dennyc

Pony Express finally delivered to Fife. Great effort guys. Another fantastic read.

It's an interesting debate and I find myself agreeing with some aspects of both arguments. On the one hand, we are all enjoying watching better performances on the pitch with players of the quality we all want to see wearing Claret and Amber. Given the overall financial situation, this would not be possible without using the monthly income from the Society, albeit this goes against the original concept under which the society was established. As long as the good performances continue it looks like good value for money. If results go the other way, is it good value then? With regard to establishing a Reserve Fund for unforeseen circumstances, I think this is essential and the sooner the better. One of the biggest drains on resources in the past few years has been upgrading the pitch to one that is fit for purpose. Fortunately that situation has been resolved but Fir Park is an old stadium. What if another unforeseen costly repair is required in the near future? How would that be funded without access to a Reserve Fund? We are told the monies raised by the proposed Share Sale are to be placed in such a fund and for the reason stated I think this is essential and should be a condition of the sale. Should we keep asking the same group of people to keep on contributing more and more? I too would like to see a more concerted effort being made to attract new investors, but if existing members are prepared to contribute more then that is a decision for them to make. But eventually that well will run dry. One question I do have is this. If monthly income increased to £200k or £300k (very unlikely I know) would all of those funds be immediately invested in the team and day to day expenses? Surely at some stage the Society has to say " We are keeping some for a rainy day. You as a football Club will need to operate within your own resources". I also see lots of comment about repaying Les. I also look forward to when this is the case, but let's do it on the basis of the terms agreed.......Transfer Income, Double Your Money Deal and eventually the balance on a Repayment Schedule after the original 3 year Interest Free period as passed. I would hope MFC see the repayment of Les and John Boyle as their responsibility and not that of the Society. Only if the Club cannot generate sufficient income to meet any scheduled repayment should the proposed Society Reserve Fund be turned to. I have a fear that the Share Sale proceeds will be used to repay Les "early" leaving us high and dry in any emergency situation. Other than MFC being in a default situation, I do not want to see members' monies being used to repay Les. I suppose I am trying to think long term, rather than just short term coupled with an excellent performance on the field. All about balance..... in my opinion of course

Agree fully. Went to the match with a Hibs fan and so did not sit in the Motherwell section. Also travelled back to sunny Fife with a bunch of Hibs fans. Every Hibs fan I spoke to thought Hibs took the lead against the run of play and were fortunate to be ahead at half time. They were impressed and surprised by the quality that Motherwell showed throughout. They were shocked we had the stomach to come back from two down. The contrast with the Ross County match is spot on.

I thought the problem in the first half was that Cadden seemed to be tasked with tracking Dorrans rather than being free to play his natural game. When Dorrans drifted inside, Cadden followed him leaving acres of space behind Tait who was instructed to push forward. I lost track of how many times Tait was forced to chase back 60 yards because a terrible crossfield pass (McHugh?) was intercepted and no-one was filling in behind. Windass and Wallace must have thought it was Christmas. Also stretched our back three which created even more gaps. Despite that,we matched Rangers and created a good few chances. Second half, Cadden was freed up and Tait had cover whenever he pushed forward. Windass and Wallace more or less disappeared as an attacking force. Cadden was also able to drive forward and create problems for Rangers....and Dorrans if you recall his booking. Found the match both encouraging and frustrating. So near but miss out again. Thought our defence was much improved on last season and that includes the much maligned Dunne. Fisher did well when he came on but disappointed by Rose. Would have preferred Campbell's battling qualities to close down Rangers midfielders. Surprised at how much time McHugh wanted on the ball. Robbed countless times. First game of the season for me and pleased with the progress I saw. Although, like some, the persistance in playing with a back three worries me

A good point and I accept it. As you say we cannot compete with the likes of Burnley in terms of wages and facilities. Just think we could maximise our return if we can persuade him to sign up for a bit longer in the absence of any concrete bid at this time.I think he is a better player than some folk are giving him credit for.

I thought Henegan was doing well until injuries kicked in, particularly Tait being out. He then ended up getting dragged all over the place trying to fill in across the back line. Got caught out a few times whentrying to cover at right back. Settled down when Cadden moved back which coincided with a reduction in goals conceded and our eventual safety. Might not be a popular view on here but I would offer him an extended contract as I feel he will continue to improve and his value will rise. If the Clubs mentioned are seriously interested then they must have identified something they like. My view, too early to cash in.

