MelvinBragg

Dear lord, not keen on that lineup at all. Almost as surprised to see Ainsworth starting as Chalmers...

Where did you hear that?

Hadn't even thought about that. Imagine there are some (no doubt badly worded, convoluted) to cover such things. Jon Obi Mikel is one I remember changing hands very young and Chelsea, having to fork out for him...

Of course, the flipside is that if the likes of Semple and Robbie Leitch don't develop as the larger clubs hope then we have got a fee for a player we might have released at the age of 20. If the player does develop, you'd hope in Semple's case we'll be smart enough to try and negotiate a sell on percentage...

Customers or fans? This thread is going down a well worn path that has been debated here before. The club wants us to be loyal fans and at the same time act like customers by paying our cash in return for a product (entrance to a game, replica shirt) without asking too many questions. A fan will want to know more than a customer. The thing with football clubs is they generally don't lose customers to other football clubs. They just lose customers who decide they don't want the product anymore. If someone isn't enjoying going to a certain pub or restaurant, they'll try another one. It's not like they say "I'm not going to a pub or a restaurant anymore, I'll just get takeaways" (maybe there is a comparison here, with the clubs as bars and restaurants and Sky Sports as takeaway). The thing is that clubs think that the loyalty of fans means that they can sometimes get away with shoddy customer service or a sub standard product. And they are right. If I were to stop going to Motherwell games if it were an unpleasant experience, I'd have stopped years ago. But people change and not everyone has the same tolerance for poor performances or customer service. Hence dropping attendances. What complicates matters is fan ownership. Fans already feel like the club "belongs" to them and as such some have more of an interest in what goes on behind the scenes. If you are looking for fans to buy into ownership, that only gets magnified. So I wouldn't slate anyone for wanting to know as much as possible. Even if I lean more towards Al B's point of view in that I care about the product on the park and everything else not so much...

Or Louis Laing. None of the options are ideal which kind of throws into sharp focus how thin on the ground we are in midfield that one player suspended has us scrambling around for alternatives...

Interestingly on the BBC Scottish ins and outs page, it has Robbie Leitch to Burnley (undisclosed). Given the accuracy of the BBC's reporting on non Old Firm matters, don't know whether to believe that means that we got a fee or not...

This would be far too simple. Football rules and regulations appear to be written by lawyers in order that the authorities sound smarter than they are. Try reading the rules regarding offside and you start to wonder if it's even written by someone who has watched a game of football...

Unbalanced is how I'd describe it. I figure on Saturday we'll line up Samson Tait Henegham McManus Hammell Cadden Campbell McHugh McDonald Blyth Johnson If any of the midfielders pick up an early injury, what are the options from the bench. Moore with McDonald dropping into midfield? MacLean? Ainsworth? Most football matches are won and lost in midfield and we don't have many options there...

I'm well aware it's a squad game but as it stands we have four recognised centre halfs, four recognised strikers and two recognised central midfielders with a couple of untested or 'might be able to play there' options in each position. You cannot tell me that squad looks well balanced...

If you have no money for a centre midfielder but have spent a wage on a central defender that is a slight upgrade on what you have but it leaves you with two first team central defenders taking a wage for sitting on the bench, it seems like bad planning to me...

By my reckoning we have lost Pearson, Leitch, Gomis, Fletcher, Law, Hall and have resigned several players on reduced terms. Surely savings made there should be enough for more than four new faces (not counting Brill as pretty sure our contribution to Ripley's salary accounts for his wage. If things are that tight budget wise, it makes the signing of a centre half all the more puzzling...

I tend to agree but just throwing it out there. Strikes me as a signing we'd make if McCall was still in charge...

I see that one of our nightmare opponents, Gary Harkins has been told by Dundee that he's free to find a new club. Someone we might consider if we're short in midfield...?

Oh aye, should have said that I reckon getting a player on loan through the deal will suit us but the chances of us getting a fee north of £1m are slim...

Probably would suit us as by the sounds of it, Manning is a player who plays in a similar position and it would save us having to find a replacement...

I agree. I am kind of amazed by the people saying it's only the league cup, treat it like preseason, not that worried about it... Given our recent record in the cups is a stick that is used to beat the club and previous managers, to suddenly dismiss one of the two trophies we have a realistic chance of winning seems to me a bit daft...

£1.6m?? Has someone been sniffing glue? I think Johnson's a smashing player but no better than Murphy was when he left. I know their contract situations are different but still...

So who was our trialist last night, anyone know?

I was wondering if we might look to move Laing on as part of the wheeling and dealing to bring a midfielder in...

The question is, is Chambers better than Humphries was when he was here?

Where did you hear/see that?

Figure that it's an either/or situation with Ainsworth and Thomas. If Ainsworth stays then, Thomas out on loan is an option. If Ainsworth leaves, Thomas may well be needed...

Or the U19 international we signed that's a left back...

Sounds like it. Bit of a ridiculous situation if a player is good enough to catch Burnley's eye but we don't seem to offer this player a contract early enough...