Thanks Flow And The Groundsman

[Shire Greats]

Groundsman 100%. Flow can do one. Club is slowly being ruined by his inability to run the club efficiently. Jobs for the boys is all it is. Club need rebuilt top to bottom. Until then we will be in this position over and over, until one day we aren't so lucky and end up going down. No coincidence we have went downhill since he took over.

That's the problem with social media, giving a platform to uninformed generic garbage like above , take it you are really in the know?

[weeyin]

I wasn't a critic, but did express reservations when 'Flo took over Leann's role as I didn't think he had the experience to be a COO.

 

However, I was happy enough when it turned out he was, in fact, performing the GM role as it was a role he was basically performing anyway.

 

I think he has done a great job under unique circumstances, and he always comes over well in the media. Not to say there haven't been mistakes, but how many clubs in the UK have transitioned from administration to fully owned by fans? By its very nature that means we have had to make some of this up as we went along.

 

Now, here we are at the end of a tough season with top flight team, a perfect playing surface and a fan owned club. If you had said 4 or 5 years ago this is where we'd be, I doubt many would have believed it.

[Mintymac]

Comes across as a thoroughly decent person . As long as he makes decisions (unlike John Boyle )with his head not his heart then we should be fine. Of course he makes mistakes . Who doesn't . But as that old saying goes for those that want rid of him all I can say is be careful what you wish for . Don't think he'd be out a job long !!!!!!!

[postiejim]

"since he took over".

Respect your opinion ,but Flow took over nothing in that he doesn't own or run the club like John Boyle did.

[gilmour]

Cough up Rangers or Fuck off illegally tapping our players.

 

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/www.eveningtimes.co.uk/sport/15314751.amp

 

Not a massive fan of burrows but I could cheer at what's said here. We won't have our pants pulled down again.

[Goggles & Flippers]

All the quotes are taken directly from the MFCTV video. lazy journo can't spell "seen" arsehole.

 

Also copy your link text in future please.

[gilmour]

Wow thanks.

[Well-Made]

This just posted ths morning on the Daily Record site, looks like we have more to be thankful for... love the comment that JB was pissed when he threatened to quit.

 

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/motherwell-chief-alan-burrows-reflects-10762063

 

 

Motherwell chief Alan Burrows reflects on his journey from the stands to the boardroom

Burrows has effectively gone from being a punter in the stands to the guy calling the shots in the boardroom.

BYSCOTT MCDERMOTT

· 06:00, 9 JUL 2017

 

Stephen Robinson and Motherwell Chief Operating Officer Alan Burrows

 

An image flashed up on his phone to interrupt the picturesque train journey through the Alps.

It was from T in the Park, 1300 miles away, showing a Motherwell pal with club owner John Boyle – and a bottle of Buckfast.

The contrast could barely have been more stark.

 

 

And the thought went through Alan Burrows’ head. What the f*** was he doing here?

It was 10 years ago tomorrow.

And the Motherwell fan was on his way to Obertraun in Austria for their pre-season camp.

Everyone knows the story of what happened next. Mark McGhee decided to give Burrows a job at Well.

 

Soon, he was their award-winning head of communications. And taking a £2k drop in wages from his gig in the accounts department at South Lanarkshire Council was paying off.

Later, he’d be appointed General Manager at Fir Park.

 

And now, after Leeann Dempster’s departure to Hibs in 2014, he’s chief executive of the club he loves.

It has been an incredible decade-long journey for the 34-year-old.

He has effectively gone from being a punter in the stands to the guy calling the shots in the boardroom.

And Burrows has experienced just about everything along the way.

The death of skipper Phil O’Donnell gave him a sense of perspective from the off that he has never lost.

He has sampled the highs of the Champions League and pipping Aberdeen to second spot in the Premiership with an injury-time goal.

But he also cried his eyes out when Stuart McCall – the man who had saved his life – left the club for the last time.

He’s had to learn fire-fighting skills on the job, like when Steve Jennings was caught up in a betting scandal.

Or when star striker Michael Higdon ended up in the jail after being crowned Player of the Year.

Also, for the first time, Burrows has revealed how madcap Italian businessman Gianni Paladini almost bought the club – and had plans to demolish the main stand at Fir Park.

On the walls of his office, there’s a quote that reads: “Aut viam inveniam aut faciam.”

It translates to: “I shall either find a way or make one.”

And no one in Scottish football is more of a self-starter than Burrows.

READ MORE

Even the sleek, black furniture that surrounds us in his office was paid for out of his own pocket. After all, he wasn’t going to waste tight club funds on it.

But by the same token, he needed somewhere respectable to meet players, managers or agents. That sums him up.

Relaxing on one of the leather chairs, he reflected on the 10 years that have changed his life.

He said: “It was this Monday in 2007 that I decided to go on my own to Obertraun.

“I was working for the council but running a Motherwell fans’ website. I was single, with no family commitments or holiday booked.

“I got a taxi to the station, a train to Prestwick Airport, a flight to Salzburg then a bus.

 

 

“I remember going through the Alps laughing to myself. It was like a scene from The Sound of Music.

