The Well Society

[MelvinBragg]

owning and running pretty much the same thing in the context of a football club. If as you say the WS will be the owners with a board of experienced directors running the club, will that board be separate from or part of the WS board? If separate we then have effectively 2 committees each with differing priorities and agendas trying to run the club, how can that possibly be an effective business model?

I think what is meant is that the fans will own the club but will hire/appoint people to make the decisions regarding day to day running of the club. The board of directors may be the Well Society but I'd imagine they would appoint people to run the club...

[weeyin]

It's a bit like being a shareholder in any business. You own a part of the company and you have rights to vote on different aspects of its running, but it's the CEO and the Board that run the day to day.

[Spiderpig]

It's a bit like being a shareholder in any business. You own a part of the company and you have rights to vote on different aspects of its running, but it's the CEO and the Board that run the day to day.

Letting fans buy shares in the club easily and without hassle to eventually have a controlling interest would in my opinion have been a far better and more popular idea than the WS.

[superward]

The plan is to own the club, but any discussion I have heard around running it has always been that they (or we) expect to have a Board in place of experienced directors that will execute the day to day duties. I can't think of any other way to make it feasible.

Yep. I touched on this pages back but the likes of Derek Weir is a WS member right now. So even if the board did have to be 100% elected WS members when we get to ownership I reckon you would see new elections and current board members putting themselves forward.

[Well Up For It!]

Apologies for dragging up and old thread, but last nights news got me thinking a lot about the next chapter in our football club.

 

In terms of full disclosure, I've never been convinced by the fan ownership model, yet I'm definitely not against it. In an ideal world the fans owning the club is what any fan would surely want with their team? My concerns have always been over the size of our fan base and, more prominently, a lack of faith in those driving forward the 'Well Society campaign.

 

However, here we are. Fan ownership is now happening, and like it or not, we as fans have to support it where possible or we will surely expedite the inevitable doom many critics of the scheme predict. It's most definitely not the time to stand back and do nothing while preparing your "told you so" speech. To the majority of people, the minimum contribution of £5/month is not a great deal in the grand scheme of things, with every penny counting toward the potential utopian future of fan ownership.

 

However, this works both ways, and support from the fans won't be enough...the Society and the club have to facilitate it much better.

 

As someone who has worked in marketing/communication for 15 years, I've been totally baffled by the marketing & communication strategy the society has put in place. Simply put, I'm genuinely convinced they don't have one. So many opportunities have been missed in promoting the scheme, so many events designed to promote it have been poorly executed. Communication is simply not good enough, and for me, this actually encourages a mistrust in the people at the helm of the society. No, I don't expect to know every little detail, I understand the requirement for a degree of privacy in any business, but I do expect a clear and regular update on the decisions and direction of the society. From the outside looking in, this is clearly not happening.

 

As a non-member, I emailed the society in March last year with a list of concerns and questions, along with ideas on how they could convince those on the fringes with effective marketing plans. I received no reply or even acknowledgement of email. This ended any immediate plans for me to sign up. They basically scared me off.

 

Now that the club and society are essentially going to be one body, I'd expect a much more consistent, joined up thinking. Surely packages can be put in place to entice membership. An example of the top of my head, is paying 10-20% more on your season ticket cost and you enter monthly/weekly draw to win a signed shirt, hospitality tickets, etc. There are hundreds more ideas similar in principle to this, all that requires is a little bit of creative thinking. Adding incentives to membership and monthly contributions that have minimal cost to the club will increase uptake. The club/society need to grasp that an extra £1 is better than nothing and I do feel that is a little lost at times.

 

I'm going to do my bit. I'm finally going to sign up to monthly contributions for the next year to see how things go. I would encourage every other fan that is in a position to do so to act likewise as it's now "our" club and we have to support it and safeguard its future. However, I would also strongly encourage the society/club to get their act together, and fast! In my eyes, their practises have definitely done more harm than good to the overall cause and that needs to be remedied urgently or we will most certainly be facing the doom that many have predicted.

 

In truth, I'm still not convinced about the fan ownership model for our club, but now is the time for a little bit of trust - a little leap of faith. It's uncharted territory, there are abundant unknowns, but I'm firmly of the belief that if we don't give it a shot, how will we ever find out for sure?

 

 

(apologies for length of the post)

[Kmcalpin]

Apologies for dragging up and old thread, but last nights news got me thinking a lot about the next chapter in our football club......In truth, I'm still not convinced about the fan ownership model for our club, but now is the time for a little bit of trust - a little leap of faith. It's uncharted territory, there are abundant unknowns, but I'm firmly of the belief that if we don't give it a shot, how will we ever find out for sure?

 

 

 

Good post. Fans now have to back the Society, although being realistic many won't. However, the Society now has to up its game and become more professional. A start would be to make the Society more visible on matchdays. Get out and meet the rank and file, press the flesh, and speak to punters face to face.

