fatcalf Posted February 10, 2011 Report Share Posted February 10, 2011 Move to Ravenscraig and hope it becomes a decent town. Motherwell as a town is done, at best a split between commuter town/ned central. Nothing unifies the town, it's just convenient for the motorway and the train into Glasgow. And change the name while you're there, Ravenscraig Steelers has a certain ring to it don'tcha think buddy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteelmaninOZ Posted February 10, 2011 Report Share Posted February 10, 2011 C'mon ye Ravenscraig Steelers..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gullane Posted February 10, 2011 Report Share Posted February 10, 2011 Pool tables, decent tv and decent pints in the cooper suite and have it operating as a pub/members club. Open maybe 3-4 nights per week + on big games outwith those days. Potentially a wee bit of an earner, but conscious of taking business away from JD's - don't care much for the Fir Park Club myself. Football idol - fans go along to a few pre-arranged friendly matches and get a game amongst each other, have judges (coaches) there. Select an 11 out of the best lot and get them to play a wee match against maybe the reserves / under-19's or something and one or two lucky folk get to train with the club with all the gear etc for a month, and if they impress, get a chance to win a wee 6 month deal or something. Not necessarily gonna yield the next ronaldo but there are a lot of good junior/amateur players out there and you never know! Also would gain exposure in the press as a result and give a really positive vibe of the club, even if none of the players are good enough to take on necessarily. Just a couple of things i've thought of. To be honest, I think the club do a good job with the limited resources they have and the size of our support. A number of things we can rightly praise them on: 1. a first class website, probably one of the best looking and most functional in Scotland. If not even the best. 2. Away trip packages when we were in europe - professionally run, and well equipped to deal with just the right size of support there. 3. Collaborating with the trust and other groups to have things like the open forum nights. How many clubs do you know where the manager, chief exec and the like will turn up for these kind of things? 4. Open communication - on here and in other mediums. We are an SPL team. We log onto an unofficial forum. The chief exec of said club posts on here and reads a lot of the thread. That deserves a lot of credit IMO. Especially since Leeann re-iterates time and again of her open door policy with regard emails and discussions with fans. 5. The team. The team deserves a lot of credit for the way they go about their business. On and off the pitch. We are a team that tries to play football and gives opponents the respect they deserve - but not too much And our players are a credit to the club off the park in terms of doing work for charity, the community and generally behaving in the professional and polite manner we'd expect of them. 6. Youth development - a fantastic setup we have with such limited resources. Not really much more needing to be said about that. The general nags I have are more ones that are generic to Scottish football as a whole, and are something we can't really do something about without either A. a change in mentality in the game overall or B. a huge injection to our finances. Such as: 1. Ticket prices. We can't lower ours if no-one else will do the same. It'd kill us. 2. Safe standing areas - I believe the legislation may change on this in future years. 3. The stadium and pitch - Not a lot we can do about it except patch up when we need to. We simply can't afford to either rebuild fir park or move to a new stadium the way that our club and the land value's finances are at the moment. 4. Cheaper replica kit - again, seems to be standard across the board. 5. More exciting football - needs a league restructure and football association legislative changes. All in all I'd say I'm very proud to support Motherwell, and I think they deserve a lot of credit for what they do. From the players to Leeann, 'Flow, Wilma and the girls, JP etc etc. For me anyway, it seems like myself and the vast majority of people are pissed off at the football club inadvertantly due to issues outwith the club's direct control. I sincerely believe that if there was a way to significantly reduce entry prices and make the game a much more attractive prospect to us in terms of competitiveness and experience, they'd jump on it in a flash. Great post Gaag. Counteracts all the negativity that is often projected on these boards. It's great to be a Well fan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadywellToi Posted February 10, 2011 Report Share Posted February 10, 2011 You can see why he's a moderator, reasoned response, opposed to some of the mental stuff that went before it. For me, in the short term, with SFA/UEFA permission of course, I'd like to see: A return to standing in the east with a partition to allow banter between fans. my best memories stem from away matches at places such as Falkirk and atmosphere standing and the one liners. Fans encouraged to police themselves. We all know that flares are not liked by the authorities, so why persevere? If it's a "the man says no, so I'm going to do it" rebellious thing any real and welcome concessions we get could be removed by the nanny state in which we