StAndrew7

Or look to sell them on for more than we can afford to pay for them (see Mika, Jutkiewicz, Ruddy...)

Yeah, I do a cull every now and then; as I rarely remember to unfollow them until I see a post from them at a new club or something.

It is but where's the fun in that? Ranting on the internet about it is far more cathartic than ignoring it. Particularly for a club who prides themselves on the standards of their #content and #socials

Yet more random #content from the socials team today: https://x.com/MotherwellFC/status/1798640976061210692 I really, really don't care. This just seems like posts for posts sake, now.

Probably cost you more after the medical bills 😅

Pessimistic? £1million for Theo Bair isn't pessimistic, it's excellent. We got half that for Moult who had two seasons of similar goal tallies. And I'm assuming you mean lesser players are going for more in the current market; who? Apologies for the tone; as I've said elsewhere, long day and I'm a bit narky.

The one thing that the majority of people want to hear from the club right now is news of signings. That much is evident from the Ins and Outs Discussion on here. Having a photograph of someone who looks like they've been signed (and more pertinently, someone who signed and within 6 months explicitly stated that he didn't want to be here/didn't fancy it) as the leading image on a post people are most likely going to see whilst doom-scrolling is a sure-fire way to generate clicks, but it's also going to rile people up/irritate them. If it's a recap of July, show pre-season first, or show league cup action, whatever. The timing of it is just off for me. Like I said; long day, ranty mcrantface here, but it's just not the best chat that's all.

We can't value assets higher than the market says they're actually worth though. That's how a marketplace works. Bair is worth whatever people are willing to pay for him alongside how much we realistically want for him. You can't ask for £3million for a player with one 6 month period of good form and on a contract worth (in relative terms) buttons. A million now or nothing in a year. It's not rocket science which is the best option.

Aye, I had a proper rant about the absolute shite our socials have been putting out recently. Like, if you're going to do a post about last July at the start of the transfer window, don't have a photograph of Conor Wilkinson when he signed as the first bloody thumbnail. Amateurish stuff.

Single options for each question is frustrating as. I use multiple methods to get news, access the club website etc... "Did you know your season ticket gets you discounted hospitality?" No, because I don't have one. The phrasing and writing of some of these questions... 🤦‍♂️ I'm all for fan engagement but good grief, it's not difficult to proof read these things and get the basics correct. Sorry, rant over. Been a long day.

I'm not disagreeing with you about starting high in this case, I'm in full agreement. I said that we've actually got a decent record of selling assets for money that has helped support the club, which you've acknowledged, so what's the issue here? Comparing our transfer values/selling record with the English leagues is pointless. Everything down there is hyper-inflated because of the value of the Premier League. I would argue we get good/full value because player contracts up here just aren't worth the same as they are down there; that's all part of the fee which is paid. We can't expect to get £XXm for a player who's earning £2.5k a week unless they're on a really long term contract.

I'm not quite sure where you're getting that from? When we've been in the position to sell, we've sold relatively well in the last 5-10 years I'd say. Kipre, Moult, Van Veen, Turnbull, Sol, Scott, Johnson, Heneghan to name a few, have all gone for decent wedges. The exception to that list is obviously Turnbull, but given the hype and praise Bair has received in the press, I think we'll do pretty well out of any transfer for him. Also, Caldwell comes across as a very sensible CEO and will get us good value for him. Edit: TransferMarkt has us making about £7million from transfers in the last 10ish years.

Agreed; context is key though. The boy from Dundalk we didn't offer any up front cash for is out of contract, so we can get him on a free in 6 months time when the league there finishes, like we did with Blaney once his was up. Balmer, I would imagine we'll have an up-front fee of some sort to pay as he's contracted for another year or so.

From what I heard we had a "bit" to spend this summer, due to good budgeting and I think we're due some development fees, as well. The fee on P&B of £100k as you say is just rumoured. Could be half that with options or something else.

Every word of this.

I think there is a point to be made about squad harmony and unity, as well. You can see from the team that even when we were going through our bad run last season, they never stopped playing for Kettlewell and as a unit. Yes, the football was absolutely shite at times but it was clear the players hadn't downed tools. Kettlewell wanting to keep players with that kind of attitude and willingness to play for him isn't a bad thing in my eyes. Building a squad is a very nuanced and intricate process, not at all easy and is thankless for a manager because some fans will never be pleased with signings that are made.

Isn't he off managing Master Wayne's estate somewhere these days?

Stop talking sense, you. This thread is for losing your shit only. 😅

I don't think I saw Devine do much of anything, other than for 20 minutes or so against Aberdeen at Pittodrie.

I'm not convinced SODs will be playing at right back next season as anything other than an emergency back up if we sign the players we want to; he'll probably move inside to wide centre-back.

Given all that's been said by Frail, Kettlewell and Caldwell about doing business early and getting players in for pre-season, you'd expect that to have been the case and that we'll see the fruits of it in the next few weeks.

I'd be hoping for one or two new players, with a couple of retained signings as well.

I think the exemption thing is fairly new, although that might be for a work permit? I don't really understand it all tbh but I thought a visa and a work permit were different things in this case.

Is there not a new system in place where we can have up to 4 players under special terms or something? I can't find a link but remember hearing/reading something.

I think when Slattery and Spittal "clicked" it was absolutely great to watch, the issue is that it didn't happen enough and I'm not sure they could ever really play with one another long term; they were too similar in styles and "laziness" for want of a better word. I think Slattery can be an effective midfielder for us but needs to stop falling over quite as much, as others have said; I know that the stats say he's the most fouled in the league or something like that, but he probably only gets 50% of what he claims for. Hopefully his knee doesn't hold him back (although injuries like that are nowhere near as horrendous as they once could have been, thankfully) and he finds some form. Out of interest, how many times did he play with Davor starting in the same game sitting behind him? It feels like it didn't happen that often but maybe I'm wrong.