10.45pm

Oh dear.  It seems that Scott McDonald didn't take too kindly to the club's decision to turn down Rangers' £400,000 bid for him on transfer deadline day.  The following quotes are taken from today's Daily Record:
"To say I'm completely and utterly devastated is probably an understatement.  It's so hard for me to take. At half past four, when my agent called to tell me what was happening, I was on top of the world. Six hours later and I'm on the floor.  But it's up to Motherwell to call the shots. I'm under contract as a Motherwell player and there's nothing I can do about that.

"Hopefully I can get over this, keep playing well and then see where it takes me in the summer.  My only hope is that Walter Smith will still want me then because it's not very often you get the chance to work for a man like that at a club like Rangers.  It really would have been a dream for me."

Worse still, his agent is quoted as saying:
"My job is now to pick him up off the floor and get him going again, because you don't get over things like this easy.

"The one thing I can guarantee is that Scott will not stay at Motherwell a moment longer than he has to, he'll be looking to move on at the first opportunity and hopefully that opportunity will still be at Ibrox."

What a disgrace.  And let's not forget that this isn't the first time Mr McDonald has made such comments (remember his "come and get me" plea to Hibs and Hearts last summer?)  Fair enough, he wants to play at a higher level and was disappointed when he didn't get his move.  But to go greetin' to the papers about it is completely unprofessional and shows a total lack of respect to Motherwell, who let's not forget rescued him from the football scrapheap and helped make him the player he is today.

His agent is even more of a tosser.  McDonald has 18 months left on his contract, so why on earth should we flog him cheaply just to keep him and his agent happy?

The sad thing is that we can't afford to banish him to the reserves as he is easily our best player.  It'll be interesting to see what kind of reception he gets from the fans in the coming weeks, especially if he doesn't produce the goods on the park.

Anyway, here's what Maurice Malpas had to say about the situation:
"I appreciate what Scott is saying but I spoke to him at length last night and explained my side of the situation and he understands that as well.

"There is no real change to Scott’s situation, but as long he is desperate to play for Motherwell and score goals there won’t be a problem. It was the comments from his agent that upset me, they were bang out of order, and that is something I will address with him.

"He needs to remember that Scott is now an International, a high profile player and attracting interest from clubs like Rangers. This would not have happened without him coming to Motherwell and I think that says a lot for the club.

"It is now my job to make sure he doesn’t feel sorry for himself and that he does well between now and the end of the season and gets his move to a bigger club."

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