live putting pressure on the club. However I fear our society now is completely focused on short termism. Encourage the local authority to promote MFC as the only premier team in the county. We offer a lot in terms of exposure and PR. I'd look to try and get C&A adopted more locally on railings, banners outside the civic, brandon parade in the same way it is on the continent. The is no mistaking that Odense is blue and white. I suppose the problem is NLC covers 6 major towns, opposed to one. Also, Increase local advertising. Increased summer football - not really much to add on that, except we are getting an extra 2 weeks from next season, its a start at least. In a dream world: Move to Ravenscraig, a really innovative stadium such as "The Wall" that has been covered before on here. The smaller stands can be used for all standing or seating, steepish for atmosphere same as Tynecastle, corners filled in, boxes above, able to be used during the week for other purposes. Design would lead to it being considered for concerts and outdoor events. Main stand located to the north for obvious reasons. Ditch the green, again for obvious reasons. The Wall Stadium offers so much more than lego St Mirren Park type grounds. Architectural icon and possibly a visitor attraction same way as Falkirk Wheel. Height of the stand would offer good views over the Clyde Valley and advertising opportunity due to its exposure ability to see it from quite a distance. Due to the size of the main stand plenty of space a shop, and 2 restaurants at ground level and main entrance. Above, for functions/meetings and exhibitions, Lanarkshire is in need of a decent sized venue. Plenty of circulation space outside the main stand, (ideally something like Nancy) all pedestrian so people can congregate similar to some English grounds. Ideally the new station leads out to this space too. Stadium incorporated with as many businesses as possible to ensure its not a ghost town outside matchdays. Either shops/services built into the stands or something similar to the computer suites we currently have in the Cooper. Something like that combined with facilities at Ravenscraig would attract a fair few players too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteelmaninOZ Posted February 10, 2011 Report Share Posted February 10, 2011 You can see why he's a moderator, reasoned response, opposed to some of the mental stuff that went before it. For me, in the short term, with SFA/UEFA permission of course, I'd like to see: A return to standing in the east with a partition to allow banter between fans. my best memories stem from away matches at places such as Falkirk and atmosphere standing and the one liners. Fans encouraged to police themselves. We all know that flares are not liked by the authorities, so why persevere? If it's a "the man says no, so I'm going to do it" rebellious thing any real and welcome concessions we get could be removed by the nanny state in which we live putting pressure on the club. However I fear our society now is completely focused on short termism. Encourage the local authority to promote MFC as the only premier team in the county. We offer a lot in terms of exposure and PR. I'd look to try and get C&A adopted more locally on railings, banners outside the civic, brandon parade in the same way it is on the continent. The is no mistaking that Odense is blue and white. I suppose the problem is NLC covers 6 major towns, opposed to one. Also, Increase local advertising. Increased summer football - not really much to add on that, except we are getting an extra 2 weeks from next season, its a start at least. In a dream world: Move to Ravenscraig, a really innovative stadium such as "The Wall" that has been covered before on here. The smaller stands can be used for all standing or seating, steepish for atmosphere same as Tynecastle, corners filled in, boxes above, able to be used during the week for other purposes. Design would lead to it being considered for concerts and outdoor events. Main stand located to the north for obvious reasons. Ditch the green, again for obvious reasons. The Wall Stadium offers so much more than lego St Mirren Park type grounds. Architectural icon and possibly a visitor attraction same way as Falkirk Wheel. Height of the stand would offer good views over the Clyde Valley and advertising opportunity due to its exposure ability to see it from quite a distance. Due to the size of the main stand plenty of space a shop, and 2 restaurants at ground level and main entrance. Above, for functions/meetings and exhibitions, Lanarkshire is in need of a decent sized venue. Plenty of circulation space outside the main stand, (ideally something like Nancy) all pedestrian so people can congregate similar to some English grounds. Ideally the new station leads out to this space too. Stadium incorporated with as many businesses as possible to ensure its not a ghost town outside matchdays. Either shops/services built into the stands or something similar to the computer suites we currently have in the Cooper. Something like that combined with facilities at Ravenscraig would attract a fair few players too. The Wall.....I'll wait till I see it in Qatar .....The Old Firm would use it as a toilet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the fox Posted February 10, 2011 Report Share Posted February 10, 2011 Great post Gaag. Counteracts all the negativity that is often projected on these boards. It's great to