David Posted February 12 Report Share Posted February 12 It's that time again, and as we head towards the end of the season, we have the following player's loans ending or out of contract unless I'm mistaken (please let me know if any of these have changed): End of loan deals Jili Buyabu Georgie Gent Adam Devine Jack Vale Oli Shaw Out of contract (1st team squad) Liam Kelly Aston Oxborough Bevis Mugabi Ricki Lamie Stephen O'Donnell Callan Elliot Paul McGinn Barry Maguire Calum Butcher Callum Slattery Sam Nicholson Blair Spittal Jonathan Obika Mark Ferrie The players who we'd still have under contract are as follows: Dan Casey (under contract until May 2025) Shane Blaney (under contract until May 2025) Davor Zdravkovski (under contract until May 2025) Lennon Miller (under contract until May 2025) Harry Paton (under contract until May 2025) Andy Halliday (under contract until May 2025) Theo Bair (under contract until May 2025) Ross Tierney (under contract until May 2025) There's a whole load of youth players who's contracts are up as well, and who have been out on loan. I'm not going to add them to this discussion. Wider squad discussions Goalkeeper - Unless we re-sign one of the current goalkeepers, we'll be going into next season with a brand new goalkeeper and backup. Both of our first-team keepers are out of contract, and so are Matthew Connelly and Josh Bogan. I don't think we'll re-sign Liam Kelly. I reckon it's reached the stage now where it's probably best for all parties if we move on. He could do with a fresh environment, and we could probably do with someone else. Will be interesting to see what happens here. Defence - With Mugabi, O'Donnell, McGinn and Butcher all out of contract, there could be a relatively new-look defence for next season. As tempting as it may be for the club, the only player I'd retain from our out-of-contract list is McGinn. I think we need a change. Gent is out of contract at the end of this season, I think, but I doubt we'll see him again. We'd also be losing Lamie, although he's been out of the picture for a while. Casey and Blaney will be retained unless we decide to move them on. Midfield - Priority here has to be Spittal. I'd be looking to match whatever St Mirren or anyone else is offering unless it gets daft. He's a quality operator and is probably at the ceiling of the kind of quality a club like us can hope to attract. We retain Miller for another season, although I think we'll look to sell this season unless he signs for another year. That might not be as crazy as it sounds, as he's not featured much this season. A full season with us next year and a move next summer might be for the best, but I guess we'll see. I'd let Maguire move on, but have a feeling the club will offer Slattery a deal. I'm not fussed either way really. Davor I'm happy to keep, Paton likely won't be going anywhere if Kettlewell is retained. Forwards - Obika has to be let go. I'm not sure Nicholson warrants being kept around, so we likely head into the summer with one recognised striker in Bair. We need to make some proper moves in this department. So, that's the squad for next season as things stand. I'll be honest, going into the summer with all of the above and having Nick Daws in charge of recruitment gives me the fear. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joewarkfanclub Posted February 12 Report Share Posted February 12 Not much to disagree with there. I think what happens with CEO / Chairman is the most important part for me. It will dictate who the manager is and whether recruitment process is revamped That will ultimately decide who stays and goes. For once though it feels as it might be quite an exciting summer, as we have a fairly blank canvas to work with and no real dead wood. Provides at least the hope of something better next season. Whether it turns out like that though is another matter! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted February 12 Report Share Posted February 12 Mark Ferrie and Callan Elliot really need to be playing if they want to extend their deals, hopefully we'll see both getting a good run before long. McGinn and Spittal need to be offered improved deals to stay with O'Donnell possibly retained as a versatile backup but no longer a first pick. Nicholson might be worth holding in to if he wants to stay but will need to see how he is when fit. SK can be added to the out of contract list too. I like him and hope that he succeeds but the next couple of months will need to see some improvement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wellup83 Posted February 12 Report Share Posted February 12 I heard a rumour on Friday that Gillespie will be leaving Newcastle in the summer. While i know he may well have better offers on the table it's maybe worth an approach in the least. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wellfan Posted February 12 Report Share Posted February 12 Loans You've missed Montgomery's loan expiring. On Montgomery, I think we may well get him back on loan next season unless we sign a permanent LB/LWB. What about Gent? I'd love to sign him, although that's a pipedream. If Vale does well, which I am hopeful of, he'll be loaned to another club for next season. OOC The only one on this list worth fighting for is Spittal. He's probably our most important player. Maybe also McGinn due to his versatility and consistency. Nicholson may be offered a deal as he's fresh blood and has looked promising. We may offer Slattery a short deal to see him through his recovery unless his agent gets him something better. The rest can go. Under Contract I'm reasonably content with that, although some players may look to engineer a move away if we go down. I've no idea what we'll do with Tierney, but that may change should we hopefully get a new manager with more than one formation and style up their sleeve. Daws Oh shit. No thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfc Posted February 12 Report Share Posted February 12 If we can get through this season still in the top flight,then there's plenty of room to make changes to the team for next season with the amount of players that are out of contract.i would keep mcginn for another year and slattery is most likely going to offered something due to his injury,spittal is the priority but I think he will end up elsewhere.elliot and nicholson surely have to prove there worth to be offered anything for next season,the squad needs to be finally rid of the likes of maguire and mugabi and I hope obika even just with sub appearances here and there isn't enough to trigger a years extension. