[Motherwell Fc Name Change?]

Actually, "Albion Rovers" fits nicely into their jingle ...... if you ignore the "dot com" bit ...... Simples!

[Motherwell Fc Name Change?]

Based on what I just read on the BBC website:

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/taysid...ral/8471740.stm

 

LINKS TO THIS:

 

Move to block sale of football team names

 

The Scottish Football Association is expected to block moves to sell the naming rights for football teams. The plan has been put forward by Stirling Albion supporters who say they have been in discussions with Compare the Market.com.

 

It could see the second division team playing as the Stirling Albion Meerkats. The club is said to be about £1.5m in debt and has survived two winding-up orders in recent months. The supporters trust wants to buy the club and sell its naming rights for £50,000 a year. It says discussions with Compare the Market.com have already taken place.

 

However, the SFA is likely to throw out the plan. A spokesman said: "Any proposed change of name would require to be submitted to the board for consideration and approval. "Given that a name change for commercial purposes would have huge implications, the integrity of the game would be paramount in any decision-making process."

 

SFA don't seem keen then, however just for a laugh anyone got any witty/topical suggestions for a commercial tagline for MFC?

 

Motherwell Miners is copyrighted

[Summer Football]

http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/d.../crank2010.html

 

Ireland's league is rated at 29th, ours at 15th, at present we have a better and higher exposure league, there would be someone willing to pick up the TV rights in addition if summer football went ahead with us. Irish revenues haven't changed because they have a lacklustre product at present (Local football plays second fiddle to English/Scottish which competes on a more even footing with Gaelic Hurling/Football and Rugby than here). I thought there would have been an increase in gate revenue.

 

Do the fans of Irish clubs prefer the new structure and watching their football in the sun or hanker back to traditional setup?

 

Any cataclysmic events ensuring the pitches are less playable than when it was a Aug to May season?

 

Any postponements at all?

[Summer Football]

I think you can't ignore the two biggest draws in our league because they dominate it on the pitch or their association with religion. We're now in a different debate. If its fair to share the money equally between all league members then I take it we gloss over sharing it dependant on average attendance or TV demand or audience.

 

To use an analogy, poll tax riots in late 80's early 90's people rioted because they felt a blanket tax regardless of income was unfair. You are suggesting a blanket payout regardless of any other criteria other than they make up 2 members of a 12 member league. We might see Old Firms fans rioting like Trafalgar Square c.1990 .... oh wait .... Manchester ... and that's just because their plasma telly broke.

 

Tell you what, SPL go to Sky and say, OK switch to pay per game rather than fee for the whole season. Ask how much they'd pay for Rangers vs Hibs and then St Johnstone vs Aberdeen then you've got your answer.

 

Netherton - I did say that I agreed with some of your points (post #40), suggest absorbing what is written rather than seeing red every time I mention the Old Firm. If you want specifics, the idea for the league cup, 2 and 5.

 

If it was my kid who wanted to opt for MD's I'd bitch slap the ned out of him.

 

Summer football because it offers a sea change, improved conditions and better product. Ask Rugby union fans if its not worked for them or if the pitches can't handle it.

[Summer Football]

And in the 2001 census people were asked via the internet and a email campaign to put down they were Jedi Knights so it would get official status as a religion. So one guy and his mate visited the ground because of the novelty factor, returned to Norway and made up a page. 6,000 people joined, don't understand the relevance to the SPL and TV revenues.

[Summer Football]

Problem is you don't have a Dunfermline supporters club in LA, an Inverness Caley Thistle one in Boston or a Motherwell one in Brisbane. I lived in LA and went to both the Rangers and Celtic clubs to watch them play Motherwell, I paid $15-20 to get in because Setanta (at the time) and now ESPN charge a fortune. Don't be naive and suggest that the Old Firm aren't the greatest TV draw for our game. There is no/a fraction of the audience for St Mirren vs Dundee Utd.

 

We'd all love it if they didn't rule the roost, full of glory-hunters and bigots, but they do. Why are so quit walking around with a chip on the shoulder and deal with basic business sense.

 

As for groundskeeping, golf courses seem to manage to keep the grass in good nick and they are used at their peak in summer all day opposed to 1.5 hours. (granted studs cause more damage and I've never slide tackled someone for playing through). The issue is the grass is left alone from Dec to March and used when its at its most regenerating.

 

I wouldn't pay for Scandanavian football either, however if I was English (God forbid) and Scottish football was covered on Sky Sports 1-3, with a common language, familiarity and rudimentary interest I would be inclined to watch it.

[Summer Football]

I'm just interested if anyone would think that the worst summer in history would result in any more games called off than an average winter in Scotland.

