Jay

Yes. It is the Well Society's shares in the club that will be sold but the proposal is for there to be no requirement for the buyer to be a current Well Society member. It may be that the buyer is listed as a Society member as a result, but that would be more for admin etc and wouldn't exclude anyone who isn't a current member from buying.

Over the last few months, we have been asked by a number of our members about the opportunity to purchase shares from The Well Society. In the past, it is not something that we have been able to offer as we were not majority shareholders and owners of the Club. Obviously, our position has now changed and we have been investigating the possibility of having a Share Sale whilst, of course, still retaining our majority shareholding position. We believe that The Well Society`s current model of investing the majority of the funds we receive from members, from pledges and donations, directly into the Club is by far the best approach available at the moment. We believe that the current positivity around the Club and playing squad justifies that belief. The original concept of The Well Society was to ensure that we have substantial reserves to act as a safety net should anything untoward or unexpected happen to our Club further down the line. By implementing this Share Sale, we intend to not only take full advantage of the Double Your Money offer, but to also build up that substantial reserve to safeguard our Club, whilst maintaining our current commitment to invest a six-digit sum in Motherwell Football Club every year, direct from member pledges and donations. Our original target of raising £1.5m is only half way there. It’s anticipated that we would release 50,000 shares, at a price of £10 per share, which gives us the potential of raising £500,000. Minimum share purchase would be £50.00. We believe this is a fantastic opportunity to not only raise revenue, but also to give supporters the chance to own individual shares in the Club. We also see this a great chance to take the current positivity and progress at Fir Park, no better exemplified by the stunning 3-0 quarter-final win over Aberdeen, into the long-term. We would hope to move quickly on this matter and, as you may be aware, we hold an open surgery within the Centenary Suite on the last Thursday of every other month. Should you have any questions for the Board on this, or indeed any other matter relating to The Well Society, we will be holding our next surgery on the 28th September between 6.30 and 8.30pm. In the meantime, we are asking for Well Society members with a viewpoint on this proposal to get in touch by completing the short poll below. The Board aim to finalise plans on the Share Sale soon and we are committed to taking Society members’ views into account when proceeding. Our poll will run until 5pm on Thursday 28th September. http://www.thewellsociety.co.uk/2017/09/22/share-sale-proposal-lets-build-for-the-future/

Essentially. The Well Society raises about £110,000 - £120,000 a year at present and, after minor admin costs and other expenses related to the Society itself, the vast majority goes into the club. The original model of an "overdraft" was moved away from a few years ago, and the current model really is the best available option at the moment, in my opinion. The majority of that cash finds its way into the squad and it's no exaggeration to say that six digits going in every year really is the difference between battling relegation and challenging for a top six. Clubs like Ross County and Partick Thistle have benefactors dipping into their pockets each year to supplement the playing budget. I *think* I'm right in saying the only club who didn't have that last season (with the Well Society being Motherwell's) were Inverness Caledonian Thistle, and down they went. The Well Society is now the equivalent of Roy McGregor or the Weirs basically, and without six digits going in every year, we'd be in a very different position than where we are now. However, funny you should mention this. I've only just come on to post something up that I think answers the point about having reserves to safeguard the Club in any downturns in the future, while also hopefully being a initiative that might come close to meeting your desire for a tangible attempt to take advantage of the Double Your Money offer. See next post...

Yes. This is a point that's been made before and it's a particular bug bear of mine but, at present, the actual welcome e-mails/letters are sent manually by Craig Hughes at the Well Society. Unfortunately, he's on holiday at the moment, so you should get a proper confirmation/welcome when he returns. Completely recognise how slightly amateur that sounds and there's no danger folk shouldn't be getting automatic responses to welcome them but, sadly, we're still seemingly operating with the original systems put in place at the beginning (not sure who designed them or why), albeit while working to vastly upgrade things so the admin side is completely fit for purpose. Basically, as shoddy as it might seem please know that you will get a welcome once Craig returns and that it's something that's been highlighted for improvement ASAP.

