103rd Agm

[Shaka]

Seen this over on FPC, quite interesting!

 

Motherwell held its 103rd Annual General Meeting on Monday and shareholders were pleased to note the healthy financial report which generated a pre-tax profit of £384,000 - the fifth successive year in the black.As ever, the formalities were quickly completed and most of the evening was devoted to an informal discussion with the board and the manager.

It was pointed out that last season's successes meant that player bonuses were relatively high and taken together with the higher wages needed to attract better players the salary bill was up by around £1m. That expense was balanced by income from transfers; notably McDonald, McCormack and a sell-on fee for Lee McCulloch.

John Boyle let it be known that there was no chance of a move from Fir Park in the next five to ten years. The club are still in discussions with the local authority and it may be that training facilities in the Ravenscraig area might become available some time in the future.

We are to spend around £250,000 digging up the pitch in the close season. It seems that the covers and hot air balloon have contributed to the poor surface by drying the soil too much. The new surface will be grown from seed rather than imported turf.

 

The chairman apologised for the ticketing arrangements for the Nancy games and the subsequent pricing initiative. Lessons would be learned and consultation would take place with supporters in future. Online payment mechanisms would be in place for season tickets.

Questions were asked about the police decision to close roads around the stadium. Several issues were mentioned including the delay in releasing cars from the official car parks, delays of 30 minutes were mentioned. The matter is the subject of ongoing discussions with the police. The PA system will not be renewed.

Mark McGhee had his share of questions concerning the football side of the club. Of note was the praise heaped on Paul Quinn who he rates highly. He hopes to persuade key players to remain at the club. The importance he places on this week's game at Kilmarnock is reflected in the decision to take the team for an overnight stay on Friday to ensure best preparation.

 

 

- Seeing as Hughes + Porters wages are apparently financed by Boyle, the boys must be on some fucking bonus structure to increase wages by £1m (£20k pw!)

 

no move from Fir Park in next 5-10 years apparently? So any cash we make in the future is gonna be spent on the ground (crumbling main stand,shitehole east,rusting metalwork+ dodgy pitch) instead of the team, great

 

and does anyone actually believe were spending £250k on the pitch in the summer?

[Well Up For It!]

Thanks for this post Shaka, interesting to hear what is going on at the club from Boyle's point of view. Points from this...

 

The stadium move doesn't suprise me for the simple fact we are living in a credit crunch and it will be 5 to 10 years for things to return to normal, and by that I mean get Fir Park back up to the value it was a few years back (8million I heard!)

 

The idea of proper training facilities at Ravenscraig is exciting. I've heard rumours about this, with Motherwell College, University of the West of Scotland and Motherwell all putting together to build a sport complex to rival Stirling Uni and Herriot Watt (where Falkirk and Hearts train respectively) and this could only be beneficial to our youth development.

 

Good to hear we are in the black again, but with the figures mentioned I don't know if we will be this year! The majority of the 20k wage hike would have gone to McGhee and Leitch if there wages were reportedly doubled. But it's quite dissapointing to read that with the sale of MacDonald, Rosco money, Porter and Lee McCulloch sell-on clause that I didn't know about, coupled with our European adventure, that we only made £400,000k profit! Scary to think where it all goes - and with no mention of Faddy money I take it that has all gone strait to creditors right enough.

 

I wonder how much of that money has been spent on admin? It's been a busy season for them with new websites, new ticket systems, a CRM system, new programme, etc. Wonder how much all that cost?! Not cheap I bet!

 

Good to hear that plans are outlayed to fix the pitch, but thought turfing would be the better option.

 

Never had a problem with ticketing, but understood a lot did with Nancy and season tickets which is not really acceptable - although I think the club was right to offer season ticket holders priority. Glad they have plans to improve on it.

 

Not fixing the PA is a absolute joke!! That's all I can say about that!

 

All in all, interesting reading and some issues/points raised and answered here.

