welldaft

Quite bizarre, yet somehow I think that may be beaten today - as in earlier. I mentioned in a previous post that I would want our prospective new owner to have deep pockets. Again not because I want them to go all Chelsea. But someone who could afford to take a hit of £500k - £1m per season when needed and not have any huge impact on their net worth. If we end up with someone that has a few million (if that) or has to borrow money to invest in MFC then I would rather we went down the road of giving the Well Society a chance. I doubt even with a fresh focus and membership push that we could plug that gap from a poor season, so it would probably involve making some cutbacks. Unfortunately I doubt the senior exec at Netflix mentioned above would have the required wealth so it would be a big gamble if indeed it is even him. Hopefully this whole expertise and exposure may bring others to the table .

You have to ask what the actual f**k Aberdeen are doing. Literally every managerial decision backfires. This is on Cormack and Burrows. On pretty much every metric the most underperforming team in the top flight this season based on squad and budget.

My membership level amongst other things included an invite to the Directors box…… After a year or two I enquired where this was. Only to be told well you have not requested it. So an invitation means I had to invite myself. It is at that point and many others I decided enough. As I said earlier it was actually very well marketed and attractive in the 1st instance. The problem as always with MFC is the actual delivery. It would not take much to have someone in charge who knows how to treat the customer and ensure continued loyalty beyond attending match days. But Motherwell and to be fair many other clubs have just failed in this regard over and over.

The simple issue is that anyone willing to invest money in Motherwell is unlikely to do so without having a controlling interest. It is just not going to happen. As a Motherwell fan I might consider it. But truth be told even I would want to be in charge of the major decisions. It is almost akin to you buying a house for £500k and a group of people who have contributed £30k telling you what the decorations will be, when you need a new kitchen and so on and on. You simply would not accept that in any way shape or form. Strange analogy maybe but no one is going to invest millions in MFC without calling the shots. Hence why we have been asked vote on those specific questions.

The Well Society has been a very good but somewhat limited safety net. Raising £1.7m is an excellent effort but in truth it is probably not enough to see us sustain our top flight status in the short to medium term. I have said quite clearly I am sceptical of any investor that is looking or a significant ROI. I just don’t think it is possible with Motherwell FC. I would love to be proved wrong. All that said what I don’t get is anyone voting against outside investment before they know the actual terms and conditions. I suspect the club have been forced into this survey by the sound of things. Why else would we need to vote so soon even if it is just an indication. It sure as shit would be interesting if the vote shows a majority against outside investment, only for that outside investment to be transformational and actually acceptable as unlikely as that may be. I mean talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face !

Fair enough. But we can at least assume that they would want a return of 5-10%+ PA, otherwise they would be as well buying shares in Aviva for example, which yields a 7% dividend and is at some point likely to be the subject of a takeover in the coming years. I could yield 4.5% right now by sticking my money in Marcus savings. I maybe did not articulate my thoughts well enough. I guess what I was trying to say is that if I was lucky enough to be able to afford to own Motherwell FC I would realistically expect to lose money year after year. I would expect to subsidise the club much like Billy Bowie at Kilmarnock, Roy McGregor at Ross County etc. If I was after a good ROI there are literally hundreds of other investments I would consider before choosing a football club and not only that one that is in the Scottish Premier League with a fairly static fan base and limited growth potential. I am not saying it is not possible. As you state quite correctly we don’t know what they are expecting to achieve. Of course I would love to be proved wrong I just don’t think I will be a few years down the line if that is the direction we are headed.

Again I will re-iterate that I have huge concerns around any form of investment with a view to a financial return. I am not sure how a club like Motherwell can yield a decent enough ROI or any for that matter regardless of how well structured the Business plan is and how competently it is actually implemented. I guess the problem with the Well Society is that even if they manage to raise an extra 50% PA which would be an excellent outcome. Would that be enough to keep the club afloat and competitive without outside investment. I have my doubts. This then comes back to the argument we learn to live within our means and take the consequences, which will almost inevitably lead to relegation at some point. As many have said (and I agree) it is still a better option for the long term future of the club than handing over to a speculative investor who will soon lose interest when they realise (what most of us already know) that it is highly unlikely they will make any great ROI as they hope and plan for. I am not dismissing any outside investor as I / we don’t have enough detailed info to base a proper judgement. I am a WS member but do not contribute monthly. Simply as I was very disappointed in how it unfolded. Initially I was impressed with the launch and the differing tiers and associated benefits. When the benefits were taken away / stopped I was not overly bothered. But to find out (for example) you no longer have parking at the club when you are in the car on a match day it is disappointing as much as it was unsurprising. Also when giving a decent wedge during the Covid season and not even getting an acknowledgment was also poor. This would apply to everyone no doubt. Not why I gave the money, but as someone who spent a career in Customer Management the very least you expect is an acknowledgement / thank you. I am enthused when I read Jay talk about the direction the Well Society is headed with fresh ideas etc. For many like myself I want to see an increased level of professionalism and for WS members to be treated as valued customers. Not to be taken for granted as I feel is the current situation.

