steelboy

Over the 7 years of fan ownership we have an overall profit of £2 million. Compared to most other clubs we are doing extremely well. I'm not going to check but we won't be far off breaking even over the past 20 years since we came out of administration.

No the Society members have to vote in favour but that's obviously part of their plan. If the members say no it's dead.

I explained that the deal looks like it is to get majority control essentially for free. It's the equivalent of buying a £20 quid note for a fiver. That's why us.

The most recent club accounts list our assets at £8 million so that's the minimum but it's obviously more than that due to our status as a top flight club and potential for player sales. It's worth remembering that the Americans don't actually intend to buy any shares. The proposal seems to be that the club will issue new shares that are given to the Americans in return for working capital (which they can later withdraw at will).

It's worth noting that the club accounts say the club is financially stable and there is no mention of any requirement for outside investment. Weir and McMahon brought up the need for 'transformational' investment but at no time actually described what they wanted us to transform into. They then shut up about 'auditors' pretty quickly when supporters started to ask about the clubs spending commitments and budgets. It's all been bullshit dreamed up by a PR firm designed to trick the Well Society members into handing the club over for a bag of magic beans.

There have already been 45 or so UK clubs bought by Americans. There aren't many left to buy and we attractive because (1) we run at a profit (2) have no debt other than to the Well Society who will never call it in (3) McMahon has obviously told them that the Well Society members are stupid enough to effectively hand the club for free. From what I have heard they intend to make a documentary series as part of an expansion of their Hollywood business.

The finances are fine. We have made a good profit during a difficult period. To me it looks like the clique that have run the club in various guises for 20 years don't like the fact that the majority of the Well Society board are now supporters from the East Stand and decided they would rather privatise than see working class fans have a real say in how the club is run.

@dennyc St Johnstone have already been sold in what looks to be a deal to carve up their valuable land between an American and the Browns. Ross County are a village team and are only financially viable because they are a subsidiary of MacGregor's larger business.

Goss, Cornelius, Furlong and Butcher before he got injured.

It was only 12 months ago that we had a team performing consistently with 9/10 outfield players at a good level plus a donkey target man. If you look at the team on Saturday you could generously say 5 reach that standard. Maintaining the standards that we have set recently isn't an impossible task. I understand why the club want to decieve the fans about how much money they spend and why Kettlewell lies and says making top 6 is punching well above our weight but I don't understand at all why supporters want to lower the bar so much.

I don't think the budget is the problem. This season we had Lamie, McGinley, Maguire, Tierney, Butcher, Obika, Wilkinson, Shaw, Elliot, Souare, Mahon and Halliday contributing basically nothing. Our top earning players like Kelly, O'Donnell and McGinn kept two clean sheets all season. Slattery is another top earner who contributed nothing after the first international break. Nicholson is unfit and other than a flurry against Livi away added nothing. Spittal will be away and it looks like Mugabi as well. Tierney is the only one of those players under contract for next season. We probably have the biggest scope for a squad overhaul we've ever had this summer. If as rumoured we are going to sign Halliday despite the overwhelming evidence that his legs are gone then it's a bad omen that Kettlewell hasn't learned his lesson from Obika. The budget available isn't in question for next season but we need the manager to prove he can bring in permanent signings who can play 30-40 games at a consistent level. Bair and Davor are the only two proper signings he's made who have had a positive impact and even then they are nowhere near consistent as well being technically limited.

I don't think it is fine. McMahon is financing and producing videos promoting giving up fan ownership but is somehow still allowed to lead negotiations on behalf of the shareholders. It's a clear conflict of interest.

What are the other clubs spending compared to us? Last week you posted on the thread that our wage budget was £1.5m a year which is miles out. If you don't know what the Motherwell budget is how do you know what the other clubs are spending?

Even McGinn knows the team are dog shit. I think they are the worst bunch of players we have had in a long time but there's still zero chance they are getting relegated now.

There was a midweek Old Firm when Lennon and McCoist squared up and they had a debate about it in Holyrood. That doesn't happen in normal Parliaments. Politicians here will take any chance to scapegoat football to deflect from how fucked the country is.