The Well Society

[Kmcalpin]

I certainly wont be putting any more money in if its not going to be paid back to the Society. Given how we've pissed money away in the transfer market in the last 2 years you would be mad to sign up to bankroll that. There has to be some accountability on the clubs part to run prudently.

I agree about accountability but its unreasonable to expect reliability in transfer dealings. As long as I can recall, going back even to the days of Bobby Ancell, bad decisions have been made. Even Tom MacLean made some horrendously bad transfer decisions.

[Lobey_Dosser]

There has been some utterly reckless spending since Les arrived which led us to having in excess of 30 first team players at one point. Misinvestment that will now be repaid via player sales; potential income that should have been going towards building a sustainable future of the club rather than clearing debts stemming from mismanagement of the previous regime.

 

I don't know what the alternatives are but I struggle to fathom how fan ownership can be successful when we are starting from -£1mil (initial plan was +£1.5mil buffer) and our support is threatening to go below 3k.

[Andy_P]

There has been some utterly reckless spending since Les arrived which led us to having in excess of 30 first team players at one point. Misinvestment that will now be repaid via player sales; potential income that should have been going towards building a sustainable future of the club rather than clearing debts stemming from mismanagement of the previous regime.

 

I don't know what the alternatives are but I struggle to fathom how fan ownership can be successful when we are starting from -£1mil (initial plan was +£1.5mil buffer) and our support is threatening to go below 3k.

 

I think you have to put the "misinvestment" as you put it in some kind of context though.

 

Up to a point the "investment" made sense if not perhaps all utilised as efficiently as it might. Building club infrastructure for what would hopefully be beneficial in the longer term seemed sensible enough, getting in players like Moult and Johnson with a view to making a profit further down the line again seems like fair logic and I can't really fault the thought process of increasing the budget in the hope that we would retain our top flight place for fear of what might transpire if we didn't (hiya St Mirren). And all of that makes even more sense when you put in the context of what was meant to be a five year plan with anticipated returns throughout those five years.

 

I certainly do agree however that utilising that playing budget definitely got some way out of hand - the signings of Theo Robinson and Craig Samson being perfect examples which won't have done much to help limit the current owings.

 

Whilst I also agree it is unfortunate that in the short to medium term a proportion of transfer funds generated will be going outwith the club in repayments it is perhaps worth keeping in mind what was mooted at the Q&A after the AGM and seemed to be re-iterated by one of the WS repts to DennyC last weekend. It was suggested that as increased revenue through the SPFL allied to the conclusion of some of those contracts handed out during the Hutchinson year are concluded that a break even point isn't that far away thereafter.

 

Now of course that remains from the initial goal of having the £1.5m sitting tucked away to cover however long a period of disasters but if come next year we will be close to break even point, we know that an increase in revenue will be coming our way, our academy is delivering players that are generating revenue (if sometimes frustratingly merely development fees) then it does at least give us some scope for making a go of it.

[joewarkfanclub]

I agree about accountability but its unreasonable to expect reliability in transfer dealings. As long as I can recall, going back even to the days of Bobby Ancell, bad decisions have been made. Even Tom MacLean made some horrendously bad transfer decisions.

I understand the risk attached to transfers and have no problem with that. But there should be a clear dividing line between the Society and the club when it comes to finances. If the club want to spend some money and the society lend it fine. As long as its paid back eventually. Otherwise how do we ensure long term sustainability? Some transfers will work, some wont. But overall the business model we operate should be discouraging some of the reckless spending we have seen on players during both Barraclough and McGhees tenure.

[Kmcalpin]

I understand the risk attached to transfers and have no problem with that. But there should be a clear dividing line between the Society and the club when it comes to finances. If the club want to spend some money and the society lend it fine. As long as its paid back eventually. Otherwise how do we ensure long term sustainability? Some transfers will work, some wont. But overall the business model we operate should be discouraging some of the reckless spending we have seen on players during both Barraclough and McGhees tenure.

I don't disagree with any of this. The Society and the club are 2 separate entities.

[Toxteth O'Grady]

Well Society Q&A Invitation!

