WellSoc

Money comes from John Walker's donation, which he made to club and Community Trust after getting in touch with the Well Society to put something back into the Motherwell community. John works in education sector and wanted his gift to be education-based. original story is here http://www.thewellsociety.co.uk/2015/06/26/major-cash-pledge-made/

There's some general details here on new structure with further links to a Q&A and list of benefits that are unlocked at several milestones including the original steel, claret, amber levels http://www.thewellsociety.co.uk/2015/05/21/new-membership-structure-launched/

On the subject of the Well Society email, Gavin Maclure is the part-time admin person for the Well Society and he needs to email anyone who signs up via direct debit to get their details. The online payment is a deliberately quick and simple process via GoCardless, who provide the Well Society with the email address of anyone who sets up a one-off payment or direct debit, but no other details are taken online. So if someone sets up a direct debit, then they should get an email from Gavin asking for some details, otherwise we might not know who you are. And if existing members sign up for a direct debit or one-off payment, then that needs to be added to their account rather than setting up a new membership, hence the reason you'd be asked for your membership number. I've never seen the email so can't confirm 100% but it seems genuine given the background. But Gavin is usually in on Tuesdays and Thursdays so it's best to phone tomorrow to check. Can understand why the club tweeted otherwise given the question put to them on Twitter, and given the situation with Rangers fans this week, but that's because you can't fit the full story in a tweet. So I would imagine superward will not need to do a Paddy Ashdown. The wording of the email would have been devised by Gavin this week and clearly needs to be corrected/improved. To be fair to him, he has a lot of work to get through in the space of two days and mistakes can happen when you're in a rush. Interviews were held last week for a full-time member of staff - which will be partly funded by Les Hutchison - to work on improving the service.

For the benefit of Ianc - here's a link to join by direct debit online, only works from UK-based bank accounts but only takes a minute http://www.thewellsociety.co.uk/join-the-society/

I will see if someone is available to film it. I'm not sure it will be possible to show it live as the MFC media guys will not be working and not sure there is a strong enough internet connection in the centenary. our admin guy is looking in to paypal as a means to allow overseas members to pay online as Andy suggested. on the subject of targets, basically 2,000 adult members is our goal, while trying to persuade everyone to keep contributing feel like a broken record because thought it would be done by now but the new simplified membership structure is still being finalised - it's proving quite tricky given the need to recognise everyone's previous contributions. but we're basically trying to incentivise people to upgrade and make the whole experience of being a well society member more attractive and engaging. hopefully sorted very soon here is the latest email to members from Friday in case anyone on here missed it. The Well Society Dear Well Society member, We are appealing to all Well Society members to go out and recruit an additional member. Together we can achieve our goals if we use our strength in numbers. If every member persuades one person to join, then we are well on the road to success. We need everyone helping the cause - the Well Society is a far stronger organisation if everyone combines to help. Please persuade a friend or member of your family, share this email with someone, highlight the Well Society's aims any way you can. Please read the link for why this help is so important. A fans' focus group is being formed so Well Society members can help influence decision-making on fans' experiences at the club. Click on the link below to discover how to get involved. A question-and-answer session is to be held at Fir Park on Sunday, March 29 featuring Motherwell and Well Society chairman Brian McCafferty and Motherwell general manager Alan Burrows, among others. The event will kick off at 3.30pm in the Centenary Suite and is open to all Motherwell supporters. Fans can watch the Scotland v Gibraltar match in the bar afterwards. There is also an event in the Centenary from 12.30pm where fans can view the Tunnel Tiles and opt to have their message inscribed in the tunnel. A number of events are being put on for children including a FIFA tournament and free soft drinks for kids. More details coming very shortly. If you missed it earlier in the week, please listen to the BytheMin Motherwell FC podcast as Les Hutchison talks to three Well fans, Andy, Jay and Busta, about plans for the club. Please consider upgrading your Well Society membership - you can do so from £10 a month by clicking on the below link. Huge thanks for your ongoing support.

