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Every Celtic player is better than our equivalent. To compete in the game we have to make up with that with sheer workrate - which we did. This however leaves you vulnerable in the latter stages of the game when stamina and mental fatigue become factors. That's what happened today, it's what's happened many times in the past. If it was mentality we wouldn't be holding out to 94th or 97th minute or indeed getting a late draw at Celtic Park earlier in the season. People just need to get a grip. Obviously it's gutting to lose like this but we don't need the finger pointing and vitriol. How about maybe, just maybe, giving the team a slap on the back for competing against a team who's wages bill for their subs today is more than our entire club budget.

Thought we were great first half,bair and Vale worked their socks off,could have been 2 up first half,2nd half you knew celtic couldn't be as bad and brought quality and fresh legs on,we don't have that depth of squad and that's a huge difference when opposition players are tiring mentally and physically,on second half performance celtic deserved 3 points,hacked off with what looked a draw till 90 plus mins,cant say the players are not working like fuck for club,so we move on to livi on a difficult pitch.

The club did not get rid of Alexander he approached the board after one of the worst results in the clubs history and asked to be released . I think u should take a break from the forum as u seem to take everything personal

Rangers and Celtic are much better than us. Hence we don't beat them much. It's why no one else has won the league since 1985 and the entire history of Scottish football has been dominated by them. However I do remember some like pumping Rangers in the playoff 6-1 or the semi final win with Moult's wonder goal or a bunch of draws in recent times at Fir Park, Celtic Park and Ibrox or the semi final win on the way to the '91 win or Tommy Coyne scoring a header in a gale in the Scottish Cup or a bunch of other times. Maybe you should remember some of the good times as well. And of all the posters here I don't think I'm one that can be accused of being a happy clapper. I just think Motherwell fans should be fair, have realistic views and maybe have the self awareness of recognising where we are in the game. Putting in a good effort against a team with x 25 our resources and losing out narrowly ain't the worst thing in the world.

Did you step on some lego this morning?

I'd be happier with 3 or 4. Most weeks we are competing against teams with bigger budgets, in some cases much bigger budgets, but I think the general effort and application is OK. BTW, Aberdeen have 1 win in 9. Hibs have 1 win in 9. Livingston have 1 win in 19. Ross County have 1 win in 11. St. Johnstone have 1 win in 10. Know why? Cos there is so many draws in this league.

As has been mentioned, the director in question moved job role several months ago so, as much as folk are entirely free to link the resignation with perceived "financial trouble", it was always going to happen regardless due to time constraints etc. In terms of the CEO, I think there's a lot of valid criticism to be levelled at the club for the lack of movement in that area previously & certainly around lack of communication. However, at the moment, we are simply in a situation where there will be no CEO as long as the majority shareholding in the club is up for negotiation. Any potential new majority shareholder would want to either appoint their own people or have a very strong input into any appointment, so despite a recruitment process having already been carried out & suitable candidates identified, there'll be no movement there for the time being. The club theoretically could offer the job to one of those suitable candidates tomorrow if the majority shareholding was no longer a part of any negotiations. That's not me trying to sway anyone's vote one way or another, it's simply the reality of the situation - and something I think that was mentioned at the AGM too. As for the Society saying they can raise £600k a year, I'm not sure I've seen anybody say this? The Society is saying it can grow & generate more income than it currently is. The financial situation of the club hasn't changed - where we are now is where we've been for years, we have a model that is essentially based on bringing through young players & selling them on, while also hoping we can finish higher than 10th & get a few cup ties. Because of that model, since fan-ownership we've made a net profit of £2.2m. If that model was to fail for a season, the Society already has the funds to plug the gap that would arise but fully supports looking for external investment to ensure that, if that model failed a second time before the coffers were rebuilt, the gap wouldn't be an issue. That's essentially the whole situation in a nutshell. The idea that the Society or indeed anyone even needs to put £600k in a year just isn't accurate. We have a particular model based around a strong youth academy & selling players for profit - a model that could be in place even if we didn't have fan-ownership - and this is about adding extra protection to maintain the level we can budget for should there be a couple of terrible seasons. Some think that should be achieved by actively looking to move on from fan-ownership, some think that could be achieved by considering options that include moving on from fan-ownership, and some think that can be achieved by maintaining fan-ownership while also looking for external investment that aligns with that (which was, in all fairness, the pitch in the video where potential investors are invited by Leann Crichton to join the 3,700 odd members of the Well Society rather than replace them). In what seems to have become quite an emotive debate all in, there's not really a wrong answer there - just differing opinions of what's possible & different perspectives of how important fan-ownership is to each individual 'Well fan.