First of all thank you for all of your support as a member of the Well Society. Your contributions have helped us make history as the first top flight club in the UK to be fully fan owned and more importantly means that the future of Motherwell FC is in the hands of the people who care about it the most.

As fan ownership is such a new concept in Scotland, we completely understand that many of you will have questions on how it’s going to work therefore we would like to invite you along to our Q&A event on Tuesday 6^th December at 8pm in the Centenary Suite at Fir Park.

We believe the event gives us a great opportunity to share our vision, the governance/board structure and our plans for further fan engagement and involvement. The event will also provide an opportunity for our board members to meet with you the members.

If you are not able to make it along to the event please feel free to send any questions ahead of the event to well.society@motherwellfc.co.uk and we will have them answered for you. We will also stream the event live through periscope with a link available on our twitter (@thewellsociety)

Once again thank you for your support and we look forward to hopefully seeing you at Fir Park on the 6^th of December.

Yours Sincerely,

The Well Society Board

[Villageman]

Not sure it is quite a clear as saying society and Club are separate identities.

Society own the Club and the Club should report to the society.

Same as Hutchison was owner and at the end of the day whats different. Just like him Society can approve or not every decision on finance or other. Or am I being naive?.

[Dezz]

Good news yesterday that we passed the 2,000 members milestone. I saw a tweet saying we've had over 100 new pledges since the transfer took place and more are coming in everyday.

 

Looking back at the September board meeting summary we had 1,920 members and monthly income of £10-£11k. There doesn't appear to be an October update but based on the figures above we hopefully aren't too far off 2,050 members.

[Kmcalpin]

Good news yesterday that we passed the 2,000 members milestone. I saw a tweet saying we've had over 100 new pledges since the transfer took place and more are coming in everyday.

 

Looking back at the September board meeting summary we had 1,920 members and monthly income of £10-£11k. There doesn't appear to be an October update but based on the figures above we hopefully aren't too far off 2,050 members.

Yes, good news indeed. I would like to see an October update though. Based on those figures the Society would have an annual income from pledges of around £130K.

[Toxteth O'Grady]

Just received this...

 

 

 

The Well Society

WE’VE REACHED 2000!

We are delighted to announce that we have reached the milestone of 2000 members this week. To celebrate this achievement and as a thank you we will be entering all of our members into a prize draw. The winner will be invited along to Fir Park for an exclusive lunch with the first team players.

Although we are delighted to have reached the milestone of 2000 we want to continue to grow our membership numbers and we now aim towards 2500! We still believe there are plenty of Well Supporters out there still to join and we certainly will do all we can to get them on board!

UPCOMING EVENTS:

MFC PODCAST QUIZ NIGHT
We are teaming up with the guys from the MFC Podcast to host the second annual quiz night in the Centenary Suite at Fir Park on Monday November 28^th 2016.

We already have several teams signed up, including teams lead by Keith Lasley, Chris Cadden and Suzanne Grant.

Teams are made up of four players and it costs £10 per team to enter with a grand prize of £100. All proceeds will be donated to the Motherwell FC ladies team. Register your team here

On the same evening the club will be holding the calendar signing which kicks off at 6:30pm. Where fans can have their 2017 calendars signed by the first team. The quiz will kick off straight after the calendar signing, around 7:45pm.

WELL SOCIETY Q&A

We understand that although the announcement of fan ownership has brought a lot of excitement it has also brought on many questions from Motherwell fans about how it’s going to work and what the benefits and challenges will be going forward.

We have decided to hold another Q&A event on Tuesday December 6^th in the Centenary Suite at Fir Park at 8pm. This will provide an opportunity for our board members and representatives to share their visions for the club and give you the fans the opportunity to ask any questions.

We will also show stream the event on periscope for any members who can’t make it a long. The link can be found through our twitter and facebook. If you can't make it you can also send across any questions well.society@motherwellfc.co.uk

BOARD ELECTIONS

You should have received an email last week regarding the current board vacancy. We are asking any members interested in joining the Well Society board to drop us an email well.society@motherwellfc.co.uk and we can explain the process.

