Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[Desp]

I note a few are referring to the wording in the statement, asking if we are or aren't debt free.

What the statement said is correct, we have no external debt.  As the majority shareholder, The 'Well Society makes a number of 'loans' throughout the season to the football club, however there is no expectation over it and there will never be a demand for it to be repaid. 

I'm sure someone with a bit more knowledge of the 'Well Society will correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the football club has ever given money back to the 'Well Society. 

In the books each year, we'll have a bit of 'debt' listed but in reality it will never need to be paid back. 

As @Swello says, the training ground will be the first big thing we invest in (and if Turnbull goes for even half of what was rumoured in May this coming summer, added to the Scott money, I think we'll see a start on things) before there's any chat of a new ground.  Fir Park is for sure coming to the end of its days, but it's still, for me, got at least another decade in it.  We will move, but there's no major rush.

Edited February 11, 2020 by Desp

[thisGRAEME]

24 minutes ago, Kyle said:

I'd say Motherwell are the example those who wish to go down the fan ownership route should follow. From the outside looking in, there's a real sense of 'this is our club', something that we have been sorely lacking. If Motherwell win a cup - say they win the Scottish cup this year - there's no way they wont capatlise on it. I'm sure the messaging would be constant, inclusive and probably result in a big upturn in season ticket sales. We effectively shut down for 6 weeks after our cup win and then the chairman refused to sign any new players, after we'd released 4 or 5. If it wasn't for a decent result in Europe against Luzern the good feeling would've been gone before a league ball was kicked the following season. We got a few hundred extra season tickets I think but that's returned (possibly even lowered) from the pre cup win numbers now.

Hibs are a good example of this as well, tbh. The 'Persevered' stuff they did was absolutely brilliant, and a good example of how to capitalise on such a colossal event. 

Long and the short of it is, as far as I understand; it can't be done overnight. You need to keep doing the right thing for a long time. I think back to the Well society vote on what we do about Rangers during their 'unpleasantness' and at the time, I wondered if we'd gone to the fans to avoid actually being responsible for anything, but the flip side is, doing anything else would have been a real sliding doors moment early on in fan ownership, IMO.

Burrows deserves a huge amount of credit for the consistency in communication and message, the development of a 'plan' and making sure that everybody knows it. Easy to say this when times are good and have been on the whole recently, but things are good because of said plan, so credit where it's due. We're consistently in the press, we're consistently talking about how good we are, we're consistently highlighting that we're part of the community, we've got a dialogue between our young team and the club.

It all adds up, it takes time, it takes consistency and it takes patience.

[RandomGuy.]

57 minutes ago, Kyle said:

If bad times are not finishing below 8th place over a decade, then bring on more bad times.

How much of that is down to the managers we've had?

I wouldnt say "hire increasingly good managers" is a great "model" tbh...

[Kyle]

11 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

How much of that is down to the managers we've had?

I wouldnt say "hire increasingly good managers" is a great "model" tbh...

No but that's part of running a club too. I don't think it's a fluke that we lost our previous 3 managers to English Championship clubs, only for us to hire the best of the lot thereafter. It's one thing I'd trust our board to do above most others in the country.

21 minutes ago, thisGRAEME said:

Hibs are a good example of this as well, tbh. The 'Persevered' stuff they did was absolutely brilliant, and a good example of how to capitalise on such a colossal event. 

Long and the short of it is, as far as I understand; it can't be done overnight. You need to keep doing the right thing for a long time. I think back to the Well society vote on what we do about Rangers during their 'unpleasantness' and at the time, I wondered if we'd gone to the fans to avoid actually being responsible for anything, but the flip side is, doing anything else would have been a real sliding doors moment early on in fan ownership, IMO.

Burrows deserves a huge amount of credit for the consistency in communication and message, the development of a 'plan' and making sure that everybody knows it. Easy to say this when times are good and have been on the whole recently, but things are good because of said plan, so credit where it's due. We're consistently in the press, we're consistently talking about how good we are, we're consistently highlighting that we're part of the community, we've got a dialogue between our young team and the club.

It all adds up, it takes time, it takes consistency and it takes patience.

Completely agree. I remember there was a few of us questioning the silence after the cup win but was met with 'the people at the club will be tired after the push to sell cup final tickets'. That wasn't the official justification but that was the impression given out by our lack of activity one the cup was won the parade the next day was done. 

I feel sorry for Gary Henderson who's remit includes our social media, comms, the commentary on Saints tv, the interviewing for Saints, the marketing, some sales and he also keeps the website updated. I think there's a few volunteers who helps him with some social media stuff, but that's a huge amount of work to ask of a man. I'd imagine that's split between several members of staff at Motherwell (certainly Grant Russell and Laura Brannan are visible on social media as having two totally separate roles that would be encompassed in Gary's role).

Another thing, I saw this tweet the other day and just laughed.

 

 If you tried to run a 'Brand Personality Strategy Document' by those running our club you'd be laughed out of the room. Roddy Grant 'doesnae dae emails' or he certainly didn't a couple of years ago.

Edited February 11, 2020 by Kyle

[thisGRAEME]

35 minutes ago, Kyle said:

Completely agree. I remember there was a few of us questioning the silence after the cup win but was met with 'the people at the club will be tired after the push to sell cup final tickets'. That wasn't the official justification but that was the impression given out by our lack of activity one the cup was won the parade the next day was done. 

I feel sorry for Gary Henderson who's remit includes our social media, comms, the commentary on Saints tv, the interviewing for Saints, the marketing, some sales and he also keeps the website updated. I think there's a few volunteers who helps him with some social media stuff, but that's a huge amount of work to ask of a man. I'd imagine that's split between several members of staff at Motherwell (certainly Grant Russell and Laura Brannan are visible on social media as having two totally separate roles that would be encompassed in Gary's role).

