capt_oats

Having seen neither in games other than the YouTube clips I can't really comment on their relative abilities or attributes however what I would say about Lucas is that he's been here since the start of July, to me that's a pretty long "trial" so I'm not sure whether or not the injury he picked up would have put McGhee off that much. He was quick to point out in his press conference that he felt that Lucas' performance stats and ProZone (if that's what we're using) were consistently showing up well. The fact that he's been here for the length of time he has (relatively speaking) would make you think that McGhee would have a pretty good idea of what he's about by now. As far as Clay goes, I mentioned in one of the other threads that Clay had been in talks with Lincoln City with the source being an interview with another ex-Grimsby player who had just signed for them, Nathan Arnold. BBC Humberside gave the story a mention as well. I've no idea where Clay is based but if he's still around the Grimsby area then that would certainly be a much more local option for him. McGhee certainly seemed politely positive when talking about him the other day but again whether he's actually what we need is a different story. Who knows McGhee end up going for one or the other, both or neither. The squad is fairly light of bodies in the centre of the park either way and there's probably room (budget permitting) for a couple. It's worth pointing out that we're probably hitting the point where contracted players are likely to be getting an idea as to whether they fit in managers plans. Going back to some of McGhee's comments from earlier in the close season he had previously indicated that they were waiting to hear from a few players situations. Perhaps we might be looking for the elusive attacking midfielder as a loan deal or such.

He's been carrying the knock since last week. Is why he sat out the Annan game with Moult starting in his place.

Interestingly Clay was being linked with Lincoln City earlier this afternoon (via BBC Humberside). Think the suggestion came from Nathan Arnold an ex-Grimsby player who's just signed for Lincoln.

Motherwell: Samson, Tait, Hammell, Heneghan, McManus, Ainsworth, Johnson, Cadden, Lasley, Clay, McDonald Motherwell subs: Brill, Laing, McHugh, Chalmers, Thomas, MacLean, Mackin

Given Ayr are part-time it's not really a surprise if Moore's training with MFC on the days he's not with his loan club.

The issue with El Bahktaoui as far as I can see and presumably the reason why he as yet doesn't have a club is that there's too much doubt about him to justify the money it'd appear he/his agent are looking for. It seems like just about every club up here going has taken a look at him but none of them have felt sure enough to get a deal done. He may well be keeping his options open but at the same time we're almost into August, pre-season's been going on for a month. He's currently on trial at Blackburn and that's Coyle basically said he's not convinced by him, he thinks he's a good player but has doubts as to whether he's good enough for that level at the moment. It seems to be a recurring theme, people think he looks alright but no one is willing to take a risk on him. When it comes down to it that's ultimately the issue, for all the good reports he's had one good season at League 1 level in Scotland. Given Dundee's current situation it may well be the case that they feel they have to be seen to do something and it'll force their hand a bit.

According to the tweet from the club just there it's now at Fir Park. 19:45 k/o. £5/£2

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Wolves and Villa are both his neck of the woods, if Villa move Sinclair on to Celtic then Marv would be an obvious replacement a year younger, available for less than they get in and on significantly less wages (you'd think) and you could see the obvious appeal for the player there, Villa for all their issues are a massive club, new owner and a new manager in di Matteo. How much you can read into that article I don't know but it suggests he's been a player well scouted by the clubs in the area before he came up here. Wolves are also under new ownership IIRC and last I saw they were trying to bring in players from Jorge Mendes' stable. Oxford's a curious one, they took in a decent fee for Roofe but their accounts last year showed a £2.5m loss, up from £1.4m the previous year. They've already spent money on Rothwell, now Hemmings and from what I've read they've increased their wage budget by 50%. In total they've brought in 10 players this window with 3 being 'undisclosed' fees. Even if a figure of £500k was enough to pique our interest and start a conversation the majority of English League 1 transfers are free transfers, that sort of figure would be the higher end of the scale. In context, Oxford's record transfer paid is £470k (for Dean Windass no less).

For what it's worth, looking at the Excelsior's website it costs £275 for a regular punter to hire the pitch for 11s (2hr block). I've no idea what sort of rate MFC or the various other SPFL clubs who hire it for their 20s in the same way are expected to pay (whether it's more or less) but using it as a rough guide; over a season that'd be £4400 to cover hire fees for the 16 games in the Dev league schedule. Given the amount of investment and improvement we've seen in the Fir Park pitch that sort of figure (or comparable) seems to me to be a worthwhile and reasonable cost to pay if it's helping keep the FP playing surface in good nick.