Members have until November 28^th to put themselves forward. From there we will have voting forms and info on each candidate sent out to members with a voting closing on 11th January 2017. The new board member will then be appointed.

NEW MEMBERS

With close to 100 new members joining in the last couple of weeks and with all the surrounding activity this has been an extremely busy time for us. We are still catching up on processing all new pledges and we hope to have all welcome letters, certificates and Junior Steel membership packs issued by the middle of next week.We would like to thank everyone for their patience as we catch up on this.

As a Well Society member and an owner of the club we intend to give you regular updates. There will also be more opportunities for you to have a heightened level of involvement around the club. If however you have any questions, concerns or suggestions at all please do not hesitate to get in touch well.society@motherwellfc.co.uk

Thanks again for your tremendous support!

[CMWellfan]

Not sure it is quite a clear as saying society and Club are separate identities.

Society own the Club and the Club should report to the society.

Same as Hutchison was owner and at the end of the day whats different. Just like him Society can approve or not every decision on finance or other. Or am I being naive?.

 

Not really.

 

Regard the society as a holding company, and the club as a trading company, Two different boards of directors. And while the society has ultimate ownership of the club, they have decided to keep the club at a fiscal arms length. That's the correct way of doing it in my view.

 

The trading company, the club, has a board of directors who are held to specific fiscal responsibilities under UK law. When you are appointed a director, you receive a governmental letter welcoming you to the ranks of directorship and advising you to be aware of your responsibilities.

 

These include complying with tax regulations, employment law, health and safety standards, and the insolvency act. There are severe criminal penalties for directors that fail to comply with the relevant laws.

 

Leave the professionals to run the club, and the fans to run the society. Of course there will be communication between both parties but the worst case scenario would be unqualified fans trying to force their opinions onto a legally constituted board of directors. The directors have legal responsibility for the day to day running of the club - leave them to it.

[Kmcalpin]

I see that the Club's AGM will be held at 1900 hrs on 6 December with the Society's AGM being held an hour later on the same day.

[superward]

 

Not really.

 

Regard the society as a holding company, and the club as a trading company, Two different boards of directors. And while the society has ultimate ownership of the club, they have decided to keep the club at a fiscal arms length. That's the correct way of doing it in my view.

 

The trading company, the club, has a board of directors who are held to specific fiscal responsibilities under UK law. When you are appointed a director, you receive a governmental letter welcoming you to the ranks of directorship and advising you to be aware of your responsibilities.

 

These include complying with tax regulations, employment law, health and safety standards, and the insolvency act. There are severe criminal penalties for directors that fail to comply with the relevant laws.

 

Leave the professionals to run the club, and the fans to run the society. Of course there will be communication between both parties but the worst case scenario would be unqualified fans trying to force their opinions onto a legally constituted board of directors. The directors have legal responsibility for the day to day running of the club - leave them to it.

 

To add from the accounts just released. The structure appears to be changing to the following. So, you may see some see director chages given 2 of the well society board also sit on the otherwell fc board

 

"The change of ownership will result in the creation of a Supervisory Board (initially the Well Society Board) to sit alongside a newly formed Executive Board (effectively the current Motherwell FC Board). The day to day running of the club remains unchanged."

Edited November 23, 2016 by superward

[eddiemunster]

 

Not really.

 

Regard the society as a holding company, and the club as a trading company, Two different boards of directors. And while the society has ultimate ownership of the club, they have decided to keep the club at a fiscal arms length. That's the correct way of doing it in my view.

 

The trading company, the club, has a board of directors who are held to specific fiscal responsibilities under UK law. When you are appointed a director, you receive a governmental letter welcoming you to the ranks of directorship and advising you to be aware of your responsibilities.

 

These include complying with tax regulations, employment law, health and safety standards, and the insolvency act. There are severe criminal penalties for directors that fail to comply with the relevant laws.

 

Leave the professionals to run the club, and the fans to run the society. Of course there will be communication between both parties but the worst case scenario would be unqualified fans trying to force their opinions onto a legally constituted board of directors. The directors have legal responsibility for the day to day running of the club - leave them to it.

Perhaps you should email them to clarify?

