Andy_P

I've heard it said before that the proceeds Motherwell got from having the Ladbrokes kiosks were minimal..... ...that said the ability to stick on a coupon en route to your seat certainly added to the matchday experience that the club occasionally refer to. Perhaps though now when many have the means to place a bet through their mobiles and the kiosks, or the one in the East Stand certainly, is generating income directly for the club, that shipped has maybe sailed.

That's perhaps where Burn Broomfield's suggestion of a direct-debit of sorts might come into play. There will as you say undoubtedly come a point where people have fundraising fatigue if event follows event on a very regular basis. A perhaps smaller, more regular amount that goes from your bank - in much the same way as the Well Lotto does currently - can be budgeted for more easily and is less likely to be missed as much once the habit of donating that way is established after a couple of months.

It's up for debate Mad Dog. As long as we able to collect the £150 for the annual committment then I would be quite relaxed about how that comes together. My own proposal would it be to collect donations in much the same fashion as we have done to help reach the original target thereby giving both existing contributors and those getting involved for the first time to make a contribution. What I wouldn't want to insist upon is that everyone made a specific contribution. I'm very conscious that some of those who have contributed (some more than once) to our SO membership have their own Well Society memberships and will have their own annual fees to consider. If someone chose to continue to contribute beyond their initial gesture then brilliant but I would rather that be the individuals choice rather than having it expected of them. If that makes sense? But if and when that annual sum were to be exceeded then that really would be for anyone who has contributed to make a proposal to other contributors on what we did then be that keeping it towards future annual fees, putting it towards another membership package or a specific fundraiser of the day. Ultimately it's the contributors monies so it would be up to the contributors to decide.

Cheers for your interest daver. First target for us is getting this existing committment completed. Once that's taken care of, at the Claret level we've chosen to go in at we've an annual committment of £150 to maintain our Well Society membership. After that? I'd say that's really for the forum members to decide how they wanted to proceed. As you say, I personally think it might be a big ask to go for a £5k Well Society membership or even subsequent £1k Claret memberships but the ceiling of what we do will really be dictated by the desire of the forum users. It might be that site users will want to consider other projects like Player Sponsorships, bricks, or areas the club have yet to alert us to. But for now first things first for the forum, is definitely hitting that £1k figure.

The points made by Finlay about club shop sales going to Provan Sports and KMCalpin about the Government taking VAT from gate receipts present an interesting point. This is where it would be helpful when the club issue their campaign notes soon that they illustrate where exactly they will get most benefit from any additional contributions. Does a £30 brick for example get them more than a £30 purchase from the club shop? Does a fiver worth of drinks get them more than a fiver from the pie stall? It's possibly taking it a bit to extremes but the more information that can be presented the better.

We've got until the end of December Mad Dog. We paid our first installment towards the end of March and have 9 months from that point to complete the payment.

Great stuff Stu! That's very much appreciated. Hope you'll have received my email confirming safe receipt but if not, all was received safe and sound. Cheers again!

With an announcement imminent from the club about the ways in which supporters can make an increased contribution to the club, a part of that will almost certainly relate to the Well Society. It's perhaps worth keeping mind that the forum's Well Society membership will be one such avenue where fans will be able make a financial contribution towards the club. Apologies to forum members who have heard this spiel already a few times now but for the benefit of anybody who has only started using the forum over the past few months, Steelmen Online took up a Claret Well Society membership on behalf of forum members who wanted to play a part when the Well Society was launched. Our thinking was that supporters who may not be able to take up a full Well Society membership in their own right, may wish to make a contribution towards a joint membership. The response was very positive and not only did the forum members we had in mind step up to chip in, but several members who had already took up their own Well Society membership made donations too. So far we've collected £770 of the £1000 required for the membership fee so any contributions would be gratefully received and would ofcourse go into the club's overall Well Society kitty. Details of how to contribute will be on my sig and that of the other Mods/Admin people. Feel free to ask away if you have any questions.

When I've considered it further from my first reaction that it was pricey, perhaps not. With such importance placed by the club on becoming a season ticket holder there won't be that many opportunities to capitalise on non-season book games so its perhaps understandable that they might want to "milk it" for want of a better word. Ironically it's perhaps the very fact that for many they don't actually physically pay to get into games and use their season book that paying £30 to watch a Motherwell home game seems such a massive leap from the norm. I fully expected the club to be telling me to take out extra lotto memberships, buy bricks, encourage friends along to games, take out Well Society members, buy programmes, have a pint in the Cooper etc. You know all the extra things that you might be able to do on top of paying in, or buying your season ticket. Perhaps naively on my part I hadn't considered them loading extra on to a ticket price.

