Leeann Dempster

We have been trying to establish information on a 'zone' and also ticket information but to be fair to our people, this has proven somewhat difficult although we now have some info to share. The latest today is that our supporters will be able to enter the match for free. What that means in terms of getting a ticket for free and using it, or turning up on the night and just getting in - we are not clear (we have asked obviously). Whatever happens, we will have staff members on the ground from tomorrow (late afternoon). Alan B will post the info as we receive it therefore look online for more information. It is my understanding that we will be given actual tickets on Wednesday evening when we attend the training session. So Jennifer, myself and Alan Marshall, if all going to plan and what we are being told is accurate, should have some tickets to give out for free from Wednesday evening. Failing that, we'll make arrangements to meet supporters at the ground and sort it out. Leeann

Proxy votes will be allowed as normal, Alison just working through those who can attend and those who cannot. Expect another piece of communication from her in the next few days. It is important that if you are a member that you vote, on the night in person or by proxy - both just the same value. The next challenge will be for the 4 nominated to appoint a chairman etc from the 4 and then get co-opted directors on board from groups such as disabled supporters, Trust and or association etc etc No, 22 people applied for consideration and all 22 are up for vote as per the articles of association.

For some reason my post has joined together words, blaming my laptop but anyway I hope you can read and get what I was trying to type. I have just moved from PC to Macbook and not a happy transition....

Morning All, There are some points that the club require to clear up for some supporters. I have read the comments on forums and I have been emailed or contacted on twitter asking the same questions or indeed accusing the club or mishandling the situation. The protocol is: If we have a match abandonment situation, our first and most important decision is to decide whether it is an emergency situation or if the evacuation can be a 'controlled evacuation'. At the United game, it was clear that the match could not proceed however the situation was not an emergency one therefore we put the necessary protocols in place that allow us to issue tickets to supporters for the next game. If an emergency situation then we obviously would not do this however as a controlled exit we clearly have the opportunity to organize entry into the next match. We are not a club that has moved towards an all ticket environment yet. Supporters gain entry into the ground via either season tickets or pay at the gate. That being the case, if we have to empty the stadium in the circumstances that we did for the United game, we do not have the luxury of differentiating season ticket holders from those who have paid at the gate for that particular game. Messages become even more confusing and supporters get delayed in their exit. It is far easier to give MA tickets to all and then deal with the relatively small number of issues we have post match than to have to try and differentiate at the point of exit who is ST holders and who paid at the gate. This is simply not practical and to assume that this would work seamlessly is just not sensible. The protocol is clear and has been rehearsed many times and includes what we learned from the abandoned Hibernian game of last season - that is to issue MA tickets to ALL supporters. There were at least 3 announcements - using the police tannoy system - to advice people to get a MA ticket before they left the stadium and that season tickets would not be valid for the next game. We do know however, because some supporters have told us, a small number of stewards were not following the protocol and were advising that entry to the rearranged game would be by seasontickets. This was not correct and caused some confusion to those who were told this. The fact remains however that the vast majority of people received vouchers and are content with arrangements. It is therefore not practical or appropriate to now change our mind and use ST books to cover the minority who were given the wrong information. It is much easier to deal with those supporters, on a one to one basis, and this is being done by either calling the ticket office on 01698 33 33 33 or by emailing wendy.macfarlane@motherwellfc.co.uk There is NO need to come to the ticket office in person if it not convenient for you to do so, the process can be done remotely. A call or an email stating your name and seat number or numbers if a family or group is all that we require. Ideally ALL our stewards should have been on message, they were not and we are dealing with the security company on this. I will stress again that those stewards were very much in the minority and that the club is sensibly and quickly dealing with issues around tickets without drama or fuss, all you need to do is call us. I get very downhearted when I read the comments on the forums - descriptions like 'shambles', the people who make such assertions have no experience of what it takes to run a football match and most likely less of what is involved in an evacuation. Our match day is one of the best rehearsed and I would suggest currently one of the safest in the SPL. The people involved are expert at their jobs and make decisions ONLY with your safety and security in mind. Amongst the many things that have happened in recent years, they saved a supporters life last year when he took seriously unwell in the cooper stand. If that gentleman had not come to the match that night, he most likely would not be here now. importantly the right people making the right decisions and quick intervention by our on-site paramedics with the right equipment, doing what theyare all trained to do. The same people who it would seem whose decisions are now being referred to as shambolic. To summarise on tickets: If you attended the game and do not have a MA ticket then let us know and we will sort for you, ideally before the day ofthe game. Email or call Wendy at the number or address above as soon as you can and Wendy will sort. If you are a season ticket holder who did not attend the match for any reason, or were stopped before you entered then obviously you can attend on the 7th - using the original voucher given you did not use it on the day. I hope this helps to put into perspectivethe issues faced and decisions made. The only way to avoid this situation in future is to move to an all ticket gate. If that is the overwhelming wishes of supporters then we can look at this quicker than planned. As ever, best regards Leeann

