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Would be brilliant to get him on a contract, but he is bound to have suitors with deeper pockets than ours unfortunately. No harm in asking though!

If JBA is like any other manager, he'll have one or two targets identified for every position in case we need to replace anyone.

There is also a recall deadline (mid-Jan I think)

I’d Like to see Aberdeen get a draw or win at Ibrox this evening to keep rangers within a game of us. Pretty impressive to see us with the best defensive record after practically 2 rounds of fixtures. So fingers crossed we keep that going against Hibs.

I thought we had already agreed with Celtic that he was staying here till end of season? Once agreed (contracted?) can they change their mind? I assume it would depend on any written contract details? So maybe maybe not.

No rumours this week. JBA is too busy dodging calls from Flow instead of calling Daws.

If the right hypothetical 20% offer came along, I’m sure we’d all be willing to listen. The red lines on fan ownership are already drawn, and we’ve shown what can be achieved without extra investment.

Agree 100% that focusing on what we can do best as we are now is the correct decision but I also believe that we can find another Tony Bloom willing to invest similar to the deal Hearts have. Proving we are a solid reliable club is the first and hardest part which we’ve done. What I would say is that any deal should leave the society with a majority share holding and that if the society has to give up say 20% of their shares then the current private shareholders will have to give up 20% also rather than the society having to bear all the losses.

Lois Moult is returning oops - that’s even more tedious 😀 I’d be happy for a few loanees from engurland - but not more like osong

I don't care which school he went to.

We need some incoming player rumours, especially strikers to discuss, all this chat about managers going nowhere is getting tedious now.

I may be wrong, but I don't think Welsh is left footed. He plays there because someone has to, as we dont have any actual left sided CBs, and thats less of a need when you play with a back 4.

I'd be more concerned had we not horsed Celtic without him. He's a great player for us, but with the whole team having upped their game over the course of the season, I'm not sure he's quite as important now as he was a couple of months ago.

I heard that all levels at Well are playing same system as first team so just shows what JBA is implementing. I think a new contract with various terms would be great

Yup, good points. I do like Welsh though and I think he’s really suited to us. Be good to see him stay. i have to admit I’m quite excited by this transfer window. Can’t wait to see who we get a hold of. I keep checking every day expecting the usual guy in darkness teaser from the club. I wish they’d hurry up.

I agree about the investment. What we do need is some partnership/sponsorship - and we have seen some small steps forward in that regard e.g. the electronic advertising board along the length of the pitch. I'd even tolerate ads in the Well Society app if that helps generate a few quid.

I’m not really sure who’s going to invest in a fan-owned club like Motherwell. We’ve been over that before. The focus should be on Motherwell investing in itself, by putting money into players, staff and facilities, which is what we’re seeing now.

Not saying Im not concerned, as he has been fantastic. But Im sure Jens is well aware of the possibility and will have someone in mind should it be required. Also, he is left sided and its really right side Celtic are short. Scales, Trusty and Tierney can all play his side. Finally, SOD & McGinn have shown they can play there as well. Wouldnt be my choice long term, but if needs must?

I’m not too concerned with Jens leaving this season, I don’t think he will be going anywhere until the season end at earliest. my only concern for ins and outs just now is Welsh. It did look like he was staying with us but with ONeill going back to Celtic I have a suspicion he might want him. Oneill and Maloney came along and watched the Hibs game at Fir park and they must have been impressed by him as he was exceptional that night. Their fans don’t want him back…. I’m not convinced Welsh wants to go back ….but as much as ONeill is a bit of a loon he does know a player and he is still their player.

Thanks for the response. It is much appreciated. Im not sure that I accept that the club needed (or still needs) investment. Simply because Im not sure a club our size in Scottish Football is a good investment opportunity. Investors always want a return on their money. I just couldnt (and still cant) see how any investor was going to make money out of Motherwell FC without doing harm to the club. (Partnerships with local businesses maybe somewhat different as they can be mutually beneficial). The Miller millions have stabilised the club in the short term and that is welcome. But the boy was still here at the time of the offer and wasnt being factored into the value of the club. Without re-hashing the whole debate again, I do accept that there has not been any news of direct investment into the club. However, that was addressed by the chairman who went on record as saying we will go after some easy wins first and make the club a more attractive proposition for investors so, when the time comes, we get a better deal. I think the easy wins are there for all to see. We have finally got out of the spiral of employing/sacking managers and closing in on nearly clearing the costs of turning over their squads. That was all wasted money out the door due to bad decision making. We now have a good manager, playing attractive football, increased attendances, player trading model looking much healthier for tge future with a number of valuable assets, and thats just from the club side. Society contributions are up and the revenue for the "safety net" has increased. The club is clearly in a much healthier position than it was a year ago and its not just because we sold Lennon Miller. Obviously there are many variables still in the pipeline as our manager and players come under the spotlight. However, if the new board stick to their principles and processes thatbhave got us to where we are, then there is no doubt in my mind the club becomes/remains sustainable and can actually prosper.

Open a club shop in Harare.

I’d like to think that he’s not even considering leaving this season but I am hoping for at least another season but I’m sure he will have offers. Will be up to him if he wants to see how far he can take this. more importantly for MFC is that we continue to find coaches with the same approach. JBA is obviously not the only coach in the world who has this outlook but probably the issue for us is finding replacements in our price range.

I would hope Jens will stay the season, if for no other reason than he needs a pre season to get his way of playing across to a team. I cant see him changing a team mid season

Agree that “Colin’s” was not the best term to use (stupid being even worse) and being a backer of the society I can’t give you the complete view of those who thought the Barmack deal was the way forward but from discussing over the last year with some who did I can give you my view of their thoughts then and now. At the time - and I think this is generally agreed - the club needed investment (the “Miller Millions” has changed that for the moment but wasn’t an option at the time) the Barmack deal and society deals were the only two options. Initially most were willing to look serious at the Barmack deal but when the details were revealed most rejected it. Those that I’ve spoken to mostly concede that in hindsight the rejection was probably correct but also say - probably correctly - that the society has failed to follow up with their investment plan/promise, so without the Miller money the club would have been in the same or worse financial position as before the bid and I find that hard to argue against apart for being able to say we’re still a fan owned club without having to worry that Barmack could have stripped our assets to get his cash back and folded the club. In my discussions I’ve managed to get at least one of them to restart their society contributions and hope that more will start again using the argument that the society money is for emergencies and not the day to day running of the club and as things are going well at the club the society’s bank balance should be slowly increasing putting us in a better position for any future downturn. I’d like to personally add that the society board -and to a lesser extent the club board- needs to use this time and feel good factor to find ways to generate maximum income for the club and not just rely on the increased attendance money.

Surely the whole point of a football forum is to offer different views and to debate them? Given how important the Barmack thing was, and how vociferously it was debated at the time, surely its not beyond the pale to review the situation and ask what folks views on Barmack v Fan ownership is now? I probably shouldnt have used the word "Colins" as it is a bit of a cheap shot, but I genuinely am interested to hear from anyone who thought it was a good thing at the time.....