Problem is you need to pay renewal fee to qualify for benefits. So if you instantly got your claret benefits when going from £300 steel membership via £10 monthly contributions then you could end up getting benefits that someone who has put in more than £1,000 is not getting because they haven't renewed. which isn't fair. it's not quite the same as buying a car in advance - it's more like a gym membership and you need to pay that over the course of a year because you get all the benefits within that year. but some Well Society upgrades take longer than a year, hence the difficulty with the current model We are working on making it much simpler and also fair, and also to work within the original structure. hopefully we can announce it soon but it's been a difficult process because the original model didn't factor in gradual upgrades. There needs to be more milestones than 300, 1k, 5k, 25k, and some (free to deliver but valuable) benefits for those who are starting from scratch. hopefully have it in place soon

I'm afraid the GoCardless online system still doesn't accept money from overseas bank accounts. Gavin Maclure, who is the Well Society admin worker, can set up direct debit payments over the phone from the Fir Park office. He is usually in on Tuesdays and Thursdays. You can also contact him with your phone number and a suggested time, on wellsociety@motherwellfc.co.uk or gavin.maclure@motherwellfc.co.uk, to arrange for him to phone you. It's obviously not ideal. GoCardless say they will soon be able to accept payments from EU and then further afield, but not sure how long "soon" is.

You can pay annual fee at any stage - can do it online in the space of a minute by clicking on the below link renewal payment link There was an administrative void for a few months amid the uncertainty over club ownership, new admin worker has been trying to catch up with the backlog so not sure how close he is getting to be able to ask people to pay annual fee. Anyone who can do it off their own back or upgrade their membership is helping add to the funds and saving time too, so thank you. This was the new agreement that was ironed out with the club last summer. In short, members now have three choices: (1) Pay renewal fees and take as many benefits as you like – the club will receive money equal to the value of each benefit taken. (2) Pay renewal fees but don’t take any benefits – all the money will go into the Well Society’s coffers to help towards the goal of fan ownership. (3) Don’t pay any renewal fee and receive no benefits but continue to be a voting member of the Well Society.

To answer the questions - the initial loan was 650k but the final total has not been determined, clearly there are some variables in the coming few months. All WS payments to club will be in form of interest-free loans. If fans don't step up in enough numbers to back the WS then Les will ultimately have to sell the shares to recoup his full money and give the WS back what remains. Again there are plenty of factors that could affect the way things unfold, we are all just trying to focus on raising money and also helping the club raise money. The 6% shareholding is the Well Society's, it is totally separate from Les's shareholding. That cost the WS £150k. There was a £230k loan last year that was repaid by the club. Then loans totalling 190k were made from the Well Society to the club in the last few months. I will make sure any other news updates are communicated on here. The chairman's message part 4 was flagged up by Fir Park Corner, we flagged it up on the Well Society twitter and facebook accounts, and there was an email sent out to Well Society members on Feb 24, the day the message was published, if you didn't get it then best thing to do is check spam or email wellsociety@motherwellfc.co.uk to ensure you are on the mailing list. Here's the email below. from Feb 24: DearWell Society members, Here is a round-upof the latest news from the Well Society and Motherwell Football Club. Today we have published the fourth and final part of the chairman's message onthe recent change in club ownership and the deal we struck with Les Hutchison.There are details on the deal itself, the reasons for striking the deal andbenefits of the deal. It is also imperative to stress that Well Society membersand Motherwell fans in general need to engage with the project to ensure weachieve our long-term goal of building a self-sufficient, financially stableclub which helps drive the Lanarkshire community forward. Please click on the link below to read the full message. http://www.thewellsociety.co.uk/2015/02/24/chairmans-message-part-4/ Each Well Society member can do their bit by upgrading their membership - youcan do so from £10 a month by clicking on the below link. http://www.thewellsociety.co.uk/payments/upgrades/ A massive thanks is due to every member who responded to our below plea toboost the attendance for Saturday's game. We know that many people encouragedfriends and family to come along and the crowd was 800 higher than the previoushome game, and also higher than the previous home match against Dundee.Clearly, it was a hugely disappointing afternoon but if there was a positive totake, then it was the proof that we as fans can make a big difference togetherif we each play a small role. http://www.motherwellfc.co.uk/2015/02/20/society-sound-the-rallying-call/ We have appointed a new admin support worker on a part-time basis to fill avaccum caused by the departure of two club-employed staff last year. Gavin Maclurebegins his second stint working for the Well Society having played a key rolein setting up our direct debit payment system. For more information, clickbelow. http://www.thewellsociety.co.uk/2015/02/22/administrator-appointed/ You may have already read the below chairman's blog on recent changes andimprovements at Motherwell FC. Everyone is working hard to help the club moveforward on and off the park. The focus of the manager and players is obviouslyto retain our long-held top-flight status but behind the scenes we are makingimprovements that can help the team in the long term. http://www.motherwellfc.co.uk/2015/02/18/blog-update-from-the-chairman/ There will be further updates in the very near future. The club's AGM is beingheld on Thursday night, we are finalising plans for a modified membershipstructure, and we will announce a Q&A meeting for all Well Society memberssoon. Regular updates are also available through our social media accounts. Thank you for your ongoing support.

