Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[Mr. Brightside]

It's not for me, Clive.

[capt_oats]

1 hour ago, Swello said:

I'm quite happy that he's back - I think that he improves the squad and is a low risk signing.

When a shite player leaves, no-one gives a f**k but that wasn't the case with Hastie - I was frustrated that we were dicked about on contracts (and the debate at the time was around whether the club could have done more to protect our investment in him) and most of us got to say "I told you so" when he got nowhere near the first team at Rangers and ended up farmed out at the earliest opportunity.

From his point of view, he's still got a good contract at Rangers but he's definitely another cautionary tale about leaving too early and with no path to first team football. If he has a good year with us, he could win himself a decent move somewhere down south as a first team player as others have done, which I presume is the plan now that he's out the frame at Rangers...

Absolutely fine with him being back.

Also, given he's miles out the picture at Ibrox I think you can even knock the 'we shouldn't be developing one of their players' argument on the head.

[BigTamMuller]

No problems at all with Hastie being back, or indeed when he left for that matter it's a short career, better the devil you know at the top end of the pitch. As long as he gives his all when on the pitch for us then that's all I'm interested in.

Would argue it would be in our interests to see him do well with us, try and put him in the shop window for a move a club down south that would see us bring in some sort of sell on percentage. 

 

[Yorky]

Not a problem for me, if we did indeed get a fee of 400k we did pretty well and we now get him back on a season long loan. No one is going to convince me Seedorf is the better option of the two as it stands although I do hope he can up his game this season. There has always been talk of Hastie being poor in training and having a bit of an attitude problem and hopefully this is his chance to show that’s not the case.

[capt_oats]

Robinson was saying in one of the clips on the socials that he was after "2 forwards...minimum". Hastie is clearly one of the two forwards and we've since announced O'Hara and Fox.

Cards on the table lads...when Robinson was talking about the budget a couple of months ago and saying stuff like:

Quote

“I haven’t got the budget yet but it’s going to be impacted, make no mistake. Every club in the country will be exactly the same, not just us.

“We are in a decent position in terms of where we finished and hopefully we get European football, but there will be a big impact on budget and the club, staff and Scottish football as a whole.

"We will try and fulfil the contracts to the younger boys we have offered contracts to, as that is who the club is going to be built around.

“I believe we have six or seven younger boys who are maybe a year away from establishing themselves. Some surprise you, some come quicker, but we have offered contracts to six or seven boys around 18-19 years of age who will be the back-up to the squad.

“I think a lot of clubs will have to run with smaller squads made up of younger players. We have always done that.

“The boys will be the back-up to the 15-16 first-team players that we will be able to run with.”

Link

I honestly didn't expect the squad to look like this in July...especially with the NI manager's job in the background.

Edited July 3, 2020 by capt_oats

[Marinello]

Will/can Rangers insist on Hastie not playing for us in Europe for fear of being cup tied?

[RandomGuy.]

Just now, Marinello said:

Will/can Rangers insist on Hastie not playing for us in Europe for fear of being cup tied?

I'm sure it "resets" after the January window.

So he can play the qualifiers for you, and still play in European fixtures for another side after January. 

[Ron Aldo]

I'm sure it "resets" after the January window.
So he can play the qualifiers for you, and still play in European fixtures for another side after January. 

Who says we won't still be in Europe come January?

[Desp]

If anyone had predicted the #7, #9 and #11 shirts, after being vacant a week or so ago, being filled by Mark O'Hara, Jordan White & Jake Hastie, they are a better man than me. 

Re Hastie, I'm really not that arsed about. If he comes back and blows everyone away again then 'Well fans will forget anything that happened in the past as we're aw fickle c***s.  If he plays shite for months on end, he'll get absolute dogs abuse, get punted back to Ibrox and we'll, shall we say, move on. 

[YassinMoutaouakil]

Another Lanarkshire native if @capt_oats is still keeping track. O'Hara is from a few miles over the border in Barrhead.