£20 sent by Paypal. Great effort as always. Good luck

Any time Cadden pushed forward Dundee exploited the space behind him in the right full back position. Robinson spent most of the second half screaming at Frear to similarly push forward in similar style, despite the fact this would have created the same problem on the left. At times it did. Hammell....who I am not saying had a bad game..........was playing so far infield you might as well have stuck a number 5 on his back and listed him as a centre back. Quite clearly Frear did not know what to do for the best. The sooner we revert to a back four, spread across the field, the better. Probably too late now though. Playing with a narrow back three is just not working and is seriously affecting our ability to play to our forward strengths. It did not work for a year and a half under McGhee and it is not working now. Teams sussed it out last season and use the space to punish us. Dundee were firing the ball into both full back positions almost from the start. Result? Cadden and Frear so intent on their defensive duties that pushing forward became secondary. From what I see Robinson might be getting more out of the players effort wise, but his determination to use the same flawed defensive tactic is hurting us big time. Cadden and Frear spending most of their 90 minutes at full back limits the options for supplying Moult with decent ball and results in long aimless punts upfield. As someone posted earlier, the Dundee centre backs just lapped it up yesterday.

I heard Rangers interested in Moult but unlikely to match what Derby County are prepared to stump up. May be crap but that's what I was told yesterday.

Beaten to it by Kmcalpin. Add a club legend that joined from Irvine Victoria to the ever growing list

Ian Clinging from Carluke Rovers is another one who made the move up from Junior level ......I think. Well over a hundred appearances for Motherwell and more than two hundred elsewhere at senior level

The table does make interesting reading for comparison purposes but I think it only takes into account Adult prices and therefore does not provide the full picture. It does not appear to bring out all relevant factors. For instance, at MFC us old farts get a sizeable discount on Season Tickets and PATG at aged 60, whereas at most other Clubs the discount does not kick in until age 65. So better value there right off. Excluding kids tickets does not give MFC credit for initiatives such as a free juvenile season ticket with adult season tickets (even the discounted over 60's). So better value for Parent/Grand Parent and Child as well. Also MFC issue juvenile season tickets at £80 up to age 15 whereas Everton (as an example) list juveniles as up to only age 11. Basic adult tickets may not be the cheapest but perhaps the Club in trying to promote the "Family Club" aspect took a decision to concentrate on ways to facilitate the younger fan in attending matches. If the media wants to identify questionable ticket pricing, they need only look at some of our matches away at Dundee United where the full adult price was charged for all visiting fans, irrespective of age. I'm sure there was lots of comment on this site at the time. As to whether any price would provide value for money given the performances this season, well that's a whole different debate.

That was certainly the intention when the Society was first established. In an ideal world all the funds which have been provided to the club would have been repaid before the takeover and the balance held would now be well in excess of £500k. Clearly, given MFC's financial situation, that has not been possible. That is why some folk had concerns about the takeover happening well ahead of the agreed timescale and before the Society had time to build up a Reserve Fund for "overdraft" purposes. I understand that was one of the issues which caused the negotiations with Les to take much longer than anticipated. The three year delay in having to repay Les (in the absence of transfer income) and the fact no interest is being charged meantime thankfully lessens the risk in that regard. Bottom line is that if MFC is self sufficient, as should be the case by next season, then Society funds will grow. Until then it's survive by any means. Given the latest turn of events I'm not convinced the original arrangement still stands. But that is a point that does require clarification once and for all. Until MFC is self sufficient there does seem to have been a shift in thinking, On Saturday we were encouraged to submit any further questions via the Society Web Site so I guess you are free to seek an answer. It will be interesting to hear if you receive a prompt response in line with the promise of better communication and openness. Not done any research, but how does the Hearts thing work? Do fans subscriptions go straight to the Club for immediate use or are they building up a fund to purchase a controlling share of the Club? I ask because the Hearts model seems to be held up as the way to go.

That struck me as well given the figures posted online. I had expected a figure nearer £100k. I think that's where the comment that they have been assisting the Club in recent times comes into play. With no Bank overdraft, I think Society funds are likely to continue to be used if and when the need arises. Getting through to next season and the anticipated increased income seems to be the focus. I did ask about the Society's monthly outgoings and was told that the only expenditure of note was the half salary of one fulltime employee, with MFC funding the other half. For what its worth, there was an acknowledgement that communication had to improve and that more meaningful information should be made available to Members. I was not the only one who raised that issue so the Board should be well aware of the bridges they have to build. Just a suggestion from me, but perhaps Les had undue influence on what could and could not be revealed even though he was not a Member. That should no longer be an issue and hopefully we will see an immediate improvement. As I said. time will tell. Good news about the upturn in membership. Hopefully a few Businesses get on Board.