“I got a message from a pal at T in the Park. He’d sent me a picture of him and John with a bottle of Buckfast. I just thought, this is a nonsense. What am I doing here?

“I stayed in a little house next to the team’s training complex. I watched our games and sent some pictures back for my website.

“A few days in I got a voicemail on my phone from Stewart Robertson at the club. I’ve kept the message, transferred it to different phones, because the feeling was unbelievable.

“He said he liked my stuff and what I was doing so he’d like me to do it for the club. I could have flown home myself when I got that call. I was buzzing.”

 

That call probably seems like a lifetime ago now for Burrows. Fast forward seven years and he’s walking around the pitch at Fir Park with former QPR chairman Paladini.

It was a surreal moment that he won’t forget. He said: “I was in the job as GM for just 14 days, in June 2014, when John told me was selling the club to Paladini.

“I’d watched a documentary on him from his time at QPR. He was the mad guy kicking chairs and shouting at his managers.

“He flew up and I was showing him around the pitch. He turned to me and said: ‘Don’t like the main stand. It’s fine, we’ll just knock it down!’

“I just stood there, thinking: ‘Holy s**t.’ Thankfully the sale didn’t go through in the end.

“A few months later a group of Argentinians came in as well but I didn’t get to meet them.

“I’d told John that if it happened, I was chucking it. That p****d him off no end.

 

“It was more advanced than Paladini’s bid – it got to the contracts stage.

“They were serious businessmen. But their model was to provide a platform for South Americans players in Europe before trading them on.

“Right away, alarm bells rang for me. It has happened at Scottish clubs before and they have gone bust.

“But myself, along with the Well Society, had been speaking to Les Hutchison.

“Thankfully, John agreed that it was best to go with Les and he bought the club.”

Burrows has worked alongside various managers, including McGhee, Craig Brown, Jim Gannon, Ian Baraclough and current boss Steve Robinson.

But the closest relationship he had was with McCall who spent four years with the Steelmen.

Burrows believes the current Bradford City boss helped save his life by ordering him to hospital when he was suffering chest pains.

And in 2014 when McCall left Fir Park, he’s not ashamed to say he was in tears. Burrows said: “Stuart’s the nicest guy I’ve worked with and I miss him a lot.

“And I bubbled the day he left. Other than when Phil died, it was my hardest day in here. Four years is a long time with a manager.

“I’d only been GM for a few months and I wondered if I’d hindered him in any way. I walked out, sat down and had a wee cry to myself.

“Stuart helped save my life. We were at a dinner at the Hilton Hotel in Glasgow and didn’t eat until late.

“Alan Marshall, our safety officer, and Stuart were in the front of the car going home and I was in the back.

 

“When I breathed I felt pains in my chest. I thought it was heartburn from the steak we’d had at 10.30pm.

“It was really sore. Stuart asked me if I was OK and I said: ‘No, I think I’m
having a heart attack.’

“Marsh was doing 95mph to Stuart’s house and I was getting worse. He got into the back of the car to look at me and immediately said: ‘Take him straight to hospital.’ We went to Wishaw General and they checked me out. It wasn’t coming from my heart.

“They did tests and I had a blood clot in my lung.

“They injected my stomach with blood thinners and if you don’t get that done quick enough, you can die.

“The All Blacks star Jonah Lomu died of the same thing.

“It all depends on timing. Thankfully I got the treatment that saved me life. If Stuart hadn’t ordered Marsh to take me to hospital, I could have died.

“I was in hospital for a week but signed myself out to be at our last game of the season against Dundee United.

 

“I had only missed one game since 1999 but the doctors were going bonkers – they thought I was off my head.”

But the daftest thing to happen during Burrows’ time at Motherwell has to be Higdon’s arrest and night in the cells four years ago.

The big English striker had picked up his Player of the Year award hours before Burrows got a call in the middle of the night to say he’d been locked up.

He said: “It’s the only PFA do I’ve ever been to. Our boys were well on and Higgy was enjoying himself.

“For his speech, he couldn’t get three words out. It wasn’t long after my lung problem so I’d gone home sober. But I got a call at 4am to say Higdon was in jail. He’s allegedly assaulted a bouncer.

“By the time I got up and out, he’d been released. He was like Danny Dyer coming out of the police station. I couldn’t believe it.

“But it was a great lesson for me in terms of media and crisis management. It’s easy to turn your phone off and pretend it’ll go away.

“We put Michael up for interview and did a ‘hands up’ job. He was gutted he’d messed up his big night.

“But the next day Sir Alex Ferguson retired – and I could have kissed him. It was wall-to-wall Fergie for days and our news was buried.”

 

***Sorry if it's a bit of a mash, had to copy it to Word to remove the pics that were embedded as I wasn't allowed to post them here.****

[Tamwell]

That's a great article. I remember the obertraun stuff like it was yesterday!

[superward]

Good article.

[steelman1991]

Great read - keep up the good work 'Flow.

[Clackscat]

Enjoyed that..great read

 

Sent from my GT-I9195 using Tapatalk

[decorator]

kaching flow

[AndyRoss]

http://www.mfc1886.com/mfc-podcast-2017-18-episode-8/

 

Alan was our guest on the latest episode of the podcast.