be a Well fan. How will the pool tables get up the stairs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlukemurray Posted February 10, 2011 Report Share Posted February 10, 2011 I'm not sure if I can add anything original to the post on here, but as it is something I feel strongly about I would like to air my views. Safe standing - Probably a bit of a dream, but I like the post that says Motherwell should take the initiative on this. Set aside an area. There will always be people that want to sit and there will always be those that want to stand. The atmosphere at grounds used to be so much better with terracing, whether it was in or next to 'the cage' at Fir Park, or being in the old Claret and Amber club in front of the Main Stand and marvelling at the Hearts fans twirling their scarves above their heads in their 80's heyday, or gazing across to 'the jungle' at Parkhead when my Dad took me to the main stand there, or standing at Hampden as we took on Italy and Baggio. Germany has shown the way, not only with safe standing, but also with reasonable ticket prices, drinking areas/fan zones.... Pricing - it costs far too much money to go to Fir Park and watch Motherwell, unless you buy a season ticket. Due to work and family I can't go every week. I think there are so many people in my boat, 'floating fans'. However the high prices don't attract me to go at times when i could, I pick and choose my games. I'd go more often if it was £15 or a tenner for some games. The price for kids/families is just far too much. Bring back the Claret and Amber Club, kids in for £1, or even £5. Likewise for students/unemployed/pensioners For those that say it will kill the club, I could easily argue that the club is dying on its arse anyway. Now is the time for Scottish football to take dramatic action to move forwards and it would be amazing if Motherwell could lead the way. Are some of our suggestions that unpractical? Boyle's cheap tickets a decade ago filled the ground at times, I remember Dundee United when McClair came back. However he was also paying outlandish wages. Cheaper tickets with more emphasis on youth shouldn't be too far fetched. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernie Posted February 10, 2011 Report Share Posted February 10, 2011 . I suppose the problem is NLC covers 6 major towns, opposed to one. Also, Increase local advertising. Aye but what about South Lanarkshire? A huge number of our support inhabits the towns of Lanark, Carluke, EK, Hamilton, Blantyre, Uddingston and Larkhall. If we are asking the council for support then it should be both North and South or do we let the Accies have the south to themselves? We are Lanarkshire's premier club. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leroy Trusco Posted February 10, 2011 Report Share Posted February 10, 2011 I'd get they fuckin main stand stairs painted. Total disgrace Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadywellToi Posted February 10, 2011 Report Share Posted February 10, 2011 Aye but what about South Lanarkshire? A huge number of our support inhabits the towns of Lanark, Carluke, EK, Hamilton, Blantyre, Uddingston and Larkhall. If we are asking the council for support then it should be both North and South or do we let the Accies have the south to themselves? We are Lanarkshire's premier club. Don't dispute that, however if you try to align yourself with how a South Lanarkshire councilor would think, there is little chance they would actively support Motherwell either in funding or other forms of support without Accies crying foul. We all know we eclipse them in support, continuity and brand in the whole of Lanarkshire, problem is there would be a fair number of South Lanarkshire councilors will admit that when some are likely to have a higher number of Accies fans in their constituencies. As for the Wall, if the old firm do have a slash, I'd advocate a sensor based system to spray anyone up to nonsense. Fill it full of blessed holy water when the Currants are in town and soapy water when the Unwashed visit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLip69 Posted February 10, 2011 Report Share Posted February 10, 2011 With every season ticket issue a free kids club season ticket for children under 12 and charge only £20 a season for the any other kids under 12. That way a season ticket holder with 2 kids is only paying £20 for the season to bring them along. The kids will spend their dosh in the shops, have a good day out and, hopefully, end up buying season tickets for themselves and their kids in turn. That's how it worked for most of us if we're honest, my dad used to lift me over the turnstile and no-one blinked an eye. In truth back in the old days I would estimate a good 75%, probably more, of the kids in the ground would have got in scot free. We need to give the kids a chance to build a relationship with the club to keep them coming back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernie Posted February 10, 2011 Report Share Posted February 10, 2011 Don't dispute that, however if you try to align yourself with how a South Lanarkshire councilor would think, there is little chance they would actively support Motherwell either in funding or other forms of support without Accies crying foul. We all know we eclipse them in support, continuity and brand in the whole of Lanarkshire, problem is there would be a fair number of South Lanarkshire councilors will admit that when