[Swello]

1 hour ago, capt_oats said:

Robinson was saying in one of the clips on the socials that he was after "2 forwards...minimum". Hastie is clearly one of the two forwards and we've since announced O'Hara and Fox.

Cards on the table lads...when Robinson was saying talking about the budget a couple of months ago and saying stuff like:

I honestly didn't expect the squad to look like this in July...especially with the NI manager's job in the background.

It's hard to argue that we're not stronger than last season on paper. The two exceptions are up front (where I think we will add one more) and goalkeeping (which was a massive anomaly and won't be repeated).

Given that in terms of first choice and cover, there won't be many better midfields in the country - we presumably will be seeing someone go from there before the window shuts...

Anyway - I'm a big fan of us getting everything settled as early as possible - so it's all positive at the moment..

[Genuine Hibs Fan]

The depth and balance of different types of players in that midfield is remarkable, even if you consider that Turnbull and Campbell are once in a generation academy graduates. 6 guys who can comfortably do well at this level, including 4 who would walk into most other teams in the country. No idea how we'll look by the start of the season, or if Aberdeen will be stronger again, but right now you're certainly my favourites to be third again

[Londonwell]

42 minutes ago, Genuine Hibs Fan said:

The depth and balance of different types of players in that midfield is remarkable, even if you consider that Turnbull and Campbell are once in a generation academy graduates. 6 guys who can comfortably do well at this level, including 4 who would walk into most other teams in the country. No idea how we'll look by the start of the season, or if Aberdeen will be stronger again, but right now you're certainly my favourites to be third again

Aye, agreed. Tbh I'm astounded and chuffed at how well our signings have gone so far given the circumstances. It certainly feels like we've managed to get most of our top target signings and re-signings so far, where as a Well fan I'm pretty used to us missing out on people who you know will bring a degree of quality to the party.

I still fully expect us to sell an 'asset' in the next wee while (my guess is Campbell) but even at that I still think we have one of the strongest over all squads that I can remember in recent times.   

Edited July 3, 2020 by Londonwell

[crazylegsjoe_mfc]

At the end of the 2018/19 season, I bet no one thought we would be starting the 2020/21 season with the prospect of Hastie, Turnbull and Campbell in the same team. 

Don't get me wrong, it's taken a hand from a global pandemic and a failed medical, but still.

 

[Marinello]

2 hours ago, RandomGuy. said:

I'm sure it "resets" after the January window.

So he can play the qualifiers for you, and still play in European fixtures for another side after January. 

Many thanks for clarifying.

[capt_oats]

5 minutes ago, crazylegsjoe_mfc said:

At the end of the 2018/19 season, I bet no one thought we would be starting the 2020/21 season with the prospect of Hastie, Turnbull and Campbell in the same team. 

Don't get me wrong, it's taken a hand from a global pandemic and a failed medical, but still.

A great bunch of lads...

 

Edited July 3, 2020 by capt_oats

[RandomGuy.]

1 hour ago, Ron Aldo said:

Who says we won't still be in Europe come January?

I never said you wouldnt?

Someone asked if he could play for Rangers in Europe, and he can only, presumably, go back to them after January. 

[Genuine Hibs Fan]

3 minutes ago, Londonwell said:

Aye, agreed. Tbh I'm astounding and chuffed at how well our signings have gone so far given the circumstances. It certainly feels like we've managed to get most of our top target signing and re-signings so far, where as a Well fan I'm pretty used to us missing out on people who you know bring a degree of quality  to the party.

I still fully expect us to sell an 'asset' in the next wee while (my guess is Campbell) but even at that I still think we have one of the strongest over all squads that I can remember in recent times.   

Aye I think that's the crux of it. Feels like you've had a list of targets (largely fairly obvious ones tbf) and just gone out and got them. Whether that's maybe a bit risky financially, or if they are counting on making a sale, or if maybe just they're confident they have the cash, is the only concern.