Absolutely, and it isn't meant to be a criticism of St. Johnstone particularly and certainly not of Gary, I'm not entirely sure when he sleeps tbqhwy with the number of roles he seems to fill at the club, but more of a general idea of what kind of a 'culture' or however you want to look it, that a club wants to have. There will always be things that you can do straight off the bat that improve stuff, which is true of any job anywhere, really, but the longer term stuff has to be a much bigger and more concerted effort from all. Engaging with fans is a hard and challenging thing to do and broadly, you'll probably take more short term hassle for it, but the longer terms goal has to be what you're looking at.

The stuff about giving up 3 stands to Celtic is a good example, in that I understand why St. Johnstone have done it as more money into the club is undeniably a good thing, but it feels a difficult thing to come back from, when it bucks the trend of the rest of the league. It feels very short term.

[jock_the_squak]

19 hours ago, YassinMoutaouakil said:

Lovely weather in North Lanarkshire by the looks of things.

As always

[capt_oats]

It's worth giving this Scottish FA Marketing podcast with Burrows another bump as he covers a ton of the stuff @Kyle is talking about in the posts above (yes, including the Brand Personality Strategy Document): https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/25-inside-motherwell-fc-with-chief-executive-alan-burrows/id1411592525?i=1000464117512

Even Kyle's point about St Johnstone and the cup win - in the two seasons since our cup finals we've apparently grown our home attendances and have seen a record number of season ticket sales both this season and last - that's after seasons where we've finished 7th and 8th respectively.

Again as @thisGRAEME says it's not a criticism of any specific club but it feels like what Motherwell have managed to get right with Burrows heading things up is a concept of culture and identity and - probably the hardest part - an effective way of delivering that. The key thing I suppose is knowing your audience and delivering the right message.

It's a strategy thing that needs to come from board-room level down but needs buy in from everyone.

Also, on the broader picture The Longer Listen he did with @AndyRoss covered the ideas trying to 'future proof' the club: 

 

Edited February 11, 2020 by capt_oats

[YassinMoutaouakil]

Do we not have enough threads with St Johnstone fans ffs

[RostokMcSpoons]

As I'm South of the border - and therefore almost entirely an armchair fan catching my 'Well fix via  radio and tv - I feel a healthy amount of credit has to go to the Motherwell Bois.
They're generating plenty of atmosphere where otherwise the lowish attendances could have left many matches an uninspiring watch.

The fact that the management have embraced them as a key ingredient of the match day experience is a credit to both. 

[Al B]

1 hour ago, RostokMcSpoons said:

As I'm South of the border - and therefore almost entirely an armchair fan catching my 'Well fix via  radio and tv - I feel a healthy amount of credit has to go to the Motherwell Bois.
They're generating plenty of atmosphere where otherwise the lowish attendances could have left many matches an uninspiring watch.

The fact that the management have embraced them as a key ingredient of the match day experience is a credit to both. 

I'd agree with this over the last near-10 years, but even I'm feeling they are currently at a pivot point. Not sure if they are perhaps experiencing their first generational shift, but I can't help but think they are heading towards letting all the good stuff be overtaken by the negative. I think there has to be a re-focus from within, coming from those within the group who have influence, to keep them on the fun positive side.

[capt_oats]

Robinson talking about the need to invest in the training ground/academy/infrastructure in is pre-match interview earlier.

 

[The_Craig]

While the Robinson shout works, any chance it's Ross Wallace?

There's Ross Wallace confirmed signing with the Midden.

[RandomGuy.]

Tony Watt turned down Aberdeen to sign for you, FWIW.

[YassinMoutaouakil]

2 hours ago, RandomGuy. said:

Tony Watt turned down Aberdeen to sign for you, FWIW.

Naturally.

[Valentino Bolognese]

2 hours ago, RandomGuy. said:

Tony Watt turned down Aberdeen to sign for you, FWIW.

I'm sure he'll get round to them sooner or later. 

[santheman]

2 hours ago, RandomGuy. said:

Tony Watt turned down Aberdeen to sign for you, FWIW.

Probably didn’t fancy spending half his life hurtling up and down the A9 on a team bus

[Phillips455]

Well, according to a certain news paper that I will not post here, it appears that James Scott has suffered a freak accident in training and is now out for the rest of the season.

It's also on the bbc gossip page for thursday if you want to check.

[Gallus Numpty]

4 minutes ago, Phillips455 said:

Well, according to a certain news paper that I will not post here, it appears that James Scott has suffered a freak accident in training and is now out for the rest of the season.

It's also on the bbc gossip page for thursday if you want to check.

Yep, this was also reported locally yesterday: https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/hull-city-injuries-herbie-kane-3837501

Tough luck for the boy. On the other hand, could've happened here and we'd have still been without him for the rest of the season, but £1m worse off. Swings and roundabouts...

Edited February 13, 2020 by Gallus Numpty

[thisGRAEME]

No, you're laughing at Jake Hastie turning out in the tunnocks caramel wafer challenge cup.

[welldaft]

Celtic and Rangers have done us a turn however dirty that makes me feel just typing it. 
Probably could do with Killie v Hibs being a draw at FT. 
Of course none of this actually matters unless we start scoring goals and get back to winning ways. We have gone off the boil at the same time Livi, Hibs and Killie have come good. We still have a small gap and now a game in hand but we need to kick on now or it won’t be long before the battle for 3rd / 4th becomes the battle for 5th and 6th..