 

The current SPL deal is something in the region of £20m season (Herald report I googled), £10m goes to the old firm, rest is shared, diluting the league means its shared between 16 opposed to 10. Also the £20m pot would diminish if there is less games, that's a given. Also less chances for gate revenue while still paying players wages. You don't need an MBA in business in Harvard to work out that the sums don't work for winter/18 team SPL.

[Summer Football]

Rangers are on the ropes financially, Kilmarnock too, we had accountants running things recently, where is the finance to allow for the loss in revenue? Naive business acumen will lead to a 18 team league and ignore TV revenue. Am I more inclined to visit Dens Park because I haven't been there for 4 seasons, nope.

[Summer Football]

I agree with some of your initiatives too, however most clubs outside Edinburgh and Glasgow rely on 4 visits by the Old Firm (3 if in bottom 6) to bolster their turnover. Also by dropping the price to £15 means quite a financial hit in the first few years if/until crowds build up.

 

If the money goes down on one side it has to be recouped on another and I can't see an 18 game league being any more attractive. Remember the TV companies pay a fee, can't remember what the current SPL deal is but it will diminish if there are 6 games less. They are paying for what will get them the biggest audience to sell advertising, and eating up hours. Build-up, analysis and reviewing eats up TV time and is inexpensive to churn out.

 

In our country the greatest interest is generated by Rangers and Celtic. Plus playing them less equals even less chances for revenue. Less chances the cameras will want to cover Motherwell. I just don't see your suggestions attractive to TV which makes up a huge chunk of the balance sheet.

 

I think it needs a major sea change and summer football would do that. A rejigging of the league structure diluting the SPL with 8 more up-down diddy teams isn't the answer unless the Old Firm are banished and it makes the championship that little bit more even and generate interest as fans feel they have a genuine chance of winning the league.

 

As for banishment, that's a discussion for another thread, not this one.

 

Also, you'd have to go to 4 teams and tell them they've lost league status. Don't underestimate how a local community will come together when something is threatened.

[Summer Football]

So how many call offs has the old man witnessed in winter opposed to summer?

 

When can we expect a mixture of "The Day After Tomorrow" with "2012" in a Mad Max-esque apocolypse? That's tongue in cheek too.

 

Is there any of the 10 points outlined in the first post you agree with.

 

If we stay with the status quo, do you have a solution to the deteriorating standards and interest in Scottish football.

[Summer Football]

Last year it was Inverurie though that is special circumstances. If they had USH the game would have probably went ahead first time. This year was just freak. I am 27 and can't ever remember a winter like this. My dad is 53 and can only remember a winter like this once but even then not for such a prolonged period.

 

OK, in your Dad's 53 years, how many games have been postponed in Dec/Jan/Feb & how many in May/Aug/Sept for any Scottish club. Is it viable for a Highland League/Junior team to install USH?

 

So do you see no merit among any of the 10 items listed in the original post? Surely it can't be the only thing you took from it is rest of us are all soft/gay for not wanting to hang about in the cold.

 

The game here is in decline, you can't argue against that. Some of us is suggesting a solution based on the three elements of weather, improving product, and revenue can't be boiled down to being a knee jerk against the past month and us being gay.

 

Also, Australia being a southern hemisphere country means Aug to Feb is their summer.

[Summer Football]

1. Predicting the weather is a difficult business, are these the boffins who thought it unlikely we'd get a month of lying snow? As for summer weather here are some facts rather than predicitions. a) There has been MAJOR flooding two summers in a row. b) Rainfall in Scotland increases each month from May until December. October, November and December are the wettest months of the year and according to the winter shut down timetable we'd still be playing in these months.

I think the drainage at present can cope, if the roof in the East stand could is a different matter. If their is a torrential downpour before/during the game then we'd be in trouble. Remember its 1hour 45minutes. We'd be playing in October-December under the summer football argument or under the current system, don't really understand the argument here.

2. Placing surfaces would not be immune to the elements, as pointed out the wettest weather is October, November and December. Admittedly pitches tend to get worse at present around February/March but it that because they've had three quarters of a season played on them? In any case all most all pitches are much better now (excluding ours a couple of seasons ago!) than they were 10, 15, 20, 25 years ago. Also summer pitches, assuming we actually have warm weather might have grass on them but they dry out and get bumpy which is just as bad as bald muddy pitches for good football.

If we start in March the pitch should be in good nick to start with rather than being churned up. Confused now, I thought we were having floods to rival Noah's and now you are talking about a drought, if you think we wouldn't cope, they still manage to play in the south of Italy and Spain without hitches, I don't think its beyond us to manage it. And its safe to say that the best months are May, June, July and August, easier for the pitches to recover between games.

