joewarkfanclub Posted July 22 Share Posted July 22 (edited) Probably going to regret saying this, but Im actually quite excited about the prospects for this guy after watching all those videos! Looks very good in the air for a smaller guy. Finished well with his left and right foot. Seems to have a really good attitude towards the game and both he and his missus seem like really nice people! Clearly we arent paying a fee for him to be a second choice striker, so he must be getting viewed as a first pick. His stats are also encouraging. Obviously a little bit of a health warning, as its the A-League, but when youve been used to fishing around the lower tiers in England, I dont think we can be too sniffy about that. It also puts into perspective the fact that our outgoing chairman was willing to give away control of our club for the price of this guy. Just need a proper Spittal replacement now to back up Nicholson and to elect a new executive board and I think we are in decent shape going forward! Edited July 22 by joewarkfanclub 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazylegsjoe_mfc Posted July 22 Share Posted July 22 Most times we sign strikers and they are relatively speculative punts that won't have massive implications if they don't work out. If you think the likes of Alex Fisher, Danny Johnson, Theo Robinson, Conor Wilkinson and Jordan White from the top of my head have come in, not worked out and been moved on relatively easily. When it's a striker with a fee, from the other side of the world, that becomes a bit harder to cope with when it doesn't work out. I would also like to think we aren't paying a hefty-fee (by our standards) for a striker, only to play him up top himself with Paton and Halliday behind him. Hopefully this means a shfit to 3-5-2 is likely. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boozyBJ Posted July 22 Share Posted July 22 He’s 6foot tall. Is that considered small these days? I’m a flipping hobbit if that’s the case 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eliphas Pettigrew Posted July 22 Share Posted July 22 Think he's slightly taller than the 'big Serb' 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vietnam91 Posted July 22 Share Posted July 22 1 hour ago, Handsome_Devil said: Not unfair though I do find it a little interesting he's spent that much money on a striker having already signed three... not that the order decisive ofc. I'd have been less surprised if he'd spent it on a new Spittal If he wasn't quite 100% certain Nicholson can be relied upon. Moses was in the building, Robinson replaced Vale's slot, Filip replaced Obika and now Stama replaces Bair. As we've found forwards make you money that you struggle to from other positions. We're very thin in the midfield to forward position without Nicholson despite trying to make Paton and Halliday play it until they become proficient in it. Also that show reel seems to be grouped into bit of his play of the same nature, the 15 headers at the start move on to be replaced with goals from shots, then defensive blocks, then about 10 hitting the woodwork. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joewarkfanclub Posted July 22 Share Posted July 22 13 minutes ago, boozyBJ said: He’s 6foot tall. Is that considered small these days? I’m a flipping hobbit if that’s the case I must confess I didnt check his height. Just didnt look very tall compared to the defenders he was up against. Maybe they are all giants in the A-League! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ropy Posted July 22 Share Posted July 22 I will be intrigued as to how Davor will fill the hole in his life left by Theo leaving, I think he is trying out Moses for the role but I think this new guy and his wife would be a good fit. They could take him in like they did the cat. Got a good feeling. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_oats Posted July 22 Share Posted July 22 2 hours ago, Swello said: If Kettlewell did get to spend a couple of hundred grand - I would view that as his deserved reward for turning a joke figure into a player that could get us more than Uncle Phil or Faddy got us. It's spending money that we've got in the bank, it's showing that we're competing with the clubs around us and based on the information that we've got - it seems like a really sensible move. If it was a defender or midfielder, I'd be more nervous - but we're good at strikers. Aye. After all the unpleasantness of the last few months as a headline it feels like the club buying the fans a pony to make up but you don't really have to squint that much to see how the outlay can make sense (acknowledging the caveats @crazylegsjoe_mfc has flagged up). It feels like one of those deals that has probably come about through us being involved with TransferRoom. Bringing in a player who has had a breakout season as he seems to have had in free agency probably puts him out our reach in terms of wages if it goes to an auction. Similarly, if we were looking for a Scottish or UK based player with the sort of numbers he had last season then you'd have to imagine the fee would be multiples of the deal "worth" £260k that's being reported which again, means we get nowhere near him. In fact, who was the last striker we signed (free transfer or otherwise) that's come off the back of a season in which he's scored a record number of goals for the club in question in a season? Moult? Danny Johnson had 20 in 46 for Gateshead in the National League before we signed him. Other than that it feels like it's been an assortment of players who have been in fair to middling form (or worse) before we turned them into something saleable; Watt, KVV and obviously Bair while you also had Devante Cole trading up off the back of his stint under Alexander. From the quotes in the Newcastle press release he's moving because he's looking at reinforcing his claim for the national side ahead of the World Cup. Which feels like a bit of kismet that these discussions have been ongoing while Thelonius has been away at the Copa America. Ultimately, the fact that he was under contract means that we're probably in a better position to sort out wages within our structure but the trade off is that it incurs a transactional charge to make it happen (which will be paid in instalments). That said, the number of fans (of other clubs) who seem to be working with the eternally dumb assertion that paying a fee = good player, is quite something. But again, that's Modern Fitba' for you... Whether he actually turns out to be any good for Motherwell is an entirely different story but on the face of it he's a good age, all the data is in his favour (unlike Danzaki), in terms of character he seems like a good fit (I see he was captain at Newcastle and his manager gives him a pretty glowing reference in one of those YouTube videos) and in a professional sense he seems motivated to move here for international reasons. I mean, it could all go sideways but you can say that about any signing I guess and there's enough about the deal that makes sense. There's obvious risk but equally off the back of the Bair sale, the Kelly Euros money and presumably promotion add-ons kicking in for KVV I don't imagine the amount that's on the table for us here is going to bankrupt us if it does go south. