Steve Diggle Posted December 7, 2011 Report Share Posted December 7, 2011 IT seems not even the onset of winter can diminish the growing optimism that radiates around Fir Park these days. No, the outlook at Motherwell is for lengthy periods of positivity extending well into the next year and beyond. Theirs is a can-do attitude that begins with the supporters and extends through the club's staff, players, manager, directors and all the way up the chain to the chief executive herself. While others in Scottish football bemoan the state of the game and declare the situation hopeless, at Motherwell their response is to look for ways to do things better. They may not succeed in all their aims but any failures will certainly not be due to a lack of trying. Motherwell have always positioned themselves as a community club and that is truer now than ever. The decision by John Boyle, long-time owner and chairman, to step down in the summer and hand over his shareholding without charge has given the club a chance to engage with the supporters like never before. A membership co-operative scheme – in the form of the fabled Barcelona model – will soon be formalised and it is hoped the Well Society will bring in around £1.5m to replace the occasions when Boyle would dip into his pocket to help the club through difficult times. "We figured the best way to make the club successful would be to do it in a way that was sustainable," Andrew Wilson, a Motherwell director, told Herald Sport. "That meant getting the fans involved while generating as much income as we possibly can to help us fund what we do at the moment. "To help with cashflow and to ensure the income covers the expenditure at the end of the year, we reckoned we would need a buffer of around £1.5m. That money would help with any unforeseen calamities either on or off the field, and also ensure we would never have to sell any of our players in adversity. We want any future player sales to happen at a time, and with terms, that suit both us and the player. "We're in the fortunate position of not having any bank debt thanks to John's generosity, which allows us to think a bit differently. The idea of an industrial and provident society is one member, one vote, and the plan is that over a period of a couple of years we will have a fully elected board, which would be a first in Scottish football." While for many clubs the aim during these turbulent financial times barely stretches beyond survival, Motherwell have set a course for expansion. Gates are up at Fir Park this season but the hope is to raise attendances further to around an average of around 8000. If that seems optimistic in the current climate, then Motherwell will keep tinkering with the matchday model in the hope of making it increasingly enticing to potential supporters. They have regularly shown great imagination with their ticketing policies – at last week's Friday night match with Hibernian they charged £10 for adults and £5 for concessions, while season ticket holders could bring a friend along for free – and such innovations will continue for as long as they can bolster their crowds without greatly damaging the bottom line. "Our next step is to grow the size of our fanbase," added Wilson. "We reached a low a few years ago in terms of the number of season ticket holders but when you look back to the days when Paul Lambert was here and we were playing against Borussia Dortmund in Europe, from memory we were pulling in around 8000 fans per week. We need to get back to that and maybe even go beyond it. "To do that we need to try completely different things. You look at Neil Doncaster [scottish Premier League chief executive] and his time at Norwich City, when they got their season ticket base up from 10,000 to 20,000, and we must be able to replicate that if we try. This year we took £10,000 less in season ticket revenue but our numbers were up by 10% so that's definitely been worth it in our view, as we let a lot of kids in for nothing. Our gates are up this season but we're not claiming a victory yet. It's just a sign that we can improve things further." Marketing the club better has made a big difference. "What we never did previously was gather information about who our fans were. Football clubs, in general, have been relatively lazy in how they treat their fans, attract new ones, or keep in touch with them. That's something we are in a great position to change. Over the last few years we've built up a database with their details, which means we can do things like send them an email from [manager] Stuart McCall after a match and generally interact with them better." There are no Gerald Ratner moments with Wilson, little chance that he will disparage, even in jest, his product. "It's self-defeating for people to talk about our game in negative terms, to talk the game down. We think we have to provide an antidote to that as people won't be attracted to something people are always being pessimistic about. You have to be optimistic. There will always be people who try to tell you that you can't achieve something. We have to be confident enough in our vision to punch through that pessimism." 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Diggle Posted December 7, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 7, 2011 "Theirs is a can-do attitude that begins with the supporters" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuwell Posted December 7, 2011 Report Share Posted December 7, 2011 "Theirs is a can-do attitude that begins with the supporters" Obviously the reporter hasn't read this forum "There will always be people who try to tell you that you can't achieve something" - Obviously Andrew Wilson has 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
santheman Posted December 7, 2011 Report Share Posted December 7, 2011 When you consider all the shit happening at other clubs in Scotland then I think we have reason to be cautiously optimistic at the direction the Club is going 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
postiejim Posted December 7, 2011 Report Share Posted December 7, 2011 When you consider all the shit happening at other clubs in Scotland then I think we have reason to be cautiously optimistic at the direction the Club is going Well said mate, what some have to realise in relation to this forum is that what we have here at steelmenonline is a small group of greetin faced bastards [myself included] who in no way reflect the mood or attitude of the club or the majority of supporters. Thankfully. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoF Posted December 7, 2011 Report Share Posted December 7, 2011 Good article. Nice to see efforts getting recognised beyond our fans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatcalf Posted December 7, 2011 Report Share Posted December 7, 2011 Majority of supporters couldnae really gie a fuck Sunday through to Friday, game day only for most, us on here and other sites are somewhat of a minority by letting it rule out hearts and heads so much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ONeils40yarder Posted December 7, 2011 Report Share Posted December 7, 2011 Majority of supporters couldnae really gie a fuck Sunday through to Friday, game day only for most, us on here and other sites are somewhat of a minority by letting it rule out hearts and heads so much. Spot on........out of all the folk I attend matches regularly with, I'm the only sad case that posts on here on a regular basis. Probably need to get a life to be honest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy_P Posted December 7, 2011 Report Share Posted December 7, 2011 Away wae ye! If you do that then there'll be one less person for the rest of us sad cases to converse with! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
East_Stand_Al Posted December 8, 2011 Report Share Posted December 8, 2011 "To help with cashflow and to ensure the income covers the expenditure at the end of the year, we reckoned we would need a buffer of around £1.5m That money would help with any unforeseen calamities either on or off the field, " Such as fires in floodlights ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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