Jump to content

Worrying Times


ONeils40yarder
 Share

Recommended Posts

The thought that someone may be waiting in the wings to invest in or buy the club is more comforting than the Well Society is.

 

even as a member of the Society i would prefer someone to come in and take over the club.

 

The terms of the letter makes you question why they kept the budget at the same level as last year when they made a lost (probably)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Boyle has transfered his shares to a trust which the current directors control. Boyle has no say over what happens to his shares or any say over the running of the club.

 

As I understand it the 60% share holding in the trust has to be sold for minimum £1.5m because his accountants have used the loss he suffered giving up the shares as a tax write off.

 

Unless you are a lawyer and have read every detail of the Trust's documentation, none of us can say exactly what Boyle can and cannot do with his shares. It's never that simple (as anyone down Ibrox way will testify).

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can only add to my earlier post on this thread an echo what others are saying.

 

 

We have consistently finished second/ third over the previous couple of seasons and had one run to the Scottish Cup final yet time after time we post losses - is there no-one at the club able to do simple arithmetic?

 

Surely we have the ability to project gate receipts over a season, calculate league revenue on the lowest possible finish which will see us stay in the SPL, a progression in each cup to the quarter finals and project revenue for other things such as hospitality, club shop takings and sponsorship over the course of 1 or 2 years?

 

You take this big Number, boys and girls of Motherwell Football Club and take away your total playing salaries (based on your minimum requirement league finish) and running costs and do you know what....? If it comes out with a big negative sign, you go back and re-evaluate where to increase revenue or decrease cost, until you get a positive number...

If you manage to sell a player, finish higher in the league or go further in the cups, great.... more pocket money.

 

Honestly, this is Standard Grade business and arithmetic which we seem absolutely unable to work out???!

 

Someone really needs to be shown the door...

Brutal

 

 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

One thing I've found incredibly frustrating is that the club only ever go public with the negatives.

 

2 years ago they were talking about the lack of cup runs, but failed to mention that we had a live TV game at ibrox with a crowd pushing 40,000, which from a financial point of view was surely better, or as good as getting to the semis without playing either of the old firm?

In the Scottish cup we played Aberdeen, away and at home, again on TV (can't mind if the replay was on tv?) with a total crowd over 20,000 for the 2 games, again, how many times would we need to play Stirling Albion, Morton or Inverness to generate the same income?

 

I can understand the negatives around the trips to Krasnodar, maybe even Athens? But surely we broke even with the income they generated, the payment from UEFA are 6 figure sums, we also got a solidarity payment for Celtic reaching the last 16 I believe...

 

With all these things being either unexpected positives or neutral, where are we making the losses?

 

What are we budgeting for? Champions league group stage, and beating both halfs of the old firm away from home on the way to the cup final?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The thought that someone may be waiting in the wings to invest in or buy the club is more comforting than the Well Society is.

 

Why can't both things happen?? Society buy a certain percentage of Boyle's shares and this other party takes ownership and control, but still with a Well Society presence?

 

Just an idea...and on the premise this other party is a good guy!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Unless you are a lawyer and have read every detail of the Trust's documentation, none of us can say exactly what Boyle can and cannot do with his shares. It's never that simple (as anyone down Ibrox way will testify).

 

I'm just going by what has been said at the meetings. I might be wrong but I thought they were quite clear in saying that Boyle doesn't have any shareholding now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It seems that the club are holding out for fan ownership come what may. Its obvious that the trust isn't sustainable and cant be relied upon to provide the financial stability we need. That is the basic difference between us the the clubs of similar size around us. They have financial backing whether from one of more sources.

 

I don't have an issue with the trust being used to back up another source of financial support. I do have a problem with it being used as an alternative .

 

We need to be welcoming any offer of financial backing (as long as the club survives), not desperately searching for fans to bail us out to the tune of £10k each minimum. I don't know many who will be able to do so and certainly not on an ongoing basis.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm just going by what has been said at the meetings. I might be wrong but I thought they were quite clear in saying that Boyle doesn't have any shareholding now.

 

 

The level of conjecture on this thread is worrying - especially when people then interpret this as fact.

