St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson praised new signing Conor McMenamin and his agents for sacrificing money to get his move to Paisley done.
The 27-year-old Northern Ireland international joins from NIFL Premiership side Glentoran on a two-year deal for an undisclosed fee, subject to clearance, with the Buddies holding the option of a further year.
Robinson told St Mirren’s official website what had to happen to complete the transfer.
He said: “It’s been a protracted negotiation but I have to pay a lot of credit to Conor himself and his agent Brian Adair and Keith Gillespie.
“They made the deal work by taking a little bit less and sacrificing their agency fee and less wages than initially agreed. That shows a real desire to come to St Mirren.
“We’re excited to have him. He’s arguably been the best player in the NIFL for two or three seasons now and was highly sought after.
“We’ve worked very hard for him and credit to the agents and the player. It’s really refreshing to see an attitude where money wasn’t everything to make the deal work and honesty from an agent.
“We’ve signed a very good footballer that can play in numerous positions. He can play right through the middle, as a wing-back and in behind the striker, so we’ve got a really versatile player who can score goals and create chances.
“In certain games last year, we lacked a wee bit of brilliance where someone can score out of nothing. We’re hopeful he’s the little spark you need sometimes in games like that.”
McMenamin made 109 appearances for Glens after joining in January 2021 and made 67 goal contributions (42 goals and 25 assists).
That came after a spell at Cliftonville between 2018 and 2021 where he netted 25 times in 72 matches.
McMenamin received his first Northern Ireland call-up in June 2022 and has since been capped by the national side six times, which includes substitute appearances in their recent Euro qualifying matches against Denmark and Kazakhstan.
He said: “I’m really looking forward to it.
“It’s been a long few weeks back-and-forth, and I’m really happy to have it over the line. I can’t wait to get going.
“The manager wants me to be who I am and play the way I can play. He knows my strengths and I’m going to try and bring my strengths to the team.
“It’s a good league with a lot of good teams here. It’s a really competitive league and hopefully I can hit the ground running.”
Real Madrid hit Twente for seven, five-star Wolfsburg also win big
Real Madrid had six different goalscorers as they trounced Twente 7-0 in the Women's Champions League on Wednesday, while Wolfsburg beat Galatasaray 5-0.
Signe Bruun opened the scoring three minutes into the Group B encounter at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, then Maria Mendez's header gave Madrid a 2-0 half-time lead.
Madrid, who had won one and lost one of their opening two games in the tournament, got a third through Naomie Feller five minutes into the second half, then Caroline Weir made it 4-0 with a brilliant free-kick.
Mendez headed home her second of the encounter shortly after the hour mark, while Oihane Hernandez and Carla Camacho got on the scoresheet late on to complete the rout.
The victory took Madrid second in the Group B standings ahead of Chelsea's trip to Celtic.
Wolfsburg were also convincing victors in Group A, getting off the mark for this season's competition as Rebecka Blomqvist scored a hat-trick in their 5-0 thrashing of Galatasaray.
The Bundesliga side – who failed to pick up a point or score a goal in their opening two matches – had a narrow 1-0 lead at half-time through Joelle Wedemeyer, before Blomqvist took centre-stage in the second period.
She tapped home after Janina Minge struck the crossbar, then added her second goal in the 77th minute and her third six minutes into stoppage time.
Vivien Endemann powered home a fifth for Wolfsburg one minute later, as they provisionally moved within three points of Lyon and Roma ahead of their meeting.
Taylor pleased with City's physical test during Hammarby win
Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor was pleased with how his team stood up to the physical challenge of Hammarby in their 2-0 Champions League victory on Tuesday.
City's win extended their unbeaten start to the season, having won every game in all competitions following a 2-2 draw against Arsenal on opening day.
“Difficult game for us, physical challenge, a physical team in Hammarby. I think they outnumber us a little bit in terms of size, considering when you look at our midfield. But I thought the girls handled it really well," Taylor said after the game
“I thought we dominated the game. In the early parts we were just a little bit off in our final action. We just needed to speed up a little bit in terms of being on the end of it, and we spoke about that at half-time, and we score with Laura getting into that type of position we’d been talking about.
“[The physicality was something] we were prepared for, but dealing with it is a different thing. Having Bunny [Khadija Shaw] and Alanna [Kennedy] on the pitch, two of our more physical players, is really important, particularly for set-plays.
“At 1-0 we were defending a couple of scenarios like that, Yama [Ayaka Yamashita] making a really good save at one point. Then Aoba [Fujino] got the goal that maybe allowed us to change things up a little bit more, get some people off that we’d like to manage.
“I think the girls have dealt with it really well tonight. We expected it, we thought it would be difficult, and they rose to the challenge.”
The victory leaves City top of their Champions League group with a 100% record after three matches, three points above second-placed Barcelona.
Taylor had made changes to City's starting XI, with Lauren Hemp among the trio to drop out from the weekend and she did not feature in the squad. Ahead of their weekend game against Chelsea, who are second in the WSL, Taylor explained the reasoning behind Hemp's absence.
“We’ve just got an issue with Lauren that we just need to analyse a little bit further, that’s all," he said.
“It’s something that potentially happened in the Palace game [on 3 November]. She was able to play in the Tottenham game [last Friday] but wasn’t able to tonight, so we’ll just take a little bit longer to assess and find out more.
“Hopefully [she can play against Chelsea]. There’s an opportunity there, we’ll just have to take a moment tomorrow, have a good conversation and find out where we’re at with the medical staff.”
Clement wants ruthless Rangers after nervy win over Hearts
Rangers boss Philippe Clement called on his team to show greater ruthlessness after they were made to work for a 1-0 win over Hearts in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday.
Cyriel Dessers put the Gers ahead after just six minutes at Ibrox, diverting James Tavernier's effort past visiting goalkeeper Craig Gordon.
However, Clement's team failed to build on that quick start and inched over the line amid a tense atmosphere, moving back to within nine points of pacesetters Celtic and Aberdeen.
Speaking after the game, Clement acknowledged his players are fatigued after a gruelling run of fixtures but added they must start taking their chances.
"We made too many wrong choices with the ball and became too sloppy," Clement said.
"It's the end of a very busy period, though, with a lot of travelling and they're all human beings, not robots.
"We missed scoring the second goal and we know that until you get that goal the other team stays in the game, so I want us to kill the belief of the opponent faster.
"I'm very satisfied with the result and the deserved three points. We didn't show the same quality in the second half and we didn't finish off the game. We had a few chances, but it stays nervous until the last second."
Rangers host Dundee United after the international break, while Celtic visit Hearts and Aberdeen travel to St. Mirren.
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