I think included amongst those invited to vote were shareholders - or rather minority shareholders who weren't Well Society members. I seem to remember it being said in the past that the club don't always get details of changes of address or shares get transferred on in the event of death etc. so there will possibly be an element of that in the "non-voting" contingent.

I don't know about that one. That particular debt has been considerably higher than the £300k or whatever it is currently and has been ongoing through a number of years. I don't know what the full ins and outs of that agreement are but its been said before that the terms are favourable to the club. I could well be wrong but I don't see the £300k due to him being a major factor.

First reaction. Pricey business! I'll be there. The "occasionals" like the old man and the skin and blister? Much less certain I think when I tell them the price.

Traveline Scotland suggests it do-able by public transport from the town... 1730 Train: (Edinburgh train) Queen Street - Polmont Station Arr: 1756 1803 Bus: (Wallacestone - Fankerton Service H4) Polmont Station, Station Road - Kersiebank Avenue (opp. stadium) Bit more footery coming back. You can do the reverse of the but the (H4A) bus leaves at 2046 so you are probably missing the last minute or two if you do that. Next one after that is the (H3) bus at 2115 again to Polmont Station. For this one you need to get the Dunblane train and change at Linlithgow to get back to the town. Gets you back in to Queen Street at about twenty-five past ten.

It's like discovering it's the fattest, noisiest, most boastful kid, the one with most money who has stolen all the curly-wurly's from your shop. And has done for years. Not the skinny kids who can't afford them. And when caught instead of saying sorry, paying for all the curly-wurly wrappers that have been found their schoolbag and going to a different shop for a little while - they've tried to come into your shop as if nothing has happened, their maw and da have screamed in your face, threatened you with closure and told other customers your shop will go bust if you don't let fat kid back in to buy his curly-wurly's from you. And then after standing your ground having your landlord insist that although you've said you aren't going to serve them there's nothing to stop the wee old dear who can't speak the language properly who sits at the counter that doesn't ever open serving them. And if you don't she'll have her big year old looking newspaper and black and white tv taken off her. With regard to what your friend is asking in the context of the above it would be comparing our shoplifting kid's crimes with a 2 year old shoving a mucky sweet in their mouth that had fallen on the floor and been stood on by six people. Or something ...

That's disappointing, if not entirely unexpected, news about Jenno. Given, if I remember rightly, he had only ever signed one year deals and both renewals were after a period of deliberation I had quietly hoped this summer would be the same. Not to be though it seems. I've enjoyed his contribution over the past three seasons and wish him well, although I may well retract that if he pops up at Aberdeen or Hibs.... I would hope we use the funds that were set aside to find a like-for-like replacement. Carswell is being gradually introduced but ready for the rigours of a full campaign yet? Remains to be seen. Hateley and Law are both options also alongside Lasley but I feel we've got the best from them at right back and out wide respectively and I think would weaken us elsewhere.

In keeping with how the vast majority of posters have intimated how they would vote, the contributors who have donated towards the Steelmen Online Well Society membership have unanimously agreed that a No vote should be placed on their behalf.

That's a fair point. What I would say though is that there will be audience to be tapped in to, how many I don't know but if we don't attempt to entice them to Fir Park you can be sure that other teams will. Our location has meant we've always been affected more than most from Old Firm fans leaving Lanarkshire to go and see the Old Firm, let's see if we can use our location as something of a positive in this situation.

I was kind of part serious-part jesting when I made the point about "chasing" Rangers fans for want of a better word but its been interesting to see the response. I don't for a minute think there will be suddenly tens of thousands of Rangers fans suddenly looking to watch other teams but there will be some and it begs the question should we seek to convert them and if so how? As Finlay says there will be some who will think it absolutely abhorrent to even consider going to see one of the teams who have confirmed their fate (and I know they've done that all themselves but we how most of them view it) so we have to be creative. I don't imagine there may be a big uptake but here's one idea. How about a small discount for someone doing a like-for-like purchase in the Well Shop. Trade in a scarf of another Scottish side (note no team names should be specifically mentioned) and you get your discount on your newly purchased 'Well scarf. Chuck in a strip from.... say a recently liquidated side and you get a discount when purchasing a shiny new 'Well top etc. Keep 'Well fans involved by offerring the same deal only with old Motherwell scarves and strips instead. I imagine this might generate more publicity than actual sales but if there are those who may do it I'd suspect it may be more likely to be younger fans - those of an age at school who may change allegiances through peer pressure or through success etc. but who also may be the ones that will drag their Da's, Uncles and Grampa's along with them. Pretty fanciful I know but it would be a pretty powerful image of a bin in the 'Well shop overflowing with discarded Rangers tops and scarves* as their owners leave having chosen to trod a different path. *Ceremonial burning of bin of said Rangers tops and scarves is entirely optional