Re putting some bones on the Agreement with Les. A Board member did answer some questions put to him on Saturday in the Cooper Suite. According to him - Les gets 40% of transfer Income, John Boyle 20% and the Club 40%. Given some decent transfer activity, JB could be repaid fairly quickly and the Club's share would then increase to 60% of further transfers. During the 3 year period, the Loans from LH are interest free. The Club has guaranteed to repay LH in full even if sufficient transfer income is not generated. A repayment schedule has been tentatively agreed, to commence if need be after the 3 year period. LH's daughter remains on the Club Board, but his other two placements stood down as part of the Agreement. LH has no call on any other income which may be generated from whatever source, an example being bonus income from Uefa as a result of Celtic's "march" on Europe. The Society Bank Balance is minimal, currently standing at around £20k. The society has provided support to the Club in recent months and will continue to do so. Managing the Club finances through to next season (and avoiding relegation) is of prime importance. Thereafter there will be a guaranteed increase in payments from the SPFL due to an uplift in Commercial and TV Income. As a result the overall financial picture should improve substantially. Local businessmen are showing an interest in being part of the new set-up. Discussions are ongoing. Further announcements are planned over the next couple of weeks coupled with a recruitment drive. My own thoughts? Given that Les does not appear to be the easiest person in the world to deal with, I think the deal is about the best the Society could have hoped for. Better if he had just written off the monies due to him, but I guess that was never really going to happen. Neither was he going to provide any additional support so in that sense we are certainly no worse off. At least here is now some certainty and the Club/Society can plan for the future without worrying about Les and his demands for repayment. All that remains is for the Society Board to reconnect with Members, providing the communication, openness and trust which, speaking personally, I feel has been sadly lacking. Time will tell.

Just ordered another copy. The two signatures did it for me. Good to see your hard work has had such good results. When posting out please note new address. Thanks.

Books arrived by post today. Great stuff and good luck on reaching target. Looking forward to next year's edition (he types hopefully)

Two copies ordered. All the best

Pitch invasions happen regularly for a variety of reasons, but what I find hard to stomach is that the SFA appear to be ignoring the fact that players were attacked on the pitch. Set aside the teams involved. If there are to be no sanctions for that (other than prosecutions instigated by the police) Scottish football is in deep shit.... To address that issue would of course highlight poor stewarding/policing, and as a consequence their own inability to properly organise a high profile match from a safety point of view. The SFA is trying to brush the whole thing under a very large carpet as they failed miserably in their Duty of Care towards players, officials and fans. If a Motherwell fan ran onto the pitch during a Scottish Cup tie at Fir Park and punched a player from the opposition does anybody really believe our Club would go unpunished. A very dangerous precedent has been set just to avoid blame being directed at those officials at the SFA that failed to do their job and also police/stewards who failed to react until the Hibs fans had marched from one end of the pitch to the other. But whether it's the SFA or the League Authorities it cannot be right that assault is ignored. I agree that the reason a harder line was taken against Motherwell was probably due to the Club failing to identify fans who went on the pitch. Hibs certainly seemed to learn from that situation given the haste in which they set about identifying people and calling them into Easter Road for a wee chat. But there was also much comment about Motherwell being liable as the home club responsible for putting in place all Security arrangements.

Certainly helped Higdon on his journey to hero status when he "cleared the air" at Tannadice.

Can't get the link to transfer into here but if you type "Milton Financial Report Dundee United" into Google you should find a detailed report on the "good deal". Fair bit of reading but the gist is - Ongoing repayment of outstanding Bank Loans was causing cash flow problems, increasing debt resulting in higher interest costs and the prospect of excessive large capital repayments in the near future. A real danger of a financial collapse. Just over £2m was provided by a group of anonymous investors (Thomson refuses to name them) and this was used to repay the Banks and ease the pressure. But two worrying aspects for United fans. 1. The interest rate charged by the investors was 6% which was double what the Bank was charging. 2. The new loan arrangement included a period of time when no capital repayments were due and so did provide breathing space. However, Thomson used that time to sell players and use the cash raised to repay all Loans which had been provided by family members. In particular his mother and sister who very shortly thereafter resigned as a Director. These loans were not scheduled to be repaid and had been provided at 0% interest. Nothing illegal apparently as the payments were agreed at a Board Meeting . But not really in the best interests of the Club long term as it would have been better financially to repay the high interest loans, where repayment is also required at set dates, before the free undated family loans. The end result? Family Loans which were costing the Club nothing, and were not due to be repaid, repaid in full. Bank debt repaid but new loans to the value of £2m established with unnamed lenders at double the Interest rate, therefore costlier in the long run. On a football front, top players sold and relegation. United fans in uproar as they fear Thomson planning to pull the plug and walk away unscathed having also safeguarded family members. Seeking details of Investors and future plans but requests completely ignored. Seems to me that Motherwell's game plan re buying low selling high is much preferable to the so called good deal Thomson arranged for United. All we need is the time and a few more Marvs to make it work. Sorry to waffle on in such detail but it just shows we are perhaps better off than we think at times. And it is to do with transfer strategy.....kind of