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kmcalpin Posted February 12 Report Share Posted February 12 Pretty much agree with what's been said. I'd like to retain Spittal and maybe McGinn but that's it. Maybe look to move on Tierney and possibly Blaney/Casey???? Luca Ross? Mark Ferrie -don't know enough about him to pass an opinion. Not overly concerned about a massive revamp. The key thing is to build a well balanced squad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Stall Posted February 12 Report Share Posted February 12 Cant see us offering the Ox a new contract, if he had something Kettlewell fancied we would have seen him by now. If we did offer him a contract, why would he take it when he hasnt had a look in while the number 1 has struggled for form. Either an extension for Kelly or two new keepers i reckon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weeyin Posted February 12 Report Share Posted February 12 Jack Vale scoring a goal a game currently. The Pound Shop Pound Shop's Bergkamp? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Well-Made Posted February 12 Report Share Posted February 12 Big question is who's doing the deals and recruitment for next season? A manager that's out of contract at the end of the season (if he lasts that long) Daws? COme May he's been here 3 years, surely he's not under contract oast then? Or our imaginary new CEO? Of the players listed McGinn, Spittal are the stand outs that we need to try and keep. I'd list Butcher if he can find the form he had when he came in. Young Ferrie, surely has to be a shout for at least a year, see how he develops. Bringing Oli Shaw back though probably tells us the thinking of Kettlewell on him. Kelly, I'll be sad to see him go but like other keepers we've had they never seem to get sold when at their best, whether that's down to lack of offers or otherwise. His confidence just now is pretty low and that could just be down to the way we are playing and the amount of goals we are losing, not all of them can be laid at his door. I like the look of Nicholson so far but need to see if he can last 90 minutes and provide the same as we are seeing in snippets. Devine and Montgomery could be decent shouts next season but only if they permanent signings, no point in weakening one side the pitch every few weeks. Gent would a brilliant signing if it's true he may be released by Blackburn but on current performance, they may want a fee. I was disappointed when I heard Halliday was getting a permanent deal a the end of the loan but that may prove to be a decent bit of business. Back to the original questions though who is doing the hiring and firing for next season? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted February 13 Report Share Posted February 13 Paul Hanlon will apparently be available on a free at the end of the season. 34 but would boss our defence and might even make a good captain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanos Posted February 13 Report Share Posted February 13 Out of contract (1st team squad) Liam Kelly - Bye Aston Oxborough - Bye Bevis Mugabi - Bye Ricki Lamie - Bye Stephen O'Donnell - Backup Callan Elliot - Don’t know Paul McGinn - Keep Barry Maguire - Bye Calum Butcher - Bye Callum Slattery - Keep Sam Nicholson - Maybe Blair Spittal - Keep, Keep, Keep, Keep Jonathan Obika - Bye Mark Ferrie - Don’t know Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wellfan Posted February 13 Report Share Posted February 13 7 minutes ago, alanos said: Out of contract (1st team squad) Liam Kelly - Bye Aston Oxborough - Bye Bevis Mugabi - Bye Ricki Lamie - Bye Stephen O'Donnell - Backup Callan Elliot - Don’t know Paul McGinn - Keep Barry Maguire - Bye Calum Butcher - Bye Callum Slattery - Keep Sam Nicholson - Maybe Blair Spittal - Keep, Keep, Keep, Keep Jonathan Obika - Bye Mark Ferrie - Don’t know Straight out of the Chewin' the Fat school of thought: https://tenor.com/bv1Tx.gif Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJC Posted February 21 Report Share Posted February 21 Jili Buyabu has returned to his parent club for “personal reasons”. What the actual fuck is going on with our club and recruitment strategy?? This season alone we have our best player suddenly recalled in January then sent elsewhere on loan, we loan in Oli Shaw, cancel his loan then re-loan him and now this boy’s loan is cancelled less than a month in. Absolute clusterfuck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yoshi-1991 Posted February 21 Report Share Posted February 21 2 minutes ago, MJC said: Jili Buyabu has returned to his parent club for “personal reasons”. What the actual fuck is going on with our club and recruitment strategy?? This season alone we have our best player suddenly recalled in January then sent elsewhere on loan, we loan in Oli Shaw, cancel his loan then re-loan him and now this boy’s loan is cancelled less than a month in. Absolute clusterfuck. Don't know the circumstances of this one but over all aye, amature hour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grizzlyg Posted February 21 Report Share Posted February 21 Some loan deals been good but this is another waste. He probably realised his game time limited when Gent came off at weekend and replaced with a right back playing on the left.... SOD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJC Posted February 21 Report Share Posted February 21 2 minutes ago, Yoshi-1991 said: Don't know the circumstances of this one but over all aye, amature hour. Yes of course and no harm to the player, it’s clearly not worked out for whatever reason but for us as a club our loan deals this season have been a shambles, as has our entire transfer strategy in all honestly. It certainly doesn’t send out a positive message to any potential loan signing targets in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wellfan Posted February 21 Report Share Posted February 21 1 minute ago, MJC said: Yes of course and no harm to the player, it’s clearly not worked out for whatever reason but for us as a club our loan deals this season have been a shambles, as has our entire transfer strategy in all honestly. It certainly doesn’t send out a positive message to any potential loan signing targets in the future. As I've said in previous posts, we need to move beyond the loan market and see it as a bonus, not a core part of our strategy. I understand why we've had