Early 00s does that include europa league qualifiers,champions league qualifier,league Cup finalists,Scottish Cup finalists and still never been relegated with a club that shops In poundland and has ave 5000 through its gates,give yerself a shake man,and beating the old firm doesn't keep you in the league,ask the clubs chairman who've been relegated what they'd prefer,beating old firm now and again or staying,yer brains frazzled.

Gutless mentality, a club on a shoestring budget that's never been relegated yet, not like hibs,Dundee,Dundee utd,St mirren,

Yep I was adding my tuppence worth alongside your statement. A lot of other posts raggin on SK. He’s been taking heat for not subbing in previous games so now he gets heat when does sub!

An absolute shambles at the left side of the deference since McGinn moved over and Blaney came on. Utter utter dugmeat. How The Fuck

Absolutely fair to raise this - while I have very strong views on the debate, I am trying to be factual & balanced so entirely right to highlight if I've missed something! My understanding is that you are correct around the need for the club to outline to auditors later this year that funds are available to cover the following 18 months, and I believe that Derek Weir outlined both that & stated that the Well Society being able to do so was his preferred option (@StAndrew7 may be able to correct me if I'm wrong though!). That's something that might have to happen anyway - regardless of the outcome of the consultation, the Society has to approach the coming months assuming there'll be no external investment because there's every chance that those with offers on the table could pull out, further negotiations could break down, due diligence could raise red flags, or Society members could vote against any proposal. So it's something that the Well Society will absolutely have to prepare for & I am not aware of us as a Board being told that that is not doable. However, I do agree that it's perhaps one of the few vague areas in the discussion, particularly around specific figures - so, in order to make sure we're dealing with the facts, I'm happy to seek a proper bit of clarification on that specific issue from those at the club & post here again with that, rather than responding with my own interpretation of the situation. Hopefully that will be a bit more useful!

The fact that Wilson, Weir and McMahon are stepping back and have suddenly decided fan ownership isn't viable doesn't seem like a coincidence to me. I think they have always viewed fan ownership as a means to allow them to continue to run the club and have probably convinced themselves they are the only people in the support capable of it. They have obviously put a look of work into the club which they should be thanked for but it always has to be remembered that they all worked for Royal Of Bank Scotland and were in prominent positions when it was run into the ground by Fred Goodwin. Bankers will always say the richest person in the room is the one you have to listen to but the vast majority of us aren't bankers and we all should bear in mind who actually paid the bill for Royal Bank Of Scotland going under and who walked away with a lot of money. I think after this week it's clear that the infamous video wasn't aimed at attracting investors as this has obviously been going on for longer than a few weeks. The video was aimed at us to demoralise us and prime us for the suggestion that we need to sell the Well Society shares to whoever is interested. The reason we don't have a CEO is because the two interested parties want to appoint their own people and Weir and McMahon have chosen to prioritise driving through a sale over the day to day running of the club. A manager who can't win a football match with a secret contract, videos that embarrass us and make it seem like the club have no money, vital positions unfilled on and off field and the threat of a bogeyman auditor popping up again. It's all designed to bully us into handing the club over. The Society needs to be proactive and put out some figures that people can actually understand. We have a top 10 budget in the country but everyone I talk to goes on about "no money". We are spending over £5 million a year on wages while being owned by the Society, that doesn't look like "no money" to me. We need a great deal more information about the club's financial status at the moment relative to other clubs and we need it put forward in way that the average society member can comprehend. We also need people to be able to separate the on and off field factors, we can't abandon fan ownership because Kettlewell and Daws are useless in the transfer market.