I don’t really know where to start to be honest; I suppose the first question for clarity needs to be: Is the original post the official position of the MFC Trust and the board or are the comments contained within it essentially the position of one individual? My view for what it is worth is that these types of comments really achieve very little and smacks of ‘my da is bigger than yours’. I may be missing something really fundamental but surely anyone involved and giving up personal time to put themselves forward, whether it be from the Trust, the SAC or indeed the Association, all pretty much want the same thing. That is for supporters to be involved and bring forward ideas - GOOD and BAD – and for those ideas and feedback to be considered and debated. If that general point is accepted then surely it does no good whatsoever to be ridiculing some the very people who have put themselves forward in the first place? Given everything positive that is happening at the club at the moment and remember, with the backdrop of some very difficult times for Scottish Football, surely it is now the time for us (SAC, Trust and Association) to be galvanized and not to create more distance between supporters. This is a call for unity; it is high time any old issues are put to the side and for the 3 organisations to merge into one, stronger and more effective group. That is my view for what it is worth. Leeann

http://www.motherwellfc.co.uk/2011/08/26/open-meeting-%e2%80%93-monday-5th-september/ Hopefully an interesting link for you all to read. Get your questions ready for the 5th September and don't worry if you can't make this meeting, there will be others announced throughout September and early October. See you on the 5th. Leeann

Thank you all. We much prefer it this way. Over and out for today.

I am posting this on behalf of the hospitality team here at the club. Diane and Wilma have asked me to say the following. A great night in the Cooper last night with the Banter Thiefs playing and Matt with his tunes. It was marred however by the theft of our club badge signage which sat at the top of the stairs and SCREWED to the wall. Some of our revellers with sticky fingers helped themselves to it and we'd like it back please.............by 4pm today if possible as it is required for tomorrow! No questions will be asked, we just want it back. If you were there an know the individuals involved perhaps a quiet word to say that stealing from the club is not the best of ideas..

Evening All, On the gap ie A6 and A7, we have left these as undesignated for either regular tickets OR family depending on demand. These sections WILL be Motherwell sections. Leeann

Given the huge interest and debate regarding tickets we have been keen to get the basic information out but you'll notice that we have not been specific on allocation / sections and that the website still requires some tweaking however the BASICS are there. I have instructed the team here to go live now but there are still one or two elements to finalise from the clubs perspective. We have now been offered a unit within the Brandon Parade that will take some pressure off of the ticket office here so we can adjust the sale as we go. If we feel we can run general sale and ballot together, post ST sale then we will do that and now with the second point of sale it may well be the case that we can manage the demand to allow this. As for ballot, we will be cross referencing those who apply to try and minimise any non Motherwell sales. We will also be offering an allocation to the supporters association as per normal procedure for matches such as this. Tickets have not been supplied to the club - the first batch is due in from the SFA on Friday. Please refer to the website for updates. Leeann