Interesting that 3 of the 4 teams mentioned in that write-up are Championship sides and the guy that wrote it covers Villa for the paper (and has just started following the bold Marv on Twitter). Reads very much like a puff piece though. I suppose what it ends up coming down to is which teams genuinely want him and as thisGRAEME suggests what their limit is before they shrug their shoulders and say "nah, you're alright" and slope off to the next guy on their list. Ultimately the club has been trying to position itself as a "platform" club and McGhee's been actively talking Johnson up since the January window so as far as I'm concerned as long as the club gets a decent fee and the player moves to a club and level that at the very least looks like a step up then it's difficult to argue at the club/player wanting to take advantage of that. That said, the fact he's still got two years to run of his deal and he looks like he's hit the ground running this pre-season and is our key player means that I'd hope that we'd have a bit of leverage in terms of what we could legitimately quote as a price.

Ha! was just about to post that. I get the club not wanting to make it public knowledge but really weird position to outright deny the clause existed then turn round and say "actually... LOL!"

Someone's telling fibs, you'd have thought the Tele would have been briefed by the club, this ran last month: https://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/fp/no-clause-kane-hemmings-going-nowhere/

Here's the line from the English press, make of it what you will: "The 24-year-old signed a three year contract after the U's paid an undisclosed fee. The amount is not believed to be close to the club record, the £470,000 paid to Aberdeen for Dean Windass in 1998, but it is six figures." http://www.heraldseries.co.uk/sport/14646043.Oxford_United_sign_striker_Kane_Hemmings_from_Dundee_in_six_figure_move/ Edit: the suggestion from the Dundee fans seems to be that there was a £250k release clause which was reported but subsequently denied by the board and Hartley. If that quote is accurate then the fee is more than £100k but significantly less than £470k.

Fee rumoured to be £250k. Dees are taking it well I see.

Don't know for sure but I genuinely wouldn't be surprised if it's more cost effective to hire the Excelsior than have the game at Fir Park and the costs of tending to the park pre and post match plus effects of additional wear and tear on the pitch.

Fair point.

Presumably as the league cup is an "official" competition it's bound by FIFA rules so that will dictate things like number of subs, trialists and that sort of thing? It may well be the case that unless there's a way round it (games being played outwith the regular league season?) they're stuck with 3 subs.

Broadly speaking I've no idea if there's a loophole or not. I've always been under the impression that you can be registered for up to 3 clubs in a season but can only play for 2. Unless they're moving to a club that has an overlapping season per Article 5.3, which seems clear: 3. Players may be registered with a maximum of three clubs during one season. During this period, the player is only eligible to play offi cial matches for two clubs. As an exception to this rule, a player moving between two clubs belonging to associations with overlapping seasons (i.e. start of the season in summer/autumn as opposed to winter/spring) may be eligible to play in offi cial matches for a third club during the relevant season, provided he has fully complied with his contractual obligations towards his previous clubs. http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/affederation/administration/regulations_on_the_status_and_transfer_of_players_en_33410.pdf However it's probably worth mentioning that Clay's agents/management are the same people who look after Tait and Heneghan so given we've done business with them already this season it's not too much of a stretch to think that there may be an element of goodwill between both club and agency established there. Edit to add: there was a loophole in England regarding "emergency loans" which raised its head when we tried to bring in Mike Grella from Leeds but that obviously wouldn't apply in this case. http://stv.tv/sport/football/223267-motherwell-may-seek-answers-over-loan-deal-inconsistencies/

Well given the previous assistant wasn't there during international breaks it's probably a step forward.

Makes a lot of sense IMO. There was a fair bit of chat at the end of last season about wanting to cultivate a boot-room structure at the club. Faddy's doing his badges, he's a good "face" for the club, what he's like as a coach I've no idea but in all honesty other than someone like say, Gordon Young, who got his jotters at United I'd genuinely struggle to think of an obvious candidate for the job anyway. Clearly it's not my job to think of obvious candidates but still... The fact that he's also registered as a player means that we're not totally reliant on Mackin as back up and he offers a bit of depth and experience up front (if required etc) as part of one wage (though I'm sure subject to bonuses). Also, as an aside, given there's been a deal on the table for him since May I wonder if him taking the assistant wage has freed up some playing budget and that explains why we've been able to bring Clay in to have a look at? All in all, I'm quite into it tbh.

Given FIFA rules about player registration and the number of clubs a player can play for in a season then I'm quite surprised that players and their agents would be OK with such short term deals if they are genuinely being viewed as "trialists" and there's no offer of a deal on the table for them. Fair play to the club for doing what they can to get a look at the players though.

Goalie coach is still Jim Hollman

Unless Craigan is *that* desperate to get away from Sutton I'd be surprised if he wanted to give up his BT gig. I know he was saying in the press that he wouldn't rule out the assistant role but really the u20s combined with his pundit work seems like the sort of thing that'd give him the best of both worlds, he's still involved with Northern Ireland u19s as well right? Again it's a case of "McGhee said..." but he ruled out one of the senior players getting the job a couple of weeks ago.

^^^^ This