capt_oats

Coincidence? I think not. Pal of Declan.

I'm usually the same re: white shorts but I'm v. into the aesthetic. Along with the 50s throwback element it's a much cleaner version of the 06/07 one by Xara. Agree re: Macron on the whole they've been smashing - the double denim and massively tempting fate white kit with the cup winning names on it aside. Even then they were more ideas that just didn't quite work in practice. The cut and fit of their stuff is great (for me at least).

The official blurb has us paying homage to our original colours: In terms of the shade I'd guess it'll be pretty similar to the 13/14 3rd kit.

I see O'Hara's done a wee bit with the Motherwell Times discussing his situation. That seems to make a bit more sense tbh.

2 year deal for Lamie. Presumably him taking #4 means Grimshaw will be #2. Genuinely interested to see how our new transfer strategy of signing pals of Declan pans out tbh.

That's yer Ricki Lamie announced

FWIW: That's White just said his goodbyes to ICT via his Twitter. Today is the last day of his contract. I seem to remember reading that the 9th June is a standard expiry date this season (though I could be wrong) so I take it those who we've offered new deals to will be free agents as of tomorrow as well.

I was wondering if it was something to do with the dates for the transfer window opening not having been confirmed. According to Robinson in that interview with Craigan a while back the deals were agreed we just had to register them (or something like that). The Robinson interview is here btw: https://sport.bt.com/sport-hurts/stephen-robinson-football-without-fans-isnt-football-91364441427700 His quote is around 12:00: I noticed that St Johnstone fans were talking about them not having made any official announcement re: Rooney (even though the player's confirmed it himself),

Looking at who's been offered extensions: Dune (DF), Long (FW), Maguire (MF), Morrison (GK), Robinson (FW), Hussain (DF). For me the CB position really hangs on what happens with Charlie Dunne. If he's fit and sticks around (a big IF) then we don't really need another - from reading Livi fans comments Lamie is more a nominal 'left sided defender' than a CB. I agree that the priority is another wide forward. I see that's yer EFL League 1 & 2 curtailed. I know we had an agreement in principle with Peterborough re: O'Hara, I wonder if their season being officially called means there may be movement on that given they're not involved in the play-offs (LOL). Same with Doncaster, Cole's deal with them was only short term until the end of the season.

Not transfer related but Andy Boles is speaking to Joel in one of The Terrace pods that went up the other day. There's a fair bit of credit due when you look at the difference at all levels at the club since the Sports Science & Strength and Conditioning dept was set up and Boles came after Gordon Crawford's brief stint in the role. It's a long way from footgolf.

Tbh, I'm not hugely surprised that we're looking at two senior keepers. If the Fox thing is real then presumably he'd be on a chunk less than Gillespie was and if Morrison's new terms are less than/equal to Ferguson then that's a net saving on last season's budget right there. Thinking back to Robinson's first season proper the run of poor form that fucked our top 6 chances coincided with - amongst other things - Carson picking up that shoulder injury and us having to run with Griffiths for a bit (and sign big Gennadios). I can 100% see why we'd be mindful about getting caught out by only having one senior 'keeper though maybe not as a priority signing. The question I'd have had would have been who'd have been available in a pretty niche role.

It's been a while since I visited SO but that was absolutely worth checking in on. I know most single club forums are dumpster fires but there's an own brand snideness towards the club on Steelmen that's really quite something. Pretty much. Unless we sell one of our saleable assets I think it is what it is. It's about not getting relegated and the core of the squad is actually alright. If we can get folk like Cornelius and Semple dropped into the side then all the better. Robinson's said that we're not in a position to take "gambles" which is fine. Our punts on trialists like Manzinga, Ilic and Petravicius hardly paid off. I'm curious to see how our strategy shifts in that respect though and whether we end up going for more known quantities - Lamie, White, O'Hara would definitely fit in with that. Going back to the SO thread, where's the chat about interest in Donnelly coming from?

Why would we have a tonne of trialists? We already have 12 first team players contracted plus Devine, Semple, Cornelius and MacIver in the reserves. Robinson's already confirmed 2 players have been signed on pre-contracts. If he's true to his word then we're probably looking at 2 or 3 first team players in at best.

First team back in for pre-season next week then...

I take it this is the programme we're talking about? https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000js72/sporssport-series-1-12-motherwell-fc

Aye, we moved the 20s games away from Airdrie that season for some reason. I don't think it was ever really clarified why. This season the Reserves have been playing at Broadwood. Fwiw: there were 170 at the game against Spartans in Airdrie last season.

There were definitely over 1000 at some of the games at FP.

Craigan's always been positive about it. Tbh, at the AGM I was at a couple of years ago Burrows touched on the subject. It was very much a case of "in principle we see the value of the Youth/Colt sides playing competitive football" but "in practice it's doubtful we'd be able to effectively run two teams with the associated costs - so it's really a moot point from Motherwell's POV" (I'm paraphrasing massively there though). I didn't hear Craigan on the radio earlier but unless he's changed his position his view was that the Development league only helped to a certain point and the rebrand to the Reserve league was an absolute disaster. His view was that there would be a benefit to having the u20s sides playing genuinely competitive games and remaining in-house for the coaching etc as opposed to handing over players on loan and trusting that club to develop them for us. We were very supportive of our 20s involvement in the Challenge Cup and in general did OK in it. Less so last season without the like of Turnbull, Hastie et al having been replaced by 16 year olds.

Eska James Orr Complex

Aye - am I right in thinking that it was the Guardian's golf correspondent that was the source of the "cap"? It seems ridiculous to wilfully restrict potential revenue - others are probably better informed than me in terms of backend tech but can you even cap streams like that? I posted in our general thread earlier but the statement about the virtual season ticket yesterday seemed like it the broader details are still being established. The announcement yesterday looked like it was designed to pre-empt complaints from supporters who have already paid for their STs.

Noticed a couple of posts on Twitter about the 'virtual season ticket' particularly in relation to Keith Jackson's latest face-palm of an article. Specifically these: It's a great point and kind of highlights a broader issue with the league in so much as you have clubs/owners who seem to be either resistant to or don't see the value in investing in tech - @Sherrif John Bunnell hinted at how behind the curve County are a couple of posts above. The idea that the sort of streaming package being touted by the SPFL is in any way "futuristic" is absolutely wild. Having listened to a fair amount of discussion about that sort of stuff from people like Burrows and a handful of other CEOs who see how far behind we are in comparison to leagues like MLS and other sports it feels like there are people in the game who see the value in terms of streaming media, content and access - it'd be good if the whole situation could generate some sort of conversation about how the Scottish game improves on that side of things.

I could be miles out but I've a feeling that the announcement yesterday was to pre-empt complaints from folk who have already bought season tickets. I see there have still been some moans here and there but the response on the whole seems to have been positive (particularly from fans of other clubs). Reading some of the quotes from various club CEOs yesterday it sounds like they're still working out the detail on the practicalities for delivery and launch so I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if there was a roll out of a PATG version further down the line. MFC TV - as it stands - allows for both monthly and annual subscriptions so it's not like an alternative solution should be beyond them if that's the platform they plan to use.