The John Ruddy and Paul Slane jerseys posted last week (links above) are going to run until tomorrow as they went online 24 hours late. However, we are sticking with Thursday morning being the designated days for new auctions. We'll have raised over £1,000 (so over £2,000 thanks to Les) once last week's auctions finish (and I'll update the total tomorrow on here). This week's we have a signed, match-worn jersey from Marc Fitzpatrick, and a match-worn Jamie Pollock jersey signed by a number of the 2010-11 squad, including the likes of Sutton, Craigan, Lasley, and Jeffers. More info and to bid here: http://www.thewellsociety.co.uk/2017/09/21/this-weeks-auction-items-marc-fitzpatrick-jamie-pollok-signed-by-2010-11-squad/

A few months ago we announced our intention to launch our Exiles Club – an opt-in initiative aimed at making ‘Well Society members from outwith Scotland feel a part of fan-ownership and connecting them with fellow “exiles” from across the globe. Having asked for ‘Well fans abroad to get in touch with their suggestions and views, we received a fantastic response from all over the world, discussing the formation of the Exiles Club with Dossers in the likes of Denmark, the United States, Canada, South Africa and Australia to name a few. We also announced the fantastic news last month that Ally Maxwell had been named our Exiles Club Ambassador, helping where possible to spread the word of the Well Society worldwide. The Exiles Club takes inspiration from the once well-known Motherwell supporters’ group of the same name which operated a mailing list, newsletter and website in the mid-90s, bringing together many of those who could not attend Fir Park on a regular basis. Click here for full information: http://www.thewellsociety.co.uk/2017/09/20/well-society-launches-exiles-club/

A day late this week due to some issues but both of this week's auctions are now online! Last week, the Darren Smith jersey went for £26. Scott McDonald's, however, went for a few quid more - hitting the £205 mark! That brings our running total up to £922 - or £1,844 when you add the Les factor... This week we have two auctions that are bound to generate interest, albeit for different reasons... England international John Ruddy and Amsterdam fan Paul Slane: http://www.thewellsociety.co.uk/2017/09/15/this-weeks-auction-items-john-ruddy-paul-slane/

http://www.motherwellfc.co.uk/2017/09/08/well-squad-join-the-society/ Motherwell FC can today announce that each one of its first-team players and football management staff has joined the Well Society. The Society, as owners, support the club financially throughout the year, both on and off the pitch, and have done so since they took over the majority shareholding in October of last year, making Motherwell FC the only fully fan-owned entity in the Scottish Premiership. The Society generates funds in a number of different ways, the majority raised from monthly contributions from members, with more than 1,000 fans pledging on an on-going basis. Now, in a show of solidarity, every single player in the Motherwell first-team squad, along with the football management staff, has agreed to become a member and have signed up to a monthly contribution. Joint Chairman of the Well Society Douglas Dickie praised this gesture saying: “It is fantastic that the players and the management team have agreed to join the Society and invest in our club, which is crucial for our success and long-term stability. “This only underpins the unity we have throughout the club and will hopefully act as a catalyst for more fans to get behind the Society and its aims. We want the link between the fans of the club and the players on the park to be strong. That comes from us giving 100% each and every week, but also with things like this, where we put something back because we care about this place. We are all honoured to be members.” “All I would say to all the Motherwell fans out there is that the players and management have joined – it’s now your turn!” Club captain Carl McHugh added: “We are building a very strong bond as a squad, something the manager has worked hard to encourage. “This is our place of work, but the players have a genuine affinity with this football club, it gets under your skin really quickly. “Even the new lads who have just joined say there is a special feeling about Motherwell and that’s why we have, as a squad, collectively agreed to join the ‘Well Society and contribute each month. “We want the link between the fans of the club and the players on the park to be strong. That comes from us giving 100% each and every week, but also with things like this, where we put something back because we care about this place. We are all honoured to be members.” Stephen Robinson expanded on that by saying: “I’m proud the players have taken this step as it shows what we’re trying to build here has solid foundations. “We have guys who are genuinely committed to each other as teammates, but also to the club that does a lot for them too. “As a management team, it was important that we also took this step as a show of unity with the fans and to further solidify our attempts for everyone to move forward in the same direction, which will hopefully lead to positive outcomes in the future.”

Yes, letters have been going out and the last batches of this first run will be in Monday morning's post. They haven't went out quick enough, but they will be out by next week. Those will then be followed up by further letters and e-mails which should tie in with the campaign we're going to be orchestrating.

