capt_oats

Aye. For avoidance of doubt, absolutely zero shade from me towards Scott's work here btw.

As one of the admittedly pretty niche demographic who has on occasion listened to a Scottish Fitba Marketing podcast I'm pretty sure Burrows and Russell spoke about that stuff in their chats and in terms of the view of developing a culture and identity around the club and this is pretty much what they decided. That said, those pods were in 2020 and 3 years is a long time to be running with the same messaging. It kind of feels like it's the sort of thing that you can only lean on so much and keeping returning to that particular well probably has diminishing returns and to go back to Burrows' exit, this specific point feels relevant: Then again, in light of the season we've just had and the fact that there probably aren't that many tent poles to hang a campaign on (we're not safe from relegation/play-off, the squad is up in the air, the manager is doing well but it's still a small sample size etc) at the moment we are where we are in that respect and I guess there's a chance the brief for the campaign was drawn up before Burrows cleared his desk (along with other future stuff that needed signed off on). Incidentally re: those pods. The Burrows one is here: https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/football-development/club-services/developing-your-club/scottish-football-marketing-podcast/inside-motherwell-fc/ The Grant Russell one is here: https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/football-development/club-services/developing-your-club/scottish-football-marketing-podcast/content-and-branding-at-motherwell-fc/ and the full archive is here: https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/football-development/club-services/developing-your-club/scottish-football-marketing-podcast/

I think this this is it really. The club have generally been good in terms of being seen to "do the right thing" when it's come to the past few years and that builds up a fair bit of goodwill but in this sort of circumstance it's a difficult circle to square as the economic factors behind it affect both sides and in fairness the accompanying letter from McMahon acknowledges that they've 'reluctantly' increased the prices. It's why I was curious to see how our new prices compare with our peer group which - give or take - is broadly in line. Cheaper than some. You can make arguments about quality on display but in context it's not like they're ripping anyone off but it's the relative hike that raises an eyebrow but again, I'd guess a certain amount of that is out of our hands. Tbh, I'd guess this hike was probably in the post regardless of the manager changes and associated costs involved. I suppose we're in a bit of a weird place: The Steven Hammell Experiment was a fucking trauma, the decision to actually give him the job in the first place raises competence questions, of our current starting XI only 4 are contracted for next year and one of those is an absolute stick on to leave in the summer along with our soon to be minted out of contract YPOTY. That leaves a raft of contracted players who, as it stands, aren't actually good enough to get into our first team. That we're still without a CEO means we seem to be lacking a bit of direction and it feels like the whole project has plateaued a bit - which I suppose was always going to happen because ultimately there's a glass ceiling on the numbers we can realistically pull. None of that is meant to be an everything's ruined downer (it's clearly not) instead it's more an acknowledgement it's a tough backdrop to be trying to punt season books. And, like others I realise it's easy for me to sit and comment given I was a Day 1 PATG guy.

Yeah. To be clear, that wasn't a dig at the asset/creative they've put together or anything like that it's just the messaging that jars a bit in context. Again, it raises the question about the current lack of a head of comms. It's already hit 8k views (in comparison the 'Fuel The Fire' one from 2018 is sitting on 47.2k views 5 years later, the 'free' season tickets one that went viral in 2021 is sitting on 777.2k views). The fact that our season ticket sales had been broadly trending up, even discounting the artificial inflation of the post-Covid season where we went full Oprah in dishing them out, suggests that the strategy we've had works and the reach we get from doing these is useful even if a lot of the engagement is from the "I'm not a Motherwell fan but...class " types which obviously isn't going to translate into a sale.

See, I think given the circumstances most people would have expected a modest increase in price but as @thisGRAEME says, from a comms POV leading into a ST campaign that's sees the cheapest tickets bounce up in price by £45 (compared with £15 at the last increase) by leaning into the well worn tropes and literally saying "Motherwell is a town that has dealt with hardship..." as your opening line is quite the fucking choice.

Having a swatch about here are a couple of clubs who have announced their ST prices for next season:

Looking at it from the POV of 5 seasons, 3 of those were frozen (albeit 1 was played behind closed doors and the subsequent 'free' season was paid for by either the insurance pay out or David Turnbull). The price jump between 21/22 and 22/23 for an adult early bird came in at: JH - £15 more DC - £15 more POD - £16 more Given everything costs more these days then as @Handsome_Devil suggests (and full disclosure I'm also in the 'not a season ticket holder' bracket) you'd have expected that an increase would have been in the post but it definitely feels like a noticeable bump and as @Casagolda alludes to there are probably a multitude of self inflicted factors involved. Genuinely quite curious as to how the prices stack up against our peer group now as our cheap seats always felt relatively well priced in comparison.

These are the current season's prices: https://www.motherwellfc.co.uk/2022/05/13/2022-23-season-tickets-now-on-sale/ vs next season https://www.motherwellfc.co.uk/2023/04/28/2023-24-season-tickets-now-on-sale/ Early bird differences for an adult as follows: POD = £20 more. DC = £45 more JH = £45 more FWIW: here are the 21/22 prices - they were frozen from the 20/21 Covid and curtailed 19/20 seasons:

Season tickets announced. Fair fucks. They're getting their money's worth out of that drone.

