New Investment Options

[steelboy]

I was hoping for a more teary eyed statement from McMahon but that will do. 

Blaming division in the support when the support is overwhelmingly united in being against the proposal is bullshit. Especially when they've called it off because they've done a Ruth Davidson and took a peek at the shareholder votes and seen they are getting a kicking. 

It's time for McMahon, Dickie and Feeley to go. 

[wunderwell]

What is really noticeable is that the "born under a well flag" facebook fan group is the entire opposite of the views on here. Perhaps a vote might have been tighter than we thought.

Anyway I'll let you guess which one is me. Not many saying the offer is crap and I'm one of them.

[wellwell91]

2 hours ago, steelboy said:

They are already implementing some of the plan like talking to potential investors. My point is that it won't be transformational and as fans we are unlikely to notice any difference.

There’s a difference between talking to investors and getting them on board. Yip their talking to local businesses but getting them to sponsor you ( tax break) against investing in the club where there’s no guarantee on getting a return for their money Looking forward to how WS going to achieve this.

[sinjy]

The worrying thing for me is that our executive board actually thought the Wild Sheep proposal was a good one. McMahon, Feeney and Dickie have a lot of questions to answer.

[Yodo]

26 minutes ago, sinjy said:

The worrying thing for me is that our executive board actually thought the Wild Sheep proposal was a good one. McMahon, Feeney and Dickie have a lot of questions to answer.

Definately time for the board to leave the club as in right away 

[texanwellfan]

4 hours ago, Wellfan91 said:

Time for the Society board to step up then! Fans will get behind them but only for so long...done plenty of talking since the proposal from Barmack came to the table, now it's time for action.

Regardless of what the society do, the  current investment offer was not a good one. Hopefully better ones will come along but if not, I believe we have still taken the correct path by getting rid of this proposal. 

[texanwellfan]

4 hours ago, wellfan said:

Excellent news. That leaves McMahon, Dickie and Feely to be picked off next. 

Were some of the MFC board only there because they were reps for the well society or were the already on MFC board prior to becoming WS reps? 
   I have no clue how the board members are selected but we should definitely have WS reps there 

[Throughthelaces]

It’s now gone so I’m expecting the society to start taking charge of the club now. Get the current exec board out and get the adults in charge.

[wellfan]

9 minutes ago, texanwellfan said:

Were some of the MFC board only there because they were reps for the well society or were the already on MFC board prior to becoming WS reps? 
   I have no clue how the board members are selected but we should definitely have WS reps there 

Feely is the Chair of the Well Society Board, so sits on the Executive Board in that capacity. He hasn't resigned so remains on both Boards. Dickie resigned from the Well Society Board, but, as far as I understand, he was only on the Executive Board to represent the interests of the Well Society Board, alongside Feely. Therefore, as he resigned, surely his position on the Executive Board is untenable, unless he was an Executive Board member first and Well Society Board member second. Someone else might be able to shed some light on this. McMahon will be resigning as Chairman, which will end his membership of the Board.

Notwithstanding, today's statement from the Well Society indicates that they are looking to reset the relationship (and I assume clarify roles and responsibilities) between the two Boards. They state: "...now is the time for a significant reset in the relationship between the Club Board, the Well Society Board, Society members, and the Motherwell fanbase as a whole..."

[ropy]

3 hours ago, Coatsy said:

Time for the WS to step up to the plate now, interesting times ahead

We are the Well Society, so let’s get stepping.

[Electric Blues]

2 minutes ago, wellfan said:

Feely is the Chair of the Well Society Board, so sits on the Executive Board in that capacity. He hasn't resigned so remains on both Boards. Dickie resigned from the Well Society Board, but, as far as I understand, he was only on the Executive Board to represent the interests of the Well Society Board, alongside Feely.

They would both have had the Well Society in the bin quickly enough if Erik had been successful, so turnabout would be fair play here.

[wellwell91]

23 minutes ago, Throughthelaces said:

It’s now gone so I’m expecting the society to start taking charge of the club now. Get the current exec board out and get the adults in charge.

Think some people on here need to have a reality check . 

It’s not Football Manager their playing on their Xbox

Just as a matter of interest how many have taken the time to checkout Jim McMahon’s business CV ????

Answers on a post card

[Throughthelaces]

10 minutes ago, wellwell91 said:

Think some people on here need to have a reality check . 

It’s not Football Manager their playing on their Xbox

Just as a matter of interest how many have taken the time to checkout Jim McMahon’s business CV ????

