GLF 63: Gavin now accepts that players move on.
Two days ago Scott McDonald said he was " utterly devastated " that his dream move to Rangers was blocked.Ideally,not what you want a Motherwell player to be saying. But this is no ideal world and football reflects it warts and all.I write this before the Morton game and I don't know what the public reaction has been towards McDonald.No doubt there will be some discontent as there was at the start of the season after he put in his transfer request.If he continues to score goals and fire us up the league I'm sure a lot of discontent will soften.
But what has McDonald said that we don't know he is thinking anyway?Scott is pretty articulate and very frank.When he is asked a question he gives an honest answer.He was gutted he couldn't sign for Rangers as we all knew he would be - his ambition and drive are there for all to see and they have helped him score goals and win games for Motherwell.
McDonald said he was gutted but would continue to give his all for Motherwell.He has been doing that all season and that is why Rangers came in for him.I'm sure he realises it's in his best interests to continue giving his all.But a few hours after his Ibrox switch was denied someone asked him how he was feeling.And he told the truth.There are a few pundits,players and managers who give pretty anodyne comments and no-one likes listening to them.And there are players who rhyme off cliches when asked about their ambitions.But if everyone wheeled out standard replies life would be pretty dull.
McDonald is clearly very confident and I'm sure some of his characteristics are cultural.Anyone who has met a few Australians knows they tend to be louder,more arrogant and more cocky than us Scots.But in sporting circles it doesn't seem to do them much harm.Some of this nature is evident when McDonald talks about himself because he is very comfortable in stating his career goals.And we all know Motherwell are no different from every club in the world - we have our place in a football world driven by economics.Sometimes teams move up and down the chain but there are only a handful of clubs in the world that will not lose players for financial reasons.Bayern Munich could not give Ballack as much as Chelsea.Even Manchester United fear losing Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid.Old Firm fans and chairmen have been struggling to cope with the realisation that they lag behind the likes of Charlton and Wigan in the chain.
I remember failing to understand why Willie Irvine signed for Hibs after scoring a barrow load of goals for Motherwell and helping us back into the Premier League in 1982.And I cried when Brian McClair signed for Celtic the year after.I felt I had been personally let down,I could not understand why someone would switch sides,especially to the enemy . But I was seven years old.I was allowed to be naive . I'm sure the Motherwell board cried their eyes out when they were forced to accept £75,000 for McClair but other adults would have dealt with the situation.(Although a few might have shed some tears when they saw him play in his second spell at Fir Park).It has happened through the years,Joe McBride,Dixie Deans,Tam Forsyth and on and on.When Andy Walker went to Celtic I had steeled myself for the prospect.I was quite pleased we got £375,000 for him.When Phil O'Donnell went to Celtic I was amazed we got £1.75 million for him.And I heard Willie Pettigrew admit in an interview that Celtic nearly signed him from Motherwell once and he would have gone.Even 'Well fans are not immune from personal ambition.
I appreciate Stephen Pearson upset people by posing in a Celtic top before he had even signed. But I was embarrassed when Well fans booed Tam Boyd in a Celtic strip after eight years of service culminating in him lifting the Scottish Cup. And he hadn't even gone direct to Parkhead. And the boot is often on the other foot. We can sign Stephen Craigan from Partick Thistle because he needs to look after his financial interests. I don't have any superiority complex over a Partick Thistle fan because of this, which is maybe where the Old Firm differ and why we hate it when players go there. Because many of them have a feeling of self-importance derived from attaching themselves to a big team, which makes it harder to stomach when Motherwell players go there.
But hating the Old Firm is one of the things that defines a Motherwell fan.The healthy hatred is intensified by the economics of our relationship with them and that in turn means we can enjoy the victories over them all the more.The depth of feeling when we turn them over wouldn't be so strong if we hadn't lost so many players to them over the years.The fact is we needed the £75,000 McClair cash to survive and we still need the odd transfer fee to keep going.McDonald will leave in the summer,we will try and get as much as we can for him.It's in the club's interests that he does well.And thus it is in fans' interests to back him while he plays.
McDonald blotted his copybook when he publicly demanded a transfer before informing the club last summer but he didn't need to sign a three-year contract which will now enable us to get a fee for him.If he moves to Rangers in the summer we get cash and beating them next season will be all the sweeter.He hasn't done a Kevin Thomson and made it impossible for the club to keep him. If he gets a big money move,him and the club both win .I know Martyn Corrigan has turned down more money to move elsewhere in the past and he will be a Motherwell legend for years to come because of his long service.I'm pretty sure I would have rejected the chance to move to the Old Firm if I had been good enough to play for Motherwell.But I was nowhere near so I'll never know.
Most players will move on given the chance of more money and glory.McDonald maybe wishes he had kept quiet when asked about his feelings, but all he is guilty of is being too honest.The vast majority of players will move on at some point so there is no point booing them because they admit they want to.And let's face it some Motherwell players don't have to say they're gutted they couldn't sign for Rangers to get some fans on their back.
Gavin McCafferty
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