Dezz Posted January 4, 2017 Report Share Posted January 4, 2017 I don't think we can take the risk selling him in this window whilst the relegation and playoff places are such an uncertainty. The battle for 11th and 12th will likely go down to the wire this year and having a 15-20 goal a season striker in your ranks is likely to go some way to making sure we're still in the division next year, which is of utmost importance for the future of the club according to the board. I'd rather take £100k-£200k less for Moult in the summer if his goals keep us in the division. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pettywulliegrew-2 Posted January 4, 2017 Report Share Posted January 4, 2017 Just to emphasise the gap in spending in Scotland .....Smeltic sign a player from Russian Premier league for 3 million........Caley sign a player from Bluebell United who play in the Leinster Senior League..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superward Posted January 4, 2017 Report Share Posted January 4, 2017 It will be interesting if bids do come in for Moult. So many variables but this is the window that will probably give most value. But given our league position I cant see us selling him unless it's a big big fee. Hopefully we knock a big one back and he has an amazing second half and goes for even more....That be good. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiderpig Posted January 4, 2017 Report Share Posted January 4, 2017 It will be interesting if bids do come in for Moult. So many variables but this is the window that will probably give most value. But given our league position I cant see us selling him unless it's a big big fee. Motherwell are notoriously bad at negotiating big fees for players so i fear that if an offer similar to what we got for Johnson comes in the we will sell him, which at the end of the day would not be a bad return on a player we did not pay a lot for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrosshillWell Posted January 4, 2017 Report Share Posted January 4, 2017 After all the Aberdeen and McInnes hype of the last few seasons, I can't actually believe the position they are now in with four of their first XI. Considine, Pawlett, Jack and McGinn all out of contract and with Hayes with eighteen months to run and currently subject to speculation from Cardiff and other Championship teams. With regard to Moult, I'd be surprised of he is at Fir Park next season. Same with Cadden. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superward Posted January 4, 2017 Report Share Posted January 4, 2017 Motherwell are notoriously bad at negotiating big fees for players so i fear that if an offer similar to what we got for Johnson comes in the we will sell him, which at the end of the day would not be a bad return on a player we did not pay a lot for. I would usually agree. But the main difference is that when we sold Johnson he had a transfer request in and also we 'needed' the money. With the recent renegotiated deal we don't 'need' to sell a player a year to stay on course. Obviously we still want to to enable payment of the loans. But we are in a stronger position unless Moult throws the toys oot the pram. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wellowell Posted January 4, 2017 Report Share Posted January 4, 2017 Imo it would take big money to shift them this month as staying in league more important as 4 home old firm games guarantee next season .I would though expect at least 1 if not both to go in summer. Staying up this year is the most important thing and having Cadden and Moult is paramount to that happening so for me both will stay put unless funny money offered . 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superward Posted January 4, 2017 Report Share Posted January 4, 2017 Pretty definitive on Laing: http://www.motherwelltimes.co.uk/sport/football/motherwell-fc/mcghee-i-don-t-expect-louis-laing-to-return-1-4331993 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dezz Posted January 4, 2017 Report Share Posted January 4, 2017 Pretty definitive on Laing: http://www.motherwelltimes.co.uk/sport/football/motherwell-fc/mcghee-i-don-t-expect-louis-laing-to-return-1-4331993 Should be a reasonable wage freed up at least. Did us a turn in the playoffs and scored a winner against Accies but seemed to lose his way a bit and I can't say I'm disappointed to see him go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfc Posted January 4, 2017 Report Share Posted January 4, 2017 hopefully we can keep moult until the end of the season as from st johnstone down none of the other teams have a striker as good as him and with the league being so tight that could be key for us.i would love too see him sign an extension even if it was for another year but i think most likely he will be off in the summer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superward Posted January 4, 2017 Report Share Posted January 4, 2017 hopefully we can keep moult until the end of the season as from st johnstone down none of the other teams have a striker as good as him and with the league being so tight that could be key for us.i would love too see him sign an extension even if it was for another year but i think most likely he will be off in the summer. Hopefully. If he did sign an extension...imagine the man love. I would name my first born Moult. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrosshillWell Posted January 4, 2017 Report Share Posted January 4, 2017 We really should be sticking an extension under Moult's nose right now. Next season we could see McDonald leave, Moult being sold at a discounted fee, Mackin released and only Blyth and Bowman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fizoxy Posted January 4, 2017 Report Share Posted January 4, 2017 Why would Mackin be released? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrosshillWell Posted January 5, 2017 Report Share Posted January 5, 2017 It all depends on whether McGee/Burrows offer him an extension. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weeyin Posted January 5, 2017 Report Share Posted January 5, 2017 Adding this here, rather than starting a new thread, but mods feel free to move elsewhere.An excellent article in the Evening Times by Mr. Mullen, with 'Flow again giving a well constructed argument against the "Elite 8" youth programme.http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/sport/spfl/15002576.Exclusive__Motherwell_CEO_Alan_Burrows_on_the_provincial_pitfalls_of_Project_Brave/ Exclusive: Motherwell CEO Alan Burrows on the provincial pitfalls of Project Brave ALAN BURROWS didn’t need to look far to find some ammunition for his argument while making an ascent up the steps to Hampden’s main entrance. On his way to a Scottish Football Association meeting called to outline the proposed Project Brave back in October, a plan that is suggested to have Motherwell missing out on the Elite youth programme, the Motherwell chief executive was stopped dead in his tracks as his gaze was diverted to a large picture above his head. “The day we went into Hampden to have this meeting, there was a big billboard outside stadium that caught my eye,” he explains to me, a look of incredulity still embossed on his face. “It was of Faddy’s goal in France [James McFadden’s winner in the 1-0 victory over France in a Euro 2008 qualifier]. It was the aftermath of his wonder strike and the three players in the picture were Faddy, Lee McCulloch and Stephen Pearson. “I thought to myself ‘I’m going to a meeting to get told that we are potentially getting locked out of this academy programme and there’s a big picture at Hampden on the SFA wall of three boys whose one thing in common is that they all came through the youth set up at Motherwell’. “The guy who scored the goal in one of Scotland’s greatest victories in the last 20 years came from Motherwell. The two that celebrated with him first came from Motherwell. A quarter of the team that beat France in Paris came from Motherwell, yet we’re then getting told we’re not getting told we’re not good enough to be at the elite level of Scottish football.” The fact you probably didn’t need an explanation on top of ‘Faddy’s goal in France’ to know what strike Burrows was referring to also proves a point. Details emerged back in November of the Project Brave blueprint that includes the creation a two-tiered youth set-up, with an eight-team elite league to help cultivate future Scotland internationalists. It is believed cl6ubs such as Motherwell, Dundee United, Partick Thistle and Dundee would be excluded. Understandably, it is a proposal that doesn’t sit well with those on the wrong end of the divide, particularly Motherwell given their past, present and their future. “Off the top of my head, in the last 15 years we’ve had James McFadden, Stephen Pearson, Stevie Hammell, David Clarkson, Lee McCulloch. Mark Reynold and Jamie Murphy were also in the squads. Even Steven Saunders,” said Burrows. “There are umpteen examples of us producing young players for the international level, which is the SFA’s raison d’etre. “All the clubs want to produce good young players, that’s obvious. However, some need to produce good young players, and that’s where the difference is and this is where I get emotional and personal with this. “Given a model that doesn’t revolve around a benefactor, the onus is on the club to recruit good players to sell them and more so to cultivate your own players for the first team and then to trade them on for full value when the time is right. That is the only viable technique this club has going forward. “Would it put Motherwell off a cliff to be excluded? If we are not allowed to develop players in the way we would, if we are not allowed to try and compete for the best players in the area, if we can’t get the best players through our youth system into the first team with a view to sell them then it presents a real clear danger to this football club, yes. “Jim McMahon, the chairman, said at the last AGM that it’s the biggest existential threat to the club at the moment. That’s how serious it would be.” Given the conveyor belt of talent that has trundled through the Fir Park factory over the last two decades it’s clear to understand the frustration. That feeling is only added to when it’s pointed out one of only two players to have graduated all the way through one of the SFA’s performance schools is at Motherwell - Jake Hastie - while the player to score both goals in Scotland’s Victory Shield draw with Wales back in November was Jamie Semple, the Motherwell U17 and U20 forward. However, Burrows’ argues vociferously that while his loyalties are clearly seen through the prism of claret and amber tinted spectacles, his concerns are founded in objectivity and a desire to bring attention to the glaring problem in plans to fix the youth set-up of our game. He said: “Even if we were one of the eight, though, I’d still have grave reservations over this. It wouldn’t be fair to the likes of Thistle or Killie if they could prove they could make it. I promise you that wouldn’t be the case. It’s not right, and when it’s not right the onus is on people to say there are ideas that are good but there are things that are fundamentally wrong in it. That includes setting an arbitrary number of clubs. “Stewart Regan [the SFA chief executive] said there was an openness and willingness to expand it. That told me a key point. If there was some sort of independent advice or expert opinion that suggested that was the optimum number, then at least you could say it was based on something. “But what Stewart said suggested the number is completely plucked from the air.” Naturally the focus on youth football has seen the spotlight switched to just that, players in their early teens and younger and how they can be nurtured from children into the next Scottish national team superstar. Yet, in a project with the word brave stuck on the end, it is a perceived reluctance do so at club level that Burrows believes is deserving of attention. “We are delving deep into youth football, but there are a couple of fundamentals we are missing. Not enough young players are getting enough first-team football at any early age. Look at Chris Cadden here. Chris was on the verge of the 2015 summer of going out on loan to Albion Rovers or Dunfermline. You could probably say he wasn’t massively in the plans. “Mark McGhee came in just over a month later and very quickly Chris found himself in the first team and signing a new contract. He then signed another one, got into the Scotland U21s and is now considered one of the best young players in the country. “That’s down to his own drive to be better, but what you can’t ignore is that Chris Cadden is a better player because Chris Cadden is playing every week while learning the game. “Are young