Welldaft Mk1

You can blame the keeper and Gallacher but the ball was originally lost when an excellent pass landed at the feet of Campbell at the other end of the pitch which he controlled and then had it taken off him like you would sweets of a kid. Someone has kidnapped him and replaced him with a vastly inferior version. Anyway not sure this team has any fight in them.

https://footballleaguefc.com/category/player-wages/spfl-player-wages/amp/ This was posted in P&B on Ross County thread. Not sure how accurate but makes for very interesting reading. Would make OHara our highest paid player yet still on less than (almost) 3 times what Hastie is on at Rangers. At 1st glance Hamilton and Livingston stick out as lowest budgets as few of their players are on more than £1000 per week. Makes what Livi are achieving all the more remarkable.

I did wonder about this very aspect Dave. With Robbo he used to tell you who was missing injured etc Since the new management team came in. Nothing to that effect. Then I started to think whether letting your opponents know that For example Lawless , OHara missing as well as Polworth is allowing them to shape their team / midfield. I recall Alexander being asked pre Rangers game what his approach would be and he basically said “why would I tell you and by virtue let Rangers know”. Wonder if it is a different approach basically. Keep your cards close to you chest re team selection. All that said we will struggle if OHara and Lawless are not fit and available for selection. The midfield will be a real concern.

Got to love this site....or not. We sign a new player that is relatively unknown. Immediately he is uninspiring or just plain sh1te. We get a decent left back on an extended contract. Underwhelming...has done nothing to impress me. F*ck me. I am glad I don’t come on this site to be cheered up. There is a high % of posters that are just miserable all the time. Time for a sabbatical from this site. I cannot say I will miss it.

That is a good bit of business by the club. Fingers crossed he can stay injury free. Also strong rumours that Harry Smith of Northampton is on his way.

You misread my point or I did not get it across well enough. The fact we made a profit is very welcome. But if arguably our income was inflated by £1.5m in the last financial period and our profit was less than a 1/3 of that it would suggest we are arguably overreaching. We could of course have invested more in the playing squad and stadium knowing that money was there or coming, I 100% believe we are doing incredibly well with transfers / league finishes but it will be difficult to sustain that each and every year.

A positive result. However it would be interesting to see how much money from the Scott transfer is included ? That and how much of the extra money for finishing 3rd. Together that is almost an extra £1.5m that we would not get in a normal season unless of course we finish top 6 and sell a player for £1m. Most transfers are paid in instalments so hopefully we did not get all the Scott cash before May 2020. Otherwise that profit is not as impressive as it would seem. On the flipside we would have taken a hit of £150-£200k in crowds which would not happen in a normal season + bonuses for finishing 3rd etc. Still whilst it is being reported Killie are requiring £1m loan to get through this season we should be pleased at Turnbull sale and recent transfer dealings.

He has been fairly anonymous these past few weeks. You know he is on the pitch but he has not been anywhere near his best, where has been bossing midfield as well as being a decent goal threat. Even the best players suffer dip in form but with wee Al it does not tend to last long before has a MOM performance. Maybe he has been overplayed this season. But he is one of the fittest around. Definitely off the boil during our poor run. But I would not be letting him go unless there was a premium paid in his development fee. Otherwise we are as well waiting for the summer to come and he hopefully goes with our best wishes.

Depends on the nature of the clause. If he can sign a pre contract and he leaves this window it would have to be £250k+ to even make it worth our while. One of our best players leaving when we are in a fight for survival that could have implications of many £millions should we go down. If the extension is likely to be triggered and we have a Scotland International (starter) for a further 1.5 years then despite his age 29/30 he would be worth £750k+ to us, £2m were he at Hibs and £5m were he at Celtic !!

If this automatic extension clause is accurate then I am confused as to how anyone could make Gallacher a pre contract offer as it is likely to be triggered next few weeks and means he would be with us until summer 2022. It also means that he is outside the reach of any teams in our league bar Celtic and Rangers. So he is either going down south, heading to Parkhead or staying with us. As OTF mentions interesting that clubs can pay staff off, ask for them to take pay cuts or deferrals and keep adding to their squads. Hibs adding Cadden and Irvine an obvious example. Dundee United are already paying very good money to Shankland and McNulty etc...

