Okay here goes an essay...
As this progresses I find the society even more amateur and backpeddling from its failure. If the Well Society wasn't a failure this discussion wouldn't even be happening. The society are a group who have done very little in my view in recent years until the prospect of some external involvement knocking them off their perch. Saturday's Well Society day didn't convince me otherwise. The additional attention and focus they received on Saturday was considerably greater than our average match day sponsor (so I hope they stumped up an additional payment to the club for advertising, like we would ask of any sponsor). It can't be attractive to any investor I have to say when the organs of the club were promoting the alternative to investment throughout the day.
I was at Fir Park for the first time in a couple of years due to working abroad with a group of mates who support other provincial clubs and discussed all the politics of this probably in more depth than the match. When you are away for a while and come back it shows how we are falling behind the pack very quickly in terms of our facilities, budget and resilience. Before anyone gives us the "well rollercoaster" or "punching above out weight" lecture, let's look at three other clubs similar in size to us.
Dunfermline - relegated and not come back.
Falkirk - just spent 8 years in league 1, lucky to still be on the go until their recent turn in fortunes - with the help of a blend of external investment and fan support
Dundee United - the yo-yo club of the decade.
If Motherwell were in the situation of any of these clubs we would struggle to maintain ourselves without a shadow of doubt. All three of these clubs have different models and I accept that. But our budget and working capital differs to these three clubs as a result of top division TV money and away ticket revenue only. Our overall home ticket and commercial income is likey on a par. The additional investment is necessary or we will join that club, or likely be in even more of a right rope year on year financially than these guys as no fall guy would be there to cover the losses.
The Club needs to build a pathway towardsa substantial modernisation of our facilities and corporate operations. Our main training facilities are rented, our players are bussed between two sits for their training and we have a stadium which is in dire need of replacement once sentiments are put aside. We are simply no longer attractive to companies for corporate days or hospitality as we have such dated infrastructure. Once we have modernised infrastructure the club can start to widen its income and stability.
The external investment at Dundee is being laughed at but I think long term as their project takes shape they will be the ones laughing. Unlike Aberdeen's new stadiums which have been proposed about 40 times, this genuinely seems to be making traction. We need to watch this as a "what could be" rather than looking at what is going wrong/has gone wrong elsewhere.