Re the questions about the deal and what happens in the event of failure, here's a link to an explanation on the Well Society website that you might have missed three weeks ago chairman's message part 4 The £1.5m target is no more - there is no specific target other than helping the club repay the loan as we go along conditions are the Well Society must meet any shortfall in loan repayments from the club - miss three consecutive payments and we lose the right to the shares. also that we get 2,000 members. And failure means the club is back in the position it was heading until Les came forward - it will need to be sold to whoever wants it. The only other option to Les Hutchison was the Argentinian consortium

reliably informed that you can get a replacement membership card - the card printing machine has just been fixed, its breakdown delayed membership packs being posted to recently-joined members, but all fixed now. if you want a replacement just email wellsociety@motherwellfc.co.uk with your details and explain what happened as regards whether you will need it for anything, I don't think so, all Well Society members will be on the club database, so if ever you are going to a meeting or using benefits then they will use that. But clearly it's useful for turning lights on so feel free to order another

Hi, fair point, there is actually a lengthy statement pretty much written about recent developments at the club, it should hopefully be out tomorrow. another will follow on the Well Society administration, and another to follow quickly on the deal with Les, that one is admittedly overdue, but all will be out this week there is a newly simplified membership structure set to be announced will also work on something that lists what members and other fans can do to help the WS and the club a meeting of members is also overdue, think the WS board are meeting next week so hopefully a date is set for that then and something can be held in the following few weeks as for expectations/targets, that is still to be finalised but again hopefully something concrete to communicate not long after next week's WS board meeting club AGM is also next week, will be communication about that too everything has been in a state of flux for a few weeks given the changes but ready to move forward with a bit more clarity now, hopefully statement tomorrow is a good start

yes, tomorrow, barring unforseen hitches

Plenty of movement, not long at all to go now.

The latest part of the chairman's message is now up on the Well Society website - sorry for the delay. Part 2 focuses on the background to the deal, which will hopefully give some more understanding of how and why we got to this point. Part 3 will focus more on internal issues with the Well Society and where we go from here. To answer some of the specific points raised above: The idea of raising a £1.5m reserve fund has been undermined by the recent financial losses of the club - which total close to £1m in three seasons 2011-14. The club also owes John Boyle about 350k from a loan that, I think, without having time to check, was given in 2009 when Setanta went bust. So everything that's been done recently is to help save the club from a seriously difficult financial situation while trying to keep ownership in the community given the interest from elsewhere. People are assuming Les's loan is £1m but all we have said is that the combined input of funds is more than £1m-plus. I can't give details away but what was said in the first part of Brian's message is that we need to raise about the same funds as we have already raised again (ie 500k-plus) in order to make sure that we would inherit the shares. But we obviously want to raise more. The reasons the loan is to the club is that it gives Les more security about getting it back, and the fact he would be taking control of the club would give him more ability to influence the financial affairs and help us put it on the road to financial sustainability. Also, it allows us to raise money for a contingency fund, which was the ethos of the original model. It also gives the Well Society and Motherwell fans in general time to prepare for the transition to a fan-owned club, how it would work and to convince people that it is the best (only?) way forward. But given Les is putting up a major sum of money as an interest-free loan that is giving us this chance, then we have made a commitment to helping the club pay him back if it cannot afford any particular repayment. We would have some time to raise money before this scenario unfolded. The goal of having a £1.5m reserve fund was based on the business model the club employed in recent years, it was said to be three years of the worst-case scenario losses. A new business plan is needed given the consistent recent losses and one that carries less risk, so we would not necessarily be needing a £1.5m reserve fund. The hope is that there is as big a reserve fund as possible though. Going forward any windfall such as a large transfer fee or cup final/win could potentially supplement the reserve fund. But that's getting a bit far ahead. Hopefully that addresses some of the points and i will check back again when I've more time. merry xmas to everyone too