Motherwell Seagull

At least he's no a Lithuanian banker...

Found this an 'interesting' read...Clicky

Believe the official position is that there is a budget that can be used to bring players in. Whether the budget is used on small fees, signing on bonuses, wages or all of the above is up to the manager.

Either he hasn't done his homework, or Boyle and Gannon quite simply have been telling us mistruths!

Have had poor experiences of this type of service at Brighton. They do put a lot of interviews etc up, but its basically the same interviews that appear on the website in text anyway. The commentary on games that they provide is essentially the Southern counties radio feed (which is no to bad to be fair) along with stats etc that you could easily pick up from the likes of sportinglife etc. Having the games (highlights at the very least) IMHO is a must for any service - otherwise the club could easily just do a podcast and enhance the website through that avenue. Its not as if we are short of folk supporting the club that have journalistic and/or radio presenting experience... To spark a demand with folk prepared to pay for the service it needs to concentrate on offering the exiles the sort of content that they crave. I don't think £40 quid a season is a hell of a lot, providing the content is additional to what is already on the website. As an exile I would rather pay the club for a reasonable service rather than subscribe to SKY/ESPN to see the odd game involving my club. Part of that is pure stubbornness on my behalf - I refuse to subscribe to anything that sees the vast majority of my money subsidise the old firm - especially when other methods exist to view the content...

Just goes to show, opinions and all that. I thought Burley was a class act - particularly in his first spell at the club. Don't think I've ever heard anyone have a bad word for Burley before now. Do not get me started on the likes of Kinnaird, Roddie, Baptie, McLeod, Fairlie and all the others that have left me mentally scarred!

Its a 5 year deal though! I wouldn't mind peanuts for a couple of years, but to lock us down for 5 years is a heck of a time. In Motherwell terms thats probably the duration of 3 contracts! I know beggars can't be choosers, but will the paltry amount of money really make a difference to the clubs (assuming the OF continue to take the Lion's share)?

Am I missing something? I thought Murphy was the next big thing off the Motherwell production line? Always seems to be a good player when I watch the Scottish youngsters.

I think we agree then (no fun to be had there) - Gannon will be working hard to get the right players in ASAP. There was a comment recently on BBC (sorry, can't remember who came out with it) indicating that a lot of the players are coming back from a holiday period about now, and that they were expecting a fair bit of transfer activity over the next few weeks - fingers crossed for a few arrivals at FP.

Regardless of when the deadline is I think we can safely assume that Gannon will be working hard to bring players in. I wouldn't want to rush a signing simply because of the Europe thing - better to be professional and get the players in that he really wants and be ready for the league. Don't get me wrong, I am all for an extended run in Europe, but think the league has to be the priority.

Was looking through a list of free transfers available in England to see if anyone caught the imagination, it has to be said that there are some big names available (beyond our resources), but also noticed some old friends like Krysiak. Anyway, if anyone is interested and can't be bothered working this morning, here is the link: PFA List of Free Transfers

In League One Gannon was known for knowing what he wants and expects from players. Strong characters like that inevitably fall out with players from time to time, and end up moving players on to other clubs. We had a similar character with McLean - although McLean could have a joke, woe betide anyone who got on the wrong side of him. Gannon's number 2 is believed to be the buffer between players and Gannon - and has a good reputation for smoothing out the minor infractions/disagreements. I believe McGhee by comparison was a bit closer to the payers (perhaps necessarily after Uncle Phil) but I would still expect him to enforce discipline where he saw fit - he certainly has a record for this at other clubs. Perhaps a difference in style/method, but ultimately the same end result from what I have seen.

Clarkson may have had the coaching, but for a large chunk of his career he hardly had the encouragement of the fans!

