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First of all welcome. Great first post. I've been banging on about this very issue for several years now and whatever strategy the Society adopts, increasing member income is a must. When the Society was first launched in 2011 there were several ways in which members could pay to attain certain levels of membership such as Steel, Amber etc. Many such as myself paid in lump sums and we thought thats it. Others began to pay in modest monthly amounts. The marketing strategy was never updated and some members, like me, stopped paying and others fell by the wayside for several reasons. Payment/membership methods just evolved without any systematic or methodical approach or publicity. By default, monthly subscriptions became the norm. We were never really informed about this change or encouraged to set up monthly DDs. This has improved, a bit, of late I have to say. What is required now is to completely relaunch the subscription options and publicise them to all and sundry. Contact all memebrs, so that we all know. What about junior members who have now become adults? Season ticket holders who are not members? Good point. Some are inherently opposed to the Society and will not change; thats life. Some were extremely cautious and suspicious at the outset and thought they'd lose their hard earned money to a seemingly hare brained scheme. Thats the 2 reasons I know about. In addition, there will be a host of other reasons. Some research might not go amiss here - brief interviews on match days? Much work needs to be done to increase membership subscriptions. A starting point will be to update all records, although thats easier said than done. Although important, member subscriptions will not be sufficient to raise necessary funds. What about connecting to local businesses? There are bound to be many self employed members or owners of small businesses. What about advertising their services? Providing that they were competitive pricewise, I'm sure members would rather give their custom to other Well fans would they not? Just a few thoughts from a rank and file perspective.

I do believe the players are genuinely behind Kettlewell , and at no point has he lost the dressing room at all Was great to see him celebrating with the fans at Livingston the way he did . It showed his passion , looked like he was trying to copy Klopp and nothing wrong with that

£333,000 a year for 6 years for the controlling interest of the club. Utterly ridiculous. If this is true and McMahon and Weir are genuinely pushing for it then serious questions need to be asked.

Good move for him. Hope he does well.

I think there is room for both although I accept they have to start somewhere. Why can't local Financial Institutions be approached? After all the people they serve are local and provide them with their profits and bonuses. Time to give something back. Come to think of it, let's include all the major Supermarkets as well. The list is massive. Such local investment was vital to fan ownership success elsewhere.

There is no place for plastic pitches in top flight football, especially the cheap and nasty kind that Livingston and Kilmarnock have both of which are a disgrace. Action is needed by the SFA / SPFL there are criteria in place for the standard of stadiums etc for premiership teams so why can't they cover the playing surface as well.

The Ross county goalie wickens is on loan from Fulham looks a good keeper, we should try and get him next season.

Yeah, calling you a dumbfuck was offside. I missed it. Let's not call each other names, I got fed up with Robbo's boy's name calling I had to ban him

If we play for a result with 2 upfront and dont try to shut up shop like we did against celtic after going 1 up i think we could give them a hard time. They will probably still be too much for us however. Im thinking 2-1 Rangers.

Posted on Pie & Bovril. We can raise £2m by engaging with our fanbase to increase membership of the Well Society or offering shares up to a non controlling interest. Or as I said, sell Lennon Miller. Given our model is to develop and sell on players, then selling the entire club for the price of one transfer makes no sense.....

Just an idea but what if the club was to issue new shares to private investors, including fans. That way the club could ensure that the Society retained overall control. In addition the Society could implement its proposal. A win win scenario.

This is just speculation and in my view it's not helpful at all.

I voted yes. However from what I've heard and what you say, it would be a "NO" from me. A short term modest fix for long term high risk.

Seems to me everyone is trying to attribute their own spin on this to suit their own position. Bottom line is we have voted to consider the options presented to us. Im reading elsewhere that the better of the 2 offers is £2m over 6 years for a controlling share of the club. I think thats giving away our fan ownership too cheaply. That kind of money isnt life changing and not beyond the kind of some we could potentially raise ourselves if the new WS Board are given a chance to improve the Society and what it offers the club. Happy to see the detail and be proved wrong. But, for me, if we are giving up control of the club it should be for transformational money, not the fee we could get for Lennon Miller in the summer......

Don't think bottle is the issue pal. Whether he is liked or loathed one thing SK definitely has is a united dressing room, the recent goal celebrations definitely evidence of that. However I also don't expect anything tomorrow but we live in hope. ..COYW

I think we have bottle. I don't think we capitulated to Celtic the last twice we lost at Fir Park. In fact given that we always seem to avoid relegation sometimes by the skin of our teeth I think that's one thing Motherwell has.

Linking to what I've been saying elsewhere in this thread, I think it would be important to understand what percentage of the 3800 members are eligible/able to vote before the true turnout figure is understood/calculated following any future binding vote.

That's pretty standard in the club ownership business. The other model is for the owner themselves to run it into the ground.

Do you think the Well Society did a good job of letting people know there was a vote and what it was about? Is an email really the best they can do to engage members? They have an opportunity at every home game to engage with people face to face. Turnout is low because there was no effort put into getting people to vote.

