MARK McGHEE is content with Motherwell’s decision to part with Marvin Johnson on deadline day – admitting he’s been trying to sell the player for eight months.
The winger signed for Oxford United just hours before the transfer window slammed shut after the Fir Park club finally got an acceptable amount for the former Kidderminster Harriers star.
Losing the 25-year-old was a blow to the Ladbrokes Premiership side’s aspirations for this season given the recent form of their star man. Yet, McGhee is pragmatic about the situation as the sale of Johnson – thought to be around £500,000 – helps stabilise the club and provide cash to invest further.
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“Fortunately, we were able to get it done when Oxford United signed Marvin Johnson,” said the Motherwell manager. “It’s no secret that I’d been actively trying to sell him since last Christmas.
“I’d been promoting him because we are a selling club. We are here to produce players, do as well as we can with them and then move them on to secure Motherwell’s long-term future.
“We need that transfer money to pay the wages and our other bills so it was just a question of waiting for the right offer.
“It also wasn’t case of Marvin and his agent made a song and dance about wanting away. That was ridiculous because negotiations had been under way for some time and I was just doing my job in trying to get the best deal for this club.
“We’re entirely satisfied with that deal.”
One man that McGhee was able to bring in as part of the deal was new striker Ryan Bowman, who was signed on deadline day from Gateshead.
He goes straight into the Motherwell squad that will travel up to Dingwall today ahead of tomorrow’s Premiership meeting with Ross County and he could be in line to start with Louis Moult still not fit enough after surgery to claim a starting berth.
“We’d tracked him all last season,” added McGhee. “Martin Foyle, our chief scout, had seen him often and mentioned him and we’d then watched him on Y Scout before deciding, during the summer, that we wanted him here.
“Ryan and his partner came up here and I met them. I liked the boy, who seemed really keen to come here but it turned out that his club were looking for a small fee, which we couldn’t afford at that time.
“He just gives us something different to the other players we have here – different from Scott McDonald, Moultie and even Jacob Blyth, whom we haven’t really seen yet.”
He added: “I always expected that Louis Moult would be back by this weekend and he will be. He’s been training full-out and, while he’s probably not quite ready to start on Saturday, but he’ll be there or thereabouts.
“Steven Hammell is also fit and we have the two new boys, Ryan Bowman and Luka Belic, in as well so we’re looking good."
McGhee is a man who returns to Fir Park refreshed and raring to go. The international break may have offered his players the opportunity to catch their breath following a whirlwind start to the season but their manager was otherwise occupied in Malta with the Scotland squad on World Cup qualifying duty.
“I’m feeling revitalised, anyway, after being away with Scotland," said the national team No.2 after the 5-1 win on Sunday. "So working with the new players and Moultie – whom I’ve hardly seen this season – has been exciting for me.
“To be honest, it’s like having a clean slate – I feel as though the season starts here, almost.
“All of the Scotland players will have gone back to their clubs from Malta feeling better about themselves and that absolutely applies to the coaching staff as well.
“When we got that 0-0 draw away to Dundee it was only afterwards I wondered what state of mind I’d have been in going away with Scotland if we’d lost that game.
“It would have been difficult to join up with the national team and be positive on the back of a bad result but you’ve got to rise above that.
“But it works the other way when you come back to your club after such a good result. I feel we did a good job over there and, while there are difficult matches still to come, I’m feeling pretty good about everything at the moment.”
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