Obviously interest in him this transfer window. You never know how much is paper talk and how much is reality. I agree with most of the comments on here regarding the squad. Was surprised to see Seedorf start and McIver and Lamie come on. Alexander is true to his word in involving most of the squad. I am sure he is quickly building a picture of who is worth keeping. A great point but probably a boost for us that Roofe was not playing. The two goals he scored at Ibrox were clinical finishes and had he been in position for Aribo and even Defoe efforts.... Thought the defence was excellent. Mugabe fantastic and having Carroll back is a boost. On,y his 2nd game in almost a year and you can see he is improving even from last week. I also thought SOD had one of his best games for us. Lawless was good for the short time he was on the pitch. Hopefully we can go to Pittodrie and get a result. They took a sore one this weekend and will be motivated. But they also are missing some key players to injury. Same defence and attack for me but with addition of O Hara and or Lawless for Seedorf and Crawford and that would be my team.

Probably a non starter but you do wonder if the SPFL would still have the power to say play the 2 games but as has been mentioned on here and by myself previously - to not allow players who were unable to play 1st time around. Otherwise they have played a blinder here. I have little sympathy (ever) for Celtic but they are playing 2 games with 13 players missing and no recognised striker for similar. Simply playing the games is almost rewarding the two teams who messed up.

Clearly others in the club are involved including our Head of Scouting. But I am quite certain Alexander will start to identify players he believes will improve the team / squad the longer he is in the door. He also has contacts in the game which would have been a big plus and will use them as well as running the rule over any players that were previously identified. On the whole I am happy that going forward anyone who joins will have the blessing of the Manager and /or his own targets. He also clearly stated (which you would expect) that he ONLY wants players that will improve the team or offer us something different to what we have. It is clear we have a fairly bloated squad consisting of players that are simply not good enough. Alexander has been left with a bit of a mess to clean up. What will further complicate matters is if any of our better players leave this window.

I would be fairly certain that the Manager has the final say. What that does not mean is that someone like Lawless for example is a decent player and us adding him to the squad is a shrewd bit of business. I am quite sure Alexander could have said no. In his Friday interview he makes it clear he spoke to Lawless before any transfer was finalised. A Livi fan over on Pie and Bovril stated that Lawless and Dykes were their two best players last season. What is also clear from his interview and what I very much liked is his insistence on a better quality smaller squad. That would suggest to me that anyone currently on the periphery will be encouraged to move on in the next couple of weeks. We may even look to pay up some contracts or come to a deal. So I would expect a few departures and a few more arrivals.

I tell you what I find laughable is Killie and St Mirren fans thinking it would be at all different if it was they that had two games canx at short notice and handed 6 points by the SPFL. I am sure 100% would be raging at this injustice and would be marching on Fir Park in solidarity with Motherwell. The facts are it has been handled poorly by the governing bodies. Hamilton and Motherwell have been messed about here also. The fact it took almost 3 months to resolve is actually laughable ! The majority of Motherwell fans probably felt the initial punishment was harsh the rest were ripping the pish. You are at it if you think Killie and St Mirren fans would have acted at all differently.....

Funny that Dave. I said the very same earlier today. If I had the money. My worry is that despite us being mucked about somehow Killie and St Mirren will still be seen as the victims here. Their fans and officials will still be claiming injustice right up to the day of the games despite the fact they fucked up and have been given a get out of jail card free. My worry is their players will be even more pumped by this decision than our players.

No surprise to me. Be interesting to see the club reaction on this ? If the rescheduled games are not convenient for Motherwell I would tell the the SPFL to do one. We won’t.

