Cautious McCall refuses to relax and enjoy the moment with work still to be done

Friday 4 May 2012

His team have just qualified for the Champions League, but Stuart McCall is not allowing himself to dream of continental competition; the Motherwell manager is more concerned with his budget for next season.

Tom Hateley will approach the Champions League with a positive attitude

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Gaby McKay

Rangers financial woes mean that Motherwell's third-place finish will ensure entry to the Champions League qualification rounds, with the possibility of European heavyweights such as Dynamo Kiev or CSKA Moscow making the trip to Fir Park. McCall, however, has his eye on Ibrox rather than Russia. "I've not looked at it," he says. "I got texts from the lads saying 'see you Friday' and even from former team-mates saying 'enjoy the champagne' but all I could think of was 'how are we going to stop Rangers on Saturday?'"

"I can't relax yet because of this game. I was on the touchline last year when we got beaten by six so, without being negative, we don't want to get a hiding. It could be Rangers last game as Rangers or possibly some of the Rangers lads' last game at Ibrox."Surely though, McCall can allow himself a moment of satisfaction thinking about Champions League revenues? Perhaps, though the best he can hope for is being allowed to maintain this term's budget. "The real money doesn't kick in until the group stage so the club has to be careful budgeting," he says. "A couple of months ago we were going to have to cut the budget. Last year we kept the same budget because we got to the Scottish Cup final but I don't think this is worth as much as that. We'll talk about the budget on Monday."McCall's attitude is not one of pessimism or defeatism, but reality. Key players such as Keith Lasley and Steve Jennings are out of contract and the club have been unable to even offer parity in the deals discussed so far. "We've offered contracts to a few players but in the majority of cases they've been reductions," admits McCall. "A lot of clubs are in the same boat; look at Kilmarnock, Hearts and Rangers. The majority are cutting; we get beaten [to players] by League Two clubs in England, even non-league clubs. Last year people were panicking because we only signed two but we were able to keep some of the other players and that's been the basis of our success. It'd be nice to have that again."The caution of McCall and his club when it comes to budgetary matters is understandable. Motherwell were in administration from 2002-2004, while Bradford City, with whom McCall is indelibly linked – almost 400 games as a player and two spells as manager – have twice called in the receivers. "I wasn't there when they were in administration, but even in my third year at Bradford we had to cut the budget by 50%," he says. While McCall remains pragmatic, the excitement among the players is palpable. "Any footballer wants to be involved in the Champions League," says defender Tom Hateley. "It's an amazing thing for Motherwell to be involved in and when you look at the teams we could get it's massive."Hateley believes the triumphs of teams such as Apoel Nicosia and Viktoria Plzen in this season's Champions League can be a source of inspiration. "You would never expect teams like that to get as far as they did," he says. "If we come in fit and ready to go you never know what could happen. It's a whole new experience for Motherwell; we'll enjoy it and see where it takes us." Would his manager then accept facing some of the continent's lesser lights, if it would give his men a fighting chance of reaching the group stages? "I don't think you can get smaller than us can you?" he asks with a laugh. "For the club's sake the bigger the better."

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Cautious McCall refuses to relax and enjoy the moment with work still to be done

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