3. Improved player technique has NOTHING to do with summer football. It has to do with the amount of practice kids get with a ball at an early age. Player technique has decreased since the virtual abolishment of schools football, since kids weren't allowed to play for more than one organisation and with the rise of the computer game and the sale of just about every football pitch by councils for housing. At the professional level Scottish supporters are not interested in watching highly technical football. Think of the booing that goes up when someone plays a sideways pass. Scottish footballer supporters want to see a high paced, exciting matches.

Getting kids out to play when the season is running when they can emulate their hero's goes a long way though, think how many try tennis during Wimbledon. I agree the councils should hold their heads in shame. Look at Motherwell, two ash pitches and a 5-a-side demolished for white shoe box ASDA, town centre ghost town, excellent work there NLC. I just thing the whole summer football thing would boost our game.

4. and 5. TV in the summer. Scottish football would be up against all the major golf competitions, major events like the Olympics, European Championships, Wimbledon, rugby world cups, cricket etc etc. It would be a great idea to REDUCE the amount of coverage that Scottish football gets. Outside of Old Firm matches there is no real television audience for SPL matches - that will not change by switching to summer football. Ask any television executive when the lowest television audiences are and they will say "the summer".

Ladies day on the first Saturday at Wimbledon and Women's final on the second. Third round of the Open, Rugby World Cups take place during the football season, well the last one was in October. Olympics .... OK you got me on that one, we'll miss table tennis semi-finals and the 10,000m walk. A football game including build up is a 3 hour event. Even in the summer there is still 40m people living south of the border allowing for 10m in Marmaris, Valarakie and Tenerife.

[Summer Football]

I did a search before starting this and couldn't find anything similar, so here goes.

 

I'm an advocate for summer football for the following reasons outlined below. I think our game needs some reinvigoration to give it oomph and make it an attractive prospect again. I know there will be traditionalists out there who will argue "don't fix what ain't broken" but I think our game at present is in need of a jump start.

 

The gate at Fir Park has been dwindling since I first attended, I can see a notable difference since I worked on the gates 15 years ago to now. If the next 15 years follows the precedent t set then I fear it looks bleak.

 

So for me here are the pro's, feel free to add to the list and I'll update the first post.

 

PRO's

1. All the boffins seem to point to our climate being better summers, worse winters, more rain. Think of a season without postponments, traffic issues, sitting in a stand at -2 degrees. Think how enjoyable watching football in the first and last months of a season. With the later nights more kids would be inclined to come along, and a winter shutdown from mid December to mid March avoiding the worst of our weather/conditions. Clubs better enabled to plan and not have call off/rearrangement costs (according to Dundee Utd, it equates to half price re-entry for every member of away support).
   
2. Playing surface integrity, an end to heavy pitches, destroyed goal mouths and punt the ball football.
   
3. Improved player technical skills as a result promoted as a result, filtering down over time to improve our game. A fair bit off I will agree.
   
4. There is always a market for football, think about how we all itch for the season to start, summer football could ensure Sky has something to fill the summer with opposed to its current nonsense, the SPL would get a higher billing as a result (think how many will watch the Japanese J-League if its on just because its football) and addicts down south would heighten awareness and revenues.
   
5. We live on an island dominated by our southern neighbour, their product is quite rightly the most entertaining on the planet at present and gets all the exposure, the BBC news on a Saturday has to show Scottish football highlights and scores through obligation rather than desire or interest. We could have centre billing for 3 months. Exposure = Revenue.
   
6. A pre-scheduled break of 1 month every second year starting 3 weeks before the major championships that could be extended to a further month if Scotland is successful in qualifying. This would allow for summer holidays, and pre-tournament build up. Lets be honest how many Scottish based foreign players will be affected by a World Cup?
   
7. No more debacles like the Norway game because we start too late, only issue that will affect us will be 2nd phase European knockout games, however not an issue if we qualify for the Euro's or WC as we'd have to factor an extra month in from mid February.
   
8. Players and all club staff can spend Christmas and New Year with friends and family.
   
9. Plenty of alternatives for us to get that football fix when our league is on downtime.
   
10. Everyone having a sunnier disposition as a result of the nicer conditions ...... jury's out.
    

CON's

1. Some may like football intertwined with the Christmas/New Year break
   
2. Tradition
   
3. Overlaps with summer holidays/major tournaments
   

Before anyone says it, I know playing in December and March will still encounter testing conditions and won't eradicate all issues, but I think it would be reduced by at least 80-90% a season.

[Our Relationship With Fans, The Mfc Trust And The Supporters Association]

With hindsight targeting old firm season ticket holders from the shire would be a waste of resources. As you said, it should be the 20 or so who claim to follow them who would make easier pickings .... I suddenly feel like the Pied Piper.