Not much of a fan of those f*ckers tbh. Biereth might have been away anyway, but as I understand it we have yet to receive a Euro cent from the Max Johnston development fee. How is that possible 7-8 months after he joined them ? What is the hold up ?

I was probably going to add a rider on St Mirren. They are probably similar to us but a year or so behind. They don’t have an owner with deep pockets and are fan owned. Their crowds are up and have finished in decent league positions and will again this year. But it will become harder to do so like we are finding out just now.

I understand all that. And it would be last on my list also. However the problem we face is if we have to save circa £500k PA as an example then something has to give and cuts will have to be made. All whilst protecting the 1st team squad to keep us competitive in whatever league we are in. I certainly hope it does not come to that. I am merely making suggestions at where cuts could be targeted.

Probably not just now. But that looks like where all of this is headed without outside investment. Certainly it looks like for the foreseeable future we would be unable to compete with every top flights side bar from maybe Livingston, St Johnstone and St Mirren. Dundee - not so sure. It is not clear where their money is coming from. St Johnstone could change if their future owner has deep pockets. If Livi go down and United come up. Then it makes it even tougher for next year assuming Ogren is not yet sick of losing millions of pounds per season. So yes it would appear relegation will happen sooner than later. I still think with our fan base we could be promoted but top 6 and Europe looks a long way away. As for being in the Championship. I would renew my season ticket and continue to support Motherwell. I suspect that 80-90% would. The Q remains about what happens after a few seasons in the lower leagues. It might not affect the current fan base but would probably affect our ability to attract younger fans.

That made me laugh more than it should . Reading between the lines we are quickly running out of money. Which is a big worry. Also means the Morton cup loss was more problematic than it ought to have been. Certainly calls into question the necessity of spending £1m on the pitch. I am sure there were lower cost options that would have improved the surface. I don’t like the sound of either potential investor as described previously. Both scenarios are unlikely to work to the desired effect that anyone would see any type of return. It sounds like difficult decisions need to be made in terms of where cuts can be applied to safe guard the future. The ladies team and the Academy seem like obvious options. Both would be met with obvious angst. But let’s be honest any kid with any promise seems to be snapped up for peanuts by the bigger clubs long before we can realise a proper transfer fee. Bailey Rice being a case in point. Interesting times.

That is fair comment. But the 1 singular fact that is staring us all in the face is that these days (and going forwards) we do not have the ability to compete financially with our peers let alone the City clubs. That will likely lead us to the Championship over the next few years. I can just hear the fans say in a couple of years. You know what I am not bothered we are bottom of the league and that the team is playing shit. At least we never took on board the investment that was on offer a few years back as we did not know where that would lead us. The problem is that no one investing now will come out and say I will do this for a few years, then get bored and p1ss off leaving Motherwell in the sh1t. That may well happen. But they will not start out with that intention. Of that I am sure. The news about the Manager extension is disappointing that it was not communicated. But I think they are getting a bot more stick than they deserve imho. McMahon personally paid for a video to hopefully attract outside investment. Probably lower cost than the road St Johnstone have taken engaging specialist companies etc. And so far it seems to have worked. It may not end up happening but he deserves some credit for that. Also as stated they are huge Motherwell fans. They will have the same concerns as the rest of us regarding any new potential owner investor. Someone with deep pockets is important. I am not talking about someone spending Chelsea like money (relatively speaking), but someone where throwing £1-£2m per season is going to have little impact on their own wealth. Rather that than someone who starts to run out of money after a few seasons and are more likely to get disinterested more quickly as the wealth evaporates in front of them. EDIT TO ADD. I typed the above before being able to read above the excerpt and more detail from the AGM. If it is not philanthropic then I have HUGE concerns. It absolutely worries me that anyone could think they could get a return on their investment from Motherwell FC regardless of how they went about things. The money is just not there. Genuinely who thinks that people that know very little about Scottish football can come in and try a few different things and make a return that would satisfy them. This is naive in the extreme. And this type of scenario will more than likely end up with the parties buggering off when they realise it is not doable. Without knowing the full details I would rather stay fan owned until a better option came along.

Nothing to asset strip from Motherwell FC I would imagine. In truth the answer lies in rich men (or women) who want a plaything. If you are worth 10s of millions what use is being the richest person in the graveyard. Now most sensible people would be philanthropic and give to charitable causes to make a real difference. Maybe they could and will do both.

Like I said many pages ago. No one prepared to spend millions who are not fans (and even then ) would want to be a minority shareholder. It simply does not make sense from a business or legal standpoint. Let’s hope that one if not both interested parties have deep pockets .

You mean the team with a fuckload more resources and probably 3 x the wage bill of Motherwell won. Then that is probably more accurate. I thought we would concede before we did. In truth for all the possession Hearts had they did not trouble us much before our CB went missing for the hundredth time this season. I thought we played well defensively until we did not. I also thought we were on top from 45 to 60 minutes but lack of a Van Veen or Biereth type player that could take advantage. In some parallel universe we would have had both of the aforementioned strikers on the pitch today. Were it nor for the fact that Arsenal are twats and we have no money at all. The biggest difference (ref budget) was the Hearts substitutes did make a difference. Our subs rarely do. Not sour grapes at all. Hearts are the 3rd best team by some distance and are a mile away from the basket cases that Hibs and Aberdeen currently resemble despite the wage bill they also have.