I think most other clubs will find a way to play their games. If they thought a 3-0 forfeit was the alternative. I do have a modicum of sympathy for Killie and St Mirren. I am sure they both thought they could not play and the games would probably be re scheduled. That is why I think if it was up to the SPFL alone they would uphold the original punishment to act as a deterrent. If the panel decide the games should be re scheduled that opens a can of worms. Next time Motherwell have a couple of Covid issues with key players we should say it is rife and we need to postpone. What would be good is if there was a decision before our bi-centenary year ! The longer it goes on you start to think they have come to a different conclusion and are working out how to deliver etc. Surely it would take less time to say appeals declined.

So what ! I am basing my comments on my belief he will be a good addition to the squad. That and it is even more annoying to see comments effectively writing off a player before he is even a few minutes in the door. That will always annoy me. You don’t like it .....fine by me.

And there you have it.....welcome to Motherwell Steven. We are effectively rebuilding squad for next season from now and this whilst not spectacular is a very decent signing. That plus he is reliable and hard working enough to help get us away from bottom 2 spots in the league for this season.

Any clues chaps ?

It could go either way and even a chance they could have a different outcome for St Mirren v say Kilmarnock. They could decide the punishment was fair for the former and not the latter. So we get 3 points from St Mirren but have to replay the Kilmarnock game. What is interesting in all of this is whether sporting integrity prevails. We are The innocent party in all this and yet as has been mentioned here and on P&B when theses games were due to be played we were winning and on a better run than we are now. In addition St Mirren have strengthened their squad with additions of Brophy and Quaner. What if we replay the St Mirren game and Brophy scores a winner. How is that fair or practical. If the decision is changed and we do have to play both games I hope the club have their say on this whole debacle. A strongly worded statement since every other club seems to issue statements at the drop of a hat. We have been very quiet until now which is probably the correct strategy but it will be interesting to see how we respond if any decision could effectively penalise Motherwell FC.

Probably more to do with frustration.... We all recognise we are in the mire. More so if we do not get the 6 points on Thursday or whenever as is likely in my opinion. We have addressed the vacant Manager position promptly enough. But when you see your rivals strengthening I get why some fans are concerned at lack of signing news. TRUTH is Alexander will need to establish for himself who needs to stay who needs to go. What positions need strengthened and what is possible with the funds or budget available. He joined less than a week ago. Hopefully by the end of this week he will have sat down with most of the players to understand their wishes around staying or going and their motivation to improve. I have faith that we will see a fair bit of movement from next week onwards.

Tend to agree. I would imagine incomings are more likely to be loans until the summer unless a real bargain appears. We actually have one of the biggest squads in the Top flight with 29 players. No one has a bigger squad in fact. However when you start to break it down. 5 Goalkeepers !! Dunne, Donnelly, Crawford and a host of young lads it is a little misleading. That said all 5 goalies will be on a wage ! I have a feeling O Donnell will be off and I also suspect someone may put in a speculative bid for Gallacher at some point in the window. I suspect the Rangers game may act as an audition for a few players as it is on Sky and high profile. It would also be good if we could move on a couple of underachievers. So all told we could be looking at half a dozen players leaving inc Lang who has gone back to Wigan already. So we could be looking at bringing in half a dozen to replace what has left. Then again we may have the same squad as now with only a couple of additions. Important window all the same more so if we have to play the 2 games v Kilmarnock and St Mirren !!

This has been largely overlooked by all apart from Well fans. At the end of the day we are piggy in the middle here and are being dicked about by this whole episode. Have 6 points...actually nah don’t have 6 points.....maybe have 6 points. You have had the likes of chick dung all over the radio to say how unfair it is on a club he supports ! Goodwin and Dyer saying same. We are innocent victims here and punishment was disproportionate etc etc. Nothing about Motherwell whatsoever. Almost as if we are not affected either way. I would be dumbfounded if they do not do an about turn and order the games to be replayed. Under what circumstances god only knows. Celtic and United playing weakened teams may help as clearly the thought of losing 3 points was a factor in their decision. If the decision is overturned I would like our club to make a comment. More than that if the games are replayed our players had better be 100% up for the games as you can bet that Killie and St Mirren would look to make a statement by gunning for a win. All in all quite a mess. The fact that it is taking months to resolve has also helped turn it into a circus show.