This is an excerpt from this week's McGarry on Motherwell, a free Motherwell newsletter written by Graeme McGarry that goes out every Thursday at 6pm. To sign up, click here.
Injuries, as Motherwell know better than most, can befall a player at any time. They can obviously be picked up in training, or in the case of David Turnbull, be picked up on a scan when you are having a medical and are blissfully unaware there is anything wrong at all.
Thankfully for both Turnbull and the club back then, he still got his big-money move to Celtic in the end, but when the deal fell through, the deflation felt by the player and the despair among the club’s hierarchy at the time – who already had a fair chunk of that transfer fee spent in their heads – was palpable.
While the Turnbull situation wasn’t anyone’s fault, the last thing anyone at Motherwell would want would be to find themselves in a similar position again. Which brings me to the prized asset of the present day, Lennon Miller.
I must admit, I was a little bit surprised when Miller was in the starting XI for the first friendly of the summer against FC Twente, and then again for the closed doors kickabout against Carlisle on Tuesday. He is still contracted as a Motherwell player for another year, of course, but the expectation was, and remains, that he will move on from the club during this transfer window.
As much as many fans may be quite happy with the notion of watching Miller in claret and amber for another season, I’m quite sure that short of a hugely unlikely contract extension being agreed, there is not a soul on the club’s board who shares the same sentiment.
Selling Miller is an example of the club’s model playing out to perfection. Identify a young talent. Nurture said talent by providing a clear (and early) pathway to the first team. Enjoy having such a player in the side for a few seasons. And when the time is right, cash in. Now, is that time.
You obviously need bids that meet your valuation first, and as manager Jens Berthel Askou spelled out at his press conference today, nothing ‘concrete’ has yet emerged. But if Miller remains fit, they will. Of that, I have no doubt.
So, while I am thoroughly looking forward to the first competitive game of the season against Clyde at New Douglas Park on Saturday, there is also a little trepidation over the prospect of Miller taking to the (artificial, let’s not forget) field.
There is a part of me that fully understands the argument that as long as he is a Motherwell player, then the manager should have him at his disposal. But I am more and more swaying towards the opinion that Miller should be nowhere near the park at the weekend.
Frankly, and with the greatest of respect to Clyde, if Motherwell can’t win that game without Miller in the midfield then there may be much more for us all to worry about. Looking at it coldly, I think the balance of risk and reward has tipped towards leaving him on the bench at the very least.
There is also the point that the team has to prepare for life without Miller. Filling that hole in the midfield won’t be easy, and you have to imagine a chunk of whatever transfer fee that the club eventually bank for him will be used to do just that. But it wouldn’t hurt to see what alternative options there are within the current squad too, if any.
To protect the club and the lad himself, I’d have him wrapped in cotton wool from here on out, and would be adopting a break glass only in case of emergency policy when it comes to using him over these next few weeks.
His next move is too important to Miller, and to Motherwell, to jeopardise it over a League Cup group stage match against lower league opposition.
