Success may come at a price, warns Black Ahead of fretful Fir Park summer

MOTHERWELL assistant manager Kenny Black fears the club will cash in on one of the key players behind their Champions League qualifying effort.

The Fir Park No 2 believes Motherwell are in a vulnerable position even after securing the promise of income from at least four European matches early in the next campaign.

Out-of-contract stars Keith Lasley and Stevie Hammell have penned new deals and Stuart McCall hopes to secure Steve Jennings.

Tim Clancy appears set to join Hibs, however, and Black believes there are players on existing deals whose excellence during the season could result in transfer offers from rival clubs or England.

Black said: ‘Stuart was told when he got the job that they are looking to sell a player on every season. We haven’t managed to do that, so we’ll have to see what happens.

‘We’ve not got a big squad, so I think, if we have any major injuries and suspensions, it might go pear-shaped. Like many clubs, we are going to have to cut our cloth accordingly.

‘The manager has been given a budget and it’s going to be restricted. The likes of Darren Randolph and Shaun Hutchinson will attract the attention of a number of clubs and we’ll have to hope we can keep the squad intact.

‘Keeping Lasley and Hammell is really important to us. It’s going to be a big season and we’d love to get off to a flyer and build some momentum up. The expectation level now has been raised, but we know this will be a difficult season coming up.’

Motherwell fans will hope that Black’s concerns prove unfounded — just as they were this time last year.

Black and McCall, only

six months into their partnership in Lanarkshire, guided Motherwell to the Scottish Cup Final before losing 3-0 to Celtic.

He had been concerned John Sutton’s departure may lead to a break-up of the side. However, the bulk of the squad remained intact and shrewd recruitment by McCall led to a record points haul of 62 and a third-place SPL finish.

‘The cup final was a severe negative for us because we didn’t take part in the game at all,’ said Black. ‘We were just a little bit worried after that if there was going to be a bit of a downturn and, with the likes of Sutton leaving, we thought: “Uh oh, here we go”.

‘But Michael Higdon coming in to replace him did great for us, plus the manager also brought in Nicky Law.

‘I think the top six was always going to be the ambition, then, as the season went on and we started digging out results, it was very much: “How high we can go?”.

‘At one point people were saying we were going to split the Old Firm and that distracted the players. Then we hit a little blip and it looked like a final-day shoot-out against Dundee United.

‘I was desperate to avoid that because I knew, coming to Florida with Scotland, that if Dundee United had pipped us it would have been a long week for me with Peter Houston!

‘But now we have Champions League qualifiers to look forward to, which is great for all the lads at Fir Park.’