AGM 2018

[Andy_P]

A quick summary of what was discussed at the AGM earlier this evening.

All in all quite low key. Business was taken care of and a short Q&A was all undertaken inside around 45 minutes before shareholders were invited to relocate to the boardroom for nibbles. Or bolt down to try to catch the train back to Bargeddieshire...

Financial wise much of what was mentioned was already released when the summary of the accounts was issued a few weeks previously with similar language such as a Haley's Comet style scenario where all factors of the business (football and commercial) were near perfect and a with a bit good fortune we recorded probably the club's biggest ever profit.

Instilled is a sense this will be far from the norm and a review of the club operation is ongoing with a view to reaching sustainability.  The debts it were noted were reduced modestly to JB and LH.  An anticipated sum of around £200k is expected to be wiped courtesy of Les extending the double your money scheme.  A large amount of the debt is to the WS and it was put that whilst this could be paid back it is in a sense a protection should the worst ever happen and the WS would be the largest creditor with the greatest say in how to proceed.

Costs increased on ground expenses such as the scoreboard and Hunter Stand roof.  Quotes are out for a replacement PA system. This is increasingly becoming a necessity rather than nicety since the Green Guide issued to clubs raises standards each year.  This will cost circa £250k. The protective sheets seen earlier in the season in the South Stand were damaged (ironically) but should be back in place soon.  These helped cut cleaning costs and enabled the club to use the POD for visiting supporters but the club  are aware of frustrations of POD patrons as regards away fans in that stand and are reconsidering their stance.

I was near the back so missed the full line but I gather some kind of netting or equivalent has been purchased to attempt to limit stray shots smashing into weans in the Cooper Stand  during the warm up after a further incident at the last home game.

Increasing costs like these and the various refurbs and repairs around FP took the conversation on to exploring Ravenscraig as a potential option in the longer term.

Alan Burrows answered a question on the frustrations of lack of PATG options and said on occasion the club have tried to assist by sending MFC staff to sell at turnstiles but this was driven by individual clubs.

Colt teams were discussed and it was felt in principle it would be a positive move for MFC to have a Colts side in "Division Four" but to run with a set up would be akin to running almost a second club which would be extremely financially challenging and detrimental to the funds required for the first team. There are discussions ongoing to see if loan options can be expanded upon.

Stirling was chosen as the "base" for the 20's primarily as it was the closest available grass pitch that the side could play on.  It was felt it would also be beneficial for any returning first team player to return to play on grass rather than an artificial surface.

Stephen Robinson is actively looking to strengthen and has two or three on his radar but acknowledged people will need to go out.  He remains hopeful David Turnbull will sign but again referenced his agent.  He believes the offer made stands well when set against others who have played more games at his age or have had greater representative honours.

On international matters he insisted the club were delighted at the likes of Campbell and Cadden going away and representing Scotland last summer but acknowledged it has had a knock on effect in terms of tiredness and that players of that age require to be managed. He was frustrated the Cadden appeared on the cusp of recapturing his form of old before suffering injury at Ibrox.

On injuries he bemoaned the freak nature of some of the injuries striking down players. Tanner is unlikely to return before the end of the season and the injury that Dunne suffered earlier in the season was apparently one, the physio of some 30 years standing, had never seen before. Carson is at a point he can run again but no timescale has been set for a return. He is happy with Mark Gillespie and Rohan Ferguson as his number two.

An interesting point was made about Robinson's choice of words during interviews and the phrase about having too many footballers was put to him as being unhelpful.  SR laughed this off firstly by saying it depends on what interview you read.  He went to attempt to clarify saying that he required a balanced team of players with technical ability but who could equally do the dirty jobs.  He noted how because of our reputation teams have routinely changed formations and tactics to attempt to counter despite as Robinson said we actually have only two players apparently nudging over the six foot mark.

And there my scribbles ended...

 

 

[Welldaft Mk1]

Thanks for posting the summary of AGM above. 

Nothing of any note in terms of news most might have been unaware of.

The move to Ravenscraig surely is a non starter unless we win the lottery or a Sheik takes a liking to claret and Amber. 

I did see on P&B and it is mentioned above that Turnbull and / or his agent have turned down up to 4 offers of an extended contract. May not be that many but clearly we seem at an impasse. Hope it can be resolved as we are protecting a valuable asset and one that has integrated well into the 1st team.

Also hope that Turnbull looks at the many youngsters who have left the club prematurely and whose careers have stalled or even ended altogether. He does seem more level headed than the likes of Slane, Erwin, Thomas etc but another year or 2 at Fir Park will hopefully see him earn more in the longer term if he kicks on. 

[Andy_P]

Yeah, the impression I got was that it was a case of them doing their due dilligence in exploring what would be involved were a move ever to become more pressing and enabling them to set those sums against the costs of remaining at Fir Park. I think Jim McMahon even used the phrase "don't hold your breath" on any prospects of a move.

On Turnbull it was mentioned that we would be protected to something like eight years worth of development compensation if the worst were to happen. There is still a hope he will resign but we do at least have that if things don't get worked through.