Answers on a post card

In all fairness any professional who put that proposal forward needs replaced regardless of their cv. Also Hi Jim how you doing mate

[Stuwell2]

Delighted with the news but now the real work begins. 
Firstly I think we need to see and explain to everyone clearly defined rolls for the Club board - need to ditch the “Executive board” pish - and the Society board. 
ie Club board responsible for day to day running of the club, setting budgets and ensuring cash flow for the budgets. WS responsible for ensuring society has cash reserves for unforeseen shortcomings in club budgets, growing the membership, encouraging members to pay regular donations etc. 

After that the two boards need to work together in union to look at ways to encourage external investment in the club and society - no point in both of them chasing the same potential investors for different reasons which could be detrimental and put them off investing. 
Obviously there will now be changes to both boards but if members of the WS board feel they can work with those they opposed on this issue as they feel the other can bring something of value going forward, then I would be willing to trust in their judgment - not saying it’s going to happen but willing to show faith in the board. 

[DunnyMFC]

The whole Barmack thing sounded something out of Dream Team

[stv]

17 hours ago, sinjy said:

The worrying thing for me is that our executive board actually thought the Wild Sheep proposal was a good one. McMahon, Feeney and Dickie have a lot of questions to answer.

Thats why it was withdrawn. So not to embarrass that lot that thought it was a good idea . When the votes were roughly counted they have had an indication of the way the votes were going so far, wild sheep done them a favour withdrawing it to save their faces.

It was a poor deal from our point of view right from the start and had a bit of desperation for investment at any price about it.

[Villageman]

19 hours ago, wellwell91 said:

Think some people on here need to have a reality check . 

It’s not Football Manager their playing on their Xbox

Just as a matter of interest how many have taken the time to checkout Jim McMahon’s business CV ????

Answers on a post card

Well I am one of the names on the post card and frankly less interested in his business cv, more interested in MFC cv and his performance for MFC. I might have a great cv as a road sweeper but would never make chairman of a football club. No disrespect to road sweepers intended

Football managers go to interviews with great cv's., why are so many sacked ? Because it is what you put in in practice not on paper.

[weeyin]

I did read McMahon's CV at the time he was appointed. It was certainly good, but not the most impressive I've seen.

Although I'm an computer geek by profession, my work has brought me into contact with many business people at many levels, including some that work in Mergers and Acquisitions.  There is a huge difference between running a business day-to-day and negotiating a takeover deal, and in my experience, that's the time to bring in the experts.

McMahon definitely did not appear to be someone with experience in those kinds of deals.

[StAndrew7]

20 hours ago, wellwell91 said:

Think some people on here need to have a reality check . 

It’s not Football Manager their playing on their Xbox

Just as a matter of interest how many have taken the time to checkout Jim McMahon’s business CV ????

Answers on a post card

I did at the time he was appointed and similarly to @weeyin, it was ... fine and he made sense as an appointment. Perhaps not for the best part of 10 years, though.

I think there will absolutely be people who are just as qualified (perhaps more so) within our support/sphere of influence to provide the expertise required as a chairperson of the Club.

Personally, I would advocate for that person to be an independent appointment moving forward; so someone without direct links/ties to the Well Society and the Club side of things; to me it's important that if they have the casting vote, they're able to do so with complete neutrality based on what's presented to them.

I'll flip the question to you, as well; did you take the time to check out Erik Barmack's business CV, rather than his content creation/creative one? Because it's severely lacking any kind of business acumen, aside from starting Wild Sheep Productions and having an MBA from 20+ year ago.

[weeyin]

I'd also point out that running a football club is very different from running a traditional business for many reasons. Being good at running a bank at a profit for the benefit of shareholders is not the same as running a football club for the benefit of the community.

That's why many clubs with experienced businessmen at the helm can still struggle.

[wellwell91]

16 minutes ago, StAndrew7 said:

I'll flip the question to you, as well; did you take the time to check out Erik Barmack's business CV, rather than his content creation/creative one? Because it's severely lacking any kind of business acumen, aside from starting Wild Sheep Productions and having an MBA from 20+ year ago.

Yes I did and and I was not that impressed by it … … But wether you admit it or not we need outside investment 

With the best will in the world our fan base will not creat the financial sustainability going forward.

As I said in earlier post getting businesses to commit to sponsorship is a different ball game from getting them to commit to investment.

