Jump to content

The Well Society


stuwell
 Share

Recommended Posts

The only fear I'd have for Ross County is the fact they may well buy their way out of trouble at the foot of the league when we would be reluctant to do so... Roy MacGregor's backing at County is pivotal to success for some of his concerns in the region not even taking his renewable energy enterprises into consideration.

 

 

 

they have brought in some decent players in january in both their previous top league campaigns. there's no reason to think they won't do it again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Been waiting a few days for my registration to clear to be able to post so this might be a bit late, but there are still tickets left for the Well Society's Tommy McLean era celebration dinner at Hamilton racecourse on Saturday night. Tickets are £30 each or £50 for two. Hear from Tommy McLean and former players from the time, plus speakers Jim Griffin and Bobby Jenks. Full details click here. You can buy tickets at the Fir Park office tomorrow from 10am.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

i've noticed in person and online quite a lot of people thinking that our current decline is due to the society.

 

the reality is that beyond putting in a bit of money now and then the society has no influence in the club. the society has two directors on the board one of whom lives in yorkshire and is busy with society businsess and the other who will never rock the boat at fir park.

 

the club is being run by the same group of people as it was when mcghee, gannon and brown were here. nothing has changed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Barnstaple stands down

 

http://www.thewellsociety.co.uk/2014/09/30/board-vacancy/

 

 

Graham said: “I am working a permanent nightshift in my job and it has made it harder and harder to keep on top of Well Society activities and attend meetings.

“I also have family commitments and I have just reluctantly had to accept that I should make way for someone else.

“I’m disappointed to leave but I need to be fair to the Well Society and myself and my family, so it’s right that the board gets someone else in.

“I am privileged to have been part of the Well Society and I really hope it goes on to achieve its goal of fan ownership of Motherwell FC.

“It has also been an honour to be part of the Motherwell FC board and I thank the Well Society members for electing me.”

Under the Well Society rules, a new election will be held to find a replacement member of the board.

Anyone who wishes to join the board is invited to send an application with some background details which will be shared with the Well Society membership. A vote will then be held to elect a new board member.

Brian McCafferty will continue as acting chairman until a new board member is elected.

A closing date for applications has been set for Friday, October 17 – emails should be sent to wellsociety@motherwellfc.co.uk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yabba and Gazza - you should receive an email very soon, certainly by the end of the week, thanking you for joining and asking for some personal details so we can get your membership details sent out to you. Sorry for the delay, a combination of new payment system and administrative changes seems to have led to a bit of a delay in responding to those who joined via GoCardless but it appears to be sorted now.

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here's the latest update on the Well Society's progress and tactics, along with an explanation of how fan ownership could work for Motherwell FC, and why we believe it's the best way forward.

 

My link

 

 

 

We've revamped the website in recent weeks and there is regular activity on facebook and twitter too so please follow on either/both to see the latest and upcoming updates.

 

On the subject of steelboy's recent post - the WS has a 6% stake in the club. All recent efforts have been focused on trying to raise money to make sure that the WS can get a majority stake in the club.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here's the latest update on the Well Society's progress and tactics, along with an explanation of how fan ownership could work for Motherwell FC, and why we believe it's the best way forward

An update? Tactics? Dress it up how you like, little or no description of any change given...

 

On the first point, we are definitely not looking to run Motherwell FC by committee. If the Well Society succeeds in becoming majority shareholder, the structure of the club administration will not be drastically altered. It was billed as a "revolution" by the club but that is something of a misnomer.

 

Once we acquire a majority shareholding, there will still be paid professionals who are tasked with the day-to-day running of the club. There will still be a board of directors who set the budget and oversee the performance of these employees, as is the case now. steelboy recently offered the opinion 'the reality is that beyond putting in a bit of money now and then the society has no influence in the club'. That statement from the Society supports this no?

 

What will be different is that the Well Society members will elect their preferred choices to represent them on the Motherwell FC board and these directors will be answerable to Well Society members. Different you say? In what way? The status quo?

 

Well Society members will get the chance to question their directors and ultimately de-select them if not satisfied. They will also have the chance to help shape the priorities and vision for the club. More details will be announced of this structure soon. Agan, the status quo.

 

There will still be other interests and shareholders represented on the MFC board. There will also be a separate Well Society board, as there is now, which will continue to raise money and hold events and try to recruit

new members. Anybody seeing similarity here?

 

An interesting article on football utopia - I know it's only Falkirk

 

Similar point discussed at many Society meetings - "Supporters tend to rally together in times of crisis. The problem is working out how to do that when there isn't a crisis. We commissioned research into fan ownership, and in every case, it had been following an insolvency event. Most cases, the club were playing a lower level of football now than they had been."

 

When the main drivers grasp this ideal, perhaps they'll appreciate a broader understanding as to why many are not sharing the Society vision of the way forward?