Can't imagine who will win?

Still no backflip.

There he is...

I thought that KVV articulated it pretty well in his post-match. It wasn't even a case of him saying the quiet bit loud it's just what has really seemed pretty obvious to me about how we position ourselves with this stuff: And that's it, there will be a number that all parties know and broadly agree that it's worth having a conversation about - it'll be an amount that makes it worth our while and protects our interests but not so much that it actively puts people off. There are probably two examples of the model that stick out and show the extent to which it's a balancing act: Marvin to Oxford where he/his agent chucked their toys out the pram and made the (not unreasonable) point that we were being offered several multiples of what we actually paid for him (IIRC around £40k). Sidebar: can we patch this idea that we haven't paid a transfer fee in 15 years or whatever. We've paid fucking loads of them - the accounts have us spending £500k on players last season FFS. The other is McInnes persistently (and tediously) low-balling us for Moult (with Dick Gordon and Willie Miller aghast at our temerity in knocking them back - how very dare we, who do we think we are etc) only to eventually sell him to Preston 6 months later for considerably more than Aberdeen were offering when he still had a full year left. As @Swello says, actively blocking, in KVV's words, "an amazing step" (rather than just a sideways move to an Aberdeen, Hibs or Hearts) for the sake of £100k here or there doesn't really do us any favours in the broader scheme of things if we're making a pitch that we're a club that will help a player progress their career.

On the KVV valuation and whether he'll have clubs interested kind of brings me to the fact that one of the things we seems to have been quite good at is working with a player in actively securing a move. You look at Andy Rose getting his move to Vancouver, Moult to Preston, Kipré to Wigan, Beneghan to Sheffield Utd, Scott to Hull...we've generally been true to our word in players progressing their career while under contract. @Casagolda linked to an interview with Daws ages ago on the TransferRoom platform and the seminar seems to be a fixture in our recruitment schedule (2021, 2022). A lot of the stuff in those links read like #ad content there was a piece on The Athletic that probably hints at the fact that given the format there's a decent chance we'll know exactly how much interest there would be in an asset like KVV at the price point we're looking at. Presumably it's also an indicator as to how random Chinese clubs end up trying to take punts on Motherwell players.

The story is that the shoot for this has been an absolute car-crash but it has an air date and new trailer.

Ketts talking about his first 9 games...

Kind of related to the KVV fee chat but also a nod to the semi-regular "Steelmen Online...what are they like, eh?" narrative having just read that apparently "with a couple of exceptions we have been brutal over the years at getting the best value for any players we have developed and / or brought in and moved on for a profit". I'd say that we've generally done alright recently in terms of getting relative value...by my count going back to Erwin we've brought in a reported £9m+ in transfer fees, sell-ons or development fees and that's before you factor in the clutch of recent "undisclosed" fees. Like, last set of accounts showed we brought in around £1m in a season where we barely sold anyone of note outside of Tony Watt and Allan Campbell left for Luton. The idea that we've been "brutal" on that front is something of a myth now that's been perpetuated from the days where we were pretty much giving the likes of Murphy and Reynolds away. Anyway here the rough list:

He's quite good at these like...

I'd imagine there are a few variables: What market we're selling to, how keen KVV is on the move etc. I don't see us being prohibitive if it's a good opportunity and we're getting weighed in (relatively speaking - bearing in mind we got him for nothing from Scunthorpe). Equally, I'd guess that our valuation may have been different outside of a transfer window when we're in relegation bother compared to when the window is open and we're in a position to actively recruit in advance. Porter (25) had 6 months left and went to Derby for £400k Moult (25) had 6 months left on his deal and went to Preston for £500k Assuming we stay up? 32 year old, 25+ goal striker with a year left and potentially some league POTY nods? I'd have thought somewhere around £750k would get our attention. That said, I think the wildcard element is that if he was open to moving to China then there's a fair chance oor Kev isn't going to be particularly picky about where he lands. It's basically an auction for who'll pay him the most. Which is absolutely fair enough.

Tbh, it's just helpful from his POV and briefing Burns with the (old) story means the club keep KVV onside as I'd guess that the quid pro quo of us kb'ing the offer is that we'll do everything we can to get him his move in the summer. The Chinese transfer window is closed so it's not a live issue so there's no real harm in the info being out there now. It validates what he was saying in the press conference the other day. It presumably also clarifies the "other stuff" that he'd vaguely mentioned was going on in the background he mentioned in a previous presser. The whole article sets out his/the club's position in that it makes it clear he's open to a move and making as much money as possible but also that the club have a figure in mind that needs matched. Fair fucks tbh.

The official line was "mutual consent". What that actually looked like though IDK. Tbf, seeing as it looks like they're heading for relegation from the Championship I'd say that he'd be fine in League 1 it's not exactly a sophisticated league in terms of the fitba' and it's absolutely his wheelhouse. He's managed 150 games at that level and finished 10th with Fleetwood. 3rd with Scunthorpe and they were 5th when he left.

Well...