[capt_oats]

25 minutes ago, Genuine Hibs Fan said:

Aye I think that's the crux of it. Feels like you've had a list of targets (largely fairly obvious ones tbf) and just gone out and got them. Whether that's maybe a bit risky financially, or if they are counting on making a sale, or if maybe just they're confident they have the cash, is the only concern.

I don't have an in depth knowledge of our finances but I've a feeling this is probably an example of our business model working in our favour.

AFAIK we generally run with one of the lower budgets in the league...essentially we budget based on finishing 10th. Clearly last season we finished 3rd* and we also sold James Scott to Hull for £1m rising to a potential £1.5m - that's along with a couple of Academy sales to Leeds and Norwich last summer.

It's back of a fag packet sort of numbers but roughly with prize money and player sales that's £2m-ish income we probably didn't budget for.

Also, the way the squad's been built at the moment; we released 7 players and 3 loans returned to their parent clubs so that's 10 bodies out with 5 in plus the Hastie loan and 5 extended deals of which Dunne will presumably on significantly less than his previous contract given his injuries.

I don't think it'd be too outrageous to suggest that on the whole the players who have come in will be in line with the budget we have available. I mean I have no doubt our budget's tight but given the fan ownership business we don't really have a safety net to run a risk.

The interesting part for me is that almost all our recruitment - barring McGinley - has seen players coming in who are known quantities and as @YassinMoutaouakil pointed out are relatively local. Even McGinley had previously worked with our Head of Sports Science when they were both at Boro. 

It's a pretty notable shift away from our brand  of trawling the English lower leagues:

• Ricki Lamie - Tony Watt's best pal & former team mate of Declan Gallagher,
• Jordan White - played with Gallagher at Livi,
• Scott Fox - worked with our GK coach at Thistle and at Celtic around the same time as Gallagher
• Nathan McGinley - at Boro with Andy Boles
• Mark O'Hara - was on loan last season
• Jake Hastie - well...it's fair to say we're aware of him

Edited July 3, 2020 by capt_oats

[Yorky]

3 minutes ago, capt_oats said:

I don't have an in depth knowledge of our finances but I've a feeling this is probably an example of our business model working in our favour.

AFAIK we generally run with one of the lower budgets in the league...essentially we budget based on finishing 10th. Clearly last season we finished 3rd* and we also sold James Scott to Hull for £1m rising to a potential £1.5m - that's along with a couple of Academy sales to Leeds and Norwich last summer.

It's back of a fag packet sort of numbers but roughly with prize money and player sales that's £2m-ish income we probably didn't budget for.

Also, the way the squad's been build at the moment we released 7 players and 3 loans returned to their parent clubs so that's 10 bodies out with 4 in plus the Hastie loan and 5 extended deals of which Dunne will presumably on significantly less than his previous contract given his injuries.

I don't think it'd be too outrageous to suggest that on the whole the players who have come in will be in line with the budget we have available. I mean I have no doubt our budget's tight but given the fan ownership business we don't really have a safety net to run a risk.

The interesting part for me is that almost all our recruitment - barring McGinley - has seen players coming in who are known quantities and as @YassinMoutaouakil pointed out are relatively local. Even McGinley had previously worked with our Head of Sports Science when they were both at Boro. 

It's a pretty notable shift away from our brand  of trawling the English lower leagues:

• Ricki Lamie - Tony Watt's best pal & former team mate of Declan Gallagher,
• Jordan White - played with Gallagher at Livi,
• Scott Fox - worked with our GK coach at Thistle and at Celtic around the same time as Gallagher
• Nathan McGinley - at Boro with Andy Boles
• Mark O'Hara - was on loan last season
• Jake Hastie - well...it's fair to say we're aware of him

Yes, I don’t think we have spent a fortune here, O’Hara probably the biggest deal. I don’t believe Lamie/White/Fox/McGinley will be on huge contracts. I think we are all feeling pretty confident but I’m sure we are all also aware that we are still taking a punt on one or two of these rising to the challenge, White and McGinley have never played at this level, Fox is a back up, and Lamie dropped out of the Livingstone first 11.