David

The new guy who's running the comms side of things now, Craig? He's very receptive to anyone who wants to get involved I think.

I think it's pretty obvious that we should be looking to sell someone this summer, especially with how McMahon was talking at that AGM. If we get offered six figures for Ainsworth we need to take it, and to be honest I'd rather we sold him than Moult.

Well, I still think that it feels as though they're pushing against each other in certain ways to a degree, and that's not good.

Fuck me, that's a cracking price!

I could be very wrong of course, but I get the feeling that the club itself and the society aren't always on the same page a lot of the time. I'd even go as far as saying that I don't think they work all that well together. For example, the businesses that the Society are looking to recruit and get on board are also being coveted by the club for possible sponsorship and suchlike, so you basically have two different sections of the same football club angling for a businesses money. The entire concept seems to be at odds with the club in many ways from what I've seen.

I'd say that we sell around 90% of our players for less than they're actually worth. Obviously I'm not privvy to actual transfer fees, but when the actual Chairman and other members of the club admit that we haven't been operating properly in that regard I'm going to believe them.

No, you're right. Our transfer record has exemplary up to this point.

It doesn't matter if other clubs were represented at the meeting or not, he made it pretty clear from where I was sitting that we're going to be facing a tough year financially. That Q&A last night wasn't "private", it's been widely discussed on this forum and there's even a video of it available online for anyone who wants to watch. In the past we've always accepted lowball offers for players because we needed the money, and by openly admitting that we're facing problems this coming season we're basically telling other clubs that we're not really in a position to knock back any half decent offers we get. Business as usual in that regard.

Have you listened to his interview from last week on the podcast?

Circumstances dictate what we are offered for players. When our Chairman is sitting at a Q&A telling everyone that we'll be finding it tough financially this year he's basically telling other clubs to lowball us.

The gist I got from McMahon last night at that AGM is that we're going to be stretched financially this year, and that we're hoping that the increase in TV money the season after next will see us okay. I wouldn't be at all surprised if we see either one of or both Moult and Johnson go this season if halfway decent offers come in.

I'm only telling you what I've heard, there's no need to be a snarky cunt.

That's what we should be budgeting for every season in my opinion, and I've made that point before. If we attain a higher level of success or sell on a player for a decent wedge then we can look at how best to invest the profit as & when, but 10th and no cup run is how we should be budgeting. I also had a feeling that the glut of signings under Baraclough would come back to bite us on the arse. A few disagreed with me at the time, but I was confused that Les was preaching about staying within budget and cutting our cloth only to go out and sign a shitload of players, especially when we should have been drafting from our youth team.

The Well society isn't most businesses, though. Wouldn't I be right in saying that a lot of the places where these meetings are held don't even have internet connections available in them? What they should be doing though, is recording the meetings and providing all members with the opportunity to watch them online. That doesn't require an internet connection, as it can be uploaded later that evening if needed.

I can understand that overseas members would like to be kept informed of what is being said and happening at meetings, but is it really a good idea to have an interactive live feed running? I think it would result in chaos, with people complaining that their feed isn't working, technical issues, questions being sent and missed by whoever has to deal with them etc.

I'm more thinking about the recognition from the fans, as it seems like he was kind of robbed of that after the cup win, and then he left under a cloud.

I'm sure Maxwell said that most of the players were on the same kind of money and that he didn't want anything different.

He mentioned £300 per week on the podcast, and refutes the idea that he wanted to be the highest paid player at the club. He asked if anyone seriously believes he had a chance of being paid more than Davie Cooper. Regardless, it's all water under the bridge and I think a guy who played as big a part in us winning the cup and the games we did during that era deserves the recognition.

He claims he was at the club for 11 years, and seems quite pissed off at anyone suggesting it was any less.

I know he left the club over 20 years ago, but having listened to his interview on the Motherwell podcast, it's still a subject that bothers him by the sounds of it. On top of that, it doesn't sound as though he really got the chance to celebrate the cup final win properly due to his injury, and he's a real Motherwell fan by all accounts. Is it too late now to finally give him the recognition that he deserves? You tend to find that such recognition is usually eventually given when it's too late and the person is no longer here to accept it in person, which is kind of sad. I think the club could and should do something to recognise his service to the club, and to give him a chance to be recognised by more of the support than was able to this past week or so.

If they're accepting lesser deals and know their playing time is going to be shortened as well, then why get rid of them? If we ditch them we'd just need to go looking for experienced heads from outwith the club, wouldn't we?

There's every chance he could end up being our number one, with someone a bit younger coming in as back up. As far as Lasley, Hammell & Mick go, I'm happy to see them offered one year extensions.

That's good news if true.

How many games is Hammell going to be playing next season though? He seems to be suffering more & more with injury these days, so I could certainly see a competent replacement coming in, allowing Hammell to play now & then for the final year or so of his career.

Aye, works on both.