Walsall’s Weston in Motherwell trial
Wednesday 28th April 2010, 11:28AM BST.
Rhys Weston was today on the verge of quitting Walsall after he was handed a trial at Motherwell.
The right-back is training with the Scottish Premier League outfit this week with the view to a permanent move. He is out of contract in the summer and Well boss Craig Brown sees him as the perfect man to bolster his defence.
“We invited Rhys to join us so we could have a look at him,” said former Scotland boss Brown.
“If players don’t re-engage who are out of contract, we have to ensure we’ve got cover and options.
“He can play anywhere in defence. He looks a good professional and, while we’re quite a young side, he provides a lot of experience.”
A move north would suit the 29-year-old as he has family ties in Glasgow and Motherwell could offer European football should they finish fourth in the SPL.
Walsall boss Chris Hutchings said today: “Rhys’ wife is from Scotland and he sought my permission to link-up with Motherwell for a short trial. I gave him permission on that basis but he will be back training with us before the end of the week.”
The Fir Park side have had no natural right-back this season and have turned to Weston, capped seven times by Wales, to solve their problem.
The former Arsenal trainee joined the Saddlers in 2007 and has made 110 appearances, scoring once, but cut a frustrated figure this season with injury and suspension limiting his chances. He has made just 22 League One starts this season.
His departure would leave Hutchings short of defensive experience with only 34-year-old Jamie Vincent – also out of contact – offering any. But Hutchings has admitted he may work with a smaller squad next season.
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SURPRISE SURPRISE..
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smaller squad are we now entering the bescot 7s then
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Not a massive loss
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It s touch and go between him and Westlake anyway; Weston has not had a good Season and will not be missed to be honest.
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Shows you the quality of the SPL (and that comes from a current Aberdeen season ticket holder and long time walsall fan).
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Here we go again, different season, same story.
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Proud to call yourself “Stayaway” – you check this site so you must care….? Dont you realise if we had 7,000 at every home game we might actually be in a better position (yes I know… pension fund, Cyprus, Scott Dann etc etc. Perhaps we would all prefer to do a Luton, a Southend, a Portsmouth, a Palace etc. Without better attendances that is where we might end up. Support your club!!! You can sing what you like once you have paid for the right!
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Well said qmsaddler! To be quite honest id rather have Westlake at right back. Better player now than Weston ever was with potential to be a star. Plus Weston mus be one of the top earners. Thanks for everything Rhys but cheery bye!
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To stayaway, if you were a real fan, you would recognise that part of the problem with having a smaller squad is the money to pay the players wages. So lets be honest, you have no right to question anything that goes on at the Bescot if your not there every Saturday, or at least now and again.
People through the door equals more money, it may not be used to buy players, but at least pay better quality players that are on free transfers.
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So you only have a right to an opinion if you go to every home game? Or is it most home games? What about away games, do they count? Utter rubbish.
There are many who no longet attend but still love the club and could still be enticed back if the club were prepared to show that they were serious about moving towards a new era where the opinions of fans actually mattered. There are also many potential new supporters that could be attracted if the club showed any imagination and ambition to attracting them
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i was a season ticket holder for 17 years i have paid enough to air my opinion my problem is not only with bonser and whalley also with the pocket of fans with selective memory a couple of wins and youre all back on board the bonser ship well good luck to ya he wont go anywhere with people like you about i now watch a team with a lot more ambition who would die for walsall,s gates and to be honest deserve them more bloxwich united afc
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I’m not a ‘stayaway’ myself but would NEVER condemn those that are. I know plenty of people who are and they do it with a heavy heart.
The biggest flaw in the ‘if only you all came back, everything would be ok again’ argument is that it never worked in reverse. When we had healthier crowds Bonser didn’t put the money in because he had his other well-documented priorities. The sooner he goes the better.
PS for what its worth I expected Weston to go but we will miss him, Westlake’s just a kid and there ain’t a lot of cover there.
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Rhy’s wife comes from Scotland so you gave him permission to have a trial on that basis !!!! what the hell are you talking about , you mean he’s being released , out of contract !!!
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I’ll put my attendance record against anyones. Home, away, pre-season whatever measure you want to use over 25 years I’ll put my record anyones. I was not supporting a footbnes.
But it occurred to me what was the point? I wasn’t supporting a football club, I was supporting a regime. A regime that held its customers with contempt. That spouted talk of business and being run with the head when it was by its own standards failing. They were dependant on me being run by my heart.
I was told to go and support a different club if I didn’t like it. And after a visit to another club I found somewhere that appreciated my custom, that invested my money onto the playing side and everyone associated with the club worked to make it the best club it could be.
Walsall on the other hand saw more benefit in attracting Leeds fans than it did on my support and so I decided that this regime was not going to get my money anymore.
But does this mean I don’t care what happens at Walsall? Of course I care. I am not going to criticise those that still attend, thats their choice. But don’t say that I can’t have an opinion or a say. I have paid for my right over a thousand times through some worse times than this.
No, they ain’t getting rich off my money whilst I, and you, get treated with contempt. Not any more.
Anyway, Buckley did well with a small squad. Bamber was a disaster – and on Weston, he has quality, but it appears we haven’t got the best out of him for a couple of seasons. This is a worry.
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Peter, I can understand your grievance with the Bonser regime. Bonser’s relentless pragmatism, always treating Walsall FC as a business, is slowly throttling the life out of the club. Where’s the vision, where’s the dream? Walsall supporters are pretty realistic; we don’t expect thousands spent on transfers but we do expect that when we have a good player we don’t sell him for the first offer we get and then don’t replace him when he is sold. I think that it is going to be very difficult to get a new owner, who’s going to want to buy us, apart from asset strippers? That means that Bonser and the supporters are stuck with each other. So, the question is: how do we make it work? Bonser needs to make a gesture: how about a rent-free year so that we can bring in a few decent players? If we get that gesture, then we as supporters need to respond positively and back the team, otherwise Weston won’t be the last player to leave (in all honesty, I don’t think Weston is too big a loss as he’s too injury-prone and hasn’t played consistently well for a long time…and he’s probably one of the top earners).
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Will not be missed in fact Motherwell will need to get their most comfortable seats into the treatment room in readiness for his arrival!
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I’ve not been for 2 years. I even sponsored a couple of matches at bescot. Started taking my kid to bournemouth instead of the long drive up to bescot. At least I will get to see the mighty saddlers once next season, but you wont see me parting with any money at Bescot. I am STILL A SADDLER. The next time you see me at bescot is after I win the Euro Millions.
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