I'll be honest, my own personal take on it is that there's not enough evidence to suggest that nearly enough 'Well fans would put their rebate into the club to make it viable. That's not a slight on 'Well fans, I just think it's human nature - particularly in current times - to want to make a saving, and I think the majority would see the scheme as a reduction in the amount they pay for their season ticket, rather than the chance to join the Well Society. I know I probably would. The Society's current issue for me is that people still don't understand what it does - hence the plans for an orchestrated campaign that gets that message out. Folk who are unimpressed or unconvinced by the Well Society wouldn't put extra money in via a season ticket any more than they already do, in my opinion. I don't necessarily agree that the transfer fee example is disingenuous. It was perhaps an exaggerated example to use, but the point still remains. There are many ways in which the Society could max out Les's offer by working with the club to simply shift funds about to make sure the Society's income for the year hits the target, with the club losing nothing at the same time. But we need to be careful not to cross the line from normal fundraising and increasing of memberships, into starting to deliberately exploit Les's offer. Obviously, if the rebate doesn't go directly to the Society then that argument probably doesn't apply here, but as above, I'm not sure I'd agree that fans would go for that rather than just keep their rebate. As for "dragging it up", I'm pleased you did. The Double Your Money initiative is actually a trickier mountain to climb that perhaps it seems at first, so any ideas are welcome. It's easy to criticise the lack of progress on that front, it's harder to offer up genuine alternatives which, although I might not necessarily agree is viable, you certainly did and have. And I'm one of the worst for criticising the Society without offering alternative suggestions in the past, so I know what I'm talking about there.

The first point is a possibility - the issue you have with particular events is that they can often be very under-attended. I'm not entirely sure a specific Well Society day would have anywhere near the pull of the club's one, hence why it's often better to be present at the club's open day instead. It's worth investigating though. The second point actually already happens - there are Society Board members at tables in all three stands at half-time and in the Cooper Suite before matches, with leaflets and membership forms, and the odd hand out for kids like Match Attax cards etc.

I'm not for a second claiming that the measures undertaken so far are adequate - I've already stated that's not the case. Personally, I've been really disappointed by the lacks of events and initiatives that have actually been put into action, and how long it has taken those that have. However, I would point out that only the MFC Podcast book is something organised by dedicated and motivated WS members, and not the WS itself. I completely agree regarding the benefits package. It's something I was personally moaning about on a consistent basis from January until it was finally launched. The timescale for that and, in truth, many other things, as mentioned above, is completely unacceptable and has to improve. In terms of your idea - it's obviously something you pitched to the Society before my time, and then have sent to myself, and it's been something I have subsequently passed back on to the Well Society Board as a whole. I can certainly revisit it and seek out further opinion, and look to have it added to the agenda for the next Supervisory meeting, but I do tend to agree with superward that there are some issues with it, among some others, which would possibly go against the whole spirit of the agreement with Les. Les has made the offer because the only way he is prepared to step away from the Well Society is knowing that it has a steady, stable flow of income - his offer is entirely designed to increase Well Society membership - not just in numbers, but in ongoing monthly pledges and donations - in keeping with the long-term vision of fan-ownership. Even if the rebate is handed back with only the "recommendation" that it is subsequently invested in the Well Society, I don't agree for a second that most fans actually would. I don't personally believe what you are proposing satisfies the objective set by Les and, instead, seems to be more of elaborate way to cash in on Les using the fact that 'Well fans - Society members or not - already pay for season tickets. However, it would perhaps be something for Les to personally look at which is a suggestion I will make. Essentially, it seems the crux of your proposal is I pay £300 for my season ticket and half of that goes to the club directly and other half indirectly, via the Society, so that Les doubles it. The fact that I'd get a Society membership out of it doesn't really mean a great deal, as there'd be no guarantee I'd pledge anything after that. With that approach, if we really wanted to, the club could just hand the entirety of Ben Heneghan's transfer fee to the Well Society as a gift or repayment for past loans on Monday, and the Society could just invest it back into the club on the Tuesday. The fee goes where it was meant to but the Society maximises the Double Your Money offer with bells on. I think, however, the agreement is not to do things that could be construed in such a way, in keeping with the fact that Les, for all his perceived faults, is doing the Society a massive favour here. I think that the Double Your Money offer has to been seen more in the context of why it exists in the first place rather than just as if it's some sort of "free bet" error on a gambling website. I think it also has to be seen in the context in the long-term plan for fan-ownership which, in all likelihood, is going to be the model at our club for generations. We must maximise the offer as best we can but let's not overstate its importance. The idea that we would put anything else Society-related on hold doesn't stick with me, the Well Society itself and the obstacles and opportunities provided by fan-ownership are the priority - from now seeing first hand the amount of work that goes in to just keep the Society ticking over (while still recognising the faults and improvements that need to be made), it would be incredibly daft - and possibly disastrous - in the long-term to pin everything on Les's offer.

