David

If you look back you'll see that I never mentioned it being Scott's fault we didn't beat Accies, I'm just saying that I believe if there's money to be won it's on the manager to pick the right team to win the game. If that means picking Scott ahead of Main then fair enough, if that's what he thinks is the right move. If that's the move he'd make were we playing a cup semi-final this weekend against Dundee, then by all means play Scott. Whichever way we carve it up, we should be beating Dundee this weekend at home. They're virtually done now, while we still have the chance of finishing 7th, which should matter. Otherwise what's the point in actually going to any games after we were confirmed as bottom six? Why bother now? If we finish 9th due to a mixture of the manager and some players not wanting it as much as the teams around us then that's on them, and come the summer when we have less funds to use it'll be their fault.

I don't think so really. As I mentioned above, the priority should be winning every game and securing the payment that comes with finishing as high as possible. I'd rather have an extra two grand a week to spend on players wages than give Scott a run out against Dundee and Accies. If the lad is good enough, he'll get his chance, just like Hastie, Turnbull, Cadden and Campbell did. Cash is king for clubs our size, and I'm not sure that giving Scott and others like Semple a run out is worth losing £120,000 over.

Isn't that what pre-season is for? If we lose to Dundee and end up finishing 9th this season it'll be a disappointing end to the campaign considering we were chasing top six initially.

If we did I'd be asking questions to be honest. We need as much money as we can get to overhaul the side in the summer. We're a small club, an extra £60,000 goes a long way. As I'm sure we'll find out in the summer and we're trying to sign quality players on what is already a tiny budget.

Does bringing in good players in the summer excite you? None of the fans give a fuck about the actual money, it's what the money represents, which is hopefully a bigger budget to buy players.

Seeing it posted on Clyde SSB Twitter that Hastie is officially announced as signing for Rangers. We already figured he was offski, but it's now been confirmed it seems. Let's hope we get the money owed to us.

Despite everyone seeing these games as pre-season friendlies, if we somehow lose to Dundee, or even draw, and Livingston beat Accies we'll slide down into 9th place. Finishing 9th instead of 8th is a drop of £60,000 in winnings, which translates to over a grand a week in potential wages for a player. Worth bearing that in mind when we get to the summer and it's time to try and sign replacements for those who are leaving. However, if we realise that these games are still worth winning and we beat Dundee, and St Johnstone lose away to St Mirren, who still have it all to play for, then we could jump into 7th, which would see an increase of £60,000. Anyone who claims these games are worth fuck all need their heads looking at, seriously. I'm also guessing that these same fans who think it's pre-season time and we should stick in the kids are the same ones who'll be unhappy if we don't sign a decent striker this summer to replace Main, for example. Finishing 7th instead of 9th is the difference of £120,000, or almost £2,500 per week in potential wages. Any player who's out of contract and wants to stay should be going all-out to finish as high up the table as possible, to win that extra money and enhance the chances of them being offered a new deal. In short, getting it fucking sorted Robbo, and play the best team available. If that means dropping Scott for Main then so be it.

I may be wrong, but isn't it more based on how long he's been with the club? Hence the development fee tag that's applied?

Not often I find myself agreeing with you, but you're bang on here. The number of times I've read about Hastie showing a lack of loyalty and respect is insane. The club do what they do for these lads because they believe there'll be a payoff at the end of it, be it a transfer fee or in performances for the club. They don't do it out of loyalty to the player, so why should the player feel obliged to return the favour? It's business, nothing more.

Then they can either pay up, or fuck off.

I didn't think the fee thing was really up for debate. It's the rules, is it not? And not just Scottish rules that Sevco's pals can dismiss, but proper rules, am I right? It's like saying you want to buy a player, being told the fee, and just saying "nope, we'll not pay that." You either pay the fucking fee, or you don't get the player.

That's one of the more embarrassing posts I've read on here, and that's saying something.

I may be in the minority, but I most definitely want to finish 7th. I'm sure I've said it before, but the difference between finishing 7th and 9th is somewhere in the region of £120,000 to £160,000 in prize money. I know people say they don't care, just play the kids, I hope it was over and so on, but if we got to the summer and Robbo missed out on a few transfer targets due to us not offering enough in wages I'm sure we'd all care about that lost money then. We're talking about an extra £2,000 to £3,000 a week or something, which isn't chump change to a club like us.

I certainly wouldn't hold what he said against him. Like all of us, his circumstances can change. He may be wanting to stay at Motherwell but then receive a potentially life-changing offer afterwards. At the end of the day it's his career, and he'll go about it as he sees fit.

I'm not sure it's a conscious decision really as much as it's a case og two players the manager liked the look of being available. I could be wrong though.

The main difference is that for the odd one or two here and there that we get wrong in the Hastie mould we stand to bring in less than we maybe would if he signed a long-term deal, while going down the other route would more than likely see us waste money on players with potential but who don't live up to it. One approach sees us still make some money most of the time, while the other could see us lose money. What astounds me is that these people with "knowledge of the game" are usually the ones who aren't actually involved at that level in the game, and don't make a living from it. While those who supposedly get it wrong are the ones who are considered good enough to carve a living from it.

Unfortunately, this is the way of the world for us for the most part. If we bring players in from down south we can't really afford to offer them anything other than a one year deal, can we? If they end up being shite we can punt them after a season with no problem, but that obviously leaves us with a problem if they do well and decide to piss off for nothing at the end of the season. We're not a club who can risk investing first team wages in a player for two or three years who may or may not be up to the job. It's a risk we can't really take.

I've bought it, and it's worth every penny. Quality stuff.

I guess it depends on what McInnes sees in him really. Personally, I'd love him to stay with us. He adds a physicality that comes in useful. If we can bring in someone else to compete for that strikers spot with him, or even play alongside him then it could be interesting. At the moment he's simply doing the job that he's being asked, as Robinson had to make some changes to how we go about playing after the first half of the season. He's probably not overly keen on it himself, but he's doing his bit. Hopefully he can see us to a 7th place finish before he makes his decision.

I haven't seen much of him admittedly, but I was surprised to find out that he's taller than Carson. He looked quite short for a goalkeeper against Aberdeen, but he's obviously not that short if he's 6'1 or so.

We've been gash for most of this season though, haven't we? He scored eight goals in the second half of the season last year when it seemed he was used as a proper striker. The second half of this season he's been as instrumental as anyone in changing our fortunes, but has been used in a position and tactically that doesn't really lend itself to him getting a lot of opportunities to score goals. One of those players who is recognised more by his fellow pros and managers than by fans it seems.

I guess it's a case of each to their own, but for me I desperately want to finish top of the mini-league we'll be in.

I'm not sure why people keep talking about a meaningless end to the season when we're currently sitting 8th, one point behind St Johnstone, and two ahead of Livi in 9th. The difference between finishing 7th and 9th is £120,000, which is a fair chunk of change for a club our size. That's what should be driving us until the last game of the season.

Still doesn't mean they're Dundee by any stretch. We're hardly talking Montreal Impact or Philadelphia Union here, are we? Atlanta reached the playoffs in their first season, then won the thing in their second. They also play to large crowds in what looks like a top class stadium. Any player from Europe could go there and spend an entire career in that league, coming out the other end of it with a very decent bank balance and having lived somewhere that isn't a bad place to be when you've got cash in your pocket. For me it would be far more attractive than buggering off to the English Championship or League One.

The splash of white makes the difference for me.