Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[Richey Edwards]

RIP

[paranoid android]

Jesus, that's so sad - rest in peace, lad. 

[ShrimpLok]

Very sad news. RIP.

[dezz]

Maybe we’re waiting until Budge’s latest proposal is binned just in case, but I thought we would have had a squad update by now. 
 

On that note I see Tony Watt is dropping less than subtle hints on Instagram that he’s signed up. 

Edited May 27, 2020 by dezz

[capt_oats]

37 minutes ago, dezz said:

Maybe we’re waiting until Budge’s latest proposal is binned just in case, but I thought we would have had a squad update by now. 

On that note I see Tony Watt is dropping less than subtle hints on Instagram that he’s signed up. 

I was wondering that myself. Robinson was saying in that interview last week that he'd spoken to players last Monday but he hadn't sat down with Burrows and the board yet to confirm the budgets which probably accounts for the delay in part.

In previous, less weird seasons it's been 21st or 22nd May the updates have been published: 2017, 2018, 2019. Burrows replied to a guy on Sunday saying the update would be announced "shortly".

 

Edited May 27, 2020 by capt_oats

[Ron Aldo]

Tony Watt and Declan Gallagher seem to be having a Twitter war with perma-offended Rangers fans over a tweet Gallagher liked.

I have honestly never missed football so much in my life.

[Gianfranco]

I can’t be bothered with Watt’s Celtic tweets. I think he’s a decent player and I’d give him a one year deal but he’s been Unfollowed.

[capt_oats]

Annoyingly the Watt/Gallagher vs the **** spat has overshadowed the real Motherwell story of the day.

 

[Dosser-fae-the-shire]

The last sentence is brilliant.

[Richie]

Happy Anniversary guys

5 years today.

 

[supermarv]

https://pfascotland.co.uk/Membership-Benefits/player-availability-list/ Seems like Richard Tait could be away, also Rohan Ferguson is on it. Disappointed regarding Tait as in my opinion he is a far better player than Grimmy and both have bought into the club, Tait being pretty unfortunate Grimmy played decent when the team was winning, but with rumours of Hartley possibly leaving it would be good to have kept Tait on for an older head but still a few years to go.

[dezz]

I prefer Tait as a player to Grimshaw as well and thought his versatility might have seen him offered another deal, albeit on reduced wages. Maybe this was the case and he’s knocked it back. 

Doubt he’ll have much trouble getting another gig at a premiership club but sad to see him go. He’s been a good player for the club. 

[capt_oats]

38 minutes ago, dezz said:

I prefer Tait as a player to Grimshaw as well and thought his versatility might have seen him offered another deal, albeit on reduced wages. Maybe this was the case and he’s knocked it back. 

Doubt he’ll have much trouble getting another gig at a premiership club but sad to see him go. He’s been a good player for the club. 

I'm kind of in the same place in terms of his versatility but I think Grimshaw and Carroll have the FB positions on lock now so there's also the possibility that Tait might want to be playing games rather than be a back-up on a reduced wage as you say.

He signed his last extension at the end of the 2 Cup Finals season when he was a guaranteed starter.

He made 20 appearances this season but only 12 league starts. That's compared with 45 appearances and 37 league starts in the 18/19 season and 45 appearances and 32 league starts in 17/18.

If he is away then 142 games, it's fair to say he's more than done us a turn - he's the only player still at the club from those signed in the 16/17 season.

I see Jack Brown from the Reserves/u20s is on that list as well.

Edited May 28, 2020 by capt_oats

[welldaft]

Not a huge issue but a little annoying to be reading released players on this website before any official announcement. 

Something has clearly delayed such an announcement as it was coming out shortly at this time last week , which we all assumed would be Friday last week.   Presumably one or two players still to commit or sign with us which may be holding things up. ....

1 hour ago, supermarv said:

https://pfascotland.co.uk/Membership-Benefits/player-availability-list/ Seems like Richard Tait could be away, also Rohan Ferguson is on it. Disappointed regarding Tait as in my opinion he is a far better player than Grimmy and both have bought into the club, Tait being pretty unfortunate Grimmy played decent when the team was winning, but with rumours of Hartley possibly leaving it would be good to have kept Tait on for an older head but still a few years to go.

 

[capt_oats]

Just now, welldaft said:

Not a huge issue but a little annoying to be reading released players on this website before any official announcement. 

Something has clearly delayed such an announcement as it was coming out shortly at this time last week , which we all assumed would be Friday last week.   Presumably one or two players still to commit or sign with us which may be holding things up. ....

I'm not sure that was actually the case. This is what Robinson said in his interview last week:

Quote

“As the weeks develop, you’ll see the squad list. A lot of boys who were out of contract weren’t getting renewed or we couldn’t agree."

By all accounts Robinson had yet to sit down and confirm the budget with the board this time last week. So it's understandable it's taken a bit longer than other years given the circumstances.

Having said that given we're sat here on Thursday and we've yet to announce Burrows' "it'll be shortly..." Twitter reply to the guy on Sunday seems like it's definitely stretching "shortly".

[Phillips455]

 

Nuff said.

[crazylegsjoe_mfc]

 I'd have liked to have kept Tait, part of my reasoning for that would be that he gives you cover for left-back and right-back in one wage. 

Maybe it was on his end and he doesn't see 30 years old as being the right time to be happy to be a backup. Reckon he could do a job for most Premiership sides. I remember we were linked with Rickie Lamie from Livingston, maybe he will be our "jack of all trades" defensively minded player next season if that rumour comes true.

Not sure why the club are waiting so long for the retained list though.

[thisGRAEME]

I liked Tait very much, and he seemed to carry the weight of being captain far better than a number of recent players have.

That said, he went through a really unfortunate period of injury, and didn't seem quite the same level of dependable consistency since he returned.

Mind he made Boyata shite himself? Magic. 

[capt_oats]

49 minutes ago, crazylegsjoe_mfc said:

Not sure why the club are waiting so long for the retained list though.

Going by the NareysToePoker Twitter account United, Killie, Rangers, County, Hibs and St Johnstone are the Premiership sides to have announced updates so far.

Looking back to what Robinson was saying last week:

Quote

“It had been a long time with uncertainty. The boys didn’t know whether they’d be coming back to play, they didn’t know whether their agents could speak with other clubs as they might still be a Motherwell player, so I thought it was only fair to them at the first opportunity when we got clarity was to pick up the phone.

“You’d rather do it face to face, but we couldn’t. We were honest with where we are and where we might see the budget.

“There are boys who we made offers to and we’re trying to honour them. Some might have to be adjusted when we get our budget later in the week."

If it really was the case that we were hedging our bets in terms of what was being offered until we had clarity I can understand the wait - although it's clear there were a number who were being let go anyway if we're holding off to announce stuff like pre-contracts and extensions it's probably a bit better than "X, Y & Z have been offered new contracts" only for them to sign up elsewhere.

Fwiw: Ferguson, Watt, Manzinga and Ilic are the May contract expiries from the first team.  Gillespie, Tait, Hartley, Dunne, Livingstone, Maguire and Long are June. 

Edited May 28, 2020 by capt_oats

[Swello]

The problem is that given that the transfer market will be a bear pit this summer - agents aren't going to sit about waiting for an arbitrary list from a club before pushing their clients, so even if we have perfectly valid reasons for delaying the announcement (which I'm sure we do) - it's likely that things are going to leak out the longer we wait.