capt_oats

I think by sheer circumstance Dundee must be behind every team in the league in terms of prep. McCann spent (over?) a week discussing the job with their board, decided he didn't want it and walked away. They turned their attention to chasing Jack Ross, got a kb, then announced the guy who apparently didn't want the job in the first place. As far as I'm aware though they've signed Allan & Deacon, they've still to clarify what's going on with their out of contract players etc. They've also got a pretty bloated squad that they dint seem to be able to do much with because Hartley was handing out 3 year deals like sweeties. It may well be the case that TV pundit Neil McCann will be able to get the best out of the squad he's inherited but on a preparation level they still seem miles behind everyone else in the league. Accies position is no different to what it is every year/close season tbf. The question re: County is how effectively they replace Boyce (if he leaves) as he scored 46% of their goals last season.

He picked up the injury and was never really heard from again. I think he was released in the January window...or thereabouts. There you go, released at the same time as Belic. 27th January. https://twitter.com/motherwellfc/status/825071261638352900

So according to the bold 'arry Redknapp we enquirered about Greg Stewart along with Aberdeen and Dundee. We're not getting him but hopefully that answers the "is Robinson looking at another creative player" question and "are we looking for an attacking midfielder." Greg Stewart tho. 'triffic lad.

The FourFourTwo documentary with Phillips in it is here btw.

Is Craigan not looking to recruit for the u20s squad. Gordon arrived from Sheffield United last season and there was a left back who picked up an injury in pre-season signed from Sheffield Wednesday. We've already signed Liam Brown for the 20s so far.

There's an element of nonsense around loads of the transfer rumours that get thrown up around non-league players and clubs that they're apparently "targets" for, especially via sites like HITC. However, with that as a caveat I noticed this yesterday from when he was at Chester. http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2016/03/25/hull-battle-brighton-blackburn-and-burnley-for-non-league-prospe/ http://www.chesterchronicle.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/chester-fc-ben-heneghan-reported-11098105 http://www.leaderlive.co.uk/sport/163421/chester-fc-defender-ben-heneghan-weighing-up-offers-from-football-league-clubs.aspx (I'm not going to C&P them all) It seems Burnley were one of the sides mentioned as having had an interest before he signed with us. Who knows, maybe there is something in it, though this new link is really just picking up on the story in The Sun from yesterday as far as I can see. It's worth mentioning that the link in The Sun yesterday came from the English version rather than the Scottish one. It may well be the case that his agent is just flying a kite but it's (vaguely) interesting that Burnley's name has cropped up before.

8? Actually, no. It's less than that isn't it? Is it zero? From the looks of things he's not actually started a game since 17th August September last year.

Probably a good point to mention that The Sun also had us signing Willo Flood. Having said that though...take the money etc.

I've no idea who we're targeting and who we're not but is there not an argument that Tanner is, broadly speaking, a more cost effective replacement for Ainsworth than McDonald? You can actually go through the list of players we've released and tick a like for like replacement or upgrade. Samson > Carson Pearson > Rose Lucas > Bigirimana Ainsworth > Tanner Jules/Chalmers > as yet unnamed left sided defender If we're planning on moving Blyth on then Fisher falls more into that category than a like for like with McDonald. So on and so forth... The reason I pick up on that is that from what Plymouth fans said about Tanner he seemed to be used as a winger and often as an impact sub. I'm sure he can play as a #10 or the McDonald role but thinking back to January when it transpires McDonald was edging out the door it'd seem that we were looking at Ciftci to replace him, possibly O'Halloran and I seem to recall some vague mentions on Twitter of Ryan Christie. I could be miles out but it's fair to say none of the players we've brought in thus far match McDonald in terms of influence or role. Which is why he's going to be such a difficult player to replace. It then becomes a case of persuading a player of that ilk to the club and most of them will have plenty offers on the table, going by what I've read about Scougall he's got his pick of teams he could join. I'm sure the various other players in that mould won't be short of options. We can pitch Motherwell to them as best we can but when it comes down to it, it's going to be the player's decision.

As a hypothetical or for instance, you've got someone like Aaron Taylor-Sinclair. Experienced player at this level with Thistle, went to Wigan in the Championship, played with Doncaster in League 1. Decent height, pace (certainly he did have pre-injury) but his knee fell to bits and he only just came back and played a handful of games at the tail end of the season so you could understand how there would be a question over his fitness. As far as I'm aware he's still out of contract. Rumour was he was on trial at Tannadice. United have just signed Tam Scobbie. I've no idea if Taylor-Sinclair fits the bill as an improvement for our left back position but it doesn't seem that outrageous a shout that we might be looking at a player of his ilk or someone who's in a similar situation. Alternatively we may just have got this year's Lee Lucas on board. I guess we'll just have wait and see.

In which case why not just announce it? My interpretation (which could be completely wrong) is that we've agreed a deal in principle that's subject to the player proving his fitness over pre-season.

Or he's a decent player who's coming back from an injury but we don't want to commit to a Prodan?

In fairness he said "at least five more to arrive".

Craigan was saying at the end of the January window that he felt it'd have aided their development more if he could have got them out on loan but the squad size meant he couldn't so I'd think that it'd be more likely that we'd be looking to get them out and playing week in, week out.

I thought the home kit was closer to the 1987 one. I'm into it. Away top is smashing.

There you go.

Doubtful we'd be signing anyone on loan this early in the close season tbh.

Alan Burrows chipping in on Kenny Millar's twitter there. Full on eye roll from him. https://twitter.com/alan_burrows/status/874409171554271233

He RT'd the Flood one as well tbf. In honesty I'd have thought we'd be looking to sell Moult into the same sort of market Hibs have just moved Cummings to rather than move him on to a direct rival. It really just depends who's actually interested I suppose.

Tbf it's the same journo who made up the story about us being in for Willo Flood. The article is bizarre, it's literally half a sentence tacken on at the end of the piece saying Moult could move because he's in the final year of his contract. Had it been Kenny Millar that had written it up I'd have taken it a bit more seriously.

Yes, Alan Burrows mentioned it in the interview he did for the MFC YouTube channel that went up at the end of the season.

He's managed 1 full game since Feb 4th and missed the last 10 games with a knee injury. Made 19 league appearances in all. I saw his name linked with us via an obviously fake #ITK account on Twitter but in honesty after the Zak Jules experience last season it wouldn't be entirely surprising if we were looking at another experienced centre half and I'd have thought it'd be quite a difficult sell if we were pitching the role as cover.

It depends where you look tbh. There's a thread on Coventry's fan forum where people are talking him up as a good player (at the start of last season). He was part of the Coventry side that finished 8th in 2015/16 having signed in the January window that season. He missed half of last season through injury (a bad concussion and it seems he picked up a knee injury). I'm not going to pretend I know much about him but given I had the fear that we'd be going into pre-season with another Vanarama recruitment approach I'm quite open to seeing how we get on with someone from League 1 and 100+ appearances at MLS level.

I think there's an element of seethe there with Bigirimana as he was a player they gave a chance to who then bolted to Newcastle who then came back and who has now jumped ship to us after they've been relegated. Prior to him being announced as a Motherwell player he was someone they were talking about building their team around: http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/sport/football/football-news/coventry-city-must-re-sign-12941773 As far as Rose goes then who knows at 6ft 2 and if he's the box to box midfielder that's been suggested then he sounds like a bit of a replacement for Pearson in a box ticking sense.

I think Joeboy was saying he's more box to box than a DM.