Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[crazylegsjoe_mfc]

2 hours ago, redstarcvedza said:

What's wrong with the Chasni pie ? Hopefully Ms.Banks will partake...

If I'm honest, I'm not the biggest fan of the chasni pie. The filling is too tomato soup-like for me.

[Doctor Manhattan]

5 hours ago, Handsome_Devil said:

Erik does remind me of the monorail salesman tbf.

Monorails are so last year, it's all crypto now: 

Billionaire twins invest in ninth-tier football club

The freakiest thing there (and there are many freaky things) is that the club is called Real Bedford.

[Wellin]

8 hours ago, StAndrew7 said:

Aye, I finally signed up here following the AGM after I'd posted my notes from it on SO following a very long hiatus on there, as I felt it'd help with discussion. I attempted to engage in some debate there following that and also this morning based on the GM article and, frankly, I'm done. Just going round in circles and convenient ignoring of salient points people are making.

Several people on there are "absolutely for investment no matter the cost" and that absolutely fucking baffles me, tbh. Like, there's so much nuance around what's going on, it's definitely not a black and white decision to me (just now, anyway) and yet the tribalism/money at any cost seems to be the idea for some, as well as it being an absolute no-no (or non-non-non @CoF) for some before any details have been released.

I understand the excitement/want for it and the skepticism that people have, but I can't shut down at least considering a potential investment "just because"; if it goes over the red line of 51/49 in favour of fan ownership at any point, that's when it can get in the sea for me. Otherwise? Let's have a look and see.

I post on here and there.. And for what it's worth I think you talk a lot of sense on here and there too. But surely it's no biggie what people post on there. We are all Motherwell fans at the end of the day.

As much as some people on SO drive me mad and vice versa we can surely say what we want to say without it being a huge deal. It's words on a screen 

And so what if people want investment at all costs. I've seen Motherwell fans say no to investment on any level. Im a well society member but if I want investment in my club. So what. Who is it hurting 

Im also quite happy to say who I am on SO. I've had an account on there for 15 years and I don't post much....for lots of reasons 

Edited April 12 by Wellin

[Jastons6]

3 hours ago, redstarcvedza said:

What's wrong with the Chasni pie ? Hopefully Ms.Banks will partake...

Chicken Curry  >>>> Chasni & Kebab Pie

[Antiochas III]

12 hours ago, StAndrew7 said:

Aye, winger/forward type. Be interesting to see how Kettlewell fits him into his system next season.

We have Blair Spittal's replacement.  

[Handsome_Devil]

7 hours ago, Wellin said:

And so what if people want investment at all costs. I've seen Motherwell fans say no to investment on any level. Im a well society member but if I want investment in my club. So what. Who is it hurting 

It may well hurt the club, possibly quite badly, and while highly unlikely to kill us off, if it really goes wrong it could change us for the worse for decades.

People are entitled to their opinion that we should take investment "at all costs" but others are equally entitled to point out this is fucking stupid.

[Eliphas Pettigrew]

Be interesting to see what happens with Bair. On the face of it he's at a club where for the first time in his career he has both played and scored regularly, he is now seen as a main player in the team and has developed his all round game to make the most of his strengths and impose himself on defenders and effectively lead the line. Which early season we were seeing the effort but he didnt always seem to be comfortable with his back to goal or taking up the right positions . As with most players there is room for improvement, but hes shown he's prepared to learn and put the hard work in and the backroom staff are matching that. From the outside looking in he appears to have built some good relationships which must have helped - especially when he spoke about feeling slightly isolated in previous interviews.

However you always suspect with agents that they are always looking to seek a transfer when their client's stock is high, ideally he'd sign a contract extension and stay in an environment thats familiar and comfortable and one hes thriving in, continue to develop and work on that consistency - but I'm pessimistic thats the advice he'll receive

It would also be good once the pressure is off regards survival we could give more game time to Nicholson, Elliott, Wells (if he's ready) & Moses in preparation for next season. If Nicholson & Elliott show enough it would be good to get them signed up early, as theyve been around the squad for sometime and will fill positions we'll be short in. They'll benefit from a full pre-season and be ready for next season. Its always a bit daunting when we have to continually re-build each summer, which can be a small window if initially we want to be competitive and progress in the league cup

I'd be happy to see Gent & Vale comeback next season if we could do another loan deal 

Edited April 13 by Eliphas Pettigrew

[RandomGuy.]

I think you'll get offers for Bair that are very good, as his size means clubs will always want him and a goal threat of that size will be a huge target.

And I'd be surprised if you don't take the money tbh, not a slight against Bair which it might sound like, I just think that's your model and part of the selling yourself process.

[Eliphas Pettigrew]

9 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

I think you'll get offers for Bair that are very good, as his size means clubs will always want him and a goal threat of that size will be a huge target.

And I'd be surprised if you don't take the money tbh, not a slight against Bair which it might sound like, I just think that's your model and part of the selling yourself process.

