welldaft

Strike me down but we have conceded first. I guess it was going to happen sooner rather than later. I heard Kettlewell say how meticulous he is with his pre match planning. How about you teach the team to pass to one another and better yet how to defend cross balls into our box. I was surprised to read that it was a couple of headers that led to their goal……NOT. We are not very good. All that money we invested in the pitch coming back to bite us I guess….

I am just quoting what was said. I also have questioned many times if we needed to spend as much on pitch renovations. I mean £1m+ is a sh1t load of money for Motherwell or for any non city club. Still it does give us the moral high ground

That Motherwell invested £1.25m in our pitch. Which is money he dos not have for the player budget. Insinuating that Dundee could offer more for players than we could as a result.

Oooooft. Ketts on the radio not mincing his words. And I liked Dundee and their fans too . Please forgive us

Cmon Motherwell. We can do this….

As long as we are nothing like St Mirren or St Mirren fans then we should be perfectly fine. Now f**k off back to your own match thread. Thanks.

Q - Was your original post before the Motherwell tweet around player safety ? If not then I offer my apologies. If yes - you are clearly at it and a walloper…..Fair ?

It was a tattie field. You are quite correct to go back 15 years and point that out. Especially since most Well fans have been the rational ones in this thread. I can see your thinking behind this post…..

Pretty poor state of affairs ! Motherwell lose out as likely to be only a handful of away fans. Dundee lose out because there will be a few 000 less £ for gate money for both home and away fans.

Positive intitial impressions. Telling the SPFL they are a bunch of fannies is a huge plus point straight off the bat. Also interesting to hear him admit that the potential investment has been looked upon favourably so far and that the investor has spoken to him, the Well Society as well as the Chairman etc. Is anyone susprised he has had 20 calls with the Manager already……”Hi Brian….it is Stuart again…I forgot to mention….”

Thanks @JayMFC for a great summary once again. It is really good to read that the Well Society is continuing to evolve and address a lot of the shortcomings that were in place. Which undoubtedly undermined efforts to attract new members and old members who have stopped contributing on a regular basis. Now we apparently know who the potential investor is I am no more or less inclined to think favourably about any potential deal. I would say that without spending the day googling his net worth a former VP of Netflix is unlikely to have as deep pockets as Les Hutchison or even John Boyle. I maybe wrong but for me to agree to any outside investment that investment must be ringfenced and or protected. Let’s say I was worth £15m and I promised £500k PA over the next decade in return for 51% or similar. Then in 4 years time I was declared bankrupt because of my love for fast cars and malt whisky . Unless the individual concerned can prove he has the funds and is 99% unlikely or unable to renege then we will see. On such a basis I would ask for the money up front. Say £5m whatever deposited and used as and when required like the Well Society buffer. That would have me more likely say yes than the promise of £3-500k PA over a longer term.

I for one would be very surprised if any potential owner / investor is not seeking to gain an overall majority shareholding. I simply would not. How the investment is structured and how that will be summarised to the Well Society will be the key element. Absolutely nothing wrong with being sceptical, but it does appears some people already have their backs up and are shut off to any future proposal for reasons unknown to me. Certainly without knowing what is on the table. I think we were all surprised at the low % of Society members voting last time around. I would expect a much higher % this time around when we actually have something finite to vote on. I think most sensible people can work out quite quickly if this proposal is likely to be something that will benefit and safeguard the future of the club and be worthwhile voting favourably. Or just not worth the effort if the initial investment is on the inconsequential side as has been rumoured.

Strangely enough I think awful weather and a heavy pitch may be a leveller and good news for us. Not that Dundee are streets ahead of us, certainly in points terms, but that 1st half in the 3-3 game at Fir Park was some of the best attacking football I have seen from an away side this season. We blew our chance of top 6 losing to Aberdeen. So any points gained before the split are to realistically keep us away from 11th place. So yes blustery winds, rain etc and game on please. But very much doubt it will get the green light.