I agree that the eventual transfer of Les' shares to the Society is the only option currently available and I look forward to that happening when the time is correct for MFC and the Society. However he did agree to a five year repayment programme and as such he does not hold all the aces. As long as MFC stick to the agreed terms and do not default on any due payments, is it not better to reduce his debt as agreed over the remaining three years or so thus allowing the Society (and hopefully MFC) to build up a decent bank balance? My fear is that we sell Marvin for a decent sum, use the cash to repay Les ahead of time, with the Society taking immediate ownership of the Club. What happens if MFC then hit cash flow problems and the Society is unable to assist as they have done in the past? All I urge is some caution until such time as we know the Club is trading profitably and/or the Society has sufficient funds to cover any short term problem. My take on Jim McMahon's comments at the Q&A was that this was the approach he favoured and that this was contrary to what Les wanted. Jim was quite clear that the Society at that time would be unable to support the Club as it had in the past as all monies collected previously had been used up. If Les does indeed have Motherwell's best interests at heart why would he insist on the Society taking over before they are in a stronger financial position?

Apparently not. I suggested at the Meeting held after Mark McGhee's intro that the up to date balance be included in the monthly update. I was promised it would be. That was in response to Jim McMahon stating the balance at that time was minimal and that a minimum of £1m to £1.5m would be needed to give the Society takeover a decent chance of succeeding. My thinking being that people seeing an ever increasing sum held would be encouraged to contribute. I might have missed it, and apologies if I have, but I do not think the amount of funds held by the Society has been made public since that time. The Society also has outgoings so the monthly sub income is not the exact monthly increase. In fairness Jimwas pretty open and was adamant that he would not support any switch of ownership until the Society was in a much stronger financial position and able to fund any Cash Flow difficulties. To help us arrive at that stage I suggested that a portion of any transfer income should actually be used by MFC to partially repay the monies owed to the Society rather than to repay Les as soon as possible. Building up the Society funds being essential to the Club's survival beyond the share transfer. A repayment schedule was agreed with Les and I see no reason for risking the future of the Club by attempting to repay that debt earlier than agreed merely to hurry along the transfer of shares. Surely taking the time required to build up Society funds is the safest approach and if that means we stick to the agreed repayment schedule with Les then so be it. Unless of course there is an agreement that Les is entitled to a share of transfer monies by prior arrangement. That is another question which has been asked but not answered. Regarding taxis, I haven't a clue how much it is possible to earn and I don't know if our resident expert is talking crap or not. But he is raising valid points regarding the Society which no amount of sniping from others can deflect from. Perhaps they should address those points he does highlight.

£25 sent over. Glad you decided to arrange this once more. Good work.

Couple of points worth considering from the unfair sporting advantage point of view........for argument's sake. Unfortunately Motherwell are likely to lose to Celtic and Rangers wherever we play them. The gap in financial resources is likely to ensure that remains the case. To a great degree that makes the odd victory or draw even sweeter. Better then to play them away from home more often IF it means we then get to play teams more often at Fir Park that we are more likely to beat. Does playing Hamilton at home twice give us the possibility of more points than playing Celtic twice at Fir Park? Also does it mean we would have less away games against those teams we need to beat to remain in the top division? Perhaps it is Motherwell that are being given an unfair sporting advantage over the teams likely to be their closest rivals. As regards arranging the fixtures to suit Rangers and Celtic. Pre split, Rangers are away twice to all three of Celtic, Aberdeen and Hearts. I hardly think playing Motherwell twice at Ibrox is giving them much of an advantage. I'm willing to bet they would rather play either of those three twice at Ibrox if it meant playing us twice at Fir Park. Given they are all likely to finish top six, it will be interesting to see if Rangers get all three at Ibrox post split. Perhaps it is Rangers that are being unfairly treated. Or perhaps they are just being treated the same as any other newly promoted team. The financial side of things is a different matter and it is here I feel Motherwell have been treated disgracefully. The timing of the only home Aberdeen game and the limited number of Celtic and Rangers games will have an adverse impact. We do get Hearts at home twice though, who could end up bringing as many supporters as Rangers would have given their fans' intention to body swerve Fir Park. I do agree that the SPFL leadership should have highlighted the fact that the unwritten rule re playing Rangers and Celtic at home twice pre spilt would not apply to enable Clubs to budget accordingly (or individual Clubs could have checked). Interesting to see if that arrangement will return season after next when Rangers have finished top six and are not the newly promoted team. Then again, we could always complain if we don't get to entertain Hibs twice at Fir Park given they usually bring a fair amount of supporters with them. Most teams could look at their fixtures and find cause for complaint. But some times you win and sometimes you lose. I did not hear Mr Burrows complain when (I think) we got an extra home game against Celtic recently. Apologies if I am wrong on that one. Just finish top six and all will be fine