[jim64]

Direct debit set up and I'm hoping for the best

[CoF]

I took out my membership at the start and since then have contributed nothing so I've just setup a direct debit.

 

Has the old membership scheme been scrapped?

[superward]

I took out my membership at the start and since then have contributed nothing so I've just setup a direct debit.

 

Has the old membership scheme been scrapped?

The Well Society website tells all. Have a look.

[Last post by:]

Good post. Fans now have to back the Society, although being realistic many won't. However, the Society now has to up its game and become more professional. A start would be to make the Society more visible on matchdays. Get out and meet the rank and file, press the flesh, and speak to punters face to face.

 

I read most of this topic tonight. Kmcaplin, I feel your pain. No one from the society is listening to your suggestions. I'm on the Motherwell database but I've never once been contacted by mail or phone, never been given a leaflet or asked if I'm interested in joining the WS.

 

Genuine question, how can the membership grow if people like me aren't being contacted?

[Kmcalpin]

I read most of this topic tonight. Kmcaplin, I feel your pain. No one from the society is listening to your suggestions. I'm on the Motherwell database but I've never once been contacted by mail or phone, never been given a leaflet or asked if I'm interested in joining the WS.

 

Genuine question, how can the membership grow if people like me aren't being contacted?

Thats disturbing - I've PM'd you. Why hasn't the Society made itself known to fans on matchdays? I don't know for sure but perhaps lack of volunteers could be a reason. Surely though it could set up an information table or desk in the Cooper Club prior to games. One person could staff that.

[weeyin]

I read most of this topic tonight. Kmcaplin, I feel your pain. No one from the society is listening to your suggestions. I'm on the Motherwell database but I've never once been contacted by mail or phone, never been given a leaflet or asked if I'm interested in joining the WS.

 

Genuine question, how can the membership grow if people like me aren't being contacted?

Apparently there are multiple databases that they are trying to consolidate, but it has been recognized as an issue.

[weeyin]

Thats disturbing - I've PM'd you. Why hasn't the Society made itself known to fans on matchdays? I don't know for sure but perhaps lack of volunteers could be a reason. Surely though it could set up an information table or desk in the Cooper Club prior to games. One person could staff that.

I thought from various Twitter statements the Society did have a table set out at most home games. Has that not been happening?

[stuwell]

My only contact with anyone from the society apart from emails was when I met one of the board members in the new century after a game around Christmas - I didn't know who he was when we started chatting about the game but after a quick 3 minute chat he gave me his card and asked me to contact him if I had concerns. I then seen him chatting to other fans and it looked like he was trying to make himself known.

[StipeIsGod]

Not. I buy my season ticket. I love watching Motherwell. It's a cracking hobby to have.

 

If I see Motherwell impeding on what we see to be an acceptable loss for entertainment (and 90% on me to be honest), I'll walk away. I'm certainly not under any impression that the club is due penny from me. I may love my club but I am absolutely not beholden to it.

[Lobey_Dosser]

Still a no from me.

 

1. Motherwell does not have the fan base to be self-sustainable, particularly in the current climate.

2. The WS has not been ran in a competent manner and does little to engage fans in key decisions.

3. Given the departures in recent years, it's highly debatable whether we have a sufficiently experienced Board to run a football club.

4. We have not accumulated the working capital that was deemed necessary in the eye of an optimist to make fan ownership plausible.

5. I'm a fan, I support club to the hilt and over the course of 27 years my family and I have spent a serious amount of money to support my hobby. And it's been money well spent. However, I have no interest in our club setting a precedent for fan ownership when 99% of British clubs have been owned by Businessmen and women for 100+ years.

[steelboy]

Business people aren't interested any more. You can't make money in Scottish football, the clubs aren't going to increase in value and owning a club takes up a lot of time and brings a lot of hassle.

 

Aberdeen, St Johnstone, Celtic and Hibs have had their current owners for 20 years. King has been involved with Rangers for 20 years. Thompson and Gilmore are desperate to get out of their clubs. Killie got a new owner who was mainly interested in getting the hotel for a pittance. Hearts are going to be owned by the fans. There is no one who is interested in buying any of these clubs or us.

 

We've been up for sale for a decade and the only interest has been a crook who is now bankrupt and a dodgy South American consortium.

 

Talking about outside buyers coming in is fantasy stuff.

[Kmcalpin]

Still a no from me.

 

1. Motherwell does not have the fan base to be self-sustainable, particularly in the current climate.

2. The WS has not been ran in a competent manner and does little to engage fans in key decisions.

3. Given the departures in recent years, it's highly debatable whether we have a sufficiently experienced Board to run a football club.

4. We have not accumulated the working capital that was deemed necessary in the eye of an optimist to make fan ownership plausible.

5. I'm a fan, I support club to the hilt and over the course of 27 years my family and I have spent a serious amount of money to support my hobby. And it's been money well spent. However, I have no interest in our club setting a precedent for fan ownership when 99% of British clubs have been owned by Businessmen and women for 100+ years.