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phillips455 Posted July 22 Share Posted July 22 If we pay a fee, then that is fine. It's spending fees outwith our means that it then becomes an issue. We wouldn't be signing him if Theo didn't leave so it's purely us reinvesting part of the transfer fee into the squad which should easily be expected? I know it's relatively high compared to what we usually pay, but as stated, it's around 15% of the fee we are getting from these transfer. I would be more upset if we just gathered the transfer fees and didn't do anything about replacing players. It seems that the transfer situation is being handled very well, despite the boards attempts. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desp Posted July 22 Share Posted July 22 Aye, re-investing 15%-20% of a large transfer fee received into his replacement seems, I dunno, perfectly normal? I think Kettlewell is well within his rights to be allowed to go out and get the next level of target after what he did for Bair. Look, there's obviously no guarantees with this boy but if he's anywhere near the level of the last Australian striker who played for us, we'll be alright. I have boarded the StamaBus and I'm ready to go. Selling him for £3.5m after the 2026 World Cup. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevie Kirk Posted July 22 Share Posted July 22 14 hours ago, Busta Nut said: I'm not sure I like us spending quarter of a million quid on a player. I think it’s fairly low risk tbh. If it doesn’t work out he is a known quantity in Australia and we would likely get at least a fair chunk of our dough back by selling him to an A league team. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swello Posted July 22 Share Posted July 22 7 minutes ago, Desp said: Aye, re-investing 15%-20% of a large transfer fee received into his replacement seems, I dunno, perfectly normal? I think Kettlewell is well within his rights to be allowed to go out and get the next level of target after what he did for Bair. Especially when we are obviously going to be trying to make a profit on the new guy after a year or two. Kettlewell has turned KVV and Bair into saleable assets when there was *zero* expectation that they would ever be that - I would trust him to make a go of flipping someone who should in theory be easier to sell. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_oats Posted July 22 Share Posted July 22 33 minutes ago, Stevie Kirk said: I think it’s fairly low risk tbh. If it doesn’t work out he is a known quantity in Australia and we would likely get at least a fair chunk of our dough back by selling him to an A league team. Was there not a weird quirk with A League teams that they don’t pay fees? It came up around the time there was interest in Scott McDonald and his “back injury” for the game at Ibrox. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevie Kirk Posted July 22 Share Posted July 22 9 minutes ago, capt_oats said: Was there not a weird quirk with A League teams that they don’t pay fees? It came up around the time there was interest in Scott McDonald and his “back injury” for the game at Ibrox. I know that at one time there was no transfer fees between A League clubs but think they were looking to scrap that. I dunno to be honest just assumed they would . I suppose it comes down to how much of the £260k is a fee and how much is wages. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busta Nut Posted July 22 Share Posted July 22 the A league is a right weird league. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoF Posted July 22 Share Posted July 22 2 hours ago, ropy said: What is happening with the cat? 15 hours ago, crazylegsjoe_mfc said: On the other hand, it will throw the cat amongst the pigeons for the Facebook moon howlers though @ropy Long throw into the pigeons by the looks of it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StAndrew7 Posted July 22 Share Posted July 22 (edited) 40 minutes ago, capt_oats said: Was there not a weird quirk with A League teams that they don’t pay fees? It came up around the time there was interest in Scott McDonald and his “back injury” for the game at Ibrox. They don't pay fees for existing/established A-League players; they can only sign them as free agents. There's been a few occasions where players have given clubs ultimatums just before the season starts wanting their contracts terminated to move to rivals. There's also salary caps, designated/marquee players, limits on foreign players etc. It's quite "Americany". Edited July 22 by StAndrew7 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazylegsjoe_mfc Posted July 22 Share Posted July 22 25 minutes ago, CoF said: @ropy Long throw into the pigeons by the looks of it. Signing Kofi Balmer is paying off already. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevie Kirk Posted July 22 Share Posted July 22 14 minutes ago, StAndrew7 said: They don't pay fees for existing/established A-League players; they can only sign them as free agents. There's been a few occasions where players have given clubs ultimatums just before the season starts wanting their contracts terminated to move to rivals. There's also salary caps, designated/marquee players, limits on foreign players etc. It's quite "Americany". I suppose if our guy is an international then he may be classed as marquee. Buy aye it seems rather complicated. Bottom line is if he can come up with even 8 goals a season it will be a sound investment. Like a previous poster says hopefully he can bang in headers from big Balmers throw-ins. He certainly looks busy and energetic in his highlights reel. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joewarkfanclub Posted July 22 Share Posted July 22 (edited) Listened to the Patreon podcast interviewing the guy that identified Theo and brought him to St Johnstone. The detail and thought process was very interesting. I presume we are following a similar model. If so it feels like AVS is a lot less of a punt than a lot of our previous signings....... https://www.patreon.com/posts/108534256?utm_campaign=postshare_fan&utm_content=android_share Edited July 22 by joewarkfanclub 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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