There's a few details I think it's worth adding to this, particularly given some folks' concerns (on here and on P&B) re: asset stripping etc. The two bids that are furthest forward are: An American who "made his money in streaming" and now owns his own documentary company. His vision/strategy is to increase global exposure of the club and increase opportunities for further sponsorship, growing the fan-base and generating other revenue streams. An Aus/USA/Middle East group who are primarily looking to transform the recruitment side of the club and use more advanced data analytics, machine learning etc. to bring in players across the age-groups of the club to create a culture, style of playing etc. and sell them on for profit. Both parties have spoken with both the Club and Well Society Boards and at least one did it in person from what I picked up, although both may well have. Neither of the bids are philanthropic; they will be looking to make a return on their investment via their own business plans and strategy The investment will be made by buying shares, not in loans (like Hutchinson) or other guarantees that can be secured against the club; however these might be a special category of share that allows them to take some % of profits etc. (I missed the name of these) The share purchases will not be instant, nor will the investment be "transformational" straight away; one bid is proposing the WS go down to "around 50%" and another is wanting a controlling stake, but the % was not mentioned One of the groups would be looking to appoint their own CEO; "someone who played for Benfica and is running an Australian club" was mentioned (based on a quick Google, I believe that's this chap: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaz_Patafta) Transfer fees recouped for players will remain within the club (I'm not sure how that will work with the second investor I mentioned; perhaps through their specific type of shares they'll be able to share profit rather than taking away directly from transfer fees) One of the reasons for the urgency/speed around this is that one of the parties wants to be involved in planning for next season; both are looking for exclusive negotiating positions There is still a long way to go with negotiations, analysis of club finances by parties, addition of potential clauses etc. still need to take place which will then result in a final offer The interested parties might come back based on the results of any vote of the WS membership and accept that a 51/49 split with WS retaining ownership could work for them and that would be part of their heads of terms/initial agreement with the club There is potential to negotiate with investors clauses etc. in the final proposal(s) that would allow the Well Society first refusal on any investor's shareholding, in the event they wish to sell their stake in the club so the club would return to being fan owned, should the Society have the necessary funds to purchase the shareholding Equally, a "No" from the WS re: the red line on majority fan ownership could will be enough for the two current front runners to back out In total there were 4/5 "serious" groups (of 8 who expressed interest) looking to invest in the club; I asked how those were progressing and the simple answer was "not as quickly as these two". At least on of the other parties are investing in other areas of sport (a golf team in LA was mentioned) and the board are trying to get to things developed without having to use a corporate finance consultant as far as possible. Another is an American who Derek Weir had spoken with, who was interested in developing an academy system in the US for developing players but not much more was said on that one. The Chairman did state last night that if this is something which does progress forward, he would absolutely propose bringing in experts in corporate finance to ensure nothing is missed in the minutiae that could come back to bite us. Also, we have interviewed 3 or 4 candidates for CEO by both Club and WS Boards. The issue we have is that with potential investment and at least one group looking to appoint their own, it's a difficult spot to be in. Normally this kind of appointment and negotiations for investment would, ideally, be years apart. So we run the risk of appointing a CEO who brings their own structures and ideas, to then potentially have them removed by any investor. The Well Society have asked for the opportunity to provide a strategy/plan that means they'll be more able to continue funding the club and any shortfalls and create a business / fundraising plan of their own for the club, along the lines of the investors. I also want to point out that Derek Weir stated that was his preferred option; that the Well Society is able to provide the funding required for the club to continue before difficult decisions (i.e. slashing playing budgets etc.) need to be made. Ultimately, the Society needs to be in a position in October to tell the accounts auditors that they have the funds available to support the club for 18 months; if not, that triggers a warning to the SPFL regarding our financial situation. Also, to be absolutely clear, the Board are in no way making recommendations to shareholders or the Society to go or not go for the investment from either party. That will be decided when bids are submitted and shareholders and WS members have their vote. They are exploring all their options to ensure the financial safeguarding of the club, which is their job as Directors. As I said above, that also includes the WS continuing in its current role and increasing its input to the club. Time, however, is of the essence. I would expect WS members to be polled/asked to vote in the coming days. Exactly how that will be put across is key and it'd be interesting to see what is sent out (I'm not a WS member, I have private shares in the club).