[Wellfan1984]

- Seeing as Hughes + Porters wages are apparently financed by Boyle, the boys must be on some fucking bonus structure to increase wages by £1m (£20k pw!)

 

Win bonuses x the team

Clean sheet bonuses for Smith x the amount of times

Goal bonuses for the Strikers (30+)

 

How can £1m be unreasonable to anyone that thinks about it for a second?

[Haggischomper]

and does anyone actually believe were spending £250k on the pitch in the summer?

 

 

That's an awful lot of grass seed - are we paying 50p a blade?

[Shaka]

Win bonuses x the team

Clean sheet bonuses for Smith x the amount of times

Goal bonuses for the Strikers (30+)

 

How can £1m be unreasonable to anyone that thinks about it for a second?

 

I know how bonuses work, but did we really make £1m more in clean sheet and win bonuses than last season? Forgot bout MMG + Leitchys wage hikes tho, thats where a fair chunk would have gone.

 

Apparently Seeding instead of turfing is the cheaper option (surprise surprise ) but also seeding means there is no thatch which holds onto surface water, and rooting is better

[Andy_P]

Good to hear we are in the black again, but with the figures mentioned I don't know if we will be this year! The majority of the 20k wage hike would have gone to McGhee and Leitch if there wages were reportedly doubled. But it's quite dissapointing to read that with the sale of MacDonald, Rosco money, Porter and Lee McCulloch sell-on clause that I didn't know about, coupled with our European adventure, that we only made £400,000k profit! Scary to think where it all goes - and with no mention of Faddy money I take it that has all gone strait to creditors right enough.

 

Bear in mind WUFI that not of all those incomings are included in this set of accounts though. From memory the figures issued were up to sometime in 2008 (May I think), the European stuff and Porter certainly aren't included.

[Shaka]

and with no mention of Faddy money I take it that has all gone strait to creditors right enough.

The Faddy money was mentiones in the AGM notes for 2008 last Feb, it said that due to the timing of the deal,half the Faddy money went to Creditors!

 

One other thing was that there was no sell on clause in the Skippy deal! Well done there

[Kmcalpin]

One other thing was that there was no sell on clause in the Skippy deal! Well done there

 

A lot easier said than done. Had the club held out for that, it might well have been a deal breaker, with the player eventually leaving for nought and remaining on the books totally demotivated and disinterested. It would also send out the wrong message to potential signing targets.

 

If we manage to secure players on long, well paid contracts then you can start insisting on such clauses.

[Steelmen]

for Porter and Hughes i think it was just the signing bonus boyle paid, the wages are the same as the rest and the club pays them.

 

to offset that though a fair few headed out the door, corrigan would have been on a fair bit too.

 

Glad to hear though that we are operating in the black, not many teams out there can claim that.

 

hats off to the board for that, next fixing the park.

 

Lee

[weeyin]

for Porter and Hughes i think it was just the signing bonus boyle paid, the wages are the same as the rest and the club pays them.

This is from memory (which may well have failed me), but I thought when Tam Cowan was interviewing Crags the other week, he said that the club didn't operate a flat wage structure now and that some players did earn more than others.

 

I could be wrong. I usually am.

[Steelmen]

i was just meaning the club paid the money rather than boyle paying it. not that they get the same as the rest.

 

I would bet Hughes and probably Malcolm are getting a shed load more that most of the other players

 

as McGhee said it is about quality not quantity in the squad, less players better quality same cash(well nearly)

 

 

Lee

[Jonesy]

This is from memory (which may well have failed me), but I thought when Tam Cowan was interviewing Crags the other week, he said that the club didn't operate a flat wage structure now and that some players did earn more than others.

 

I could be wrong. I usually am.

 

 

Yeah. Thats what I got from that as well. He said they applied the flat wage structure when Butcher was in charge but stopped ot for McGhee coming in tho attract players like Porter, Hughes and Hammell back to the club

[Well Up For It!]