some are likely to have a higher number of Accies fans in their constituencies. Sorry but I think that the Airdrie councillors might shout a bit louder about supporting the 'Well than the councillors in South Lanarkshire, never mind those in Coatbridge. My point was that as we are Lanarkshire's premier club then we should ask both of the Lanarkshire councils to support the club. However, in these time of financial austerity there is no chance of the councils wasting money on 1 of the 4 clubs in the district and that doesn't include the 2 biggest supported teams in the council Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spud123 Posted February 10, 2011 Report Share Posted February 10, 2011 Okay, it's a pissy Wednesday afternoon, so here's something to think about. We'll use the scenario that John Boyle has approached you and asked for your opinion on which aspect of the club you would like to see improved. He's offered a reasonable sum of money for one idea, and asked for your general opinion on another. The money can be used to improve some aspect of the east stand, tend to the catering facilities, open a new club shop in the town centre etc. The idea you have has to be reasonable and realistic. The second part of the question is what would you personally like to see changed at Fir Park? It can be something like the amount of use the club get out of the function facilities, an idea that you would like to see implemented to improve local community relations etc. Thoughts and opinions folks! JB has approached well fans on a few occasions that i know of myself and a few mates went down to tranmere years ago for a pre season game JB came into the stand and sat with us for 10 or so minutes and asked what we thought was the way ahead for MFC got the usual bullshit answers but i think we were all in agreement it had to be youth he may not use your advice but he will certainly listen to it it wouldn't surprise me if he has a look through the forum every now and again to see what fans are thinking Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yoshi-1991 Posted February 10, 2011 Report Share Posted February 10, 2011 i think theres no doubt that without the kids, theres no future, if we dont get the kids in the doors then we wont have any suport in the next 10-20 years. we need so get out into school, givin FREE coaching, FREE t shirts, FREE tickets! yes the thought of this will probably have John boyle feeling queezy and him and the board would probably come out with the " we do stuff in the community blah blah blah" well my answer is its not enough, its never enough, if you want the club to grow you need to do more and more, never settle for what we have, push for bigger and better. and im sure there a fans out there like me who are willing to help out for nothing, just the satisfaction of helping the club so use us, we are here to help. so to sum up my point. if you want to grow the fan base, you need to be willing to put your hand in your pocket. otherwise there will be no one left. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yabba's Turd Posted February 11, 2011 Report Share Posted February 11, 2011 When does growing the fan base pay off though? Everything has to be worth something or you're throwing money away Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteelmaninOZ Posted February 11, 2011 Report Share Posted February 11, 2011 I remember when there was ONE Lanarkshire County Council....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yoshi-1991 Posted February 11, 2011 Report Share Posted February 11, 2011 When does growing the fan base pay off though? Everything has to be worth something or you're throwing money away growing the fan base would mean more money, theres no club without fans, so more fans = better club, it makes sence. and apart from anything else, when i go to a game and see a 3500 odd crowd i can help but think to myself, " this must look feckin empty on the highlights". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Diggle Posted February 11, 2011 Report Share Posted February 11, 2011 I'd put a message out urging all well fans in all stands to stand up for the 90 mins of home matches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadywellToi Posted February 11, 2011 Report Share Posted February 11, 2011 I'd agree, however I think too many have got used to seating now and opt for and prefer it. I don't think you can beat standing. I'd be interested to know if we'd ever be able to advocate something like they have in bus shelters, the 3ft off the ground sloped bench that gives just enough purchase to the buttocks. Ryanair had suggested something similar on their flights, however that was just for free publicity/shock factor. It would increase the capacity too. However a whole minefield of testing, red tape and UEFA rules no doubt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Diggle Posted February 11, 2011 Report Share Posted February 11, 2011 Just thinking back to the last Rangers game at Fir Park. They stood to a man - we all sat (bar the usual guys in the south east) As a club we were beaten before the ref blew for the match to start. Not one official challenged any of them to sit - and every single one of them stood for the 90. I suppose it's like this for all OF games though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadywellToi Posted February 11, 2011 Report Share Posted February 11, 2011 If you can suggest a way you can ask and get 7,000 to all sit and continue to do so then I'm sure the club would implement it. I think the only way would be to hold the game up, which would never happen. I'd rather the home support seen this and acted ourselves to counter it, however a degree of complacency and comfort has permeated through our fans (section E apart). