David

We cannot possibly judge him on where we finish in the league. He can only be gauged on how silent he's been on any given matter, don't you know?

Well, it is his "dream move" remember. According to the rags, anyway.

Turnbull is actually a good example. His "big move" to Celtic was derailed due to a knee issue. Now, what would have happened if that knee issue was more serious? In fact, and I really hope this isn't the case, imagine Turnbull returns this season only to break down for whatever reason, and he never hits the heights expected of him? Do you think Celtic will still want him? Not a chance. That life-changing money is gone in a flash. Let's take it even further. His knee continues giving him grief and he never gets back into a groove for us, and eventually drops out of our team. When the time comes and he's quietly released, do you think the fans who bemoan a player leaving too early will give a toss? Of course not. We're more concerned with the next Turnbull, or the new striker we've signed. Turnbull will just be another ex-player who is a "what if?" discussed in pre-match pub chit chat. Players "owe" the club and the fans nothing. It's only ever the good players that are called on for loyalty and "giving back," isn't it? If he was shit we wouldn't be bothered. Hastie was right to take the stupid deal Rangers offered him. He's most likely never going to be better than he was during that purple patch he had for us, so he's right to cash in on it. He could easily go out against Ross County for us and go down with a career-altering injury. You take the money when it's available. Strike while the iron is hot, so to speak.

If all else fails we can just blame his nasty, evil agent for tricking the lad into signing for Rangers.

It's also worth remembering that the manager has seen fit to bring him back. You'd think we'd been forced to take him with some of the patter on here. Shite being spun about how many games he has to play. Absolute nonsense made up on the internet. It's a no-lose situation for us. We've basically got a player back that we've already been paid a fee for. If anything it's the Rangers fans who should be asking questions, not us. Hopefully he does well and manages to forge that relationship with Turnbull again, nab a few goals, get us some points. If he doesn't, we'll send him back to Rangers and he'll be their problem again.

Maybe he still does.

If we can get Hastie in, then great. If not, that's fine as well. As much as I'd like to see that combo of him and Turnbull again, it's not exactly going to make or break our season in my opinion. He'd be a "nice to have", not a must.

Bottom line is, if the household in question is blasting music at 2am or 3am then call the cops. Isn't there a law that says you need to pipe down after 11pm or something? No doubt the admin of the WhatsApp group will know the answer to that.

As I said, it benefits both sides. The parent club sees the benefits you mention, while we gain a player that we'd probably have no chance of getting if we were to try and buy them outright. It's a win/win, which is why so many clubs do it.

While a loan move does help with player development for the parent club, it also provides us with a quality player for the duration of the deal as well, doesn't it? The benefits are there for both clubs, and the player.

Who is this Malpas fellow you speak of? I don't recall that period in Motherwell history Personally, I'd be more inclined to cast the net wider if we reach a situation where the current management team isn't working. As things stand, I'd like to think that Lasley could continue the stellar work Robinson has been doing.

If Robinson does go, it makes absolute sense to promote from within. Unless you're a club who can pay top dollar for a new manager, and also pay to bring in the players he wants for the system he wants to play, then it's the best option. Lasley knows exactly how we've been operating of late. He knows the systems that are working, he knows the players we have, he knows the youth players earmarked for a step-up, and he knows the transfer targets we have. It's seamless, and also cost-effective.

The people charged with making those decisions for the club have done a decent job of it thus far, so if they see value in him that's good enough for me.

I know the industry well enough to know that agents aren't commanding their players to do anything. As I said, this narrative that agents somehow force players into making decisions they wouldn't otherwise want to make is incredibly naive. It's worth remembering that the agents work for the players, not the other way around. Don't get me wrong, it makes it easier for fans to digest if they think the player they like is only leaving their club, or shaking their club down for more money because of an evil agent who's counting the hundreds in his wallet while laughing maniacally, and who is exploiting the poor, innocent player to make money off him. Not the case in reality though. The football agent business is incredibly competitive. Any agent, outside of the very top two or three, simply cannot afford to piss a player off. If they do, they're out a job and a new agent is in his place within hours. In fact, sometimes a new agent is in place before the previous one even knows he's been sacked.

Trust me, agents "tell" players fuck all. There's this weird perception among fans that a player is controlled by his agent as if it's his wife, which isn't the case. Most agents, with the exception of a few "super" agents, tread very carefully because they know fine well they can be sacked and replaced in a jiffy. Most agents at the lower end of the game spend just as much of their time trying to stop other agents poaching their players as they do actually helping their players. Anything a player does, is because they wanted to do it. I'd actually wager that Tait's agent would have been more likely to tell him to sign the initial deal in a timely manner than try to play hard ball. Such tactics may work for Paul Pogba, but they don't work for a Richard Tait who's already in a position where he's not first choice at Motherwell. That interview where he said what he said reeked of a player who had went into business for himself. I'd guess whoever his agent was probably had his head in his hands at that point.

Why? It looks to me like the club were just clarifying their side of the story after Tait went public with his? Let's not make excuses for him, he's a big boy. No one is fooling him into making statements that he doesn't believe. This lies squarely with the player, not the agent. Blaming the agent is an easy cop-out.

I'm not sure I'd agree mate, I think St Mirren, most seasons, are far more in danger of going down than we are. There's a chance he could be giving up a contract at a team where he knows the layout, knows the manager, and knows what we're capable of, to go to St Mirren where he could easily end up relegated. I think anyone who knocks us back for St Mirren is mental at this point in time. Unless we're offering them much less money, of course. But I'd be surprised if that was the case here. I'd be surprised if he went there instead of to us, especially if the terms are anything close to being similar.

Tait? I'm talking about O'Hara.

Longer than 3 years? That's what we've offered him it would seem. I guess we'll see what happens, but St Mirren over us in mental. He'd be as well just playing down south with a club that can match their offer. I'd assumed the reason he'd come to us was because of our track record of putting players in the window and getting them bigger moves, and potentially the idea of playing a European game or two. St Mirren offer nothing like that.

Imagine choosing to go to St Mirren over us at the moment? Insanity.

Good call. Let's keep the Hearts chat to one thread. Preferably a thread on a fucking Hearts forum.

That Steelboy has so little to complain about that he's reaching to such depths to throw shade on Burrows tells us all we need to know about our pre-season so far. Decent signings in early doors, still more to come by the looks of it, European football (in some form) on the horizon, and we've still got our best player under contract and raring to go for the new season. What a time to be alive.

Yet here both of you are bickering over it.

The original point wasn't even that he'd signed for us, but that we were interested. i think it's fair to say we were.

Mark that up as a victory for the Record then.