 

Disillusioned member.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some fair questions/points. The key difference will be that the Well Society will have a majority of directors on the board and will be largely in charge of the club. So they will have a majority say in setting the budget and the priorities for the club, in consultation with members, and hiring the key employees. And, like pretty much any other club, paid professionals will carry out the day-to-day running of the club. At the moment, the WS has a 6% stake and now one director on the MFC board. We have a fundraising target to meet or the game's a bogey - so efforts are being concentrated on raising the money. That way we get a huge amount more influence than now.

 

There is an important current influence - the statement from the club about their financial position in May came immediately after it was called for at a Well Society AGM and a subsequent MFC board meeting, when the Well Society reps secured until the end of November for the WS to raise £800k. The future ownership of the club was the main topic of the MFC board meeting since then.

 

 

That's the current focus and main influence. I know consultation over club affairs was part of the attraction of joining and I understand why members might be disillusioned. If we raise the money then there can be meaningful consultation, so that's another key difference that maybe wasn't made very clear in the statement. The plan was to have an informal meeting with members in recent weeks, but other events to do with raising the finance have sidetracked everyone.

 

If fans don't want fan ownership, it obviously won't work. But the fact that fan ownership usually comes after times of crisis shows that these crises are caused by different ownership models. And the lingering effects of those crises and more pertinently the overspending of the pre-crisis period can help explain why they might play at a lower level in the next few years. Swansea are an example of a club that was saved by fans and went on to flourish, although they have a minority stake. Gretna are playing at a much lower level - but they were playing at an unnaturally high level before they became fan-owned. Most fan-owned clubs don't have a reserve fund - the fans' money has usually gone on paying off a percentage of old debts or former owners. There's no more benefit in having one rich owner loaning a club £500k to steady the ship than a group of fans collectively doing the same thing. The benefit is the other way round as a rich owner might soon find he's not rich for other reasons than football.

I wouldn't want to categorise the financial issues facing Motherwell now but the fact is that the club lost £780k in 2011-13 and forecast a loss last season when they finished 2nd. They have the same budget this season. The ownership is up for grabs and we either do everything we can to keep it in the community or we leave it up to chance. Some might get excited about new owners but there are all sorts of people who want to own football clubs and you have seen the damage some have wreaked elsewhere.

The statement was more of an argument to try to convince fans who are sceptical of fan ownership, but also to update that we are focusing on raising finance through major inputs of cash, whether they are soft loans/gifts/investments, although a rush of new members could also take us over the line. I'd like there to be a better update too but people are continuing to do everything they can to raise the money so there's still a chance.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Talks are still ongoing Lobey, there's a confidentiality clause in place too so it's impossible to divulge the details at the minute anyway. I appreciate your concern and know that the prospect of loans would naturally raise concern. For extra assurance, any deal would be scrutinised by John Boyle/trustees of JB's shares too if it was part of a deal to acquire the MFC shares, so it wouldn't be pushed through without further checks. We also have the services of a barrister (a Well Society member) available to us for free to make sure any contract is suitable for the WS. There is no point taking risks when we're trying to safeguard the future of Motherwell FC, if the guarantees/conditions are too onerous then it won't go ahead. Sorry for being vague again but hope that gives you some more peace of mind. We're entering a crucial couple of weeks so hopefully there will be positive answers soon.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...
Motherwell Football Club and the ‘Well Society can confirm that they have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Mr Les Hutchison.

 

If the transaction set out in the MOU is concluded, Mr Hutchison will provide the club with working capital finance, alongside the ongoing funding support provided by the Society, which has just provided another loan totalling £100k to the club

 

This finance will take the form of an interest free loan, repayable over a maximum period of five years.

 

During that time the Society Board have committed to growing both membership numbers and funds in order to demonstrate that the supporter base is fully behind the concept of fan ownership.

 

Once Mr Hutchison’s loan has been repaid in full, it is anticipated the Society will become the owners of the club. Mr Hutchison will effectively act as facilitator for the transition of ownership of the club to supporters, provided there is clear evidence that more of our fan base is willing to support the initiative.

 

We have now entered a 30-day exclusivity period to enable financial and legal due diligence to be undertaken.

 

Mr Les Hutchison stated: “I look forward to working with the Society and the Club to help them achieve their objective of fan ownership and be financially sustainable within five years.”

 

Mr Brian McCafferty, acting Chairman of the Society, added: “We would like to sincerely thank Les for his generous loan to the club which has kept alive hopes of community ownership. We emphatically believe the partnership between Les and the society provides, by far, the best solution to both the club’s short-term financial needs and its long -term sustainability and success.”

 

The club can also confirm that it has formally interviewed six potential candidates for the vacant manager’s position and hopes to be able to make an announcement of an appointment shortly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...