And if we had offered him 2 or 3 years and he was a donkey, the "McCall Must Go" thread would be in meltdown.
It's a fine line which the club has managed reasonably well recently, but tying up even one salary to a non-contributor makes a huge impact when you have such a small squad.
And even if he was a free agent, he might still have only wanted a short term deal to see what develops over the summer.