[CMWellfan]

Perhaps you should email them to clarify?

I wouldn't insult their intelligence.

 

You go right ahead, though - every forum needs a village idiot.

[eddiemunster]

Too much personal abuse going on here, we need someone to take down the troll cabal.

[superward]

I wouldn't insult their intelligence.

 

You go right ahead, though - every forum needs a village idiot.

No need to get personal. Take the high ground.

[Burn_Broomfield]

 

Not really.

 

Regard the society as a holding company, and the club as a trading company, Two different boards of directors. And while the society has ultimate ownership of the club, they have decided to keep the club at a fiscal arms length. That's the correct way of doing it in my view.

 

The trading company, the club, has a board of directors who are held to specific fiscal responsibilities under UK law. When you are appointed a director, you receive a governmental letter welcoming you to the ranks of directorship and advising you to be aware of your responsibilities.

 

These include complying with tax regulations, employment law, health and safety standards, and the insolvency act. There are severe criminal penalties for directors that fail to comply with the relevant laws.

 

Leave the professionals to run the club, and the fans to run the society. Of course there will be communication between both parties but the worst case scenario would be unqualified fans trying to force their opinions onto a legally constituted board of directors. The directors have legal responsibility for the day to day running of the club - leave them to it.

 

How about Motherwell fans who are directors of successful companies and know what they are talking about?

[Spiderpig]

It seems the WS are planning another supervisory board to work with the existing board, all members to have more of a say.

 

http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/scotland/38128126

[CMWellfan]

 

To add from the accounts just released. The structure appears to be changing to the following. So, you may see some see director chages given 2 of the well society board also sit on the otherwell fc board

 

"The change of ownership will result in the creation of a Supervisory Board (initially the Well Society Board) to sit alongside a newly formed Executive Board (effectively the current Motherwell FC Board). The day to day running of the club remains unchanged."

 

Yes that's an appropriate management structure in my view.

 

I don't have any concerns about the Well Society and club structure in this regard. We don't have an "omnipotent," owner/director situation going on such as the individuals that bankrupted Hearts and Rangers. While both clubs had boards of directors they were puppets/kept in the dark/powerless.

 

That won't happen at Motherwell FC. Thank God.

[Kmcalpin]

Hopefully we'll see a good attendance at tonight's Q & A session.

[Dezz]

I'm going to go along tonight. First one I'll have been to due to the timings of previous meetings and working in Edinburgh.

 

I see an email was sent this morning detailing the new governance structure.

[grizzlyg]

"Hopefully we'll see a good attendance at tonight's Q & A session."

 

Yet another Well Society event where I have had no notification. OK so I am only paying a tenner a month but that is all I can afford. The communication is shocking. Is ther eanyone I can contact with regards to checking my details are correct? Certainly no problem taking the money off my account each month.

[numpty]

"Hopefully we'll see a good attendance at tonight's Q & A session."

 

Yet another Well Society event where I have had no notification. OK so I am only paying a tenner a month but that is all I can afford. The communication is shocking. Is ther eanyone I can contact with regards to checking my details are correct? Certainly no problem taking the money off my account each month.

To be fair, I saw them ask on Twitter very recently for people to get in touch if they hadn't received the email they'd recently sent out, and the event has been publicised both there and on the society's Facebook page. I appreciate that's not much use if you don't use either of those services, but equally it's hard for them to get in touch any other way if they don't have the right details for you.

[Dezz]

"Hopefully we'll see a good attendance at tonight's Q & A session."

 

Yet another Well Society event where I have had no notification. OK so I am only paying a tenner a month but that is all I can afford. The communication is shocking. Is ther eanyone I can contact with regards to checking my details are correct? Certainly no problem taking the money off my account each month.

To be fair, the Society have been pushing it for the last few weeks on various social media platforms and there was also a section detailing it in the 'Well Society Weekly Newsletter' email which was sent out on 30th November.

 

Might be worth dropping them an email just to check your contact details are correct. You'll find the email address on the well society website.

 

Appreciate that there needs to be further improvements but I think communication from the Society has improved markedly over the last 3 months or so.