However, it is on the pitch where we can speculate about who will be staying and going. The generally accepted wisdom is that young and sellable assets will not be released - that means that Stevie Hammell, James McFadden, Stephen Pearson and Keith Lasley should be able to relax slightly. Despite this being a bad situation, I'm sure everyone is relieved that we will not be selling off our talented players well below market value. Stuart Elliott is another player who will probably be kept - the club doesn't need to liquidise its assets, it just needs to cut expenditure. By retaining some of our better players, the administrator is making a statement that there is still hope for the future.
A waste of space and money
There are a few very obvious candidates to be released and chances are they will already have packed their bags. Andy Dow, Kevin Twaddle and Robbie Martinez are all reportedly on £3000 a week and they have contributed virtually nothing this season. Losing them will not harm the team at all but will save us around £36,000 a month.
Karl Ready has stated publicly that he feels certain he will be asked to leave and has said how disappointed he is with the way he has been treated. While Killer has established a large cult following at Fir Park, it should be remembered not only is he one of our biggest earners (so he says - and who are we to doubt him?) but he has also played his part in giving us the worst defence in the SPL by a considerable margin. The same can almost be said of Greg Strong - signed at the peak of our 'success' under John Boyle, it seems certain that he will be on wages we can no longer afford.
Killer feels let down
It is reported that Mark Brown believes he is surplus to requirements and is fairly certain he will be one of those on the way out. It's a shame that a local lad and 'Well fan will be cut, but that's just the way it is. It is also suggested that some of our foreign players on cheap and short-term contracts will not be kept on but this seems counter-productive. People like Deloumeaux, Fererre, Lehmann and Soloy will not be making massive amounts of money - they were signed while we were cutting costs - and I don't think the administrator would want to sack cheap first team players.
The club had already announced that Martin Wood, Scott Wilson and John Fallon would be released and given our new situation; it's hard not to see others joining them. FirParkCorner believes that the administrator will be offered advice from some people within the club about who should stay and who should go. While they may not be 'football' men, it's reassuring to know that the administrator will receive help from people who have watched us this season. Hopefully this will go a long way to ensuring we keep a squad strong enough to keep our heads above water next season.
It is expected that there will be a press conference tomorrow to announce the redundancies. After that, the administrator will begin talking to parties interested in buying the club and will soon declare one of them as the 'preferred bidder' and will negotiate exclusively with them. For the good of everyone, let's hope a solution is found quickly.