David

I may be wrong, but isn't it more based on how long he's been with the club? Hence the development fee tag that's applied?

Not often I find myself agreeing with you, but you're bang on here. The number of times I've read about Hastie showing a lack of loyalty and respect is insane. The club do what they do for these lads because they believe there'll be a payoff at the end of it, be it a transfer fee or in performances for the club. They don't do it out of loyalty to the player, so why should the player feel obliged to return the favour? It's business, nothing more.

Then they can either pay up, or fuck off.

I didn't think the fee thing was really up for debate. It's the rules, is it not? And not just Scottish rules that Sevco's pals can dismiss, but proper rules, am I right? It's like saying you want to buy a player, being told the fee, and just saying "nope, we'll not pay that." You either pay the fucking fee, or you don't get the player.

That's one of the more embarrassing posts I've read on here, and that's saying something.

I may be in the minority, but I most definitely want to finish 7th. I'm sure I've said it before, but the difference between finishing 7th and 9th is somewhere in the region of £120,000 to £160,000 in prize money. I know people say they don't care, just play the kids, I hope it was over and so on, but if we got to the summer and Robbo missed out on a few transfer targets due to us not offering enough in wages I'm sure we'd all care about that lost money then. We're talking about an extra £2,000 to £3,000 a week or something, which isn't chump change to a club like us.

I certainly wouldn't hold what he said against him. Like all of us, his circumstances can change. He may be wanting to stay at Motherwell but then receive a potentially life-changing offer afterwards. At the end of the day it's his career, and he'll go about it as he sees fit.

I'm not sure it's a conscious decision really as much as it's a case og two players the manager liked the look of being available. I could be wrong though.

The main difference is that for the odd one or two here and there that we get wrong in the Hastie mould we stand to bring in less than we maybe would if he signed a long-term deal, while going down the other route would more than likely see us waste money on players with potential but who don't live up to it. One approach sees us still make some money most of the time, while the other could see us lose money. What astounds me is that these people with "knowledge of the game" are usually the ones who aren't actually involved at that level in the game, and don't make a living from it. While those who supposedly get it wrong are the ones who are considered good enough to carve a living from it.

Unfortunately, this is the way of the world for us for the most part. If we bring players in from down south we can't really afford to offer them anything other than a one year deal, can we? If they end up being shite we can punt them after a season with no problem, but that obviously leaves us with a problem if they do well and decide to piss off for nothing at the end of the season. We're not a club who can risk investing first team wages in a player for two or three years who may or may not be up to the job. It's a risk we can't really take.

I've bought it, and it's worth every penny. Quality stuff.

I guess it depends on what McInnes sees in him really. Personally, I'd love him to stay with us. He adds a physicality that comes in useful. If we can bring in someone else to compete for that strikers spot with him, or even play alongside him then it could be interesting. At the moment he's simply doing the job that he's being asked, as Robinson had to make some changes to how we go about playing after the first half of the season. He's probably not overly keen on it himself, but he's doing his bit. Hopefully he can see us to a 7th place finish before he makes his decision.

I haven't seen much of him admittedly, but I was surprised to find out that he's taller than Carson. He looked quite short for a goalkeeper against Aberdeen, but he's obviously not that short if he's 6'1 or so.

We've been gash for most of this season though, haven't we? He scored eight goals in the second half of the season last year when it seemed he was used as a proper striker. The second half of this season he's been as instrumental as anyone in changing our fortunes, but has been used in a position and tactically that doesn't really lend itself to him getting a lot of opportunities to score goals. One of those players who is recognised more by his fellow pros and managers than by fans it seems.

I guess it's a case of each to their own, but for me I desperately want to finish top of the mini-league we'll be in.