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Diggle Posted February 11, 2011 Report Share Posted February 11, 2011 Agreed. I'd rather let them stand - and for us to match them. It would actually be too much pain to take the cretins on. (unless we hose the fuckers with a water canon) They always find a way to intimidate us in our own stadium(s) - They always have - That's what they do! We discussed (on the forum) before the fact that we used to be severely overrun at FP - because there was nowhere for well fans to stand - we just gave them the whole stadium. it used to be a real hairy experience watching us vs the OF at Fir Park Via the fanzines in the late 80s we challenged Motherwell to allocate a bigger and bigger area for well fans and our support for these games the club took it on board and responded by allocating an area and promoting the fact and the turn-out grew and grew until we had a right good home support for these games. Things have eroded somewhat with the advent of 'Old Firm Away Day TV' & we scored a spectacular own goal with the Cooper handover a few years back and it's continued to be downhill ever since. The time has come for positive action to take these scumbags on again. We can't be beat before the game kicks off. As a club, As fans we really need to do something Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatcalf Posted February 11, 2011 Report Share Posted February 11, 2011 We discussed (on the forum) before the fact that we used to be severely overrun at FP - because there was nowhere for well fans to stand - we just gave them the whole stadium. it used to be a real hairy experience watching us vs the OF at Fir Park Via the fanzines in the late 80s we challenged Motherwell to allocate a bigger and bigger area for well fans and our support for these games the club took it on board and responded by allocating an area and promoting the fact and the turn-out grew and grew until we had a right good home support for these games. Reckon the amount of trouble because of the lack of segregation forced the clubs hands more. But it's true, when they eventually acted our support grew, many fans opted to simply stay away from OF games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kmcalpin Posted February 11, 2011 Report Share Posted February 11, 2011 Pool tables, decent tv and decent pints in the cooper suite and have it operating as a pub/members club. Open maybe 3-4 nights per week + on big games outwith those days. Potentially a wee bit of an earner, but conscious of taking business away from JD's..... Some good stuff in this post Gaag and in others, however the effect on JD's simply doesn't come into my thinking nor will it come into the thinking of the vast majority of Well fans or the club. Many of the issues raised need to be directed at organisations other than the club. Some posters on here are desperate for a safe standing area - not my cup of tea but fair enough. This is totally outwith the club's control. Some posters feel very strongly about it and I acknowledge that, but I'll warrant no more than say 6 of you have written to your MSPs/MPs about it or gone to their surgeries to vent your feelings. Ticketing and security - genuine issues. How many of you have written to the police and visited the local officer in charge to put across your views. Its a bit like visiting your local Tescos/Morrisons/Asdas/Sainsburys and complaining bitterly about the rate of VAT to the checkout operator. Travel to games? Yes, its absolutely extortionate in my view. How many of you travel on subsidised Association buses? Many good points in this thread that the club could look at but quite a few too, although genuine issues, are attributed wrongly to MFC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatcalf Posted February 12, 2011 Report Share Posted February 12, 2011 Some posters on here are desperate for a safe standing area - not my cup of tea but fair enough. This is totally outwith the club's control. Some posters feel very strongly about it and I acknowledge that, but I'll warrant no more than say 6 of you have written to your MSPs/MPs about it or gone to their surgeries to vent your feelings. Have raised the issue and got the expected response from my own MP and whoever in the party deals with sport, not interested in the slightest. Just sent a letter with the standard drivel you'd expect from someone who couldn't give a flying fuck. Waste of time Dave, going through the club may bring more success, they can change things, maybe not officially but an agreement can be reached if the will is there. FWIW I'm not bothered about getting an official standing area, I just want the stewards to lay off those who prefer to stand as long as they're not causing a nuisance. And I want the club to recognise that fans are very well behaved compared to years gone by and give a bit of leeway rather than allow power hungry hi-vis lunatics to make their own attempt at a Highland Clearance. Half the time these eejits cause bother with their attitude then it's the fans who react who end up being carted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.