David

What I read into it is speculation. So & so "heard" this isn't exactly concrete information. The biggest thing I've read into the Jake Carroll signing is that he's a stick-on to be the scapegoat among certain fans next season unless he hits the ground running and immediately settles in.

No one said they're single handedly keeping the club afloat, but if we're going to the trouble of trying to rustle a couple of hundred quid together or whatever is raised via such means then we shouldn't be dismissive of 60 grand. Imagine if the club announced that they'd raised 60 grand via bucket collection, or through Well Society membership sales over the course of a single day. We'd all be pretty happy with that, wouldn't we? Well, this is the same thing. The players can essentially "win" us 60 grand by going out there and wanting it more than St Johnstone. Maybe Saints will be thinking "60 grand? Who gives a fuck? It's holiday time!" and we can take advantage of it.

It really depends on the player and the transfer. In most cases for clubs our size it'll be a case of the player hiring an agent to oversee the process and negotiate his deal, speak to the club, organise the ins & outs, and the cost will come out of any signing on fee or money the player makes from the transfer, so we wouldn't be liable. The higher up the tree you go the more complex the deals become, which is where multiple agents are involved in a single transfer, representing both the club and the player in negotiations and so on.

Then you'll understand why some of us are seeing it as an important game, even if you don't personally agree with us? The reaction I see from some fans over the situation, you'd think we were heralding 7th spot as a noteworthy accomplishment in our clubs history. We aren't. 7th spot doesn't matter as much as the increase in money that it represents. And while we're a club that still sees regular occasions where Well Society volunteers are doing bucket collections outside games £60,000 is worth fighting for, simply because we're a smaller club that can't afford to ignore the financial benefits.

Like it or not, finances matter. And you claiming to not care doesn't change that fact.

If the compensation we'd be due is even close to what I've seen touted (£600,000) then I'm not sure Doncaster are in a position to pay it. I could be wrong, but haven't they mainly been picking up free transfers and suchlike the past two or three years?

Got another season as far as I know. I doubt we'll get offered much for him by way of a transfer fee this summer.

Not only that, unless they've went to the trouble of subbing to MFCTV they've likely never even seen that much of him outside of highlights on Sportscene.

Right, the penultimate game of the season, and for me it's one of our most important of the season. We're one point behind St Johnstone with two games to go, so a win here would mean that where we finish this season is entirely in our own hands. By the same token Livingston are playing Dundee at home, and a win for them could bring them to within a point of us, so if we lose at the weekend we could potentially be playing Livi on the last day of the season trying to avoid finishing 9th. Apart from the fact that finishing 9th would be a piss-poor finish for a club who were challenging for the top six until the death, it would mean a financial difference of £120,000. I know a lot of fans say they don't give a fuck about the money, and reckon these games are meaningless, but as a club who regularly have punters outside the ground with buckets for Well Society fund collections we're simply not in the position to dismiss the £60,000 of a difference between finishing 7th and 8th, never mind the additional 60 grand drop in finishing 9th. As an example, £120,000 is the equivalent of over £2,000 a week over a year. That's a couple of wages, or some extra dough to extend contracts or whatever. We need that fucking money. The players had better be up for this game. Anything less is unacceptable in my opinion.

I think that'll come down to how he's asked to play by Robinson. Since the turn of the year he's been asked to do a lot of the dirty work that helped free up the likes of Hastie and Turnbull to get in among the goals. He's done well in that position, but he's not anywhere near good enough a player to play that kind of game and still hit the net. It's either or with him I think.

Considering the fact that we regularly have people standing around the stadium with collection buckets I think that whopping £62,500 will come in handy.

Fuck all wrong with it though, was there? Excellent piece of play by the big man

Never seen him getting caught out, but I did see him show some pace to to come from virtually a standing position to not only catch the St Mirren player, but ease him off the ball and come away with it.

Can't agree with that at all, I thought Dunne was immense at the back today. He looked a class above anything St Mirren had to offer, both on ability and sheer physical presence.

Has to be McHugh followed closely by Dunne. Turnbull was decent enough, but I think the goal aside he never really got going today.

Carroll is like a lot of the players we sign, he's someone who's not set the heather alight elsewhere but who we hope can come in and do a job for us. Let's be honest, if he was doing well at a club like Cambridge he'd likely be looking to nab a contract with a League One side down south rather than try his luck here. He may be a success, he may not. That's the risk you take 99% of the time when you're operating in the areas of the transfer market that we do.

I hope Cadden signs for another year at least, he's a decent player. After that, I wouldn't grudge him his move.

Agreed. Let's look forward to seeing the players who want to stay here, and the new players we'll be signing this summer.

Yeah, but what if the club that the player wants to join, and has perhaps even agreed a contract with says they're paying fuck all. no fee, no add-ons, nothing. Do the authorities block the move? What happens to the player if his original club refuse to accept that he's going to just walk for absolutely nothing?

The only reason I ask is because, as good as Cadden is, I don't see anyone stumping up over £500,000 in developmental fees for him this summer.

What happens if the player doesn't want to sign a contract offered by his club, but no one wants to match the development fee valuation?

That's obvious, considering the idiots called him Liam Turnbull in the article header.

Obviously it would be ideal if he signed a new deal, but I'm just wondering if he walks away for bugger all this summer, or if we're due some sort of developmental fee? I swear I can recall people talking about us being due one a while back?

Here's a question for anyone who may know more about these things than I do. If and when Cadden goes this summer, are we due any compensation payment for him? I saw that Burrows had said in his newspaper interview regarding Hastie's contract situation that “I’ve made sure that even if we do lose players like Jake, we won’t lose them for nothing. “How you do that is by making certain their contracts expire on or before the season of their 22nd birthday. If you do that then you will receive compensation." So, Cadden turned 22 in September of last year according to what I can see, and his deal is up at the end of May this year. I remember a while back there was talk of £600,000 in developmental fees being due if & when he left, but I've heard nothing the past few months, which is strange. Anyone know?

I guess it depends on how good Livingstone is, doesn't it? If he's not better than said 28 year old journeyman then maybe he doesn't deserve a first team spot?