Kilmarnock turn down Charlton bid for Josh Magennis

Kilmarnock have rejected Charlton's offer for Josh Magennis, manager Lee Clark revealed.

The Sky Bet League One club tabled a £100,000 bid for Magennis on Friday, double that of Oldham's failed attempt earlier in the week, and the Northern Ireland international was absent as Kilmarnock suffered a 2-1 home defeat to Motherwell in their opening Premiership fixture.

But Clark received good news after the game.

Over the last few days, the Oldham Athletic bid has flushed a few clubs out,'' Clark said.

We have had three or four different bids and enquiries. There were only two clubs got anywhere near the figure the club were looking for.

But we have all decided that we didn't want to let him go so we turned down the offer from Charlton Athletic.

The board spoke to Josh, who has been very receptive, and said if the club cannot agree a fee he is more than happy to come back here and give us everything.

I had two conversations with the lad yesterday, I fully understood where he was coming from, would he have been in the right frame of mind to play for us? It was a very difficult decision so I just told him to have the rest of yesterday and today with his wife and young children.

Thankfully as manager it has gone in my favour, I have to say this time yesterday I was planning on being without Josh. It's terrific news he is going to be part of what we are doing.''

Clark was also removed from the action after being sent to the stand inside 10 minutes by referee Craig Thomson.

Apparently for foul and abusive language, I don't know if that was directed at an official, which I certainly didn't,'' Clark said.

I refute that suggestion 100 per cent. I would have thought that early in the game a conversation between me and the ref would have been enough. But it wasn't the only strange decision of the afternoon, was it?''

Killie were left with a sense of injustice after feeling they should have had a penalty when Souleymane Coulibaly tangled with Ben Heneghan late on, only for Thomson to penalise the Killie striker.

Clark said: I've seen the footage a couple of times over and there could be a great opportunity for a penalty. What it certainly isn't is a foul against Souley. That's a double whammy. That was another strange one to add to the list.''

Motherwell boss Mark McGhee felt the referee was just about right'' and claimed Heneghan could have had a penalty for his team earlier on. He was delighted with his side's winning start, which came courtesy of Lionel Ainsworth's well-executed 40th-minute chip and Marvin Johnson's header 28 seconds after the restart. Johnson is another player who has been the subject of failed bids this week after Oxford stepped up their interest, and the winger had McGhee enthusing following his fourth goal of the season.

It could have been Thierry Henry or Les Ferdinand or someone like that,'' McGhee said.It was a great cross but it was a centre-forward's header. It was a fantastic header. Kris Boyd would have been proud of that header.

He is scoring in every game. People know what I think of him, I just hope I can hang on to him.''