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8.30pm

Keith Lasley has finally ended the speculation over his future by signing a two-year deal with English First Division side Plymouth Argyle.  The 24-year-old is quoted as saying:
"I had a good season last year and I think it's time to move on and have a go at the First Division.  It'll be a different style of football here and I'm looking forward to raising my game to play at this level..  It was a hard decision to make because it's my first major move away from a club.   But it was a decision I had to make and it was the right decision.  It goes without saying that I will get the chance to play against a lot of big clubs and it will be an exciting time." 

Best of luck Keith!

And while we're on the subject of players leaving the club, check out this gem of a quote from Aberdeen's new "star" striker, Steven Craig:
'To be honest I couldn't turn down the chance to join a club I think should be third best in Scotland behind only the Old Firm and that's where I want to prove myself.  There is no doubt that Aberdeen have under-achieved in recent years and this is the ideal opportunity to come and be part of the revival.  When a team like Aberdeen ask you to sign I don't think that you can knock it back if you have ambitions to do well in your career.  I was sad to leave Motherwell because I had a great 19 months there and I can't thank Terry Butcher and Maurice Malpas enough for what they did for me.  But moving to Pittodrie is a massive step forward. People say there is no loyalty in football which has been proven many times so you have to look after number one.  I definitely see this as a big stepping stone. When you go on holiday and tell people you play for Motherwell they say who?  But when you say it's Aberdeen everyone has heard of the club."

Barry John Corr has signed a new one-year deal, and said yesterday:
"A new contract with 'Well is a massive bonus for me and although I only featured in five games last season, it was a start.  Hopefully I will feature in more games this season."

As we reported a week ago, Gordon Marshall has also agreed a new one-year contract, and captain Scott Leitch is set to put pen to paper shortly.  However, Jason Dair looks to be on the way out after rejecting a contract in the hope that the club would come back to offer him improved terms - which has not been forthcoming.

Faced with the prospect of having to rebuild his midfield, Terry Butcher is quoted today as saying:
"Some players quickly move on at the first opportunity but that's up to them.  If they move for financial reasons then I can't blame them for that but sometimes you have to look at the playing side too.  Sometimes you should take a step back and look at the reality of where you will be playing.  It is very easy to jump ship at the first opportunity.  Sometimes it is better to stay put and stay in the same environment for another season and Motherwell has been a very happy environment over the last year.

"We lost McFadden and Pearson last year and still managed to carry on well and secure a place in the top six.  Players decide to leave the club and move on but we will find replacements for them.  It was a big blow to lose Keith Lasley as well but we will see who is available to bring in."

Let's hope that TB can get some new faces in quickly, as he'll be off to commentate at Euro 2004 at the end of next week.  It looks as though we have lost out on rumoured target Craig Easton, as the former Dundee Utd player is set to go on trial with Italian side Chievo.

It's been revealed that Motherwell voted in favour of Inverness Caledonian Thistle at Monday's SPL meeting to resolve the promotion/relegation issue.  MFC Director Stewart Robertson said: 
"Motherwell voted for the Caley Thistle proposal and we are disappointed by the result.  Contrary to what has been reported, we kept an open mind on the issue and listened to the arguments today for and against before reaching our decision.  We thought Caley Thistle put forward a viable ground-sharing arrangement.  We understand probably better than most how relieved Partick will feel about the decision.  We were extremely fortunate not to be relegated last year but the situation then with Falkirk we feel was entirely different as there was no ground-sharing arrangement in place."

The current list of our "glamour" pre-season friendlies is as follows:

Sat 17 July - Stirling Albion (away)
Wed 21 July - Stenhousemuir (away)
Tue 27 July - St Mirren (away)
Sat 31 July -  Stranraer (away)

It appears as though the match against Everton arranged as part of Faddy's transfer will NOT be going ahead...

In this Scotland on Sunday article, John Boyle describes some of the nine players made redundant by the club two years ago as "malingerers" by saying:
"Of the nine, a number were malingerers who the manager was having difficulty motivating.  It was coming to them all anyway. They were simply into the wage structure a year earlier than everybody else, so they probably only lost out on a year at the higher level of earnings. I tell you one thing, none of them will be getting those wages now: here, there or anywhere. It was all a bit tragic, but you cannot make those big decisions without causing angst."

Not surprisingly, this provoked a furious response from our old friends Kevin Twaddle and Andy Dow.  Twaddle hit back by saying:
"I have said very little about John Boyle throughout this whole sorry affair, but I'm not prepared to sit back and let him make these idiotic comments.  How can he come out and call any of his players malingerers , because to any professional footballer that is an insult.  The point is he hasn't got the backbone or the bottle to name any of the players. He has just hidden behind his comments by labeling us all, but Karl Ready and Greg Strong, as malingerers.  He said he only had sympathy for two or three players who were sacked, but apart from that he found it hard to be sympathetic to the rest. That is just a joke.  

"At the end of the day John Boyle was the guy who gave us our contracts in the first place and persuaded us all to move to Motherwell, so for him now to make comments like this is bang out of order.  We all moved our families through to the area and I had just signed a new three year contract because Motherwell were desperate to keep me.  I could have gone when the likes of Brannan, John Spencer, Lee McCulloch and Don Goodman left, but I enjoyed my time at the club and wanted to help bring success to Motherwell.  Boyle also said tragedy is what happening to kids in Iraq or Romania  but not a footballer losing his contract. We all know he heartache of people in Iraq, Romania and everywhere else in the World, but he wasn't in the room when I had to go home and watch my daughter break her heart because I told her I had lost my job and she had to move school and leave her friends again.  He seems to have forgotten that. The day he put Motherwell into administration he destroyed careers and turned peoples families upside down."

"At the end of the day it was because of the way he ran the club that it went into administration and we lost our jobs.  He thought just because he was a successful businessman he could come in and make the same impact in football.  Unfortunately he failed because he didn't have the first clue about football. That has been shown. The disappointing thing, for me, is that he is still pulling the strings at Motherwell.  That wouldn't be allowed to happen in any other walk of life."

And Andy Dow had to get a few words in as well:
"He is obviously talking about Kevin Twaddle and myself because we had had been left out of the first team at that point.
It was strange because I played in the Scottish Cup defeat at Dunfermline, when the David Kelly thing blew up, and after that I never played for Motherwell again. We both wanted to play for Motherwell, but Black made it clear that wasn't going to happen.  He never gave us a reason and just came in one day and told us we would be in training with the kids. He just wanted us out and I think it was because we were two of the biggest earners at the club.  We accepted that and trained hard and tried to help the youngsters but when Black realised he wasn't going to break us, he told us that we'd be training on our own.  He brought us in at 8:30 for an hour and then at 3:30, so we wouldn't be in contact  with any of the first team, and he and is then No.2 Terry Butcher, would just make us run. His man management skills were a joke and things got that bad he refused to talk to us.  Even when my agent called him to say there were clubs wanting to come up and watch me in the under 21's he refused to play me.  We went to the SPFA about it and things were getting resolved when the club went into administration and we knew at that stage we'd be the first out the door.  That was what happened and now as we try and put Motherwell behind us, Mr Boyle comes out and needlessly re-opens old wounds."