The Kilmarnock goalkeeper has been heavily linked with a Bosman move to Rangers once the Ibrox club's registration embargo is lifted on September 1. Some reports claim he has already signed a pre-contract worth £8,000-a-week, but the 26-year-old revealed last night even he didn't know where he will be playing next season.
Ahead of today's William Hill Scottish Cup quarter-final against Hibernian, Bell's main concern is simply maintaining his excellent recent form and taking the Rugby Park side back to Hampden, the destination of his greatest triumph last season, when his heroics helped keep Celtic at bay during the club's Scottish Communities League Cup win.
"My future is not decided yet," said the player, who has one Scotland cap to his name and has also been said to be interesting Ipswich Town. "I'm just here to play until the end of the season, do my best and hopefully we can finish as high as possible in the league. I give my maximum to the team and to Kilmarnock. At the end of the day, I just want to win football matches. I was disappointed to go to Easter Road and let the lead slip twice during the week. We just need to bounce back, produce a win and get to the next round of the cup."
If Wednesday's 2-2 league match in Edinburgh is anything to go by, TV viewers who tune into today's re-match are in for a treat. Kenny Shiels has added the youthful instincts of the likes of Ross Barbour, Jude Winchester and Rory McKeown to the mix which did so well last season, and Bell for one reckons they are a better team now than they were 12 months back.
"The boys were fantastic that day at Hampden last season," said Bell. "But we don't think last season needs to be a one-off in terms of winning a trophy. We were a good team last season and I'd say we're a better team this year, we've got a bit more youth on our side. It's a bright future, the best young side I've seen in a long time."
While Bell awaits the opening of the transfer window, in the opposition ranks today will be one man licking his wounds after a massive move that went wrong. Scott Robertson looked set for the big time when he followed up his one and only Scotland cap – against Argentina no less – and his Scottish Cup final win with Dundee United with a move to Ian Holloway's ambitious Blackpool side last summer. But having been told straight away by Holloway that he had never even seen him play, Robertson would feature just once for the club, a period which saw him question his entire way of thinking about the game.
When Holloway left for Crystal Palace, the arrival of Michael Appleton as manager briefly brought some hope, but he would be there for a grand total of 11 games before departing for Blackburn Rovers. So with 10 central midfielders on the books, Robertson was allowed to rip up the remaining 18 months of his contract and find a new club. That is where Hibernian, and the chance to rebuild his career under long-term admirer Pat Fenlon, came in.
Robertson said: "I never really felt right down there. As soon as I signed, the manager said that he never actually saw me play. That put question marks in my head over what was going on. I just didn't feel involved and when I was, I felt I didn't suit the way the team played.
"It was a foreign way of playing, it was a strict 4-3-3, the midfielders letting the strikers get forward all the time. It relied more on individual brilliance from boys like Tom Ince, Matt Phillips and Gary Taylor-Fletcher, whereas I prefer to pass and move. The only game I played was away to Cardiff and we got beaten 3-0. I never really got a crack of the whip after that. My family were back in Dundee, my wife and kids were there and it was difficult in Blackpool not seeing them enough."
Stewart Fisher