Sent from my FIG-LX1 using Tapatalk

[StAndrew7]

Only stuff  I would add are a couple of points:

• The nature of the success we had over the last year effectively means that we have no cash flow related worries for next 2 years; this isn't going to result in complacency and the club are looking at how best to continue to secure our financial position and budgeting "correctly" for low placed finishes in the league and so on,
• To confirm there's ball stopping nets being installed at the Cooper stand (I was nearer the front ) to protect the crowd during warm-ups (which should happen during the January break),
• Some of Robbo's comments (indirectly) about the squad/players hinted that he thinks there's a fair few freeloaders at the club who are only interested in picking up a wage - he also said that you'd be surprised at who there is interest in from a transfer out point of view,
• We continue to look after our injured players and make sure that we're keeping them engaged; Robbo is taking Carson and Tanner out for dinner this Thursday (I know that doesn't seem like much, but it's a nice insight into how the club operates) and Burrows stated the club's policy has and will continue to be that we will only ever release a player who can pass a medical - effectively in the same condition as they were when we signed them,
• He also recognised that we're really lacking in wide players and would look to rectify that; we have 3 or 4 targets but as above, we need to let players go before we bring anyone in,
• The Ravenscraig thing is an interesting one - Fir Park will become increasingly difficult (and expensive) to maintain and the new standards for public stadia coming in will result in several of the modifications (like the PA) being a necessity. I didn't hear a figure being banded about for the PA system other than 8 to 10 times the cost of the scoreboard - I don't know those costs off the top of my head so someone who does could work that one out.

I'd meant to try and ask about the money we're putting into Project Brave; there's obviously been an increase in costs relating to being one of the 8 "elite" clubs as part of that - I do wonder if we're going to have to increase that money year on year to remain one of the 8?  Although, I would imagine there's a significant case for the investment paying off in future revenue for the players we develop as a result of our involvement. It would be interesting to evaluate those total costs against those of a full time Colts team mentioned above.

[4-3AET]

Hi, just wondered having bought a few shares during the sale last year should I have been able to attend the AGM, or receive a company report, didn't hear anything??

 

Might be quite interesting to get along!

[rinkydink]

58 minutes ago, 4-3AET said:

Hi, just wondered having bought a few shares during the sale last year should I have been able to attend the AGM, or receive a company report, didn't hear anything??

 

Might be quite interesting to get along!

All shareholders listed on the share register should have received an invite to the AGM.  Usually comes by post 3-4 weeks before the deadline - to save on postage, they tend to ask if you want a set of accounts emailed to you now,  rather then send them out.  I would email accounts @ motherwellfc.co.uk to get them to ensure you are properly recorded on the share register.

[ropy]

These warm up nets, will they be dropped during the game?

[weeyin]

25 minutes ago, ropy said:

These warm up nets, will they be dropped during the game?

That's what I was wondering.

Not that I ever sit in that stand, but never been a fan of fences, nets etc. to peer through.

[Big Wispy Flossy]

44 minutes ago, ropy said:

These warm up nets, will they be dropped during the game?

Angled towards the big goals

[Neilwell86]

I would say they will be, they have the same thing at hamilton, and at st johnatone too i'm sure, they both take them down for the game kicking off. Would be surprised if they decided not to.

[4-3AET]

22 hours ago, rinkydink said:

All shareholders listed on the share register should have received an invite to the AGM.  Usually comes by post 3-4 weeks before the deadline - to save on postage, they tend to ask if you want a set of accounts emailed to you now,  rather then send them out.  I would email accounts @ motherwellfc.co.uk to get them to ensure you are properly recorded on the share register.

Thanks will do that

[Lukemfc1]

On 12/17/2018 at 10:59 PM, Andy_P said:

 The debts it were noted were reduced modestly to JB and LH.  An anticipated sum of around £200k is expected to be wiped courtesy of Les extending the double your money scheme.  A large amount of the debt is to the WS and it was put that whilst this could be paid back it is in a sense a protection should the worst ever happen and the WS would be the largest creditor with the greatest say in how to proceed.

Did the club provide or does anyone have a ballpark figure of what the total outstanding debt to Boyle and LH stands at? Surely to God we can't be that far off clearing this by now...

[weeyin]

Boyle - 209,900 (down from 280,400 the prior year)

Les - 994,181 (down from 1,468,800 the prior year)

{Les wrote off 193,979 as part of the double-your-money offer, and the club anticipates the current double-your-money offer will clear about another 200k this year}.

So the debt was reduced by 545,119.

The loans in the first 3 years are paid off solely from % of transfer revenue. After that there is a fixed payment schedule.

As they are all interest free, there's little point in tying up working capital to pay them off early.

[Busta Nut]

The double yer money scheme has been a bit of a let down.

 

Seems very little was/has been done.

[Kmcalpin]

On 12/19/2018 at 2:46 PM, Lukemfc1 said:

Did the club provide or does anyone have a ballpark figure of what the total outstanding debt to Boyle and LH stands at? Surely to God we can't be that far off clearing this by now...

Not as such.  Weeyin's figures are correct as of 31 May.  However since then 40% of Cedric Kipre's fee (I think) will have gone to reducing the debt, assuming that it was paid  in one installment and Les will write off a further £200k through his double you money scheme by the end of this month.  So, I reckon we'll still owe these 2 gentlemen very roughly something like £320K by a week on Monday

[StAndrew7]

On 12/19/2018 at 10:22 AM, Neilwell86 said:

I would say they will be, they have the same thing at hamilton, and at st johnatone too i'm sure, they both take them down for the game kicking off. Would be surprised if they decided not to.

Yeah they'll have to be, otherwise they'll be blocking an evacuation route from that end of the stand onto the pitch if anything happens.

[Yorkyred]

On 12/19/2018 at 10:22 AM, Neilwell86 said:

I would say they will be, they have the same thing at hamilton, and at st johnatone too i'm sure, they both take them down for the game kicking off. Would be surprised if they decided not to.

Hopefully so, we sit 3 rows up in the stand along with many supporters with disabilities and it’s crazy trying to dodge balls when they have the movable goals set up which is right in front of the section block booked for members of the disabled supporters association. Game before last one youngster got hit right in the face by a wayward shot from Bowman. We’ve also had seats damaged around us.