There has to be some give from WS going forward or we will never get inward investment in the club. This debacle has set this back light years in my opinion. What investor is going to come anywhere near us know.

WS have to stop talking the talk and show us that they can walk the walk … … it will be interesting going forward.

Every other club in the league apart from us and St Mirren have a major outside investor who are the major shareholder of the club.

 

[wellfan]

5 minutes ago, wellwell91 said:

Yes I did and and I was not that impressed by it … … But wether you admit it or not we need outside investment 

With the best will in the world our fan base will not creat the financial sustainability going forward.

As I said in earlier post getting businesses to commit to sponsorship is a different ball game from getting them to commit to investment.

There has to be some give from WS going forward or we will never get inward investment in the club. This debacle has set this back light years in my opinion. What investor is going to come anywhere near us know.

WS have to stop talking the talk and show us that they can walk the walk … … it will be interesting going forward.

Every other club in the league apart from us and St Mirren have a major outside investor who are the major shareholder of the club.

 

Set us back light years?! Sorry, but that’s a lot of hyperbolic bollocks.

If anything, this debacle has highlighted the need for the existence of the Well Society and has proven that fan ownership works in the longterm interests of the Club.

With competent stewardship, appropriate and mutually beneficial investment will come. And I think we can all agree that McMahon has not been a competent steward of the Club towards the end.

As you say, it’s now the Well Society’s turn. Give the new Board a break and the chance they’ve earned.

 

[Onthefringes]

3 minutes ago, wellfan said:

Set us back light years?! Sorry, but that’s a lot of hyperbolic bollocks.

If anything, this debacle has highlighted the need for the existence of the Well Society and has proven that fan ownership works in the longterm interests of the Club.

With competent stewardship, appropriate and mutually beneficial investment will come. And I think we can all agree that McMahon has not been a competent steward of the Club towards the end.

As you say, it’s now the Well Society’s turn. Give the new Board a break and the chance they’ve earned.

 

I concur.

For those dismissive, go and scratch the surface and you’ll find there’s a world of difference to your outlook.

[southernsteel]

21 hours ago, wellwell91 said:

Think some people on here need to have a reality check . 

It’s not Football Manager their playing on their Xbox

Just as a matter of interest how many have taken the time to checkout Jim McMahon’s business CV ????

Answers on a post card

Jim McMahon's business CV is largely irrelevant. His decision making on this specific offer was very poor to say the least. There appears to have been little or no due diligence undertaken, no sanity check on the numbers, almost no engagement with the majority shareholder (The 'Well Society), lot's of "we are the Executive Board and therefore we know everything and you serfs know nothing", not taking into consideration the £millions in assets we have / had in Bair and Miller when presenting the numbers. All of the above tells me more than any CV.

I've been in business for 40 years and never witnessed an Executive Board trying to tell the majority shareholders that they are basically too thick to make an educated decision. 

Have you checked John Boyle's business CV? On paper it looked great - until he got out of his depth and nearly took MFC down with him.

History nearly repeating itself.

Congratulations to The 'Well Society for a famous victory.

 

[StAndrew7]

31 minutes ago, wellwell91 said:

Yes I did and and I was not that impressed by it … … But wether you admit it or not we need outside investment 

With the best will in the world our fan base will not creat the financial sustainability going forward.

As I said in earlier post getting businesses to commit to sponsorship is a different ball game from getting them to commit to investment.

There has to be some give from WS going forward or we will never get inward investment in the club. This debacle has set this back light years in my opinion. What investor is going to come anywhere near us know.

WS have to stop talking the talk and show us that they can walk the walk … … it will be interesting going forward.

Every other club in the league apart from us and St Mirren have a major outside investor who are the major shareholder of the club.

 

I don't think anyone disagrees that we need investment in the Club to help us maintain financial stability. However, I think the rest of what you're saying is catastrophising/taking the worst possible scenario.

What kind of "give" are you looking for, exactly? The WS' proposal includes an entire section on strategic investments in the Club and bringing in external investors.

Why do you think it's set us back light years? I would argue that this has made it quite clear to investors what the fans are wanting; people to come in and provide a reasonable input for a reasonable return and that we won't be taken for a ride.

Every other Club is free to operate how they choose to; I think our model is the best for Motherwell. How many of those clubs are in potentially chronic/crippling amounts of debt to those investors? Sooner or later they're going to want their money back and that'll potentially spell catastrophe for them, just like it did when Boyle realised he'd fucked it.