Leaderboard

So your policy is to ignore the best performing youths and let them run out their contracts? No one is saying every hot youth player makes it but it's got to be the best and most sensible policy to keep these players under contract if it's even a 70-30 chance that they don't make it because there are hundreds of thousands of pounds, maybe even millions resting on it, if they do. We've invested a lot of time and money into Jake Hastie, he comes in, does brilliantly and he could leave off the back of a shocking lack of foresight. I'm afraid this Hastie/Turnbull contract situation is inexcusable.

By offering them contracts before other clubs see them doing well at the top level and come in with offers 10 times what we can offer. Bit harder when you do it the other way around.

I'm still waiting to hear whether you think Hastie might just have signed a new contract last Summer had he been offered one. When he had already been earmarked as a player with a better chance than most of making it. And at a time when their was a buzz about the place having reached two Cup Finals. That seems to be the point some people are making and which you seem keen to ignore. Of course you can't make players sign. We all know that. But the timing of any offer can make a huge difference and the Club may well have blown it with Hastie. I wonder what you would be saying if Turnbull had opted to leave as well, also belatedly having been offered an extended contract. Talent like Turnbull and Hastie possess is a rarity, particularly at a relatively small Club like Motherwell. And please don't compare them to the likes of Dom Thomas and Luke Watt. They are both way beyond that level

You're

Smiddy - Yodo. Your daily wee exchanges are becoming a right pain in the arse for everyone. Gonnae rap it please.

Who mentioned a long term contract at that stage? Hastie has come through numerous age groups at Motherwell, surviving as dozens of others fell by the wayside. He was surely worthy of a year's extension to ensure we were protected if he made that final step up. I accept that step up was achieved 6 months earlier than anticipated but we exposed ourselves by letting his contract run down to such an extent. Ditto Turnbull. And, as indicated by Craigen and Robinson, Hastie was loaned out to Alloa with a view to preparing him for the first team. He had outgrown the youth team and needed to compete at a higher, tougher level. So he was not as far away from the first team as you suggest. In fact, had he not already featured? Similar to McGuire on loan at QOS. And Hastie's game time at Alloa was carefully managed by Craigen and Goodwin to ensure he could also get game time at Motherwell, to monitor his progress. You either trust in your youth and your planning, or you don't. Hastie and Turnbull were clearly earmarked as two that had an above average chance. Instead of protecting our investment of some 13 years we opted to utilise scarce resources to allow the likes of Taylor-Sinclair and Sammon to sit on the Bench, at best. Well, how did that work out? Nobody is saying that anybody who has a couple of good games for the youth/reserve team should have cash thrown at them. But we should protect exceptional talent that we have invested many years in developing.

I’m still not convinced by this arguement that he should have been offered a good, long term contract at a time when he was nowhere near the first team. You mention his level of talent yet he was far from blowing everyone out of the water at both Airdrie and Alloa. He did “ok” and showed promise but more promise than Dom Thomas did at the same stage ? I would argue no. Even Craigen admitted he was surprised at his development so for me it’s not as cut and dried as is being made out. I’m certain he would have signed a new contract if offered one a year ago but then so would just about every young player. You don’t however offer contracts because you’re sure they will be signed, you offer them if you feel it’s the right decision and the club clearly felt he had not shown enough “ at that point” to justify it. The fact he has developed so quickly and let’s be honest we’re all surprised at how quickly it’s been does not make the original decision to wait necessarily wrong.

Hibs were good while we were 6/10 across the pitch. Not bad perfomance however they successfully nullified most of what we tried to do and always looked more threatening in possession. In the grand scheme of 2019 a performance like that is to be expected.

He was interviewed in the St Johnstone programme a few weeks ago and stated the Motherwell result is the first one he looks for every week.

I think Johnson is shite. Main is only good if the wingers are firing and scoring goals, but even a team with our resources can find a better “nuisance” than him. Scott was OK when he came on, nothing special, but we have between now and the end of the season to see what we have with him, so I think we should be starting with him going forward.

Lack of a goalscorer is the reason we won’t make top 6 this season and that’s obviously the main priority this summer. I suspect Main will head back down south, Johnson could probably knock a good few in if he was willing to drop down to championship level up here but again I suspect he will head back down south to a league two club.

https://youtu.be/6Nh28iO--2s

Any chance of an abandonment?

Told you before I am not a troll but a genuine fan and anything I post is my thoughts on all that's happening at our club or are you the only one on here with an opinion we should all agree with .Btw Smiddy keep up yer posting mate and if your only 14 the English teachers we have on here will get you through your exams

I'd have to agree with smiddy here. A pain in the arse sometimes, maybe, but not even close to being a troll.

yip …. grimmy and YOU