Gary McAllister says his experience of budget cuts at Coventry put him off a return to management with Motherwell. The former Well midfielder held talks with majority shareholder John Boyle earlier this month but McAllister's financial and family concerns saw the club turn to Mark McGhee. McAllister endured a relegation battle as player-manager of Coventry before stepping down in December 2003 to look after his wife Denise, who unfortunately later died of breast cancer. The former Scotland captain said: "I had informal talks with John Boyle. There were just two or three things that didn't suit me and John appreciated that. But the club have a lot going for them. After going into administration a few years ago they have steadied the ship and now they are one of the few clubs in Britain to operate in the black. I'm just waiting for the right opportunity to come my way. My last experience at Coventry was not a happy one when ITV Digital went bust and my budget went along with it. So it was once bitten, twice shy. As long as you're with a club that is competitive in their league, that's the first and foremost thing."

While McAllister was put off by the budget constraints, he believes McGhee will revel in the challenge. He said: "Mark McGhee is very experienced. He has worked with clubs that ran on small budgets at Brighton and Millwall so he is experienced with that. Last season Motherwell just managed to stay up but I think they will pull away from the bottom of the league. They have some good young players there. I was honoured to be linked with the job, but I have got two boys in school in England."

McAllister left Fir Park for Leicester in 1985 along with team-mate Ally Mauchlen in a £250,000 deal that allowed Well to keep the bank at bay. More than two decades on, despite a Scottish Cup and European forays in the intervening period, the Steelmen find themselves in the same position of having to sell the likes of Scott McDonald to survive. McAllister said: "The difficult thing, and I spoke at length with John Boyle about this, is the problem of getting people to come to Fir Park. Even when I played there were 10 or 12 buses full of Rangers and Celtic fans leaving Motherwell Town Hall every Saturday as I drove past. They are still working very hard to try to get youngsters in Lanarkshire to support Motherwell. They have got to grab the youngsters very early to get supporters for the long term."

McGhee may already have come up against the problem of Well's budget constraints with target Craig Dargo signing for St Mirren. But he has dismissed reports that striker Ross McCormack is on his way to Hartlepool. McGhee said: "There is no truth in this at all, I have spoken to Chris Turner who is their director of football and a good friend of mine and Ross's name was never mentioned".