Kmcalpin

Thanks for the updates from those who were there tonight.

Anyone attend the drop in event at Fir Park this evening?

Absolutely. However my concern is that although there are many talented and motivated individuals online just now where will they be in 6, 12 or 18 months time when volunteers are needed on matchdays and winter evenings. The Society has always struggled to get volunteers out. I sincerely hope that will change. The Society Board can come up with bright ideas but the membership has to be involved at a bread and butter level to make them work. As a start, I hope there will be a Society presence at the match on Saturday. Strike while the iron is hot and engage with the troops on the ground. That will be a good start to getting folks on board.

It depends on what "people" you mean David. Just to be clear, I don't have X (Twitter), although I'm on Fb. From what I've read on here and on P & B, there's been far more scrutiny of EB's proposal than there has been of the Society's strategy, which was only released to most folk yesterday. Yes, there are a few fans, and they are few in number from what I can see, primarily on Fb, who have pretty much nailed their colours to the mast in support of the Wild Sheep proposal. I would hope Society members will scrutinise the strategy and ask questions and submit comments. The drop in session tonight is a start. I'm pretty sure thats what the Society Board will want. There's nothing more soul destroying than putting a lot of time and effort into something only for some recipients to comment "its fine / its rubbish". It sounds impressive but is not perfect and will be improved by members' scrutiny. To be fair, I haven't seen many detailed criticisms of the strategy so far.

A lot of time and effort has been invested in this strategy, so well done to those behind it. It contains a lot of good ideas and there's plenty for us to digest and mull over. It does sound good, but will it work in practice? Much of its success or otherwise will depend on member input in the form of volunteering and thats where the Society has struggled so far. The Board cannot do everything on its own. How does it enlist the active participation of rank and file members? A few things stood out for me, but they're detailed issues, and they shouldn't detract from the overall quality of the document. I wasn't surprised at just how few members are contributing monthly. This is a legacy issue which arises from the confusion of the past, and one which I've raised before. Contribution levels also need to be more flexible. They should benefit the members, as opposed to making it easier for the Society, and make it easier for them to contribute. This does need to be addressed if financial targets are to be met. Understandably much is made of local connections and thats as it should be as we are a community club. However, some recognition could and should have been included of season ticket holders and members from outwith Lanarkshire, and indeed Scotland. There must be quite a few all told. Please don't forget us. I thought the spatial analysis of where season ticket holders and members live looks very interesting and promising, and if handled correctly, could yield some very valuable information. A final thought on numerous references to Fir Park. I didn't quite know what to make of them. Is the strategy saying we're staying at Fir Park come what may? Is a move away being rejected or is it just loose language? Anyway a good document but its just a start. Stage one is sort out the relationship between the Club (Executive Board) and its owner, the Society Board. A ridiculous polarised situation which mustn't be allowed to continue. Good to see a Society website being resurrected.

I don't know for sure, of course, but if Dundee wanted to rip up his contract then surely they'd have to pay something? Chances are he'd been offered more by Dundee than he has been by Rossco.

Good luck to him. He'll have picked up a pay off from Dundee likelier than not.

I still think, if Bair leaves, we're a tad short up front. Don't know much about Mark Ferrie. He looked like a wee boy lost last season. Maybe he's matured a bit now? Agree about Ewan Wilson - a big season for him.

Thanks to StAndrew for highlighting this, but yes you're right Steelboy. It needs to reach the parts of our support that others are not reaching, through various means. I'm not sure how many on here, for example, listen to the On the Terrace Podcast.

No I wasn't! But I did work beside Alex Stewart's grandson.

For our younger fans, Alex Stewart hit 6 goals in our record 8-1 defeat of Celtic; their heaviest ever loss. And, no, I wasn't there!

Not quite Allan. A credible performance from Moses, but he didn't quite match old Alex's record of 6 goals.

Suspect he'll be rested for League Cup group games, but not sure. Will he play for us again?.

League cup tickets added to physical season ticket cards.

We're still a left back or two and possibly a striker short, depending on Ewan Wilson's status and whether Theo Bair moves on. That said, credit to SK and the recruitment team for doing business early this season.

Good post Denny. I agree 100%

I've seen this in print several times Denny from quite a few posters, and perhaps you're right. I am, or more accurately was, concerned that as the major shareholder, the Society would not get involved in the running of the club. By that I mean at a strategic, not day to day level. In other words continue to adopt a passive "hands off" role to the strategic running of the club. There have been suggestions on here recently that the Society's, soon to be launched, strategy would solely focus on the Society itself. It would be inward looking. That did worry me. However in tonight's email it states that "Next week, we will also be launching our extensive strategy for the Well Society and Motherwell Football Club". That encourages me no end. That gives me hope that the Society will provide more strategic direction to the club, as it should, in my view.

Going back a month or two to the discussion on Andy Halliday & PCAs. Dundee has cancelled Ricki Lamie's PCA "by mutual consent". Very considerate of Ricki to take a voluntary wage cut......

Yes to Lanarkshire, but not to us.

I quite get that Denny. The Society Board has other fish to fry at the moment, but maybe no harm in releasing a short statement to Members to reiterate 1) What the difference is and 2) Very roughly, what the soon to be released Strategy will cover and/or what it won't. This could be done in 2 paragraphs and might head off some trouble at the pass.

There will be a good reason for that. For the record, I'm against the EB proposal. I was always taught that its counterproductive, and sometimes dangerous, in any debate or discussion to say "I can't understand why you think that or you're not understanding me" or words to that effect. In such a situation I always took it upon myself that it was my fault that I wasn't explaining things properly or not listening to the other party. We may well be right in any discussion, but we have to understand where the other party is coming from. Thats down to us to listen and address their concerns. All that said, some fans genuinely believe that the EB proposal is worth supporting. Thats democracy, and a foundation of the Society.

You're right. I thought it very odd. I sourced my fixture list from the official site. I suspect that that contained an error, which has been quickly rectiifed

A good opener and a chance to rack up 3 early points on the board. Some weird fixture combinations though. 3 away games on the trot at the end of October and beginning of November. I've never seen that before. 5 games away out of 6, stretching into early December. Is that a record?

From reading posts on here, and on P & B and certainly on FB it seems that the "discussion" has now reached a stalemate stage with polarised views. That said, there have been some very decent posts and a lot of interesting research has been carried out. Sadly, some acrimony is creeping in to the considerations, especially on FB. Entrenched division will help no-one, least of all our club. I suspect little will change now until the Society publishes its long awaited Strategic Plan and the Wild Sheep vote takes place. Lets be patient with the Society meantime.

Likewise. Perhaps someone could clarify this for us. If true, the deal needs examined to ascertain that its favourable to us.