Thanks for the suggestions. Newspaper adverts in the local press is something that I've been looking at recently as it's something I do in my day job. One of the things I've tried to do since joining the Well Society Board is build a relationship between the Society and the local media, as I was pretty surprised nothing existed in the first place - both in terms of a press relationship and any notable media plan. It's something we've built on as a result with, for example, the Syrian refugees coverage etc. But you're absolutely right, there should be a bigger presence in the local press and it's something I'll be looking to implement as part of the upcoming campaigns. Tannoy announcements and posters around the ground would also be a part of any proper campaign, so I will certainly be requesting those too. As mentioned earlier, donation buckets were supposed to be around the ground from the start of the season but for whatever reason that stalled, and will now be rolled out firstly against Aberdeen in the cup. Volunteers are, sadly, an issue - if more folk were willing to help out then naturally we'd get more done. That said, those of us on the Well Society Board are there because we put ourselves forward and should be prepared to put the time in. Season ticket holders are going to be targeted in the recruitment campaign too. You're right - asking people to fork over more cash on top of a season ticket isn't going to wield 100% success, but I'd like to think we could add to the numbers at least.

I would have if I did agree with it, but I don't in its entirety, as I said. There have been attempts by the Society to take advantage of the offer above and beyond what usually goes on, as has been listed above. Its something I've had some chats with G&F about both online and in person! The recruitment campaign isn't a specific attempt to take advantage of the Double Your Money offer - it's a necessary move now that fan-ownership exists, the offer is merely a bonus. Yet, it is probably the best way to take advantage of the offer. Anyway, hopefully the recruitment campaign is a success and we can add a number of regular pledges to the current membership total. Those pledges are what will make our club a success over the long-term. If we can knock a fair wedge off of the debt then that is a fine bonus.

In terms of the recruitment campaign, that's simply because it's only just begun. A decision was made late on last season to postpone any attempts to mount a serious recruitment campaign until early in the 2017/18 season, with the optimistic hope being we would be in a far better place as a club and a football team, thus could combine a buzz about Fir Park with a recruitment campaign. The suggestion was that trying to mount such a campaign when Mark McGhee was failing to keep us in the division was probably doomed to failure. A series of letters, as mentioned before, have and are still going out. I believe all letters will be sent out by early next week. Those will be followed up both by post and e-mail. There are also going to be two visual campaigns mounted later this month (hopefully) - one based around the "Every club has investors, we are now ours" message, and the other based on something I can't discuss at present. We are also on the verge of launching the Exiles Club (just waiting a yay or nay on a particular benefit) fronted by Ally Maxwell which, I suppose, could be considered a third campaign targeting fans abroad. I completely agree there has been no real difference between recruitment recently and what was done before - but that genuinely is because it was delayed to capitalise on a refreshed excitement about Fir Park. In terms of the second point, the above should answer the comment about the recruitment campaign. In terms of fans who have no interest in playing 7-asides, whisky, podcasts etc, that's obviously a reasonable argument. As I've said, events and initiatives will continue to be planned both this year and beyond, but realistically you are never going to be putting stuff out there that captures absolutely everybody's imagination. The recruitment campaign is the first step followed by a very real message about what the Society stands for - personally I believe that's going to be more fruitful in encouraging support for the Society, and therefore the Double Your Money offer, rather than additional events - which are largely under-attended anyway. Personally, I think that the priority has to be telling the Motherwell support that contributing to the Well Society genuinely keeps Cedric Kipre at the club for an extra year and, by upping their pledge or paying off a one off donation in 2017, we could be in a position of not having to pay Les anything off a future Chris Cadden transfer fee. That's the best way forward in my view. If a 'Well fan knows and understands all that but still doesn't want to take advantage of the Double Your Money offer, I don't personally believe they are going to regardless of what else you do. However, we will of course look to supplement the Society's income from pledges & donations by organising additional fundraising events both this year and going forward, in an attempt to get as much as possible out of the deal. As always, any ideas for fundraising events or initiatives are obviously welcome if anyone has any.

Absolutely. We'd probably disagree on how much has been done in that regard (7s tournament, whisky day, negotiating large one off donations from certain members, auctions, revamped benefits package & recruitment campaign, MFC Podcast book etc) but there's no question not enough has been done over the calendar year. In truth, it is essentially impossible to ever get to a "did enough" point with such a thing, so work can always been done to raise more funds.

Hutchinson's jersey sold for £117, McBride's for £41. A running total of £691 (£1,382 when you factor in Les) - already a great return. This week, you can get Scott McDonald's signed match-worn jersey or an unsigned match-worn jersey from Darren Smith: http://www.thewellsociety.co.uk/2017/09/07/this-weeks-auction-items-scott-mcdonald-darren-smith/

