David

He got three votes, so he just missed out.

So, thanks to @weeyin and his consistency with the MOTM threads after every game, I've had a look at who has been winning those votes each game this season and compiled the following list of players who are, by democratic vote, considered the performers of the season for Motherwell. Leading the way with 7 MOTM awards, and of absolutely no surprise to anyone, is... Kevin Van Veen. Striker extraordinaire, lazy c*nt, budget Bergkamp. He's been called it all this season, but the one thing he absolutely is, is crucial to our success since Kettlewell took over. Top striker, top guy, let's hope he's still here next season. In second spot is... Matt Penney Not even at the club for six months, but it's fair to say he made an impression during his time in Lanarkshire. 16 league games, two cup games. 5 MOTM awards. Basically, he was voted our best player in almost 30% of the games he played for us. A very good player who most fans would loved to have kept here for longer. Third place in the voting is shared among three players who nabbed 4 votes each... Liam Kelly. The captain, and one of the best shot stoppers in the league in my opinion. He gets a bit of stick when he dips below the usually high standards he sets, but that comes with the territory. Sondre Solholm Johansen At the club for just shy of 18 months, the big man made an impression on the fans for sure. A bit of a cult hero, even if he had his deficiencies as a player. Always gave his all, and will be fondly remembered by most fans I'd like to think. Stuart McKinstry While the local lads homecoming didn't go quite to plan and he was slowly phased out when Kettlewell took over, he did more than enough to win the votes of fans in the times he did play. Will we see him at Motherwell next season? I doubt it. But he'll go on to do well somewhere I think. So there you have it. The players who secured the highest three votes in the season. Thanks again to @weeyin for running those polls.

Interesting. I'm guessing the club have activated an extra year on the initial deal that runs until June 2023. When he signed the new deal there was no mention of that, and there's been nothing said by the club about extending him.

Has he? I see nothing that says he's here beyond 2023?

Stop bringing stats and facts into the debate! That's not how it works! 😂

I don't think the man himself can make it, but he'll be well represented.

Aye, and just as the beautiful sunny days, which are perfect for football and for tempting fans along to stadiums, arrive our season ends 😂

He won't be taking a wage cut though, will he? His contract at Rangers is complete, so what he earned there over the past few years doesn't matter now. He won't be negotiating based on what he earned at Rangers, he'll be fielding offers from interested clubs and then seeing what deal suits him the most. It could be strictly financial, or it could be the chance the play for a year or two on less money but be given the chance to get his foot in the door of the coaching side of things.

No, there won't be a transfer fee, but depending on the interest he sees in the summer there could be sizeable wages and a signing-on fee, which may put him outside our reach. That's if the manager even wants to bring him in. It could just be that he's a very good player who isn't suited to our side.

Is there no crypto companies that we could ask? They're chucking money at football teams. Surely they can send a few bitcoins our way?

We have 14 players either finishing up their time on loan here or who's contracts are ending. Our squad will be losing a lot of size automatically.

I think he'd be incredibly stupid to do that. Clubs who are looking to buy a player do more than just check his recent form and statistics. They check the personality, how they act and their attitude. If he's going in the huff and being problematic with us, potential buying clubs could think that he'd just as easily do the same with them, causing dressing room issues and so forth. I think he knows that if he doesn't get a decent move this summer, he could knock some goals in again next season (maybe not to the level of this season, but still a healthy return) and then get an even bigger move when he can leave for nothing. Either way, it's win/win for him, and he has said that he's not dead-set on moving, but simply that if the right offer came in that suited all parties he wouldn't be opposed to it.

The thing is, while I'm obviously happy that Van Veen could go on and earn a good wedge in his last big contract, my main priority is with the club, and seeing us get a fee for him that makes sense. If we're talking £200,000 then its not worth selling. Simple as that. It would need to be around £500,000 for it to make financial sense for the club I think.

He's not worth signing if the manager isn't going to use him, and all indications are that he wouldn't use him.

Then unless he's really pushing for a move this summer we should probably keep him and let him leave for nothing the following summer. He'd likely get a bigger contract if he does the business for another year and his next club doesn't have to pay a transfer fee for him. By my reckoning £200,000 is not far off the difference in prize money for finishing 7th rather than 8th. I don't think it's unreasonable to suggest his goals this season have made the difference between us finishing in 10th or even 11th and potentially 7th, which is a prize money difference of around half a million quid. Basically, his goals alone could be worth anywhere up to half a million next season to us again. So why punt him for less than half that and gamble on the next striker in the door coming close to replicating his form?

Some proper "Rangers fan without the bus fare" patter right there.

He may get his chance now. As you say, the manager has been getting both points and performances from his team without McKinstry, so it's definitely a case of working hard in training and awaiting your opportunity.

To be fair, it's the media that usually promote that agenda, not the club themselves. But it is a valid point. Back to the football, and despite hatred for one side or the other, what can't be denied is that Postecoglou has them on top of their game. They're absolutely relentless, and against sides with lesser quality they rarely slip up, so I'd grudgingly take a low scoring defeat at worst, and a draw at best.

You must know there was certain forum members just patiently waiting on us finally losing a game against a non-old firm team so they could begin their campaign against the new manager. That's how it works on here. I fully expect the same response if and when he lose handily against Celtic. With chat of how "other teams can beat them" but we can't and so on.

I think we can say that the honeymoon period is well and truly over.

And hopefully they quickly crash and burn upon doing so, heralding a return to the Stendel/Levein/Cathro era.

I was more meaning the whole carry-on with people leaving China having issues getting into other countries until very recently, and the obvious political slant to that with them seeming to side with Russia etc. Basically, even if they were offering the big money, it's not the place to be going at this time I wouldn't think. With no money I'd say even less so.

Didn't the old "mega-rich Chinese club" rumours die out when the arse fell out of their league and the big money being spent on players dried up? Didn't their governing body impose a strict salary cap on their clubs, enforce the "de-corporatisation" of club names which drove away lucrative buyers and sponsorship and basically bully clubs into playing young Chinese players instead? I mean, if they're offering mental money for someone in their early 30's then I'm sure the club will look at it, but anyone who heads to China now, with all the post-Covid shenanigans that's gone on is absolutely mental.

Even if top six is beyond us, we should certainly be looking to finish in 7th. The difference in prize money between 7th & 8th is around £300,000 by my estimation, and that money will certainly come in handy when we're looking to dish out a new contract or bring someone new in. Livi are sitting on one win from their last five, so they're definitely beatable, especially when they don't have the unfair advantage of that shambles of a pitch on their side. Six points from nine should be our aim.

Honestly, are you even reading what I'm saying? Or just skimming before climbing aboard your high horse? Where did I say the lads in the east stand are all wee angels and innocent? Please, show me where I said that. I'll wait. What I am saying, is that dawn raids have always been the tactics used when a suspect is considered armed and dangerous. Like I said, incidents that usually involve (or where there are suspected) firearms, large amounts of drugs or drug money, or indeed for gangland figures deemed extremely dangerous. Like this, and this. Apart from two other situations. Football fans and refugees. You don't need to like that, but it's what is happening. Like you can see here. For some weird reason football fans seem to find incidents like this acceptable. Where, for example, a 14 year old boy was part of a dawn raid for trouble at a Wrexham game. The charge? Affray. Are you honestly telling me that the cops couldn't have just arrived at the lads door later in the day and taken him into custody? Why the fuck do they need to treat him as though he's holding weapons or drugs? As I said in my posts previously, I'm not claiming any lads involved in violence are innocent. What I am saying is that the tactics used by police are entirely disproportionate to the alleged crimes. If you can't see that, then I don't know what to tell you.