capt_oats

MacLean's a midfielder/attacking midfielder. he can play as a wide mid but as Onthefringes says he's not an out and out winger. His game isn't beating full backs, hitting the bye line and putting in crosses in the same way as say Frear, Johnson et al. For what it's worth, despite the club news story describing him such, Jake Hastie isn't really a winger either. He's more an inside forward.

Enjoyed the game last night (as I did the Edinburgh City & Airdrie games last season). Very much a deserved win too. Seemed to take a while to find their feet but once they did more than held their own and were probably the better side tbh. Thought Turnbull was a stand out and the 2nd goal was an absolute peach. The new players, King and Brown showed up well though Brown started giving the ball away quite cheaply late in the game he was constantly showing for the ball.

Not sure whether it's likely to inform our appeals any but that's the Record reporting that Thomson has been assigned a 2nd tier match this weekend. As has Beaton. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/john-beaton-craig-thomson-dropped-10991662

Looked at that thread myself and it's almost identical. The £400k figure comes from Kidderminster Harriers "confirming" they received £40k from us through the deal. 10% sell on means £400k cash received. However, Oxford's manager at the time said himself that there were additional guaranteed payments that had to be made. So presumably there's some sort of contingency on those payments in the event that the player moves on. As far as our sell-on for him goes there have been any number of wild claims about that. I've seen Oxford fans claim we're due 40%, The Sun claim 25% and other Oxford fans say it's only 10%. Who knows tbh, given the nature of the deal and the fact that Appleton was talking about having to be "creative" in their offer to us 25% doesn't seem that unlikely, particularly if we were accepting a lower cash payment than our valuation and looking at it being topped up in add-ons. http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/sport/oxfordunited/14715643.Marvin_Johnson_impressed_with_Oxford_United_s_determination_to_do_deal/

We also got this bumped down to a yellow as well.

Well, quite but as decisions go if you're going to send of a team's goalkeeper then I think it's probably fair to hope that the referee was certain about its veracity. Otherwise maybe just err on the side of caution. The questions he's asking there are: - is the ball 100% outside the box when he handles it? - is he denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity? There's doubt on both of those tbh.

The only reasonable explanation is that he viewed it as denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity. Which as far as I can see, it wasn't. "Sending-off offences A player, substitute or substituted player is sent off if he commits any of the following seven offences: • denying the opposing team a goal or an obvious goalscoring opportunity by deliberately handling the ball (this does not apply to a goalkeeper within his own penalty area)" A Goalkeeper is subject to the same rules as an outfield player outside his box. That being the case then; A direct free kick is also awarded to the opposing team if a player commits any of the following three offences: • holds an opponent • spits at an opponent • handles the ball deliberately (except for the goalkeeper within his own penalty area) http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/scottish_football.cfm?page=3605 He's the incident, given the position and the fact that Carson is clearly favourite for the ball is it enough to say that's "denied an obvious goalscoring opportunity"? At worst it's "unsporting behaviour" which is a yellow card offence.

In fairness just because the linesman didn't flag doesn't mean there wasn't instruction given via their mics/earpiece. As far as I'm concerned there's no way that either ref or linesman could say with certainty that there wasn't even a fraction of the ball on the line. They've made a game-changing decision based on a guess.

^^^^ 100% this.

He did last season. Our goal difference when McGhee was emptied was -23. Our GD in the 12 games with Robinson in charge was 0.

We've appealed Dunne's red card then. http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/scottish_fa_news.cfm?page=1986&newsCategoryID=1&newsID=17125

Aye, it was definitely knowing. He also seemed oddly confident. Who knows, maybe he was just in a good mood but he gave the impression that there was something in the offing. I'm not sure he necessarily hinted at next week though.

