MARK McGHEE, the Motherwell manager, admits he fears that his out of contract players won’t accept the offers made to extend their stay at the club beyond the summer.
Experienced pros including captain Keith Lasley, Steven Hammell, Stephen McManus, Craig Samson, James McFadden and Scott McDonald are among those who are potentially just two games away from the end of their Fir Park careers.
It is understood that the playing budget for next year has been cut as McGhee tries to pull together a squad on the park as fan ownership takes strides closer off of it. Offers have been made to those out of contract that Motherwell wish to keep and negotations are under way, but McGhee confesses he has his concerns over how many of his lot will remain beyond this Sunday.
“The issue we have is we are a club that has a finite budget and all we can do is divvy that up to make sure we have a squad of 20 at the start of next season and that we are competitive,” he said.
“I’m worried that some of these guys won’t accept the offers we have made.
“The reality is the difference between finishing fourth, fifth or sixth will impact on these offers so the higher we finish the better it can be.
“We know the figures are real. We’re not saying it’s round about this or that. We had another forensic look at the accounts on Monday trying to find every penny we can and make sure that we use every penny to the maximum that we can.”
With such a tight approach to finances in place, the lure of finishing fourth in the Ladbrokes Premiership naturally comes with great appeal along with its financial reward. Granted, Motherwell would need to beat Ross County this evening in Dingwall and Celtic at Parkhead while hoping St Johnstone fail to pick up another point, but with £100k at stake, McGhee has not given up hope.
“It’s really tight and it’s really difficult,” said the Motherwell manager. “And that makes the game with Ross County all the more important and it’s not ridiculous to suggest that St Johnstone will lose to Celtic.
“So we could go into the last game with the possibility that if we beat Celtic at Parkhead we could finish fourth.
“It’s a long shot, especially the way we have looked that last couple of games, but it’s not impossible.
“So if we were to get a result against Ross County it would give us a good focus going to Parkhead.”
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