Thanks again Jay for all your answers. I agree about the effect of the move away from a dedicated website. Also agree that Members should be given an "Idiot's Guide" to monthly income, effect on club budget etc. Take a deserved break now mate. You've done more than enough.

In 2022 Celtic outplayed Madrid for 45 minutes but expended so much energy that by the hour mark they were knackered. Madrid ran them ragged and won 3-0. I think we suffered the same fate today. A very good 1st half but after an hour we were jagged and they dominated thereafter.

I agree re Paton, think he takes a lot of pelters and is a tidy wee player Disagree re match. That's as good as I've seen us v Celtic in a long time, wasn't at the earlier match this season but I thought we were good today , not good enough tho

Spittal for me, thought he was solid all game, scored a great goal, special mention for Vale. Oh and Gent had a nightmare today, brutal all day.

Yes, from kick off. In the players' heads they were beaten at 1200 today. We were far too submissive and gave Celtic far too much respect from start to finish. Our attitude has to change for Wednesday. Not disappointed with losing late goals as it was obvious from the 60 minute mark what was going to happen. Fortunately Celtic were poor (by their standards) and they struggled to score 3. Big problem was our powder puff midfield, which was far too lightweight. Hopefully Paton's crutches are only precautionary, but I'm not holding my breath. His industry and energy was sorely missed today.

Butcher is brutal but he never cost us the game, our whole team starting the 2nd half by sitting back and letting Celtic come on to us with the inevitable result cost us at least a point today. Gent had a nightmare today everything Celtic threw at us came down his side, he constantly failed to stop the crosses coming in, and we got punished for it late on again. Celtic were there for the taking today and we got ourselves in a great position and then tried to sit bag and hang on for 45 mins and got what that tactic deserved feck all, our game management is brutal.

You're a bloody Jonah.

Investors won’t change our gutless mentality and inability to stop shooting ourselves in the foot in games like these. I’ve seen it too many times now with too many managers and too many players. If Celtic or Rangers aren’t pumping us soundly under their own steam then we throw them a helping hand. Its a mentality issue that runs deep within the club. Even when Spittal put us 1-0 up today I actually barely celebrated and indeed I thought those around me seemed quite subdued in their celebrations too. For me certainly it was just that knowing that it was only going to end the way it did and I couldn’t enjoy the moment as much as I should have done. It’s all just so infuriatingly predictable.

You're right mate, this place is loaded with happy clappers... Hardly ever see any criticism of anyone or anything.

Steelboy is back under a different name.....bair is lazy, that's crazy talk

We've not lost to anyone outside the the Top 3 since early December. Too many draws but let's not make out like we are losing every week cos we aren't and the players are clearly trying.

Another sickener but the players gave everything.. The truth is we should have gone in at half time more than 1-0 up. 2-0 would have made it a lot more difficult for Celtic and would probably have been deserved. 2nd half we came out and sat too deep and Celtic scoring in 50 minutes was always going to make it hard for us. Players gave an enormous amount of effort but we tired and had no out ball for probably the last twenty minutes and there was a sort of inevitability when Celtic scored. A lot of mumbling about the substitutes but they had to be made, we were out on our feet. Hopefully we don't suffer a collapse of moral like we did last time this happened.

Devine was absolutely done. He got away with 2 or 3 just before he was subbed.