The prices for the league game are £15/£10 btw. Still, good work but for the sake of accuracy it's not the same prices as the League Cup game as a few of the posts above seem to be suggesting:

That was Dunne. Kipré's just a straight 1 year deal I think. http://www.motherwellfc.co.uk/2017/07/05/cedric-kipre-signs-for-the-well/

Pretty much same here. I got the impression he was signed as cover for Heneghan. I'm sure both Robinson and Lasley have both said that he's miles ahead of where they thought he'd be/what they thought they were getting when he signed.

There was a story that ran in The Sun (I know) that said 25% but then The Sun say lots of things and the majority of them are lies.

I might not go as far as top earner but reading between the lines there's a fair chance Bowman's on a decent wedge. Certainly compared to what he may have been on at Gateshead. I can't remember his exact phrasing but I seem to recall Robinson saying something along the lines of if he wanted to bring certain players in he'd have to move some out however that may not be easy as he's got players at the club who are on "good" contracts and they can sit on them "as is their right" or something along those lines. Someone with a better memory than I may have a better recollection. With regards Bowman it seems clear that we're open to him leaving. Again, reading into Robinson's comments to the press he's on record as saying he wants another striker, however in order to do so he'll need to move players out. By process of elimination Moult (regardless of whether he'll sign or not) has a new deal on the table, Fisher is literally just in the door as is Newell, Blyth has since been shot from a cannon which leaves us with Bowman as the player who's probably most expendable. I get the impression that Robinson may well like Bowman enough but probably thinks he can get or needs a better/different option. He's scored enough goals in the National League that I can imagine a club at that level being willing to take him however the question may well be about the money he'd get at that level vs what he's on just now.

I'll admit I've not paid that much attention but I'm not sure how popular Thistle's platform actually is. I'm pretty sure quite a few of their fans have pointed to our #content as a model that they'd prefer rather than the subscription service. Live games and delayed coverage aside I don't think the Jagzone content is really any different to what Motherwell are doing with their YouTube channel. The only difference is that Thistle fans are being asked to pay for it.

He really, really wasn't. I think I saw him maybe 4 or 5 times with the 20s. Last time was his 10 mins on the park against Falkirk when he picked up his injury that needed surgery, the time before that was the 6-3 loss to Thistle where he opened the scoring with a complete fluke of a header but then proceeded to be comfortable marked out the game by actual 16 year olds who looked that they'd pitched up straight from school.

The focus on the apparent lack of academy players in the first XI is understandable given that last season we were banging on about the threat Project Brave had on our business model and all that. So being aghast at there only being 2 Scots in the starting line up is a natural reaction. The progression of these players is something that should be part of Robinson's remit, absolutely but right now I can't imagine it's anywhere near a priority. He's had to re-build a side from the shambles he took over and I'd have said that getting a team that will be competitive bedded in and familiar with how he wants the side to play should have been the main focus. It's pretty naive to think that we'd just chuck half a dozen of the 20s in and see whether they sink or swim. However, they should definitely be given the chance once we've got a settled side. When it comes down to it; - Qualifying from the LC group - Winning the LC group - Having a side that was competitive against Rangers and has the potential to be competitive in the upcoming league fixtures. are all factors that would take precedence over whether we've got Academy players in the first XI for the game against Rangers and how many Scots there are IMO. Once we've got a settled shape and side then I'd imagine Robinson/Lasley/Craigan would be able to turn their attention to the pathway side of things. Right now, all I'd think the focus is on trying to get off to a decent start. We've played one league game so far, if we're sitting in January and there's been zero involvement then there's a more serious conversation to be had. As it stands though, of the 8 obvious midfield options we have 4 of them are academy players (Cadden, Campbell, MacLean, Gordon) and 3 are Scots. After last season we saw why having depth in the squad is important and as such that's why having players like Rose AND Campbell both available is relevant. It's not a case of one over the other, they're both different types of players and different levels of experience. Our first pick midfield is Cadden, Bigirimana, McHugh, Frear that's clear. The players that we're looking to provide back up are MacLean, Rose, Campbell and Gordon.