Thought we were OK today. Hearts dominated possession as you would expect. But we were very disciplined right up until the point we were not ! Normally have a go at Kelly but I thought he was OK today. Not at fault for either goal. The 1st shows that if it is not the goalie it is the central defence. Both CB thought it was fine to give a free header to the most in form striker in the league. Got back to the comment someone made that Killie, Dundee and St Mirren just would not lose a goal like that. All that good work undone in a flash. Also felt we missed the likes of a Biereth today or Van Veen in his prime. We had quite a few forays forward and got in decent positions but did not have the personnel to create that guilt edged opportunity. Kinda worrying that Spittal and possibly now Gent are injured. Hopefully both will be back soon.

Every team has muppets for fans sadly.

Oh and he won’t be. Who is this mythical back up keeper we have - Oxborough. Does he even exist ? Absolutely Hearts fire in as many crosses as you can. Ideally closest to the goal line and sit back and watch the inevitable mayhem and goals ensue. Our defence is unlikely to be any better but our key problem as I see it is - Hearts defence is not anywhere near as bad as Ross County or Aberdeen. Most likely outcome is a Hearts win by a couple of goals or a high scoring draw 2-2. Would take another draw so we can try and break whatever the current top flight record is…..

I think we can all agree that this season has been rather disappointing overall. You can look at all the different stats and if you want paint either a negative or a positive picture. We have had a lot of injuries as have quite a few teams to be fair. The player wage budget has been reduced from previous seasons. Yet the reality is (positive stat alert) there are only 4 teams in the top flight (the top 4 unsurprisingly) that have lost fewer games than us. Even St Mirren have lost more games. As we know a win and a loss is better than 2 draws and yet what it shows is despite all the issues around defending, goalkeeping, injuries, player recalls we are more often than not a difficult team to beat. It does not feel that way, but yet here we are.

Wonder how Mika is getting on since his move to Sturm Graz…..in only his second game

No shit Sherlock. All that said in the cold light of day an away draw at a team who have spent the most on wages probably ever is a decent result. I would be more upset if I were a Dons fan. A good comeback yes, but to go 3-0 down at home to a team with less than half the budget is not a good look. Europe was a minimum expectation this season. Top 6 was non negotiable. Struggling to even achieve that. Actually bewildering with the players at their disposal. Getting £5m+ for Miovski will help dull the pain somewhat. As for the comments on Kelly. He is out of contract. But it would not surprise me if we have offered him another contract. Probably earlier this season. My only hope is he does not take it or we change our minds. Unless his from picks up substantially which is looking unlikely. At the moment there is enough evidence to suggest he is the poorest keeper in the top flight.

Based on recent form he should be nowhere near the Scotland squad. Even the pundits in the media are talking about his blunder v Morton and the pressure he is under to be dropped. If it was just Motherwell fans I doubt Clarke would notice or care. But the fact it is everyone (bar Kettlewell obvs) means his likelihood of him going to the Euros are dwindling game by game. The only thing about Clarke is he is quite loyal. If you have Gunn, 1 other capable keeper and Kelly, then he would be 3rd choice and the chances of him getting a game are slim to none. The whole team were dung v Morton. However conceding the 1st goal as we did set the tone for the evening and had a huge impact on the eventual outcome. That is on Kelly. That would have cost us a lot more than UEFA payment for Euro 2024 participation. The sad thing is he was actually quite decent when he joined up. That and I don’t dislike him in anyway shape or form. In some ways I actually feel sorry for him. But my only concern is Motherwell finishing away from the bottom 2 spots and as high up the league as possible. Why his form has dropped is anyone guess. Perhaps it is the Captains curse. So either remove him from the team or see if giving him less responsibility helps him concentrate on getting his game back to where it should be. In my opinion doing nothing is not an option at the moment. As many have said Ox must be pretty poor to not be getting a chance. What must he be thinking as Kelly makes all these mistakes….

Actually think we have Livi away (live on Sky) in between Celtic and Rangers. But still Top 3 in the next 4 games is daunting enough. I want Kelly benched and have for a while, but Kettlewell seems unable to do this. It must mean Oxborough is even worse. I get Kelly is the Captain. I get Kelly is an influence. I get he is an all round good guy. Hell he even made a few saves tonight. But he still made a few glaring errors and even the 1st goal is yet another on the long list of shots that just seem to evade him. I have started to notice his positioning is so often near his front post, so any shot across him pretty much ends up in the other corner of the net more often than not.

That table screams get Kettlewell tae f*ck…… Just kidding. I get that two wins in xx amount of games is not a great look. But sentiment of most fans and more importantly the Board will be based on the here and now. Doubt we will pick up any points from the next two games but we have bought ourselves some breathing space from the last 6 unbeaten games