players not playing because they are not good enough, or is it that the structure in Scotland isn’t conducive to young players thrown in at the deep end? The league is so tight in the Premiership so because of the cut-throat nature I don’t think it lends itself to allow managers to take a risk by putting young players in. “It takes a brave manager or a certain circumstances. You have to look at the size of the league, you have to look at the differences between the top league and the second league [financially] so much so half the clubs are terrified of going down. You don’t gamble as much as you just want to make sure you stay in this division. “If you can somehow lessen the fall between the two top flights to make the major disadvantage sporting rather than financial, you create an environment where managers will be more likely to put 17-21-year-olds into the first-team right away if they think they are good enough. “If we are looking at youth football in Scotland, it can’t be done in isolation. You have to look at the bigger picture.” 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kmcalpin Posted January 5, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2017 Why would Mackin be released? If he isn't deemed to able to make the breakthrough. He has the ability and physique but that, by itself isn't enough. According to Crags he needs to do more/push himself harder to make the breakthrough. He's been on the verge of making a few subs appearances but hasn't quite done it yet. Maybe the summer will be decision time? Hopefully he will step up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dossertillidie Posted January 5, 2017 Report Share Posted January 5, 2017 Adding this here, rather than starting a new thread, but mods feel free to move elsewhere. An excellent article in the Evening Times by Mr. Mullen, with 'Flow again giving a well constructed argument against the "Elite 8" youth programme. http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/sport/spfl/15002576.Exclusive__Motherwell_CEO_Alan_Burrows_on_the_provincial_pitfalls_of_Project_Brave/ Don't fully understand or can say I have even heard of what the benefits of this proposal is to the wider Scottish football leagues or indeed the national side but flow certainly makes a strong argument which is very well put across against why clubs in our position should be opposing this or at the very least coming up with an alternative plan Completely agree with him marginalisation of clubs the size of ours could quite simply put us out of business in the future Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kmcalpin Posted January 5, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2017 Don't fully understand or can say I have even heard of what the benefits of this proposal is to the wider Scottish football leagues or indeed the national side As far as I'm aware, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I think its all about making Scotland more successful at international level and by implication make our biggest clubs, which account for probably less than 10% of our senior clubs, more successful on the European stage. Its not about improving the senior game, or even game, per se. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 5, 2017 Report Share Posted January 5, 2017 Next season we could see McDonald leave, Moult being sold at a discounted fee, Mackin released and only Blyth and Bowman. Are we not allowed to bring players in anymore? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steelboy Posted January 5, 2017 Report Share Posted January 5, 2017 That's a great interview from Burrows. Reagan will no doubt ignore all his arguments and focus on how to justify giving Celtic a work permit for a 19 year old African with zero caps at any level and ten senior appearances. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superward Posted January 5, 2017 Report Share Posted January 5, 2017 Great interview and argument. Pleased he also mentions that even if we did get in to 'the 8' it's not fair on others. That's a very key point in the discussion. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superward Posted January 5, 2017 Report Share Posted January 5, 2017 Sorry to all the Lucas haters but looks likely to stay: http://www.motherwelltimes.co.uk/sport/football/motherwell-fc/mcghee-i-hope-to-deal-in-lee-lucas-1-4332417 Personally I am not 100% convinced yet. But he has superb ability and skill in there which has shown in flashes in his 4 starts. So I would be willing to give him a chance to get up to speed with the Scottish game, see if he can remain injury free and give him the chance to show it properly. He could turn out an absolute beaut of a player...or a nearly man like Vigurs and Kerr etc. Impossible to tell in his limited starts so I think it's worth a shot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superward Posted January 5, 2017 Report Share Posted January 5, 2017 Moulty rumour to Crystal Palace for 500k. Stick or twist? : http://talksport.com/football/crystal-palace-fc-transfer-news-sam-allardyce-make-motherwell-striker-louis-moult-his-first Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_oats Posted January 5, 2017 Report Share Posted January 5, 2017 Moulty rumour to Crystal Palace for 500k. Stick or twist? : http://talksport.com/football/crystal-palace-fc-transfer-news-sam-allardyce-make-motherwell-striker-louis-moult-his-first If a Premier League side is involved and he wants to go I don't see us standing in his way but I'd imagine we'd be after a fair bit more than £500k. By all accounts we got £600k for Marvin Johnson from a League 1 side (going by Alan Burrows tweet that (cumulatively) the fee for Johnson was the most we've brought in for a player since 2009 https://twitter.com/Alan_Burrows/status/806872501854867456 ). It's 2+2 but the reported fee for Clarkson that season was £600k so... Either way if nothing else it's good to see Moult being quoted as being of interest to an EPL side rather than League 1 jobbers etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Well-Made Posted January 5, 2017 Report Share Posted January 5, 2017 Hopefully it's knocked back... However would the club stand in the way of a move for Louis to an EPL Club? If he goes for £500k there has to be a sell on clause there as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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