wellfan

This view is fair enough, but I don't think selling the majority ownership of the Club (or diversifying the ownership, as you put it) for less than the value of Lennon Miller, for example, is anywhere close to being acceptable. Just because the Well Society has been shite for a while doesn't mean the Club should be sold to the lowest bidder. I'm also all for diversifying the ownership, but that would only be if a transformative offer is on the table, which it is not.

Read the details in McMahon's and the Society's statements, and all will become clear on how that £750K won't be there in 2 years if the deal is accepted.

Have a look at the details. It's laughable. The deal offered dictates that the Well Society has to put cash in at the same time as it loses its majority shareholding so that £750K will quickly vanish.

But the assets of the Club aren't protected if we enter administration in 6 years following the majority shareholder losing interest and the Well Society not having the reserves to buy back majority control of a Club that sold itself down the river to the lowest bidder.

See the WS statement: “We anticipate that we will ballot our members on this over two weeks beginning 1 July, which will then allow the Well Society to reflect members’ views in the club’s anticipated shareholder vote. We are currently working on the logistics and more information will be sent to our members in due course. By this time, we will also share the Society’s plans for the future, if it remains as majority shareholder. These plans have been in development since the beginning of the year, with input from supporters, consultants, football experts and business professionals, and we now aim to expedite the publication of our plans within the necessary timescales. As part of the ballot process, we also intend to provide the opportunity to engage the Society Board on these proposals, both online and in-person.”

McMahon is recommending that half the Club is sold for £2 million over 6 years, not accounting for debt, that the Barmack’s gain Exective Board control and Chairmanship from day one after a miserly investment of £300K, and that the Well Society has to stump up a large amount of cash only to lose majority share ownership by the end of the 6 years. Let that sink in. McMahon, and those Society board members who voted for this, should be shown the door immediately.

Take your pick. https://www.motherwellfc.co.uk/club/well-society/well-society-board/

The offer also reads like the Barmack’s have been gaslit by McMahon into thinking that the terms offered would be acceptable to the Well Society, which they clearly are not. What a waste of everyone’s time, including theirs.

The investment offered by the Barmack’s over 6 years appears to value the Club at less than Lennon Miller’s worth alone and proposes the Well Society lose majority shareholding of the Club with the Barmack’s gaining the majority shareholding. I can't believe the negotiations have come this far on those terms. It reads like McMahon is trying to sell us cheap and run. As a longtime Well Society member, the deal on offer is unacceptable and so it can get in the bin. I note the Society has emailed members to that effect.

Bair was worth nothing in 2023. However, what he's shown in 2024 is that he's got what it takes to (a) score goals and (b) further develop. These attributes are worth a lot to the right club.

Do your best/worst.

We’re singing from the same hymn sheet for a change.

Given they've attempted to re-sign the entirety of the failed defence from last season, I’m not sure they do.

It seems like we offered them a packet of Space Raiders and some Panini stickers, so it’s not surprising we were told to bolt.

'hard-ons' 'poke' 'rises' I see what you did there.

A few of you are making the point that you're okay with the likes of McGinn, SOD and potentially Mugabi re-signing, but only as squad players for the most part, which would still be ridiculous given how poor that defence performed as a unit over the season. One of them being offered a deal as an experienced backup would be tolerable, but all of them is a crazy approach. Furthermore, the more defensive spots offered to and accepted by first-team starters from last season, the fewer spots this leaves available to new potential first-team starters, which I am sure you will all agree are needed. The only spots currently available for a like-for-like replacement are Butcher's and Gent's. So, unless those noted above have accepted considerably reduced financial terms, which we'll never know, perhaps the plan is to double the defence budget from last season to make up for it being the worst-performing in the league. Unlikely. Therefore, I can't think of any other reason why Kettlewell has sought to retain as much of last season's defence as possible other than him being incapable of learning and/or stupid, or they've accepted pennies, which is unlikely. It's early days, but it looks like Kettlewell is already failing to address the main issues that affected the team last season, and he won't have an excuse if it comes back to bite his arse as the season progresses. And let's not forget that this isn't an isolated scenario with the defence, as we were crying out for a new centre-back in January, but we got a glut of wingbacks instead, one of whom never even played.

I think the winners, or losers in this case, are those who've instantly come onto the forum following the announcement of SOD with a hard-on. There are several of you gleefully waiting to criticise and poke fun at those who come onto the forum to critique the fact that Kettlewell is seeking to rebuild the defence with the majority of those who were part of a unit that failed to keep more than three clean sheets in the league last season. There was a chance this summer for a clean slate regarding the defence and for Kettlewell to put his stamp on the team. It was the biggest flaw in the squad last season. No matter how much Kettlewell fucked around with it, the team kept conceding, and Kelly can't take sole blame for that. Instead, Kettlewell offered terms to Butcher (refused), McGinn (accepted), SOD (accepted) and Mugabi (considering), so more fool him and those who think his continuity approach to solving the problem of the defence is something worth celebrating.

It's the first Monday after the expiration of many contracts. Should we expect a lot of action this week?

That's because that webpage captures those from the development squad and those out on loan. Furthermore, the quad pages are out of date at the moment and are rarely accurate.

My view of the ‘status quo’ is we carry on as we are, continue to be outbid on Premiership level players by our peers, and soon enough we’ll find ourselves struggling to keep pace with those peers. That scenario will likely lead to an annual struggle to stay in the Premiership and with little much else to play for. Another point is that everything else in the world is so much more expensive now, and the only way to absorb that cost, let alone keep pace, is to seek more financial input/output than the ‘status quo’. That could be through external investment or the Well Society pulling its socks up. Otherwise, I think we’ll play ourselves into the Championship in a few years.

Oops. Clyde are playing on Wednesday night. My point still stands that they're clowns and never have the interests of fans in their thoughts when scheduling midweek fixtures.

Montrose away on a Tuesday night when the SPFL could quite easily have scheduled the Clyde game for that night instead is a joke. The folk running our game continue to be useless fucking clowns who laugh at us fans.

Nicholson was always going to be an easy signing for Kettlewell, and a 2-year deal seems reasonable as he did more good than shite during his short-term deal. Kettlewell still needs to replace Spittal's goals and assists, as I don't see that type of player in Nicholson.

Given the musical chairs over recent years, I think we've been short of a first-team coach, hence the academy and reserve coaches hanging about in the dugout for first-team games. If so, Obika has filled an empty post and not taken a wage away from a potential signing.

The status quo will eventually see us drop into the Championship. Investment - beyond what we're used to from the Well Society to keep us afloat - is the only way we'll be able to compete with those you mention.