David

As I've said a few times now, I'm certainly not saying he's not had a poor season or should be absolved of blame. The point I'm making is that he's only as good as the defence in front of him, and vice versa. It's no real surprise that he's had his better seasons for us when we've had a better defence.

Someone just as good, if not better than Kelly on a fraction of his salary.

Again, no one denies that he has underperformed. He has, like most of our players, particularly in defence. However, if he were as bad as many here suggest, he would be finishing up the last days of his contract and heading off to somewhere like the Northern Premier League, just like Aaron Chapman did. There are varying degrees to how well our goalkeepers have performed. Kelly may not be at the level of Ruddie or Randolph, but he's certainly better than Aaron Chapman or Craig Samson. We've had some legit terrible keepers in recent times. Kelly isn't one of them.

However, we've often heard that there are significantly better goalkeepers available for a fraction of Kelly's salary. Why haven't Celtic or Rangers pursued any of these options? Perhaps the reality is that he's not as bad as some people here think. Both sides of the Old Firm may have assessed him and concluded, "With a stronger defence in front of him, he could be a very competent backup keeper."

You understand that a goalkeeper's saves often result from the situations and positions created by the defence, right? Just like how a keeper's command of the box during set pieces can influence the defence's response? It's very difficult to evaluate a goalkeeper or his statistics in isolation without considering the defence in front of him, and the same goes for evaluating many aspects of the defence without considering the goalkeeper's role.

Then why are Celtic and Rangers wasting their time on him? If he's terrible?

Who's saying that he's not been poor? He's been part of a poor defence, but you could honestly have stuck Walter Zenga in goal for us this season and he'd have found it tough. What I'm saying is that he'll likely fare better in a better team, and that you don't get interest from Celtic or Rangers, never mind both of them, if you're "the worst keeper in the league" as some have claimed.

None of that to do with the defence in front of him, then? I mean, we all know Kelly was a very good keeper at points for us. Are we thinking he's suddenly "shite"? Or, as is most likely the case, he's been playing with a sub-standard defence? I remember certain individuals on this forum claiming that Kelly would be lucky to get an offer from another Premier League club. Looks like he's been in the thoughts of two fairly prominent ones. Despite "3 clean sheets in 38 games."

Kelly drawing interest from both Celtic and Rangers, then? You have to wonder why either of them hasn't chosen the "just as good but half the wages" option that certain people on here have been talking about. Guess that means we can jump in now and grab that guy though, whoever he is.

Ah, okay. Interesting to know. I guess it makes sense to have it behind closed doors if that is the case.

The club have so far announced two pre-season games, which are as follows: Motherwell vs FC Twente (Friday, June 28th 7pm) Motherwell vs D.S.V.D Deurningen (Sunday, June 30th 2pm) I'll add further games to this post as and when they're made official.

If we're losing Kelly and some other long-term players then we will need a few experienced heads who know the club and who can help the transition to a new era of sorts. If O'Donnell is one of them, on a reduced contract that has both term and finances to reflect his current and future position in the squad, then I'm happy with that.

On this, I'd hope there's a good number of Society members who do exactly that and then pass any concerns or questions on to the Society board, who can then go about getting those questions answered. Perhaps even via a video Q&A? Maybe hoping for a bit too much there though. Me too. We've simply come too far and have secured a position as a fan group that countless other club's fanbases would kill to have. We can't throw that away based on short-term thinking. I'd hope when the arse eventually falls out of the English league (and it will, that model isn't sustainable long-term) and the aftershock affects certain clubs up here who are operating outside of their means, we are still standing as a fan-owned club.

Good idea. @SteelmaninOZconsider this your own personal thread for your random video posts.

Where would the fun be in doing that? I personally love this time of year. All the rumours, people getting raging about players we haven't signed, the frenzied Google searches for Wiki pages of some random League 2 reserve striker who's scored 3 goals in 576 games etc. That would seem like decent business, if true. Two guys who can do a job but hopefully with contracts to reflect their reduced roles in the coming season. Of course no one is leaking it. It's all coming from random Twitter accounts and online rumours.

This is key. We can all discuss future award-winning documentary series, Netflix, TikTok and so on, but we need to know what the actual angle here is. You're 100% correct. Which begs the question...why? All questions that will need to be answered before I decide which way I'd vote, if asked. And I hope others do the same.

Publicity and kudos from who though?

It's for this reason that I find it difficult to believe that anyone putting money into a football club, especially in Scotland, can see it as an investment. I work with investors regularly. They tend to make investments to increase their wealth, which is pretty much the definition of investment. What we're looking for is someone to give us money for free.

When I see the term investment thrown out there, I often wonder how many people who have put money into a Scottish football club have come away with a profit? I believe Fergus McCann did back in the day, but taking the big two out of the equation, has anyone or any particular investment group come into Scottish football and made an actual profit?

For me, the real doomsday scenario is us handing control of the club to someone because they've offered to throw us a few quid and a suggestion of a documentary, only for them to change their mind and decide they don't want to cover said hole that needs plugged. At least as things are now, there's an element of transparency. If and when someone else takes majority control, they don't need to tell us anything if they don't want to, because it would be their club, not ours.

Not only that, but we'd likely be viewed in a negative light by other clubs and players, which could affect future player business. I mean, imagine how we'd feel if he'd come in on loan under the same agreement to sign for next season and he'd been a revelation, running our midfield and looking amazing, only to get to the summer and say, "Actually, I've had a few better offers elsewhere now after my late-season showing, so I'm just gonna cancel this deal with you guys and bugger off." It works both ways. If we've made a commitment to the player, we need to honour it.

Yeah, as I said in the first post, there's a number of younger players but I didn't add them to the list. I'm talking mostly about first team players.

Out of contract (1st team squad) Liam Kelly Aston Oxborough Bevis Mugabi Ricki Lamie Stephen O'Donnell Callan Elliot Paul McGinn Barry Maguire Calum Butcher Callum Slattery Sam Nicholson Blair Spittal (signed pre-contract with Hearts) Jonathan Obika Mark Ferrie So, with the season about done, who would you want to keep from that lot? Obviously Spittal is offski, but from the rest?

It'll be a game we can all enjoy without worrying about the result. If someone had told me that earlier in the season, I'd have taken it.

First time we've conceded three goals in a league game since Celtic put three past us on February 25th, and we're eleven points clear of the playoffs. Not the best season by any stretch, but I'll take it. Next season will be interesting. Some wholesale changes look like they're on the cards.