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AGM was online last night. It took me a bit to login so not sure what I missed at the start but basically all the board, secretary, (accountants possibly) and Graham Alexander were all present. As ever an informative hour or so the contents of which I'll try to sum up. The main thing as ever was finance. Several questions were submitted by shareholders beforehand and Jim McMahon lead straight into it and referred back to it several times. Key things were that the the current situation is currently manageable in the medium term. There is an insurance claim in and the club have applied to take advantage of the Government's 20 year interest free loan of up to £1.6m (they reckoned 11 of the 12 clubs had) so with these things to be confirmed, they couldn't be certain of how things would look this time next year, but are sure that as long as we aren't relegated and even without fans in the ground there would be cash in the bank come the end of next season regardless. The question of the robustness of the club should the worst happen and we are relegated was discussed and whilst nobody wants this they clearly have to plan for such eventualities and the phrase used was the club would "get through it". The view is the club is in a significantly stronger position to deal with it now than it would have been 5 or 6 years ago. The club haven't taken/accepted any monies from the Well Society this year or last in an effort to allow the WS to build up towards the previously stated £1.5m fund that would play a significant part in helping the club through any traumatic event such as relegation. In addition contracts are structured in such a fashion that costs can be taken of the business quickly. No regrets from the board about the Season Ticket offer of committing to the 19 games as it was the correct thing to do. They envisage more details about what will happen next season in around a month to six weeks. Staying at Fir Park is not off the table. Happy they have been able to undertake some significant modernisation and upgrading of parts of Fir Park e.g. replacement of Hunter stand seats, paintwork. Will work on contactless entry and perhaps in time and re-design of the entry points to the Hunter stand. Some brief chat about contracts stemming from a question on Declan Gallagher. View from one board member was that in general terms specifics of contracts that appear in the media should largely be taken with a pinch of salt. They did however say they have made offers to Declan but he is currently keeping his options open. On a wider point they acknowledged that it is difficult to tie down players to extended contracts with agents advising players to let them run down to consider options. The flip side to this is that get it wrong and you may find players locked into deals that are unsuitable for both (e.g. Casper Sloth). On training facilities there appears a change in thinking in that seeking to enhance what they have at Dalziel Park is likely to be more cost effective and beneficial than a new development. Plans are ongoing with a sub-group of board members and reps from Dalziel to achieve this aim at some point in the future. Could potentially see the club be an anchor tenant and based there day to day but there is an acknowledgement that what is there at Dalziel is the envy of others already and would benefit all if that could be built upon. Graham Alexander "took the floor" once the board had answered the submitted questions and spoke well, and at some length, about him taking the job, his first weeks in charge and his hopes for the future. He spoke of his and his families excitement to re-locating Scotland to be fully committed to the job. He had a gut feeling when applying for the job and when talking to the board that this was a challenge he wanted to take on. He spoke of the warm welcome given to him by all within the club and the good people he had found. He mentioned his disappointment as not having been able to interact with fans but expressed gratitude for the welcome from supporters who had sent warm wishes, letters etc. He is keen to meet fans when the time comes. He said he found a squad of players naturally somewhat dejected on the back of previous results and offered credit to all players and staff for a great attitude and how they have turned that around. A lot of work has been done but still much work to do and nobody can relax. He complemented many behind the scenes for the support in helping him implement changes and made the observation that small improvements that on their own might not seem much combined had helped things improve. He stated he had a positive outlook and preferred to focus on the positives of what he had in a team rather than concentrate on the negatives. He feels he has a way of working that brings clarity to the players about the plan they have to follow, based on his experiences as a player. The initial aim is obviously to keep the club in the division then look to add quality to the squad. He envisages working with a smaller squad than that currently. He has aspirations to see us take on and compete with bigger clubs in the division, for his team to have the drive and ambition to compete consistently. He is learning of the challenges that face a club like Motherwell but wants to see us change historical patterns and not to take a step back against anyone (the inference being the two recent Old Firm games). He wants to change the mentally of how we approach such games and create an environment where players all buy into that mindset.

Jim Goodwin wants players who dive to win penalties to be named and shamed: - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/56046465 I'll start off then Jim, Lee Erwin. Funnily enough on that occasion you 'heard' him being fouled.

Really tempting fate posting this a couple of days before a derby. Bets on one of the two having a stinker tomorrow..? More seriously though, think it's probably a couple of factors. Maybe new coaching, a different voice can make a difference. Suspect the return of Carroll has been huge as well. He's no Roberto Carlos (or even Rab McKinnon) but he's a lett back as opposed to a player that 'can play there'. Balance of the defence is far better... I do feel it's worth pointing out though that for all the stick our defenders have been getting all season, there were periods where we weren't conceding huge numbers of goals. Losing 1 goal to Ross County, Dundee United and Hamilton should not have resulted in zero points from those games at the start of the season. If you can't score 1 goal against Accies at home or Ross County away, that's not the fault of your defence...

Alexander moving up here full time is a very positive development. McGhee was managing the club from Brighton which was eventually a disaster in both spells and I think being based away from their families probably played it's part in the decline of Robinson and McCall.

Well everyone really, but I think Rice will have identified Tony as our main threat so will single him out for some "extra special" attention but as GA says play our own game and let the opposition worry about us. Accies supporting mate reckons they're not too hot at high balls into the penalty area.

Who sent him a snood was the question I was left with after his bit!

If we got the plot nearest Dalziell Works, next to the new College, Im sure there is planning or was talk about building a train station on the line there to service the College and Ravenscraig area. So you could have a train station on the stadium doorstep, lots of on site parking and if there was a station there, also a shortcut over the train line meaning it would only be an extra 5 min or so walk from Fir Park

I think Carroll and Kelly have probably had a bigger influence in the overall improvement across the back. Good players improve those around them.

Bit harsh , Lamie is now only a Scotland cap beside Andrew Considine away from a glittering career that rivals Declan Gallagher's and hes a Galactico on here.

2025....ish https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/regeneration-and-investment/glasgow-city-region-city-deal/pan-lanarkshire-orbital-transport/improving-access-through-ravenscraig

What's that? Another win for the worst team Motherwell have put on a field in the last 50years...

A win puts us 11 points ahead of them, albeit they've got a game in hand. Be a huge step towards removing the possibility of automatic relegation, slight as that looks right now.

Considering the present board have successfully negotiated us out of probably the 2nd worse financial position in the clubs history I've got enough confidence in them that they know what they're doing.

I, like many I'm sure, am fully prepared to buy my season ticket again despite the offer of free games next season. I know it won't be possible for all and there are tough times ahead but I'm happy with what I got out of it this season under the circumstances.