ALEXANDER’S HOPES RISE AFTER LAMIE HAS DOUBTS ABOUT DENS
MOTHERWELL boss Graham Alexander had a pleasant surprise when he turned to the sports sections of his daily newspapers to discover that centre-back Ricki Lamie might not be leaving the Lanarkshire club next month after all.
Back in January, Lamie put pen to paper on a pre-contract agreement with Dundee but, after scoring the goal at Livingston which earned the Steelmen a topsix slot last week, he announced he could change his mind and stay with them.
He insisted there were clauses in his contract with Dundee (relegation is understood to be one of them) which would render the deal invalid and also stressed that he had signed to play for James McPake, a personal friend who was dismissed as manager at Dens Park two weeks after Lamie had signed up.
Now, with European football at Fir Park a possibility next season,
Lamie admitted that he may sign an extension, so Alexander will hold talks with him ahead of the home match against Rangers a week today.
‘The first thing I knew about this was when I read about it on Monday morning,’ he said. ‘We’ve only been in one day this week, so I haven’t really had a chance to discuss the situation with Ricki.
‘We never wanted him to leave in the first place. We opened talks with him on extending his stay before Christmas and made him two offers. Then his agent came back to us and said Dundee had (given him a contract) which, because of our wage structure, we couldn’t match.
‘With a wife and family, Ricki felt he couldn’t turn it down so I didn’t give it any more thought. I know his character and so I knew I could trust him to play for us — even against Dundee — without him being distracted by what was going to happen in the summer.’
In England, players can only sign pre-contract deals with clubs in other countries, so Alexander admits this is virgin territory for him.
‘To be honest, I don’t quite know how you negotiate with a player who’s agreed to join someone else but if he’s interested in staying then we’ll talk,’ he said.
‘If there are clauses involving Dundee going down then that’s a possibility.’