If you mean why he didn't play for Rangers then: http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/rangers-loanee-gael-bigirimana-knew-5400265 If you mean why he didn't play on Sunday then:

This is pretty much where I am with Rose and Dunne as well tbh. As far as Dunne goes, I'd imagine he'll have a performance at some point that will be worth talking about binning him for someone that we've never seen play but yesterday wasn't it IMO.

I like Tom English a lot but the TL,DR of that is "if a team ships a lot of goals they might be in trouble." I for one am stunned at this information.

Presented without comment on the quality of players we've signed but as far as I can see including contracted players who have moved on plus u20s whose deals weren't renewed 17 players who were part of both first team and u20s squads have left the club (as players); Clay, Thomas, Lasley (retired), Jules, Pain, Ainsworth, Moore, Samson, Chalmers, McFadden, Lucas, Ferguson, Pearson, McDonald, Mackin, Fry, Pettigrew = (17) Thus far we've announced that we've recruited and promoted as follows; Carson, Plummer, Dunne, Kipré, King, Bigirimana, Rose, Brown, McDonald, Fisher, Tanner, Newell, Semple = (13) If it's the case that Shaun Bowers has arrived after his release from Celtic then that's another. So 17 out and (potentially) 14 in across both squads. Based on what's been announced so far this is roughly where we seem to be, if Bowers has indeed signed then add him to the defenders list: Goalkeepers 1 - Trevor Carson (29) - summer 2020 (signed from Hartlepool United - undisclosed fee) 13 - Russell Griffiths (21) - summer 2018 (signed from Everton) 39 - Peter Morrison (19) - summer 2018 Defenders 2 - Richard Tait (27) - summer 2019 3 - Steven Hammell (35) - summer 2018 (Vice-captain) - injured 4 - Ben Heneghan (23) - summer 2018 6 - Stephen McManus (34) - summer 2018 14 - Ellis Plummer (22) - summer 2018 (signed from Manchester City - free) 18 - Charles Dunne (24) - summer 2018 (+ 1 year option) (signed from Oldham Athletic - free) 21 - Cédric Kipré (20) - summer 2018 (signed from Leicester - free) 25 - Jack McMillan (19) - summer 2019 30 - Luke Watt (19) - summer 2018 29 - Adam Livingstone (19) - summer 2018 32 - Dylan King (18) - length of contract unknown (signed from Oldham Athletic - free) 34 - Barry Maguire (19) - summer 2018 37 - Jordan Armstrong (18) - length of contract unknown Midfielders 5 - Gael Bigirimana (23) - summer 2019 (signed from Coventry City - free) 8 - Carl McHugh (24) - summer 2019 7 - Chris Cadden (20) - summer 2019 11 - Elliot Frear (26) - summer 2019 15 - Andy Rose (27) - summer 2018 (signed from Coventry City - free) 22 - Allan Campbell (18) - summer 2019 26 - Ross Maclean (20) - summer 2019 28 - Shea Gordon (19) - summer 2018 31 - David Turnbull (17) - summer 2019 33 - Liam Brown (18) - length of contract unknown (signed from Queens Park - free) 41 - Kyle McDonald (17) - length of contract unknown (promoted from Academy) Forwards 9 - Louis Moult (25) - summer 2018 12 - Ryan Bowman (25) - summer 2018 17 - Alex Fisher (27) - summer 2019 (signed from ICT - free) 19 - Jacob Blyth (24) - summer 2018 - injured 27 - Craig Tanner (22) - summer 2019 (signed from Reading - free) 24 - George Newell (20) - summer 2018 (signed from Bolton Wanderers - free) 35 - Jake Hastie (18) - summer 2019 36 - Dylan Falconer (18) - summer 2018 38 - James Scott (16) - length of contract unknown 40 - Alfredo Agyeman (16) - length of contract unknown 42 - Jamie Semple (16) - length of contract unknown (promoted from Academy)