To a certain extent it makes a pleasent change to come on here after a bad loss and not read bile about how the manager must go! We all know the problems with the squad - and it doesn't appear to have taken much time for Gannon to identify that as well. I appreciated some of his comments last night in that he has clearly sent the players a warning, and appears confident in his ability to replace them if needbe. I expect that his ability to deliver will be what he is judged on moving forward. I have 1 slight reservation re Gannon in that I hope he can adapt his formations to suit the players we have whilst he takes the time to get the players capable of playing the formations he traditionally likes. Le Guen was not adaptable during his short stay in Glasgow, and paid the price. Yes, freak results happen, and of course it will take time for the players to knit with the system. Youngsters aside, every one of our senior payers needs to have a hard look at themselves this morning - the bottom line is that they should have been good enough last night, and been able to keep something in reserve.

A great signing for my other team, although I thought Buzz wanted to split the Old Firm?? The 35 year old you mention is truly a 1 off, and famously, a former Dutch Marine. God knows what he'll make of Buzz screaming like a big girls blouse!

Do not underestimate the talent pool in Ingerlund. The problem down here is that equivalent players already command a transfer fee in excess of 3-4 times what it'll cost them for Clarky etc. Some of the wages being paid in League One beggar belief, but can be sustained by TV contracts, Premiership windfall payments etc. There are some right mince players down here getting a more than decent wage packet. That said, there are also a number of clubs operating shoestring budgets.

Apologies f posted deep in one of the other threads... Clicky

JG has a lot to do before the start of the league. Am so used to hearing about how difficult it is to get players of the right quality that I am really looking forward to seeing players coming in, perhaps with a wee point to prove, who JG believes he can get that little bit extra out of. Given the current squad numbers, it is almost too much to ask for JG to get us to the start of the League, still in Europe and with a reasonable squad in place - however I am sure we are all hoping!

Aye, we'd all have liked him to play more, and lets not forget he was good enough to get capped.

Perhaps going a little far to suggest that a youngster can step in and replace an experienced professional - but yes, both Page and Hutchison appear to have the ability, but possibly need to improve on their strength etc. Mind you, I base that only on the couple of games that I have seen them play in, which is to say not a lot!

Even better than that...a modern day (albeit taller) version of wee Tam McLean!

Having just watched a fairly awful season at Brighton (who also avoided relegation by a bawhair) last time round I'd agree that the standard is not equivalent to the SPL. On the other hand however, I am frequently confounded by just how many ex SPL players look ordinary in this league (and I really mean anonymous)! There are a good number of promising youngsters in League One, and Gannon should be familiar with the ones that are available in this division, as well as those in the Championship and dare I say it, league 2 also. The League One standard is probably better than the Scottish 1st Division, and the odd bargain still comes out of there! Its worth noting that there are some fairly big name clubs in League One, and that there will be a fair few clubs possibly paying more in wages than Motherwell can offer right now? Given the age of his squad etc, I thought that Gannon was building something a little special at Stockport - and it is a shame that his team will never get a chance to grow, and show what they were capable of. That said, Stockport has already let a number of their players go, so perhaps those that could handle the step up have already gone? Good luck to Clarky - I hope he does himself justice and dare I say it, moves on to bigger and better things!

On most boards a 'smilie' indicates that someone is being tongue in cheek. I spoke to a couple of the lads at Brighton who used to play under Gannon at Stockport, and they mentioed that he has taken some stick in the past for being a proud Irishman who was born in London. Perhaps parochialism is not just confined to Scotland afterall??

Clarky has done well for us, and deserves his move and a shot at hitting the big time. He'll always be one of us though - anyone who was at the cup tie after Phil will have no doubt on that. Good luck - and don't forget to be back on a free in 10 years! Our youth policy is certainly turning over a tidy profit at the moment - and all concerned (even if they are not still at the club) should take a pat on the back!

Did a very good job at Stockort - but apparently was on a kings ransom of a salary. He certainly got the players playing for him, and they played a decent style of football. Found it strange that he let Dicker play on loan for Brighton against Stockport in the last game of the season, but clearly he was doing the best for his player - and that helped keep Brighton up so am not complaining! Think Boyle has done well to get him to Fir Park, and believe Gannon is more than capable of doing a good job for us - just a shame Jimbo is English though . Think the old roller coaster has just changed direction again!!