to rely on the loan market recently because we're in a mess, but this type of thing (e.g. Biereth, Shaw, Buyabu) happens when a club have an overreliance on players who aren't their own. I hope the lad is okay, but I would also have fucked off for 'personal reasons' if SOD was selected to replace Gent ahead of me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfc Posted February 21 Report Share Posted February 21 I hope the boy is ok and it isn't a serious matter family etc but it does leave us a player down at a crucial time in the season and with gent going off against hearts,we could be struggling at left back again,it does seem a bit of a cursed position for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MelvinBragg Posted February 21 Report Share Posted February 21 18 minutes ago, MJC said: Jili Buyabu has returned to his parent club for “personal reasons”. What the actual fuck is going on with our club and recruitment strategy?? This season alone we have our best player suddenly recalled in January then sent elsewhere on loan, we loan in Oli Shaw, cancel his loan then re-loan him and now this boy’s loan is cancelled less than a month in. Absolute clusterfuck. You have gone all guns blazing here without knowing the circumstances. Does it occur to you that the club using the phrase "personal reasons" might suggest it might not be for football reasons? It might be but equally there may be a family issue that has developed which is none of our business. This might have been a mistake by the club but to go all out and criticise the club automatically without any knowledge of the situation (knowledge that we're not entitled to), seems like looking for an excuse to have a go... 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJC Posted February 21 Report Share Posted February 21 12 minutes ago, MelvinBragg said: You have gone all guns blazing here without knowing the circumstances. Does it occur to you that the club using the phrase "personal reasons" might suggest it might not be for football reasons? It might be but equally there may be a family issue that has developed which is none of our business. This might have been a mistake by the club but to go all out and criticise the club automatically without any knowledge of the situation (knowledge that we're not entitled to), seems like looking for an excuse to have a go... Which is why I said “no harm to the player” in a previous post. His personal business is just that, personal and therefore nobody else’s. For us as a club however it doesn’t look good when you see how our track record with loan signings has gone this season and it certainly doesn’t bode well for potential loan signing targets in the future, because they and their clubs might look at us and think twice about sending their player here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joewarkfanclub Posted February 21 Report Share Posted February 21 16 minutes ago, MJC said: Which is why I said “no harm to the player” in a previous post. His personal business is just that, personal and therefore nobody else’s. For us as a club however it doesn’t look good when you see how our track record with loan signings has gone this season and it certainly doesn’t bode well for potential loan signing targets in the future, because they and their clubs might look at us and think twice about sending their player here. Sorry, but how does that stack up? What are the club supposed to do about "personal reasons?" Youd need a crystal ball to predict that. The fact that we have let the player return to his parent club without any fuss is surely a positive for the player and the parent club? We have also just had a player so succesful in their loan spell here that the parent club recalled him and farmed him out to a club playing at a higher level. Said player seems to be doing very well at the higher level. Im not saying none of this doesnt impact negatively on the managers ability to put a successful team out on the park or that we shouldnt be re-assessing our recruitment strategy in respect of loans, but I struggle to see how either scenario paints the club and how we do business in a bad light. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllyMax Posted February 21 Report Share Posted February 21 24 minutes ago, MelvinBragg said: You have gone all guns blazing here without knowing the circumstances. Does it occur to you that the club using the phrase "personal reasons" might suggest it might not be for football reasons? It might be but equally there may be a family issue that has developed which is none of our business. This might have been a mistake by the club but to go all out and criticise the club automatically without any knowledge of the situation (knowledge that we're not entitled to), seems like looking for an excuse to have a go... This forum has too many people like MJC (unless they are all actually MJC posting under other names to support his own simplistic, dumb views). So far this season we've had the club being so skint we can't afford electricity for the undersoil heating, Kettlewell needing sacked for signing Bair, every single loan signing has failed, Biereth left cause Motherwell are an amateur organisation with no CEO and we'll 100% be relegated. It really does wear you down reading this utter dross on thread after thread. We could beat Celtic 10-0 on Sunday and one of the regular detractors would greet about the amateur board causing us to give away too many corners and Kelly's goal kicks going out of play. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbybingo Posted February 21 Report Share Posted February 21 46 minutes ago, MJC said: Yes of course and no harm to the player, it’s clearly not worked out for whatever reason but for us as a club our loan deals this season have been a shambles, as has our entire transfer strategy in all honestly. It certainly doesn’t send out a positive message to any potential loan signing targets in the future. Biereth and Spencer don't send out positive messages to potential targets? Loans are like any other signing, some work, some don't. What were this guy's personal reasons? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbybingo Posted February 21 Report Share Posted February 21 42 minutes ago, wellfan said: I would also have fucked off for 'personal reasons' if SOD was selected to replace Gent ahead of me. A professional footballer wouldn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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