David

Unfortunately, it looks like that revenue stream that we've built up will be somewhat demolished by the fact that the deal offered to fans who bought season tickets this season will see many get their season tickets next season for absolutely nothing. We can hope that a fair chunk of fans will waive the opportunity for that, but we don't know for certain. The contract thing is an interesting discussion point, because there's always those who point at players who sign on a one-year deal, do very well, then move on for free. What no one really brings up though, is the number of players we sign on short-term deals, aren't good, and we're happy to let them move on at the end of the season. As much as it would be grand to have our best players tied down to long-term deals, we cannot risk having a squad full of players who didn't make the cut but who aren't going anywhere else due to lack of interest. Regarding the players we've re-signed for next season? We have to place some faith in the manager. I personally think that Mugabe has shown an improvement since the change in manager, and Stephen O'Donnell on a two-year deal is a tremendous piece of business. In all honesty I don't even "expect" survival. I go into every season with survival as the number one priority. Once we get into a position where it looks like we won't be fighting it out at the bottom of the table, my aims turn to top six, then top four, and so on. But I don't "expect" anything. In a league where the likes of Hearts, Hibs and Dundee United can go down, we're certainly not in a position to assume we're better than that.

So, as we approach the end of another season it may be worth expanding on the signings made since the OP listed the above: Devante Cole Aaron Chapman Jordan Archer Steven Lawless Sam Foley Robbie Crawford Liam Kelly Harry Smith Jordan Roberts Eddie Nolan Tyler Magloire With that said, is there anyone who thinks the time may have come for some fresh blood in the recruitment department? Or has Foyle done enough to keep his job?

Don't get me wrong, if there's teams after him he'll have a decision to make, and I doubt any team will base their entire approach on how he did against Morton in the cup.

I'm personally not sold on Carson ever coming back the same keeper he was before, and so if Kelly was open to a return I'd jump all over that. Cole has had something like ten clubs in seven years. Surely he's got to be thinking about settling somewhere for a few years, and if he's doing well here and seems to be a good fit then why not sign for another year at least? Have to believe that if he moves on he'll likely just continue bouncing around like Fleetwood and Doncaster Rovers.

To be fair, his injury had him out from when? Late January? Do we expect him to firing on all cylinders at the moment? I don't.

I think it's more a case of the Tweet being picked up by one person and then shared via fans Motherwell accounts and social media pages.

As stated above, if these claims are true then not only is the player himself treating the club and his team mates with utter contempt, but the club are a disgrace if they're constantly talking about his professionalism in the media knowing that he's acting that way behind the scenes.

You said he was refusing to play? So he's either been kidding on he was injured, or he was just flat-out being unprofessional and treating the club and his team mates with utter contempt. So what it is? And if he did "refuse to play" then what does that say about our manager, when he just said this over the past few days about Gallagher? "He will never let his standards drop and his mentality drop. He got injured for us and he couldn't get back into the team, but his attitude to training around the squad has been absolutely top notch, and that's what I expect from a professional like him." Anyone who's buying into these conspiracy theories about Gallagher aren't just accusing him of being unprofessional, they're also saying those who run our club and the manager are incompetent if they're still out there defending and praising someone who's apparently taking the piss like Gallagher is supposed to be.

You seriously think he was kidding on with his injury? Holy fuck.

How has he "wrecked his Euro chances?"

He was pretending to be injured while he held the club to ransom until they removed the trigger from his contract without telling anyone! Keep up!

That's how it goes though, isn't it? He's gone from the captain and one of our best players to a total fraud who's cheating the club by pretending he's injured and someone who's refused to play another game until we remove a top secret trigger from his deal. All based entirely on media nonsense, which has never been mentioned by the outlet since. Now certain sections of our fanbase are revelling in him not being played for Scotland, totally ignoring the fact that he's not started a game of football since January and probably isn't fit enough anyway. Oh wait, I forgot. He is fit. He's just kidding on that he isn't.

Then why hasn't the Record mentioned that the trigger stipulation has supposedly been quietly removed from his contract? That latest article they haven't even referred to the same thing they made a big deal of claiming would scupper his move to his boyhood club! The Record are at it!

it may be worth noting that the very same publication that made a big song & dance about the extension trigger only last week linked Gallagher with Aberdeen and Hearts and made absolutely zero mention of it in the article. I wonder why that is? Surely an extension trigger being removed from the player they're talking about's contract warrants a mention, no? Or maybe they're quietly forgetting that claim in the first place?

Their journalist was probably given information. By who? Fuck knows. It won't be the first time they've been wrong, and it won't be the last. Could it have come from Gallagher's agent at his request? Possibly. Could it have come from a friend or family member? Maybe. Could it have been information gleaned by the journalist from another source? Potentially. We'll likely never know. My point is that I'm not going to judge the guy on a story from the Daily Record, especially when it comes to claiming that he's a fraud and that he intentionally duped the club about an injury. That's a pretty heavy allegation, and I'm not going to make it. As I said initially, he's a Motherwell player until the end of the season. As long as he plays his part in keeping us up that'll do me. After that? He can do as he wishes.

Nah, by even acknowledging it he's just raising awareness of it and stoking the fires, because as we all know, those who have chosen to believe said story will likely not have their minds changed anyway. Best thing to do is just get the head down, get fit, play football and secure premier league safety for Motherwell. What he decides to do next season is up to him. Because he was linked with Celtic at the time, wasn't he? The fact it was Motherwell was just a side issue.

So, because he didn't make an official announcement on the ins & outs of his employment contract he's at it? Fair enough.

Well, if he's not that good then we'll be well shot of him then, eh? Win/Win all-round.

Like most people outside of a select few at the club and Gallagher's inner circle, I have no idea. And quite honestly, I would rather that if he did have such a clause and it was unsettling him that we negotiated it out of his deal. I have zero interest in keeping a player here who doesn't want to be here, and I certainly don't want our captain thinking about contract clauses when we're fighting to stay up. If he gets to the end of the season and wishes to go, then fair play to him. He's given us some excellent service over the past two years.

Aren't those the very factors that define a team in the league position we're in though? The teams around us all have the same complaints. It's quite simple from what I can see. We go out most summers to try and sign the best players we can get on our extremely limited budget. Some seasons it works wonders and we hit gold with a few, and some seasons it doesn't. This past summer is a season that it hasn't. Although it's easy to look back and claim we knew all along it wasn't going to work when in fact most fans were happy that we were getting our business done early and were fairly optimistic. Alexander is tasked with the exact same job as Robinson, which is to try to sign some players who can do a turn for us and get us into the top six, while also looking for a few that either come from the youth setup or outside the club that we can maybe punt on for a profit down the line. We've had a good few players come through the youth setup the past number of years, but it's only natural that we're not going to churn out a Turnbull, Campbell or James Scott every year. There will be years where none of the youngsters really hit the heights. Alexander is tasked with keeping us up, then in the summer he's tasked with rebuilding the squad as best he can to accomplish a top six finish on an extremely limited budget. Same as Robinson before him, and same as the guy who comes after him.

No. Like most chatter on football forums it's just speculation, and a smattering of people who'll claim they're "in the know" but can't do any better than be cryptic about their sources and suchlike. The usual shite, basically.

This is the kind of game where we all say we'd take a point before a ball is kicked only for us to draw 1-1 but look like the side who could have won the game comfortably.

I'll probably not bother, to be honest.

Source?

But...but....it was in the Daily Record! Don't you know that our football journalists never get this kind of thing wrong?!? I mean, I know the club has claimed he's got an injury, and that he'll be back when he's fit, but we all know the club aren't as trustworthy or knowledgable as our esteemed football media!