save against Hamilton!

Can't argue with any of the decisions. Would love to see Lionel stick around and be the player he can be

[Gianfranco]

I don't even know if I rate Griffiths. I'm not sure how confident I'd be with him as number 1.

[mjw]

I don't even know if I rate Griffiths. I'm not sure how confident I'd be with him as number 1.

We can't even say that they've seen something from him in training as you'd like to think he'd have be in sooner if they had.

[Gianfranco]

We can't even say that they've seen something from him in training as you'd like to think he'd have be in sooner if they had.

I'm half hoping he decides his future lies in England

[capt_oats]

The way I see it with Griffiths (at least I hope this is the case) is that he's 21 with the potential to improve. He's got more chance of getting games at Fir Park than Goodison (if Everton even offer him a new deal). From our point of view he's come in for the last few games and shown that he can at the very least do a job. Chances are that we feel he's a better option in terms of giving competition to whoever the other goalkeeper we bring in is.

Given this time last year we were offering a deal to a known liability like Samson and also chasing another 'keeper who had literally only played 20 mins of football in 18 months then whilst I'm wary if we're looking at him as a #1 if we're having a conversation about keeping him around then I'd say he'd offer more legitimate competition for whoever else we bring in than Brill was or for that matter Samson.

Edited May 22, 2017 by capt_oats

[YassinMoutaouakil]

I'm quite looking forward to this summer tbh. Remember that window where we signed Fraser Kerr and Simon Ramsden? That was shite.

More of this please.

[Casagolda]

1 hour ago, BigTamMuller said:

Nothing really surprising there from that list. Mackin and Ferguson not being offered new deals were perhaps the ones that jumped out as I thought they'd help with squad depth while seeing if we could develop them, but both are at an age where they'd be better playing every week at Championship/League 1 level.

To be fair Robinson gave Ferguson a few starts and he was partially responsible for both goals we lost to St Johnstone in the first and was hooked after half an hour of the 2nd. I know people will say he was out of position but the fact Cadden went into right back the 2nd half last week and never gave the boy a sniff after he'd given Ferguson an absolute roasting in the first showed the difference between a youngster who belongs at this level and one who sadly doesn't. Same goes for Mackin, maybe hasn't had much of chance but from what I've heard despite his impressive exploits for the U20's the lad's miles away from being good enough for this level. Another one I actually forgot about was Craig Moore, liked him a lot early doors but he's had a horrendous time with injuries and giving him a new deal last summer only to subsequently loan him out for the duration of it summed up our lazy, half arsed shambolic transfer policy of last season. Up there with having Samson as number one just cause he was kicking about, signing Belic without having seen him play and giving Lee Lucas three contracts in one fucking season. 

Looking at that list outside McDonald you're not really sorry to see any of them go are you? A really poor collection of players who weren't up to playing at this level and we're well rid of. I'll be honest I initially thought Robinson was a bit deluded with some of his patter in recent weeks after poor defeats where he kept defending the players but he's proper went full on Terry Butcher/John Hughes since we've secured safety, which is obviously the right way to go about it. The squad clearly needs gutted and he's been fairly blunt and truthful about what needs to be done in recent days. Interesting to see who he's got lined up as it appears we might have one or two coming in even as early as this week, whilst it won't be the be all or end all it'll perhaps give us an indication of what to expect this summer.

Surprised Lionel is getting offered a new deal, unless he's willing to take a significant wage cut I can't see him staying but I suppose it's worth asking the question. Haven't seen Griffiths do much wrong during his four games but was hoping we could source a more experienced proven keeper this summer, I suppose we still might cause we'll need at least two. Would be happy to see Lasley stay as coach as him and Craigan are doing a grand job with the U20's.

IF he is indeed trying to punt Bowman and Blyth and if as we all assume Moult will be away that leaves us with ;

Richard Tait - 2019
Ben Heneghan - 2018
Luke Watt - 2018
Stephen McManus - 2018
Stephen Hammell - 2018
Jack McMillan - 2019
Carl McHugh - 2018
Elliot Frear - 2019
Chris Cadden - 2019
Allan Campbell - 2019
David Turnbull - 2019
Dom Thomas - 2018
Ross Maclean - 2019
Craig Clay - 2018
Jake Hastie - 2019

A very young looking squad with no keepers and no strikers, going to yet another busy summer one would imagine.

