numpty

I'm predominantly absent minded.

Alison told me they can't do that because the £45/year subscription cost would pretty much use up people's entire annual renewal fee of £50 (for the Steel membership, which I'd guess is the most common one). Which is fair enough if true, but poor show from the company who run MFC TV (Perform Group, IIRC) if they can't give a significant discount to the club for guaranteed volume subscriptions.

True, forgot about that. Latest one should be a belter

You mean your MFC TV subscription? It only lasts for the first year, unfortunately… at least you received an email, it just stopped working for me! TBH I thought this was a bit mean as well, would have hoped they could at least offer us some sort of discount after the first year, or give two years membership to those who paid in at the second tier. It's pretty much the only tangible perk overseas members got for our money, so now a year in we're not getting any at all.

Me too. Helpfully, though, I pointed out in the next paragraph what my own position is Nor have I said in any other post that I'd rather McCall was leaving, because (if I didn't make it clear enough last time) I'd rather he stayed.

I guess some people think that now his head has been turned once, there might be some question mark over his future commitment so it would have been better to let him go before it had the chance to waver again (and while we'd have made some cash out of him into the bargain). Can't say I see it that way myself, though especially if his staying turns out not to persuade any of our out-of-contract lads to re-sign anyway, you could argue that it would have been as good a time as any to part company.

The cost of living would doubtless be more than compensated by a much bigger salary. I don't recall if he has kids; if he does, that's certainly a big factor, but if not I'd have thought moving back closer to where most of your friends and family still are wouldn't be the biggest upheaval in the world. But anyway, he's made his choice. Onwards and upwards

Here's the interview, from January: http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/motherwell-manager-stuart-mccall-says-1544203

Somebody (forget who, sorry) did point that out on here a couple of days ago, but nobody seemed to take any notice

If it came with the associated grief of being an Old Firm player in the fishbowl of the west of Scotland meeja, and meant I was practically guaranteed to achieve nothing of interest for the next three years -- 15% or more of my professional career? It certainly doesn't strike me as massively appealing.

I also paid by bank transfer, didn't get any confirmation until I emailed Alison to check.

Maybe I'm being naive, but I don't think it's that unusual for clubs to both invite applications and make a short list of their own of people to approach, is it? (If not, what if all the people they approached said no?)

Interesting to note Lawson's comment that Stuart McCall is "probably the main reason why I joined". Could just be the usual spin of course, but hopefully a good sign that what McCall's been saying to players in private is no different to what he's been saying in public -- that he has no intention of going anywhere anytime soon.

This, really. Will always take a few games for a goalie to gel with his defenders, and other than (presumably) in training he hasn't really had a lot of game time to do that yet. Jury's still out for me.

Too early for me to be worrying about it either way, really. We don't know who (else) is leaving, we don't know who's coming in, and we don't know who we'll be playing. A few weeks without fitba', one half-decent signing and an attractive draw and I'm sure we'll all be gagging for it

You'd hope, but I haven't really seen much evidence of that in recent years, at least in terms of keeping players. We've probably been a victim of our own success in that regard; anyone in or around the first team has already been there, done that in the Europa League, and of course a good few now even have Champions League experience.

Plus of course he's from Aberdeen, which although it isn't exactly next door to Dingwall, probably means he's got friends and family in the vicinity and won't be in any great hurry to move south again.

Very nearly voted for that one myself, to be fair -- all of the above, plus it was a winner against Celtic to boot (Even my wife picked it out as her favourite, and she knows nowt about fitba'!)

Don't disagree with any of that, but I suppose for the sake of argument, possible scenarios could include a) no other tempting offers on the table at the time, so better to have some job than no job; b) actual finances or other resources available for next season turning out to be even less than anticipated when re-signing; c) genuine attempt to help out a club he's developed some affinity for, by ensuring they'll get compensation when he moves on.

Unfortunately, the stark reality these days is that most clubs who are in the market for the same standard of player as us just can't really afford to pay cash for anyone they can pick up for free at the end of the season.

There was quite a bit of detail about this scheme in the brochure my dad got with his season ticket renewal stuff (guessing it was probably available at the open day as well?) Forget the details off-hand, but I think there were four levels ranging from £1k - £25k, with the same 9-instalment option that the rest of us have.

For the answer to your first sentence, see your second sentence...

Haven't decided yet, but I doubt I'll vote for Wee Higgy… would rather see it go to somebody who's capable of repeating what they did rather than a jammy once-in-a-career effort from somebody who's rarely featured in the team

Birmingham have confirmed the deal will go through on 1st July, so indeed… no reason not play him against St Johnstone, and would arguably be unfair on Ross County if we didn't (not that they troubled him very much!)

From the 'fishel site: http://www.motherwellfc.co.uk/2013/05/14/randolph-agrees-birmingham-deal/