Said that also. They are either daft or have money to burn or probably both. Who leaks these things anyway. You would expect non disclosure to be part of any negotiations so I would take any sums on SO as fiction. But let’s just say for the sake of argument it is £300k PA. If we are prepared to consider that then we must be desperate for cash. I don’t expect many millions, but someone offering up only 5% of our t/o PA can only be looking for 5% shareholding PA if that. Would take 10 years to become a majority owner. Just does not add up. Anyway gives us something to talk about until the Dundee game is postponed…

Do I have to visit SO. So be it…

Or not…… Just maybe Busta we can see what is actually on offer before we fire it into the sea. I don’t doubt (and have said many times before) anyone willing to provide investment will want or should want majority ownership. That of course means a significant dilution to the Well Society shareholding. If and it is a big if the investors are prepared to underwrite any potential losses for a share of potential profits. That and there is 100% no risk at the end of all this that Motherwell can fall into administration or cease to exist or be under any existential threat then the Board have as they have said a duty to explore. It may well be this proves a much more attractive proposition to trying to get a few more £’s out of the Well Society each year. Which at a best guess would only ever amount to an extra couple of hundred thousand or thereabouts.

Yes and No. With the vast amount of relevant financial experience that Jim McMahon and Derek Weir have I very much doubt they would agree to even this next stage unless they felt it was likely the Well Society / fan base would approve. The previous chat was based on hearsay. I don’t doubt that may be accurate but perhaps the terms have changed since then. Either way I assume way we will all still have a vote regardless when more details emerge and we have something final to vote on.

If this game does not go ahead then the powers that be will have no choice but to deduct Dundee…….checks how many points they are ahead in the table…..I would say 10 points. Only fair. Leaving aside the well documented drainage pitch issues the rain has been relentless in Edinburgh also. Rather depressing looking at any forecast as there is rarely a day in the next 10 days where it is not raining for some or all all of the day. Welcome to Scottish spring time . Either that or if the game does go ahead Dundee players are forced to play in Wellies. Still would score a couple of goals against our not so solid defence.

I should point out that I drink Malt late on most Fridays and Saturdays. So any posts after 10pm should carry a bullshit warning. Not up to the usual high standards of my normal daytime posts . I am not saying he has not approached Barnes. I just recall him being asked at some point and answering with he knows where I am type response. Too late now anyways but with our last few results I think he would have been a welcome addition.

Stick by my original post. Granted the follow up one was malt whisky infused . The chances of Harvey Barnes playing for England are remote. If S Clarke made a serious play for him representing Scotland then I am sure he would consider it. Maybe he has. But reading between the lines he has basically said anyone who wants to play for Scotland knows where I am. Like I said before if you want something to happen you have to make it happen. If people want to ridicule that point then fine. But it is essentially true. Red dots or not. Barnes would slot nicely into our team and absolutely make us a more dangerous proposition.

This a 100 times over. It is clear to see for even a blind man that our defence has been a major weakness. That includes the goalie. I would not renew anyone’s contract and start afresh but I am sure Kelly will be offered something. Even today for the goal when the ball landed in the middle of the box he seemed to be at the back post. He is at best an average goalie who has the odd good game in a while. But nothing that could not be replaced quite easily imho.

Not having that. Kettlewell talks for Britain and often has no plan B. But anyone who can take our team of huddies with the lowest budget in many a year and looks like he will get us safe deserves to stay in position. His line up baffles me sometimes. No more than his ineffectual subs but over his tenure he has done a more than decent job.

I said it before and will say it again. Harvey Barnes is exactly the type of player we needed to inject some fresh blood and quality in the side. Steve Clarke - last seen saying he knows where we are if he or anyone wants a cap . Steve has done a very good job but we know he is a stubborn so and so. I very much doubt he has proactively spoken to HB. Which in my mind is an absolute dereliction of duty and why at times I cannot warm to S Clarke.

Based on today I would say you are a few millimetres better than Motherwell.

That was a turgid affair truth be told. We started brightly then for the 600th time this season conceded a comic cuts goal when even basic defending would have prevented it. Basic defending that is beyond this team. For the 3rd season in a row I will say we need to sort out the CB positions next year. A bloody priority ! St Mirren looked a poorer version of the earlier season team but it did look like they knew they did not have to do too much to stop us scoring and take away the 3 points. Until we scored that is. I did feel we had quite a few decent opportunities in terms of possession and crosses into their box. But I also felt like we were never going to score. Until we did. A draw was OK given Ross C and St J lost. So a game down and a point gained on both. Not a bad days work. Impressed by the St Mirren crowd. Clearly losing 5 goals in 20 minutes had been forgiven as many supports would have see a noticeable drop off. Credit it to them for turning up. Top 6 all but wrapped up. Another season when we have to accept they are the better side. This will not do at all .