Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[Hendricks]

1 minute ago, RandomGuy. said:

We've got people complaining on our forum about "letting Dan Phillips leave", while 3 consecutive managers over 2 years have spoken about him making (relatively) huge offers to extend his deal and every time being told he never had any intention of staying beyond his initial deal as it was just a stepping stone.

 

Hearing he is Hearts bound too. 

[Jastons6]

5 minutes ago, Desp said:

Do you know they didn't? 

Here's a mental thought... maybe they did and the player said no? I suppose after we lost the right to hold a gun to a player's head (thanks for that, Declan) our bargaining position was poor. 

Maybe they did , obviously it wasn't a good enough offer .

[redstarcvedza]

10 minutes ago, Vietnam91 said:

The issue here is how the same team of officials interpret handball incidents an hour apart.

Handball rules need changed :

Every handball in the box should be a foul :

Handball by the attacking team is an indirect free kick to defending team

Obvious deliberate handball by defending team is a penalty

Stopping a certain goal by handball from defending team is a penalty whether it's deliberate or not

All other handball in box by defending team is an indirect free kick inside the box

 

 

[Handsome_Devil]

20 minutes ago, Swello said:

Said when the St Mirren rumours were doing the rounds - if we get 2 good years out of someone and then they move on freedom of contract - I'm absolutely fine with it.

Yeah, there's certainly room for that within the context of 'the model'. There's only so many experienced SPL we can sign and if we get a good chunk out of them before they move on for more money then everyone's a winner.

Would I have liked to keep him, sure, bit it's hard to grudge him it or think there's much else that could have been done.

[crazylegsjoe_mfc]

Football has become so numbers and data focused that the chances of us keeping an out of contract attacking midfielder with 11 goals and 9 assists are pretty much nil. 

Hearts is a perfect move for both parties. He gets a decent hike in wages without having to move a young family. Hearts get a low risk singing or a proven player in the division who won't cost the earth, when they don't have many players otter than Shankland scoring or assisting frequently.

He was good enough last season, that he didn't need to commit to a new deal in the summer. When we sign players of his age on two year deals, a player generally isn't good enough to be offered an extension half way through, or too good to need to sign the deal he's offered.

[Gianfranco]

Yan Dhanda and Spittal in the same midfield won’t work imo.  Nice problem for the tarts to have I suppose.

[Vietnam91]

Just awaiting Yengi being announced so they can compete in Europe midweek and use the cream of the SPFL 2023/24 to keep them in contention at the weekend.

[capt_oats]

1 minute ago, crazylegsjoe_mfc said:

Football has become so numbers and data focused that the chances of us keeping an out of contract attacking midfielder with 11 goals and 9 assists are pretty much nil. 

Hearts is a perfect move for both parties. He gets a decent hike in wages without having to move a young family. Hearts get a low risk singing or a proven player in the division who won't cost the earth, when they don't have many players otter than Shankland scoring or assisting frequently.

He was good enough last season, that he didn't need to commit to a new deal in the summer. When we sign players of his age on two year deals, a player generally isn't good enough to be offered an extension half way through, or too good to need to sign the deal he's offered.

On that point he has 17 goals and 16 assists in 78 games for us.

33 goal involvements in 78 games is some return for someone who had a entirely 'meh' reaction whenever Alexander signed him.

Absolutely fair fucks to him like.

[Ron Aldo]

Hearts is an ideal move from Spittal's point of view and is exactly the type of move I'd imagine most of us thought he'd make. 

Bigger club, bigger wages and doesn't need to move far. 

Mind St Mirren thought they'd be signing him . 

[crazylegsjoe_mfc]

1 minute ago, capt_oats said:

On that point he has 17 goals and 16 assists in 78 games for us.

33 goal involvements in 78 games is some return for someone who had a entirely 'meh' reaction whenever Alexander signed him.

Absolutely fair fucks to him like.

I'd be delighted if we managed to sign an attacking midfielder this summer on a two-year deal, if they could produce those numbers and then leave for free at the end of it. He's definitely done his bit for it.

[Tony Wonder]

6 minutes ago, Gianfranco said:

Yan Dhanda and Spittal in the same midfield won’t work imo.  Nice problem for the tarts to have I suppose.

I doubt we'll be playing both at the same time. We need to improve the squad to deal with Europe if we make the group stages.

[ropy]

Fair play to Spittal, just disappointing that these things get disclosed before the season end.

[Jim McLean's Ghost]

I don't think there is too much wrong with Spittal to Hearts.

He has been up and down in his career and is probably in the form of his life so time to get the big contract.

 

[Navallion]

Always liked him ever since he came about at Dundee United a while back, always seemed to score against us whatever club he was at after that. 

A good signing and for free makes it a great one.

 

 

[dezz]

Fair play to Spittal, he’s more than done his bit for us so no ill will at all.
He’s definitely done his time after jobbing about at Partick, County etc and this will be his last (and first?) chance to get a decent chunk of money. Young family you don’t have to uproot and double your money - a no brainer for him.

[Vietnam91]

25 minutes ago, Ron Aldo said:

Hearts is an ideal move from Spittal's point of view and is exactly the type of move I'd imagine most of us thought he'd make. 

Bigger club, bigger wages and doesn't need to move far. 

Mind St Mirren thought they'd be signing him . 

I think they telt us they were signing him.

Looking forward to reading all the court case for him breaching his contract.....

[Dosser1886]

Good luck to him, must have thought his career was done when Alexander was shoehorning him out of position and he looked a bit shit. Fair play to SK for getting the best out of him. Worked for us and him.

A fee would have been nice, but hopefully get a few more good performances out of him before the end of the season.

[SEETHING]

Can I just commend the significant number of you who clearly recognise Motherwell's place as being CONSIDERABLY below Hearts in football/life's pecking order. 

[capt_oats]

17 minutes ago, Dosser1886 said:

Good luck to him, must have thought his career was done when Alexander was shoehorning him out of position and he looked a bit shit. Fair play to SK for getting the best out of him. Worked for us and him.

A fee would have been nice, but hopefully get a few more good performances out of him before the end of the season.

Aye those two games he played for Alexander...

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/blair-spittal/leistungsdatentrainer/spieler/251587

Edited March 21 by capt_oats

[CoF]

Back to Ainsworth- here’s a goal from his relentless tour of English non league clubs. It’s a lovely goal and I dunno why, the strike is just very Ainsworthy.