Edited May 22, 2017 by Casagolda

[thisGRAEME]

I guess it's down to Lionel. He isn't our first choice, and as much entertainment as he can be, he's at best, hit or miss.

Spoke at length about how he loves the area, settled down, and for someone who had a dozen clubs in under a decade, maybe he'll be happy to stick at a lower wage for the security. 

If his new deal is less basic, and heavily incentivised, you'd imagine that'd work for everyone.

[capt_oats]

I'm probably deluding myself here but I'd have thought we'd be having a proper conversation with Moult about extending now. I know Alan Burrows said after the last window that we were in dialogue with him and his agent but I honestly can't see how we'd have been in any sort of position to make guarantees at that point or any point since. With us having stayed up and the extent to which the squad is getting gutted and McDonald (who you'd imagine would have been our highest earner leaving) then you'd have thought we'd have a fair bit of budget to play with now and be able to make a decent commitment to him.

Burrows was on the MFC Podcast ages ago and indicated that with the cup games against Rangers and Celtic along with the Johnson deal this has been the most lucrative season since the Cup Final in 2011. Add on the increased TV money and the kickback from Celtic's European adventures and who knows? I know it's our model to bring players in and sell on for profit and I'm 100% on board with that but he's only just turned 25 another deal and a prolific season wouldn't do his chances of a genuinely decent move any harm.

Edited May 22, 2017 by capt_oats

[Mr. Brightside]

Were we not trying to bring in Mannus? Have I made that up?

[capt_oats]

5 minutes ago, Mr. Brightside said:

Were we not trying to bring in Mannus? Have I made that up?

We were linked with him but he's signed a new deal with St Johnstone. They announced it this morning.

[thisGRAEME]

47 minutes ago, capt_oats said:

Burrows was on the MFC Podcast ages ago and indicated that with the cup games against Rangers and Celtic along with the Johnson deal this has been the most lucrative season since the Cup Final in 2011. Add on the increased TV money and the kickback from Celtic's European adventures and who knows? I know it's our model to bring players in and sell on for profit and I'm 100% on board with that but he's only just turned 25 another deal and a prolific season wouldn't do his chances of a genuinely decent move any harm.

Sell him.

Like, don't get me wrong, he's absolutely magic and I love the guy to bits and I'd give him a ten year contract with us if he'd want it. Right now though, we need the money. We need Boyle and Hutchison and their ridiculous spending sprees on fucking John Spencer and Theo Robinson to be repaid so that in the future, if we have another 'most lucrative season', we aren't stuck without a pot to piss in when it goes bad, so that every penny spent is our own, and that every penny saved is stuck in the rainy day fund.

He's done us a massive service for two years and 36 goals over two years is a better return than almost anyone could've expected, he got us safe last year with three or four goals when it mattered and even more so this year (seriously, we'd have been absolutely buried without him) but bringing in half a million quid to repay our own stupidity is as big a turn as both of those.

His value is as high now as it'll likely be, and you're trading against him staying fit and avoiding injury, or just having a bad year next year. We can't afford the risk, IMO.

Edited May 22, 2017 by thisGRAEME

[BigTamMuller]

Doubt I've been the first to say it but I'd take Luke Leahy from Falkirk. They've just announced that he, along with Bob Mchugh incidentally, won't be staying at Falkirk next season and Leahy has certainly stood out at left back for Falkirk any time I've watched. Doubt we'd be the only ones interested though and he may well end up down south.

[Jim McLean's Ghost]

We should be cashing in on Moult, isn't that the whole model?

He came up here to prove himself at a higher level and he has done that 2 seasons in a row and should be looking to make another step up. We get a nice transfer fee in return.

[Ya Bezzer!]

6 hours ago, capt_oats said:

The following players will leave the club when their contract expires at the end of the month:

• Craig Samson
• Joe Chalmers
• Lee Lucas
• Zak Jules (loan end)
• Craig Moore
• David Ferguson
• Stephen Pearson
• Scott McDonald *

Now if we can flog Ben to Rangers and put a 250 mile from Fir Park exclusion order on Blyth and Clay we have made a positive start to the close season.

Scott McDonald excluded obviously*