I think the forums of SPL clubs next season might turn out to be like a never ending Children in Need special! Lines are open....donate here....throw rotten tomatoes at Hugh Keevins..... But I would also endorse the view that it if you are in a position to do something in addition to what you might normally that will help the club, then the next couple of seasons is the time to do it. There is always the danger when football clubs look for financial support that the hat gets passed among the same people so hopefully the club will be able to come up some innovate ways that a wide section of the support can get involved if they so wish. I think it was Brazilian who was chinning Andrew Wilson on Twitter about what supporters might be able to do and I got the impression from his reply that the club were already considering ways and means that fans might be able to assist. My own suggestion would be to add increased tiers to the player sponsorship model once the bulk of normal sponsors are taken up. For example you could have shirt at £250, boots £150 shorts £100 , socks £25 and laces £10 or something along those lines. That for me would be one simple way of opening up an existing revenue stream to the bulk of punters. I do think there are some balancing acts and posers to be faced though in chasing down the deficit in the months ahead by all clubs well apart from Celtic obviously..... There has been much talk about unity amongst the 10 clubs fans and doing the best for all but I wonder how long that unity might last when the need for funds become more desperate. I'm sure that even if they might not say so publicly some clubs would much rather you passed on away days if it meant you were putting some extra coinage in your own club. And what about trying to win over some of the 50,000 football fans with no team to support next season when Spartans get voted into Division Three.......

eaststandfan if I can clarify, you have joined a number of Steelmen Online forum users who combined have contributed sums to enable us to have one single membership on behalf of the forum. As Jonesy has stated Steelmen Online have one single vote just the same as each other Well Society member. To enable to us to determine whether a yes or no vote should be placed, all forum members who have contributed towards the Steelmen Online membership, yourself included have been invited to give your preference so that I place the vote.

Fair bit I disagree with there. It's not a case of being all for trying to balance the books - its a case of the club having to balance the books otherwise we go back down that slippery slope. It's been fairly well documented that they did pretty much as you are suggesting last season by running with a budget greater than intended - but without the anticipated player sale and the uncertainty of what will happen in the near to mid-term they can't allow that to continue indefinitely - and that would have been the case even if the Rangers thing was happening or not. From the information supplied to promote the Well Society the rainy day fund as you put it, is again a necessity to see the club through sections of the season - the alternative being that they will likely need to seek credit externally and take the hit of the costs that in itself incurs. I see what the current incumbents on the board are doing are building the club from the bottom up, both in terms of how it is owned and run and how it interacts with the community at large. With every passing year, and every passing project they bed themselves further into the Lanarkshire community and seeds are being planted that in the longer term will grow to fruition in terms of building up future support, establishing a greater profile and building relationships that will prove beneficial commercially.

Have I missed this one being on holiday? Closed door or is it bollocks? Concordia Chiajna? clicky

Yeah like each Well Society member, Steelmen Online will be entitled to vote on the Newco issue. When the paperwork is received from MFC - I gather there is something going out imminently - I will forward it on to each forum member who has contributed towards our membership fee and ask them for a decision, tally the responses I get and vote accordingly. One or two have mentioned that they are particularly keen to have a say on the issue but not being shareholders or Well Society members precludes them from the vote and similarly one or two have said they would like to become Well Society members but for one reason or another aren't currently able to do so. Don't forget we are still seeking contributions to help us meet our Well Society membership fee. This could be an avenue for someone keen to have an input, albeit I should emphasise it is only a vote to decide on how Steelmen Online will cast our single vote, without having to shell out a minimum £300, or as mentioned someone wants to get involved the in Well Society but can't do so currently. If that applies to you click this link for more info. as to how the Steelmen Online Well Society membership came about and what our targets are etc.

Celtic Park I seem to recall him having bananas thrown at him. I used to read tonnes of fanzines from different teams I'n those days and it was heavily discussed I'n some of the Rangers ones. Had Peter Lawell been Chief Exec in those days I'n sure he would have had the SFA convinced it was all I'n the name of charity and would have had a UEFA award by the end of the week... There was I believe some racial abuse at Tynecastle too when he went there but there was never any bananas thrown at him at Fir Park and I very much doubt Firhill. For all it's utter shite it is amusing that someone has had the temerrity to accuse Thistle fans, those bastions of unstinting decency and morality of doing anything remotely naughty.

If not on the board currently Lapping was certainly on it in the past. What was Boyle's stable of companies called again - Hamilton Portfolio or something like that? I seem to recall him being involved with that and brought on board around the time of Alisdair Barron came in as Chief-Executive.