 

Decreasing attendences are prevolent throughout all of Scottish football, remember in the early mid 90's the 20,000 waiting list at Ibrox and after McCann left Celtic, the same if not more.

 

With English football free on a Saturday night or live with a Sky subscription its not hard to see why the punter struggles to justify £22 for average Scottish fare.

 

I would opt for summer football as I think the benefits outweigh the negatives 10 fold. However its not going to happen anytime soon and its not something that can be tackled by Leeann at present.

 

Why will people come to Fir Park:

 

1./ Price

2./ Atmosphere

3./ Winning Team

4./ Quality product

5./ Awareness

 

What can we do above the above?

 

1./ Price is down to the club and its overheads, higher attendence can result in a reduction but to get them in MFC have to take a hit initally. Club has to be careful not to alienate and foster resentment from the core who have paid full whack in June/July though

2./ Seating has affected it, so has closing off the south end of the East stand, I'm sure everyone who regularly attends would welcome any ideas to boost this without going down an American gimicky route.

3./ Down to Jack and Vic and the players.

4./ Continuity, stability and camoradarie akin to what Ferguson fostered at Man Utd with the Giggs/Butt/Beckham generation. As for the gound the facilities could be improved with minimal cost and effort, something that could be addressed immediately unless the club has contracts with suppliers/service providers.

5./ Down to the Well fans engaging with those in the community who have fallen by the wayside, those who could be tempted and the club through a PR campaign in the press, radio and initiatives. (Leeds do unemployed tickets for example).

[Glory In Scotland Awaits Pellegrinio]

What exactly is a Maggary? Is it some sort of Australian furry marsupial?

[Our Relationship With Fans, The Mfc Trust And The Supporters Association]

This thread compelled me to finally join the forum and post rather than just read as a guest.

 

I think the idea of introducing new blood should be commended as is a direct link and engagement from those charged with the daily running of the club.

 

A bit about me - I'm sad to say that for the first 11 years of my life I supported one of the old firm, mainly due to the fact the strongest influence on my upbringing came from a little enclave just up the M74. I only ventured to Glasgow to see them only twice. At 11 I made a concious decision to support my local club for the following reasons:

 

a) I felt one extra fan at Fir Park would mean a lot more than one of 45,000 season ticket holders plus umpteen others/hangers-on

b) Proximity and ease to visit Fir Park regularly

c) Religious nonsense

d) Claret & Amber club made it attractive to the pocket money

 

Within 6 months we won the Scottish Cup, I still believe I was as instrumental as Stevie Kirk in the victory.

 

What generates income for Motherwell?

• Firstly .... bums on seats - buying tickets, strips, dodgy catering, etc.
  
• Secondly .... team performance/league position - top 6 ensures another old firm match, more interest from TV, European qualification, more fans from exposure, better advertising revenue
  

Around the time of starting university I was offered the chance to work on the gates at Fir Park, I don't know how it is now, but at the time it was a nice perk, albeit missing the first 20 minutes or so - 35mins when old firm. One thing I noticed over the seasons was the steady but gradual demise of the attendance. Regardless of anything that would ever go on at the club, the weather or if we were in the third division, a core of 2,000 would still show up because its ingrained and their blood is claret. 15 years ago an old firm match had 30 free seats in the East stand and at least 3 unwashed ejected, now the swathe of beige must sadden the vast majority of us.

 

The Trust and Supporters Association are made up of the 2,000, I think for the club to progress we have to attract those from the local area and like me 20 odd years ago. Therefore Leeann's suggestion certainly gets my vote. I'm not suggesting that those who clearly have a strong affinity to the club can't contribute, I am just suggesting that sometimes a new eyes look upon an issue from a different standpoint and with a different solution.

 

We are based in the centre of a large urban area laden with too many senior clubs to really release the full potential. However regardless, how many from our area jump on a bus and head into Glasgow every second week? We have to target these people, those willing to pay to watch Scottish football and those who could be persuaded if the conditions/cost is attractive. There will always be the diehards or gloryhunters, however if MFC is serious about its future it needs to consider some strategy on this. A innovative approach is certainly needed, I don't have the answer but to be fair neither has a successful businessman and countless others.

 

JB tried it when he first took over, I don't know the level of success but I can remember the south stand full of primary school kids/neds on a free day out. For me the issue is a complex one, the product isn't as good as it was (that's not just us, its the full league/national team), proliferation of football on TV, a generation who would rather play FIFA on the PS3 or Xbox rather than dump two jumpers on the ground, the list goes on ......

 

I also haven't worked on the gates for 8 years, that ended when I was asked to act as a steward in the bowels of the O'Donnell stand after being in a horsebox for the previous hour and a half. So I thanked them for the opportunity, handed in my jacket, and went forthwith the buy a half season ticket for the remainder of the season.