At least theres a little something to take away from toay, Bevis is a good defender most games and today i think he was great

It’s the hope that kills you 😩

Blany caught standing still at least twice since he came on giving them the run of that wing with short balls. Fucking pathetic defending.

The manager threw away the draw with those changes.

Pissing it up the wall in style 👌

A minimum of 1 Celtic goal will be added.

Collum, so chance. But well done to him.

He is a total liability now and I hope we don't sign him up for more of this.

Butcher is a useless big dumpling. Blaney should’ve replaced Casey. VAR can also get to fuck. That they suggested that foul could be a red is ridiculous.

If we can keep it tight in second half, say up to the 99th minute, we should at least get a draw

Great to be in front but you just feel that this is only setting us up for heartbreak. We’ve seen this story all too often.

Great goal Chanzeypopz

Absolutely brilliant first half, couldn’t have went better. We could be a couple up. the only player I thought struggled in the first half was Miller and then he does that spin and pass for Spittals sublime finish. just need to stay confident in the second half and concentrate, especially the defence.

Some spin from Miller. Assist of the season.

I shall say this Bair and Vale actually look a decent pairing together work rate from two of them is impressive.

Thanks for raising this point. It is something I have been trying to calculate into the overall picture. And to Jay for his response. My basic arithmetic came up with round about the same figures to take into account the 18 month requirement. To add to your comments maybe Jay you could also investigate/clarify 1. What happens if we are not able to present the required confirmation? A Red Flag status was mentioned. What exactly does that mean and are things like a transfer embargo put in place? Or is it merely that, say, quarterly updates are required until red flag status removed? As I think happens elsewhere as a first step. I appreciate that is worst case scenario but if the WS is expected to carry the burden, then we need to know what the implications are of coming up short. Those implications might spur members to dig deeper or make external funding more palatable? 2. Are pledges/ standing orders taken into Account or is it only actual funds as proven by Bank balances? 3. Maybe a bit more controversial. Mention was made that the WS has assisted or funded various projects at the request of MFC. All very worthy causes but so far I think those projects coupled with donations to cover shortfalls have used up around £1.2m of member subscriptions. Leaving a net balance of £750k? To enable funds to appreciate, is it time to consider closely exactly what projects are funded for the foreseeable future? I know that may go against the ethos of being a Community Club etc etc, but the core business of MFC is football after all and it might help if projects/donations were concentrated on the core business of the organisation meantime.

Good post Jay. Well done. I agree with 95% of it but am unclear about the other 5%. From what I've taken from the AGM, and I wasn't there admittedly, we have enough cash to last us for some time. However, the SPFL requires an 18 month guarantee in October, that we'll have enough in the coffers to last for a further 18 months (until March 2026) if we have another bad year. Currently, we couldn't give them that guarantee ie roughly £1.5m annually to cover that bad year. To be clear there's no imminent threat of adminstration whatsoever. Is my understanding correct, albeit the £1.5m figure might be inaccurate?

Alexander was absolutely done with us long before he eventually left. I’ve said this many times had we not snatched the late draw at Livingston and scraped top six and then somehow Europe then he would have been gone at the end of that season, perhaps before. And what keeps being overlooked is that HE wanted to go. It was him that approached Burrows to instigate the “mutual consent” after the Sligo debacle, not the other way around. He wasn’t sacked and he wasn’t “hounded out” he left because he wanted to go. And I’d have Stuart Kettlewell as manager over Alexander any day of the week.

No idea. I'd prefer to go with the Society option but have voted to consider external options. I think it would be remiss to reject out of hand external options without knowing details. I do not want to influence anyone else though. Each to their own.

In the last 6 games we've taken 10 points. Ross County have taken 1. I take it you don't actually believe in upward momentum then?

There he's again, the crowd didn't cheer when we scored, YES THEY DID. On another topic, this is a must win game, then this topic 1-1,Do you actually support Motherwell or just come on her to diss them. As I said, read this forum for a while before posting, but clearly what a pain in the Arse. (That comment is only an opinion)

Clear push in the back