From a purely personal point view (ie. not the views of the Well Society!), I tend to go along with this. As difficult a character as Les seems to be at times, with first hand experience from recording the podcast with him, I don't think there's any doubt that his priority is the well-being of the club and the success of the Well Society. The very fact that he proposed the Double Your Money offer suggests that those aspects are far more important to him than getting back his money. How much he receives back in total, and how much is wiped out if any, remains to be seen - but if ever we were going to owe a relatively small amount of money to someone, I can't think of better circumstances than owing it to a man who is mostly concerned with the success of the fan-ownership model. That said, we still can't underestimate the Double Your Money offer and it's pretty much about now that those who have dithered over the Well Society should hopefully be nailing their colours to the mast. The Well Society now invests in Motherwell Football Club. It's easy to sometimes forget that clubs in Scotland still have investment, because we're told so often how little cash there is in the game. But the vast majority of clubs around us have benefactors - Ross County have Roy McGregor dipping into his pocked every January if the side are struggling, Partick Thistle have the lottery-winning Weirs, you can essentially go through the clubs and highlight those who invest crucial amounts of money. The Well Society is now on that list. The Well Society invests six digits every year which is a huge amount of money for our club. This is an answer to a question about finance on the Well Society website (so it's nothing secret): The money which is given by the Well Society to the Club is an investment, as owners, into the running and the improvement of the Club. As it stands, the Club currently invest approximately £2m into the playing and football department, which include players, scouting, coaching, young players, management, and medical team. The Club also currently invests approximately £130,000 into the Youth Academy. Over and above the footballing aspect of the Club, there are significant costs committed to the stadium upkeep (£110,000), Pitch Improvements (£123,000), Stewarding, Policing, Ambulance etc (£200,000), and training facilities and travel (£115,000). The list is not exhaustive, however it does indicate the level of expenditure required. So the vast majority of money the club has (around £2m) goes into the playing and football department. Although we can't say for certain where John Smith's fiver a month specifically goes, it's logical to assume that if the Society provides over 5% of the club's total income, then about 5% of the playing budget is paid for by Well Society members. That's Cedric Kipre's contract extension, or Liam Grimshaw's one year deal. We're talking about proper game-changing amounts that we all then reap the rewards of as supporters. If every 'Well fan at an average home game was putting in a fiver a month, there'd be about £100,000 extra for the Society to invest. Again, that's a huge sum and suddenly our playing budget looks far better, or more stadium improvements can be undertaken, or whatever else is deemed necessary. We're now past the point of "is the Society viable?" It is, and it's currently working well - as I think is evidenced by what's going on both on and off the park at the moment. However, the more fans now sign up to the Society, the more money the Society will have to invest, and more prosperous our club will be. In the past, it was quite difficult to ascertain exactly where a member's money was going (which is why I paid £300 in 2012 and didn't start repayments again til fan-ownership was actually secured) but now you can actually draw a line between the money that you pay into the Well Society and big Kipre getting offered a contract extension. In fact, given the club's more sensible way of budgeting now, you can probably draw a line now between the money raised by Well Society members and staying in the division. There are still doubts over those involved with the Society, still criticisms over how the Society itself operates, still a lot of improvements that could be made. But the basic, fundamental truth is that the more money the Well Society raises in a year, the more money our club has to spend on the playing squad and other aspects. If the Society succeeds, the club succeeds - it's as simple as that, and that's a message we're going to be hammering home in the next few weeks.

This was something that was meant to be in place for the first home game of the season. It doesn't seem to have come to fruition so it's something I've chased up this morning. You're completely right - on the face of it, a handful of change from the odd punter doesn't seem like much, but it all adds up and this is something we should be pursuing. EDIT: There are already plans for this to happen at the Aberdeen cup game to begin with, and then we will take it from there. Volunteers are sought for it though so if anyone doesn't mind holding a bucket for a wee while pre-match give me a shout!

Sorry guys, for some reason the forum isn't letting me multi-quote this morning so bear with me while I up my post count by three or four... I do think this is a good way to look at it. At the end of the day, the lack of progress made by the Well Society - for whatever reason - meant Les having to step in. As a result, we now have a fan-owned club which is stable, largely on the up, and has a little bit of debt to pay off to a man who, by and large, has the club's best interests at heart (even if he did go a bit daft with transfers etc!).

Ongoing process. Letters are being sent out in batches.

Shaun Hutchinson's signed, match-worn shirt is now online, as is Kevin McBride's match-worn jersey: http://www.thewellsociety.co.uk/2017/08/31/this-weeks-auction-items-shaun-hutchison-kevin-mcbride/

I don't have any figures to hand but it's something I can certainly look into it. In terms of the how the loans are repaid though, stuwell is pretty accurate.

The Erwin and Reynolds shirts have gone - £53 for the former, £40 for the latter - bringing the weekly auction total to £533 (meaning we've raised over a grand already thanks to the Double Your Money initiative). This week's auctions will be online shortly.