 

I spend more money at Asda per year than I do at Fir Park - this doesn't give me the right to know every detail of what goes on behind the scenes at Asda Group Ltd so why should we have the right to know every detail of what goes on in the boardroom at The Motherwell Football and Athletic Club Ltd.

 

Facts are available if you look for them. For example if you look at Duedil.com or Company Check you'll see that John Boyle has approx 70% of the shares in the club.

 

The rights of this shareholding can be legally transferred to another person or persons and I suppose that this is what John Boyle has done - this can be revoked at any time though.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

(29 October 2014 - 10:34 PM) "there was a real danger of the ownership of the club being lost to the local community for the first time." ........I don't think i care about that so much as I do about the club staying in existance and being financially stable.

Does this mean we have a potential buyer but the directors all want to continue to run MFC and so need a helpiung hand to ward off the buyer? I am reading it as the buyer would be buying a football club and not buying us to flatten the place and put up a housing development or something.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

(29 October 2014 - 10:34 PM) "there was a real danger of the ownership of the club being lost to the local community for the first time." ........I don't think i care about that so much as I do about the club staying in existance and being financially stable.

Does this mean we have a potential buyer but the directors all want to continue to run MFC and so need a helpiung hand to ward off the buyer? I am reading it as the buyer would be buying a football club and not buying us to flatten the place and put up a housing development or something.

 

I wonder what it means by "lost to the community for the first time". We've never been community owned. Or does it mean that it'll be lost to someone outside the Motherwell FC family?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am a member of the Well Society and I like the idea of the fund that allows the club to dip In to and then repay. I am not sure that the idea of some of us fans running things from the boardroom is a good idea tho.

 

Absolutely spot on . In the end fans could never run a club in this country need full time 'professionals'

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Basically the Well Society is a waste of time and hasn't raised the money it needs, hence the begging letter. Poor decisions behind the scenes have left us with the utter disaster.

 

So think for 1 minute about this....

 

Well Society gets the shares and then what? Rule by committee and start asking the fans to stump up more money each month/year??? This is Motherwell and last time I looks it wasn't the most affluent fan base.

 

Time we stopped pissing about, got some proper EXPERIENCED business minded people in with commercial acumen to sort this mess out, a decent commercial manager and chief exec type.

 

TBH, administration cannot be far away, either this season or next.

 

Change is a coming...

 

Agree with this the WS was a waste of time from the start it was never going to get anywhere near the targets they set.

we need to get people in who can run a business properly, seek out investments, maximise revenue streams and get us living within our means. In short the club needs a leader with business experience at the helm, not a promoted media manager, who i have no doubt is doing his best, but i think the job may be too much for him

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Really are worrying times, but the club is facing stark reality. No matter how well they have played in recent years the crowds have gone down, and now the team is struggling, so chances are that attendance will go down even more. Not having Rangers, Hearts, and Hibs is part of that, and I can't see us staying up if we have to play off against any of them, so next season could be even harsher.

 

It's funny how just about every other team has strengthened from last year and we haven't, so is it any wonder we are where we are. Fact is we have been punching above our weight for a couple of seasons, and now we have been found out. We just don't have the depth. When Accies and ICT are top of the league at this stage and we are 2nd bottom, the chickens have come home to roost. The club is being badly mismanaged at all levels at the moment and I don't see that changing any time soon.

 

Who in their right mind would want to buy the team? If the "supporters" don't show up when the team is doing well surely an investor would question what it would take to change that. The SPFL will be about Celtic, Rangers, Aberdeen, Hearts, and perhaps Hibs in two or three years, and then perhaps the revenues will increase somewhat, but if we are not in that league the game will be over. If you can get to a game in Glasgow or Edinburgh that has some atmosphere, why would new supporters come to Fir Park.

 

My earliest memory of Motherwell is the cup in the early 50s, but those days are long gone, and the future is at best bleak. Unless some person is out there with no money concerns I'm afraid we really are in worrying times.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Agree with this the WS was a waste of time from the start it was never going to get anywhere near the targets they set.

we need to get people in who can run a business properly, seek out investments, maximise revenue streams and get us living within our means. In short the club needs a leader with business experience at the helm, not a promoted media manager, who i have no doubt is doing his best, but i think the job may be too much for him

 

To be fair, there are savvy business minds at the club such as Derek Weir.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...