santheman

They're actually pretty similar In July 2021, St Mirren completed their five-year journey to become a fan-owned club. The St Mirren Independent Supporters Association (SMiSA) bought out the remaining shareholding of chairman Gordon Scott to become majority (51%) owners of the Buddies.

Kibble own 27% of their shares.

St Mirren are doing well on the park not so well off it. Soft loans due to be repaid in the next 12 months and one of only 2 clubs who haven't yet made a single repayment on their covid loan.

Something I've always wanted to know but never really took the trouble to find out is how much flows into the WS coffers on a monthly basis from DDs. It would give us some idea of where we are and where we need to be.

I've posted over on P&B that I've never once been asked to increase my monthly contribution. Replies indicate that seems to have been a conscious decision by the WS not to keep going back to the same people with the begging bowl which is fair enough when it was a vehicle to raise funds for a rainy day. Things have changed now and there will have to be a concerted effort by everyone concerned to plug any funding gap if fan ownership is to have any kind of medium/long term success. I for one wouldn't take much persuading to increase my monthly contribution and take part in any fundraising schemes and I'm sure I wouldn't be alone.

One thing is for sure, if we want to continue with the fan owned model then we as fans had better be prepared to dig very deep into our pockets and put our money where our mouths are. I dont know what the monthly WS contributions amount to but if the deficit of circa 750k being talked about in a bad year is accurate then that's a lot of money to find especially if our cash reserves are diminished and we have no sellable assets. Even in a "good" year there's the possiblity that we still operate with a deficit especially if we want to improve our squad to avoid floundering about the arse end of the table.

I think I've read somewhere that the club can give that assurance to the SPL in October(maybe someone can correct me if I'm wrong)but beyond that who knows as there's too many variables at play. Will we have any sellable assets in the squad? Miller possibly. Again I read somewhere Nick Dawes said that like every other commodity securing players on a contract is going to cost more, so I'm assuming he means that a player you could get for £1000pw last summer then the same player would cost 12/13/1500 this summer and that trend will continue no doubt so our budgets could be even more stretched. Edit to add I should have said n my previous post that some fans are under the impression that we're in imminent danger of administration when we're clearly not.

Oh I would never expect them to divulge any confidential information or anything that could jeopardise any discussions. I just mean basic stuff like a brief update to tell fans why we need investment and that we're in no danger of going bust because there a lot of people out there who don't know the basics of the situation and don't have the information that Jay and Co have posted on here.

It'll cause a bit of discussion for a few days, some will go meh, some will lose their shit over it then everyone will forget about it and move on to the next "shambles"

Having looked through the various social media platforms it's a bit concerning at the lack of knowledge and understanding about what is actually going on is out there. On here and P&B the discussion is measured and informative, however elsewhere some of the things being banded about are absolutely wild and that is from some self confessed WS members. Someone was even suggesting that we are in danger of going into administration if we don't accept one of the offers. It's getting a little heated between fans so I think the quicker the WS get something out in the form of a factsheet or a QandA format the better to dispel some of the more outlandish stories being banded about.

Could the club do some kind of non voting share issue where you can buy as many shares as your budget allows. I seem to remember some lower league Spanish team did something similar a few years ago and it went worldwide and raised something like half a million euros. There must have been loads of collectors/football nerds who seemed to be quite happy to shell out 20 quid or so for the privilege of having a framed share certificate on the wall of their man cave. No idea if it would be feasible or break any SFA rules or am I just talking pish. I'd buy some.

Former Motherwell, Hibs and Arsenal forward Peter Marinello turns 74 today. Born in Edinburgh, he also played for Portsmouth, Canberra City, Fulham, Phoenix Inferno, Hearts and Partick Thistle. After joining Arsenal for a club record £100,000 from Hibs in January 1970, a club director said: "We've just signed the nearest thing football has to The Beatles."

You do know that EVERY loan deal normally has a recall option by the parent club?

My attitude is they're just another team in the same league as us. It doesnt bother me any more having a poor record against either of the OF than it does any other team. I really don't care how long it's been since we beat them, I only care about the next game.

Depends what we want as a club going forward. A nice wee community club that flirts with relegation every year until the inevitable happens but receives accolades from the media for all our outreach programmes. A rich businessman takes over invests in the infrastucure and playing squad to make us a solid year on year top six team. Ideally a combination of both.

I don't know about that. There is definitely something not right in their dressing room and that is translating onto the pitch and into their support. Up to us to take any advantage there is. Frustrate the hell out of them, get in their faces and make it a very physical game and you never know. Not saying we'll win but at least let them know they've been in a game.

Yep totally agree. The most annoying thing for me is when I watch match of the day on a Saturday night and see tackles/ pushes/ hand balls etc not given and players just told to get on with it when you know that similar things up here will always result in a penalty. Some of the bear hugs, both hands round necks and jersey pulls resemble cage fighting at times. Down to the fact that English refs allow more physical contact or are just better than ours? I'd bin it tomorrow.

The only way we'll find out is if he pitches him into the inferno. Might be brilliant might be shite but it would be nice to know one way or another.

Aye think he needs to be taken out of the firing line for a while, get back to basics and try to recover his confidence. The Ox might be ok but having only seen him play twice in 2 years I'm not even sure if he's any good. Kettlewell seems as if he's not convinced either.

Best post of the night.

I think we have got to accept the fact that without some form of inward investment our place in the pecking order is going to drop. Ourselves St Johnstone, Livingston abd St Mirren are all in the same boat having to try and compete against teams with more money than us either by way of larger supports or sugar daddies and that's something we're just going to have to accept. Some seasons we'll land lucky with a good managerial appointment and/or a squad that gels from the off and we punch above our weight, other seasons we will struggle along at the bottom end of the table or even get relegated. That's always been the Motherwell way and we just have to get on with the ups and downs.

Wonder what he would say if he knew that Imrie applied for the Motherwell job after Alexander left.🤔

Probably all former members of "The Choir" 😁

Maybe we should start a Grumpy Old Men's Club. Meet before home games in Club100 and reminisce about the good old days of the 60's and 70's.

Me too and its definitely an age thing. I went on Friday not expecting a lot and the team duly delivered. 5 years ago I would have been punching walls and been a nightmare to live with for a couple of days but now I just shrug my shoulders and try to motivate myself to go to the next game. I think its going to get worse with the likes of Dundee Killie et al getting inward investment so they will probably (although not necessarily) be able to afford better players which in theory will leave clubs like us scraping along the bottom of the table fighting relegation. Hopefully we get some investment, some new blood on the board and some kind of settled squad.