Agreed, think it'll be a tough decision for the club as it's always the hardest position to fill and a regular goalscorer can make all the difference in league position...... we've already seen with van Veen and to an extent Biereth that as soon as someone finds some form, a bigger fish will come along with a more tempting deal and we've also seen in the past and this summer that other strikers in our price range aren't the right fit for one reason or another 

[dezz]

I hope we’ve got an improved contract in front of big Theo already. By all accounts he’s on absolute buttons at the minute so maybe a decent bump in wages in exchange for an additional year and the usual ‘won’t stand in your way’ agreement in Jan or next summer might be enough. 

This is the first time in his career he’s had a consistent run of games and by his own admission he’s pretty inexperienced in terms of actual minutes on the pitch despite being 24. Hopefully he sees another season of playing every week being more beneficial in the long run and hangs around for another 6-12 months before making us a wedge and ragdolling Messi and co at the 2025 Gold Cup. 

[Handsome_Devil]

I agree we'll sell Bair if a proper offer comes in but I'm not as convinced as some it will, at least not to the extent it makes us consider it. We have a dirt cheap striker we're now pretty confident will hit double figures next season...to make that worth the risk of trying to replace him you're talking 500k. As much as lots of shite in England can outspend us on wages, they don't often splash that sort of fee.

And as great as he's been since Xmas, it's still a short window out of his career and for all his talents, he still has an awful lot in the 'needs work' column.

I've no doubt we'll offer him an extension and I actually wouldn't be surprised if he takes it...but we'll see.

Obviously that's assuming he sits quietly on the bench in summer, if he scores three goals as Canada reach the Copa quarters I'll reconsider!

Edited April 13 by Handsome_Devil

[Swello]

One of the shite things about being where we are in the food chain now is that when you hit a situation where a player is settled and #lovinglife, playing as well as he has in his career, supporters favourite, etc - it is an utter inevitability that he'll be leaving soon. 

Theo's agent has probably gone from "I hope I can find him a full time club" to "I'm going to make some money here - yaaas!" in the space of a year and will obviously be seeing what offers might be out there as we speak.

 

[fat_tony]

20 hours ago, capt_oats said:

That's absolutely fucking exhausting.

That's where I got to with it a few years ago too. SO became far too "social media da" and was just draining any joy I once got out of it. 

It's a far cry from the (generally) well-reasoned discussion to be found in this thread.

[Eliphas Pettigrew]

12 minutes ago, fat_tony said:

That's where I got to with it a few years ago too. SO became far too "social media da" and was just draining any joy I once got out of it. 

It's a far cry from the (generally) well-reasoned discussion to be found in this thread.

Night and day in comparison, there are more posters here who are able to look at things objectively rather than kick the club at every possible opportunity they get, which just drains the life out of you 

[YassinMoutaouakil]

I can see Bair in somewhere like Belgium or Holland. Partly just as North American players seem more likely to go to the continent than British ones but I'm also not convinced he'd do all that well in the Championship. Seems likely he'd end up with another nasty Steven MacLean type who just wants to shout and shells balls at his head.

[ropy]

He will sign a two year contract and leave after a year if he maintains his form, win win for everyone.

[RandomGuy.]

11 minutes ago, YassinMoutaouakil said:

Seems likely he'd end up with another nasty Steven MacLean type who just wants to shout and shells balls at his head.

You'd hope hes strong enough against his agent to make sure he avoids that. For the first time he probably now knows what style of play helps him thrive and can look for that with his next club/manager.

[Ron Aldo]

I can see offers coming in for Bair in the summer. Some English League 1 jobbers will take a punt on him. 

In which case, I'd like to wish him nothing but misery when he then moves to St Mirren in the summer of 2025 and I hope they get the St Johnstone version of Bair. 

[capt_oats]

Tbh, I wondered if we might see some interest from MLS about Oor Thelonius.

On the point of 'the model', I know there was a fair amount of handwringing around the £1.6m loss from sections of the fanbase but the key point for me is that we're generally set up to be break even and profitable in the right set of circumstances and, I think @StAndrew7 mentioned this either here or on SO, it probably ties into why someone like Barmack might be interested in chucking some pocket money at the club - not that he'd make anything out it but unlike say, Dundee FC - given they're in the news at the moment, our business plan means we're not a financial black hole.

If you look at our accounts for last year, we saw a reduction in 'player trading' of £780k - we only brought in one significant fee c. 200k for big Sol (£194,246). Conversely our reporting for *this* season has us having brought in c. £1m (£991k) presumably for Max Johnston and KVV.

The point is that while there's been this narrative about the £750k shortfall (in the absolute worst case) it doesn't actually take that much to move the dial in the other direction.

Similarly, again from doom scrolling through the SO thread, the whole £1.6m losses came about because we *had* money to spend - so we spent it. The idea that we'd be seeing expenditure such as installing new pitches and knocking down the front of the east stand to rebuild an annual occurrence is just daft.

Presumably if we hadn't seen the Turnbull money in, we wouldn't have been spending £1.2m on a new pitch which means the P&L over the last two seasons would have been totally different.

Edited April 13 by capt_oats

[YassinMoutaouakil]

1 hour ago, RandomGuy. said:

You'd hope hes strong enough against his agent to make sure he avoids that. For the first time he probably now knows what style of play helps him thrive and can look for that with his next club/manager.

He's too nice to do that