I am listening to your comments but the fact is we need to have some structure to the sale. We either try to do it in as 'fair' a way as possible, and i am open to other ideas, or we do an open sale to all. What would our season ticket holders say to that? I suggest we'd be slated for not allowing a pre-sale. Also, by offering an option to purchase as a season ticket holder if you buy a ticket for next year then that can only, in the long term, be a good thing. If it means we get another 100 or 200 ST for next year then that has to be positive. I don't suspect that this will take a significant amount of tickets out of circulation but it WILL encourage supporters who are perhaps thinking about a ticket to consider this option more seriously. The ballot, question here is what stops opposing supporters buying from the ticket office direct? It is as difficult to manage that as it is if someone came in to the office in person. The nature of this type of game means this will inevitably happen and we just need to be able to deal with it on the day. As far as the club 'letting you down' in segregation, the further cannot be from the truth but we also can't legislate for opposing fans buying and that is a fact. As for the shambles chat, we have all put a lot of time and thought into how we do this sale as fairly and sensibly as possible. We could have taken an easy route and got ticketmaster or ticketsoup to sell, all online but I took the decision to sell to OUR supporters, to the people we see day in, day out. Will you be disappointed, I hope not, will we get all the tickets we want? Possibly not but we are certainly trying to get the allocation we want. Number of tickets for each season ticket holder to buy? We are considering 4, depending on the final allocation and that will be confirmed very soon. Happy to answer any other questions.

Evening everyone, sorry for the lateness of my post. I was intending to post on Friday to give you all an update in terms of status on ticket sales. Basically we still have to work through final numbers with the SFA. It will be Wednesday before this is agreed at the earliest. There will be four ways you can purchase a ticket: as a season ticket holder (preference sale) if you become a new season ticket holder (preference sale) by ballot online general sale post ST and ballot if any tickets remain The plan at the moment, and I STRESS at the moment, is to do a pre-sale to season ticket holders from the 2nd May, probably for 5 days. Because the demand for the remaining tickets is likely to be very high, we have created a micro site which will be available this week for non-season ticket holders to register - essentially this will be done as a ballot. Please just refer to the website as all info will be posted on there as soon as complete. We will be selling from the stadium and this will be done from a few points with the ticket office and other areas opening for late nights and available for telephone sales. We are planning to manage this in such a fashion that we minimise the waiting time as much as possible. On a separate note, I am meeting with the powers that be in the local authority this week to work together to see what can be done to capitalise on the feel good factor locally. I am told that in 91 you guys turned the town (and other areas) claret and amber. We'd like to get the momentum moving on this again as a great time to reinvigorate supporters and get youngsters interested. Competitions for the best dressed shop, house, pub....maybe someone could start a thread with ideas that we could try to pull together. We simply can't miss this great opportunity to motivate and importantly have some fun....a memories photo wall, we could pin photos to the web and there are loads of other fun things we can all do. Finally, we have are in the process of booking buses to leave from the stadium. 23 left for the semi final, just over 1200 people; let’s see if we can improve on this for the final.

There are a few reasons for this I guess but the main one being the ratio of stewards and police required for adults versus juneniles. Before I arrived at the club we did a deal were juveniles got in for a £1. I won't go into the nuts and bolts of it but we found out, to our cost, that we had to have a really high ratio of stewards/police to children in the ground. It is because they are essentially unsupervised. It is a long and quite boring story but we simply can't do it, the costs involved to the club, and I must stress this is not loss of ticket revenue but additional stewarding and police make it financially impossible. We also don't want lots of young and unsupervised children in the stadium and I am not being a killjoy or stopping kids from supporting the team but were there to be a problem, an evacuation etc then it would be simply unsafe for us to have a high number of unsupervised youngsters involved. This is why we are proposing the deal where under 12's are supervised. I know it is worst case scenario planning but as a responsible club, we must think along these lines. As regards say 14 and above, I think there needs to be a cost involved of some description hence a really competative price around say £60/£70 a season.

I just don't think it sounds right...I don't know why. Happy to take the view though.

Ok, we know that 78% of those who answered our survey said that they had come to FP before they were 11. Indeed the overwhelming majority were between the ages of 5-11. They were 'lifted over' by their folks or other family member of friends. What is we tried to bring a modern approach to this - importantly we need to be bringing young people & juveniles to the ground. It is just common sense. We are thinking about introducing new layers of pricing. So maybe a free 12 or under ST when an adult or concession ticket is bought, thsi is purely for ST, would not be replicated for PATG. Then a standard price - say approx £70?? for all 13-16 year old tickets, irrespective of where you sit. We'd maintain the current cooper deal as I really want to push the family stand. We have not done this before because we want to encourage families into the Cooper stand however, after listening to feedback, we are considering the above as one aspect of our new pricing. If we do this - we need a name for the package. We want to get the nostalgia of lifting your son or daughter over the turnstile without clearly having to do it. There are more ideas but that is the first I will share.