I think the players will all be on diffrent amounts to reflect experience/ability.

 

Also think that Clarkson and Quinn will be nearer the top, both having signed new deals in the last few years!

 

Them, Big Boab and Hughes will prob be the biggest earners. Maybe Klimpl aswell if the Danish leagues average wage is higher than ours.

[Shaka]

Definately good to hear that we are in the black again and it might possibly mean theres a little cash for MMG in the summer.

 

Even with the pitch costing £250k, we made around £350k profit, plus would have probably budgeted for £50k or so for pitch upkeep anyway. Added to Porters transfer fee,the freeing of Porters wages (£5-6k pw??) + possibly the Nancy tv games + any UEFA cash (if there not included in this past report) after any extra wages + costs we could have a couple hundred grand for a couple decent players.

 

Just good to know we are Debt free, own our own stadium, have a decent squad, one of the best bosses in the league, AND we pull a profit every year! Certainly not bad in this climate

[grahamb]

I am sorry to add John Boyle did also say "We are punching above our weight".....

[Steve Diggle]

I am sorry to add John Boyle did also say "We are punching above our weight".....

 

Why are you sorry to add that Graham. Are we not punching above our weight?

[numpty]

Why are you sorry to add that Graham. Are we not punching above our weight?

FWIW, I don't think we are...

 

As Shaka just said, "we are debt free, own our own stadium, have a decent squad, one of the best bosses in the league, AND we pull a profit every year". In other words, we have every right to be mixing in the upper echelons of the SPL, yet this stock "punching above our weight" soundbite has been continually trotted out since Big Tel was in charge, as a pre-emptive excuse for the next bad thing that happens, on or off the park.

 

So I'd imagine Graham is "sorry" to add that because it's really starting to get on our nerves

[mon_da_well]

Why are you sorry to add that Graham. Are we not punching above our weight?

 

I'd say we are! One of the smallest squads, one of the smallest wage budgets, we never spend money for players and our attendances aren't in the top 6. So aye, punching above our weight. And loving it!

[cambo97]

I'd say we are! One of the smallest squads, one of the smallest wage budgets, we never spend money for players and our attendances aren't in the top 6. So aye, punching above our weight. And loving it!

 

We're currently in 7th place in the league and our attendances are in the top 7, so we not punching above our weight.

[mon_da_well]

Just now aye, but what about when we finish 4th this year?

[fatcalf]

Revel in it, it's meant as a positive so take it as such FFS

[Well Up For It!]

That fact we are running in the black, making small profit year on year shows we have a tight control of the purse strings, and that brings with it a certain lack of ambition. Post administration Motherwell will always be a selling club, and every now and then we will have an O'Donnell or Faddy who is homegrown to sell for good money, but other than that we are punching above our weight in terms of club ambitions!

 

...but with the manager and squad we have just now we are definately there on merit!

[Ya Bezzer!]

We are turning over profit modest profit, doing reasonable well on the park and finishing in the Top Six WILL punching above our weight since the OF, NF and Edinburgh clubs have much bigger budgets than us.

 

There will always be problems and niggles but overall, I think you have to congratulate the players, staff and, yes, even the chairman for running our club in a responsible and, by our standards, successful manner.

 

Now let's beat Killie!

[bigmcd]

Great to see the club doing so well i know its not much of a profit but at least we are making one not many clubs can say that we just need to keep doing what we are doing bring in players that are not well known and selling them on for a profit hope mmg stays for a while why would he go every other club has a shit load of debt

[weeyin]

Revel in it, it's meant as a positive so take it as such FFS

It's not a positive though, is it? It's saying the results we have achieved are better than we should expect from the talent we possess. The exact opposite of what McGhee is saying when he tells the press our first team is the best outside the OF.

 

I understand that the Board wants to keep expectations realistic, but why not just say something like "We are enjoying a successful spell at the club and will continue to work within our means in an effort to maintain it".