Aye, that's what I was hoping for/mentioned later in my post. I really hope it does. Like, how can the WS Board vote its 72% block of shares with less than 50% of the membership voting? That's not a realistic majority for something as crucial as the sale of the club.

People do realise that this is just a vote to consider proposals which give up fan ownership, right? Like, there will be another vote for all of the club's shareholders, including the society and private shareholders for or against any proposed takeover? Granted, the WS holds the majority by a long distance and it will vote as a block, but still. This isn't a done deal, at all. This might, in a way, galvanize those that didn't vote to sit up and take notice. I hope it does. And before any chirps up, I will always vote against any proposal that gives up fan ownership (for the record, I'm a private shareholder, not a WS member. Yet.) The turnout is appalling, frankly. That speaks to a few things, I guess. The question was ambiguous, people who didn't get the e-mail not requesting one, apathy in general, the quick nature of the turnaround etc. etc. You'd have to think that if we do get to the stage of there being a proposed investment, that there would need to be a certain level of turnout for the Well Society Board to be able to say that it truly represents the feelings of its members?

I wasn't that surprised in the turnout. When the Society was launched, I recall a lot of members saying they were joining to support the club, but had no real desire to participate in the running (which is fair enough). I was a little surprised by the nearly 2 to 1 vote in favour of giving up ownership. Unless we find some generous benefactor who isn't expecting much of a return of investment, it feels like the road to a new Morrison's and an Excelsior Stadium ground share. Boyle just about killed us off, and he was a fan.

When the Society was launched there was a membership option specifically aimed at Businesses. In fact, at the presentations which took place much was made of that option. Not sure if that still exists or if any Business actually signed up. I think it offered several business related benefits? Also not sure to what extent it was promoted way back then, but it is something worth pursuing. Re the records, did the Society not employ someone for that specific task several years ago? Or is that another task that fell by the wayside? I believe were paying a wage for a time to a guy who eventually packed it in? On a more general point, I don't think it reflects well that basic membership levels are the only indicator that the Society Board appear (or appeared) happy to openly share. Hopefully the planned online forums are a sign of a more open approach. Jay and a few others in the know do seem to have taken that on board. So no offence meant to them. Folk need to know the full picture if they are to part with hard earned cash. Having now disclosed that just 1500 (38%) of 3800 members actively subscribe, it is clear the enormity of the task that lies ahead if the Society are to provide the back up funds required to cover the Club's potential shortfall should performances targets/players sales not be achieved annually. And due to inflation, increasing Stadium costs etc, that potential shortfall will almost certainly increase. A 400% uplift in contributions from those 1500 members seems pretty unrealistic to me. I guess, as a positive, those non paying members and local Businesses do provide opportunities for growth. But Membership needs to rise substantially, and quickly. I really hope I am wrong, and not to downplay the efforts being made by Jay and others as they are much appreciated, but at the end of the day I think we will end up with two realistic options. Accept the external investment that may be offered if satisfactory terms that protect Club Assets can be negotiated, or accept that we need to find a level at which Motherwell FC can function within their income level. One option will likely surrender fan ownership. Setting aside the rights and wrongs of the look, I think we can now see why the Club Board felt it necessary to issue that video. The forthcoming Board changes also suggest all is not good.

993* Well Society members (a 36% turnout) responded to the poll: 351 votes were cast for the option: I would not consider voting in support of any proposal which would see the Well Society losing its majority shareholding. 642 votes were cast for the option: I would consider voting in support of any investment proposal which would see the Well Society losing its majority shareholding. Interesting results, in all honesty I was expecting a lot more to be in favour of the "I would" option. 36% of the membership that voted saying No before they have sight of the options on the table is very telling. For me the most disappointing aspect is the extremely low turnout on what I'd stress is an important issue.

With Livi going, I assume that means a vote can be forced at 11-1 or even 12-0 in favour to rule them out of the Premiership forevermore if Killie are getting rid anyway?

Choice between a creepy, condescending prick of a manager and a 'team' that by rights, shouldn't even exist. It's a tough one right enough.

COYW

Let's start with this, where I'm a 'dumbfuck' for having a view. Trace many posts back; you'll see that this individual has chosen to get personal more than once.

Apparently a PCA with Kilmarnock. Given he's played with Accies and Livingston, he clearly has some kind of plastic fetish. Don't let him near your daughter's Barbie...

Yup, I would rather keep Bevis than sign Obileye. We all know what Bevis can do....and definitely can't do but is Obileye an upgrade?....no in my opinion

No change there, then.

With respect, we also dont need to agree with your assessment that EVERYTHING has been shite. I see a young manager struggling for results under difficult circumstances. Making mistakes along the way, but slowly improving things and a squad all bursting a gut for him because they clearly believe in him. You see someone who is either incompetent or not good enough and who will never improve or get better. Thats fair enough. But its way too early to call which is right.

Our second-half performance last night suggests that it won't be 10-0 to them anymore. I still think they'll win, though, but I’d be pleased with a hard-fought and turgid draw.