Can I ask you if there are any circumstances whatsoever in which you would join the Society? I would also address this same question to Stipelisgod. Is it because the Society is not being well run or because you're both simply opposed to the principle of fan ownership?

 

At the outset it was recognised that the Society was not for everyone and thats fine. The same situation has occurred at Hearts not surprisingly and there was recently talk there of setting up some kind of "Telephone Preference Scheme" type opt out. Those who are not interested, under any circumstances, of joining their scheme or indeed are vehemently opposed to it could register their details with the operators and they would be guaranteed no further contact. It would save the individuals hassle and annoyance, perhaps even stress, and save the club unwanted wasted effort and money. Could that be an option here?

 

My only other point is that I hope no-one is refusing to join because they think that there are other options - as Steelboy has said above "talk about outside buyers coming in is fantasy stuff."

[Tassinari]

I read most of this topic tonight. Kmcaplin, I feel your pain. No one from the society is listening to your suggestions. I'm on the Motherwell database but I've never once been contacted by mail or phone, never been given a leaflet or asked if I'm interested in joining the WS.

 

Genuine question, how can the membership grow if people like me aren't being contacted?

 

 

Thats disturbing - I've PM'd you. Why hasn't the Society made itself known to fans on matchdays? I don't know for sure but perhaps lack of volunteers could be a reason. Surely though it could set up an information table or desk in the Cooper Club prior to games. One person could staff that.

 

There was a period of 3 consecutive home games where someone came around and put flyers down on the table in the Cooper prior to the game on a Saturday. Other than that, I havent seen anything.

 

I totally agree, open and clear communication on this is a must now, as the longer silence goes on, the more doubt people will have. And if the response is to say that there are more pressing issues, that would be a joke, as getting people to support the WS, should now be the main objective.

[Bert the Sailor]

I'm in the same boat as a few people on here. I initially put money into the Steel membership at the set up of the Well Society, but since then haven't topped up. I can't ever recall having any Correspondence to do so, I apologise if there is something I've missed. Was the onus on each member to remember to pay the annual top up? As I'll admit to being particularly lazy with this kind of thing.

 

Either way I've set up a monthly direct debit now as well. Just interesting how many of the initial members are out there that could/ should be contacted to try and get them to sign up for the monthly payments.

[superward]

I am another of the lapsed WS members who has now resigned up for the DD. I am a supporter of the idea and society in general, do have my doubts but willing to stick a 10er a month away for a year or so to see how things go.

[capt_oats]

Just set up my direct debit there largely off the back of having read Alan Burrows' comments about the club going forward and the indication from Les that the club is close to breaking even, whether that's true or not I don't know but certainly from his observations re: changes in playing budgets etc it's not difficult to see how that would have had a positive impact on the balance sheet.

 

I'm still to be convinced about the competence of the Society as a body however for me it's less about the Society as such and more about what the club does and how it operates. If the club has actually managed to reign itself and work towards getting on an even keel then that's a decent start. 6 months ago with the signings of guys like Robinson and Samson along with the bloated squad Baraclough somehow managed to assemble and indeed was allowed to assemble it suggested that no lessons were being learned and zero fucks were being given, the fact that McGhee's taken steps to sorting out the shambles he inherited is, for me, a positive.

 

One swallow doesn't make a summer and all that but it's a start I suppose.

 

Equally I've a lot more faith that we're in a better position to operate on the playing side in line with the 'strategy' and with a smaller first team supplemented by the 20s under McGhee with Craigan looking after the 20s than I ever had with Baraclough there. The January clear out overseen by McGhee and the relative turnaround in the first team along with the apparent progress Craigan's been making with the 20s suggests that they have people in place who can actually integrate and transition players through from 20s to first team. Something that I had no faith in McCall doing whether it was his remit or not.

 

As Steelboy says the idea that there's some businessman going to take us over is pretty much fantasy so in that respect we are where we are.

[underboyleheating]

Well Society Interim chairmain Douglas Dickie will be on @BBCSportsound tonight.

[Guest]

Still a no from me.

 

1. Motherwell does not have the fan base to be self-sustainable, particularly in the current climate.

 

The rest of your points I can't really argue in any way, but this one I don't understand. Why can't we be self-sustainable? Surely we have to be self-sustainable, regardless of who owns the club?

[Suprawell]

 

The rest of your points I can't really argue in any way, but this one I don't understand. Why can't we be self-sustainable? Surely we have to be self-sustainable, regardless of who owns the club?

 

It's quite simple with revenues and current player wages in the SPFL it will be hard to have a competitive team and balance the books. We can do it, but it will mean losing key players, imposing a very tight wages structure and perhaps dropping down a division to come back up.

 

I agree with Lobey, and feel the club are now rudderless in terms of an experienced leadership team after recent departures. I have serious fears for the future and would not be surprised if we are courting administration within 12 months unless we get a player sales cash injection.