thisGRAEME Posted July 23 Share Posted July 23 10 minutes ago, 'WellDel said: I've been watching Thistle vs Clyde to get an idea of what we might face on Sunday. Lee Ashcroft on the left side of Thisle's defence having an absolute shitemare. Farcical back pass og that resulted in their keeper colliding with the post and going off injured, followed by being easily swept aside by Dunnachie for Clyde's 2nd. A weak link to be targeted for sure if he starts against us. I've been watching Airdrie United to see who'll put us out in the round of 16, and I'll tell you, it won't be good! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnderooMFC Posted July 23 Share Posted July 23 19 hours ago, 'WellDel said: He might make a point of it, aye. Sorry mate, just the Lanarkshire denizen in me lol. Should've been empathize, but no need to apologise, there's no predictive text here and spellcheck is too Americanized to listen to entirely so all mistakes are my own. As a fellow denizen (denzien?) is there a word for 'us'? Lanarkshire-ian/ean. Shire folk? Hobbits?? ((I'm actually smaller than "wee" Davor tbh)). 10 hours ago, crazylegsjoe_mfc said: Do you mean that you are cynical that we have been pushing those posts out solely to tempt this Aussie guy to sign with us? We've been pretty heavy on the "we have players on international duty" content right back to Declan Gallagher getting his first Scotland call up. It may be that this is the long game paying off (for whatever small part it may have played in him choosing here). I think Kelly's extension will have meant that a large chunk of the Euros money will go in his direction, he wouldn't sign it with no incentive. I'm also sure that one of the exec board said there was no fee for Bair playing Copa America, but after the last few months, if they told me that grass was green, I'd still look outside and check it wasn't blue. I get that that's The Brand in general, but they seem to have been ramped up more than usual to the point where everyone was getting fed up of our eulogizing players who were/are mainly substitutes for their countries. Just had a look back and since our last league game there's been 25 posts of players with their countries (11 for Theo, 7 for Kelly, 4 about Miller and even 2 for Davor and 1 for Mugabi). The cynical part was me wondering if the two players we all knew were away had possibly agreed new deals already, but signed an extension/held off announcing it until their international duties were finished. Especially if the Euros money goes to Kelly and we get nothing from the Copa - what we did get was 18 posts to further The Brand to any and all recruits. It's just the timing seems convenient; Canada's last match was on the 14th of July and BBC report Theo's away on the 15th. Either he has a fast agent, or we just sit on the announcement for a few days to bump a few more posts to any agents watching. But take it with a shaker full of salt, I'm the least ITK person and it's probably just timings working ever so slightly in our favour. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thisGRAEME Posted July 23 Share Posted July 23 Just now, AnderooMFC said: I get that that's The Brand in general, but they seem to have been ramped up more than usual to the point where everyone was getting fed up of our eulogizing players who were/are mainly substitutes for their countries. Just had a look back and since our last league game there's been 25 posts of players with their countries (11 for Theo, 7 for Kelly, 4 about Miller and even 2 for Davor and 1 for Mugabi). The cynical part was me wondering if the two players we all knew were away had possibly agreed new deals already, but signed an extension/held off announcing it until their international duties were finished. Especially if the Euros money goes to Kelly and we get nothing from the Copa - what we did get was 18 posts to further The Brand to any and all recruits. It's just the timing seems convenient; Canada's last match was on the 14th of July and BBC report Theo's away on the 15th. Either he has a fast agent, or we just sit on the announcement for a few days to bump a few more posts to any agents watching. But take it with a shaker full of salt, I'm the least ITK person and it's probably just timings working ever so slightly in our favour. See just as well as that? All very reasonable, but it's also just free content. Costs you nothing time or money wise, keeps your algorithm ticking over and guaranteed likes. A freebie at a time of year when there's f**k all going on. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnderooMFC Posted July 23 Share Posted July 23 10 minutes ago, thisGRAEME said: See just as well as that? All very reasonable, but it's also just free content. Costs you nothing time or money wise, keeps your algorithm ticking over and guaranteed likes. A freebie at a time of year when there's f**k all going on. Yeah, imagine what we could do if we actually paid someone for it though... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vietnam91 Posted July 23 Share Posted July 23 59 minutes ago, capt_oats said: Just the 2 (TWO) page feature in the sports section of the Heil today. For clarity, I saw Sean post about this earlier and tbqh my curiosity got the better of me (the online version is behind their paywall). And was it worth it? The shame of buying a copy of a Fascist newspaper to read a Special Report referencing The Thread on Pie & Bovril in it (more than once)? Quote The club who — eventually — said no to the US dollar Motherwell wanted an investor like Taylor Swift, but ended up with a very different kind of proposal from America... and a soap opera that divided the fans Save by Scott Fleming JULY 23, 2024 Listen to article IT has been the summer of the stooshie in Scottish football, and not just because of the Tartan Army’s anger over their team’s poor performance at the Euros. Rangers supporters have fumed over the Ibrox building-materials saga. Inverness fans forced out both their chairman and chief executive after the club’s disastrous attempted training-ground flit to Fife. The controversial hiring of Malky Mackay alienated much of Hibs’ fanbase. And then, of course, the rest of the nation has been busy arguing about Scotland’s failure in Germany and whether or not Steve Clarke should still be in a job. Yet it all pales in comparison to what’s been going on at Fir Park. From a distance, you could be forgiven for thinking all is relatively rosy in the garden at Motherwell; a fan-owned community club about to enjoy a remarkable 40th consecutive season of top-flight football, who have just sold striker Theo Bair to Auxerre for a purported fee of £1.6million. However, if the fans are desperate for the new Premiership campaign to begin, it’s not because of what Stuart Kettlewell’s side might be capable of on the pitch; rather because it will allow them to draw a line under the dispute that’s consumed the club for months now. One which only rumbled to an end of sorts last Tuesday when American businessman Erik Barmack withdrew his controversial investment proposal, bringing a premature close to a two-week voting period and a soap opera which has divided the fanbase and pitted the club’s board against fan ownership body the Well Society. So, where to begin explaining it all, for those of you who haven’t been following every twist and turn on Pie & Bovril and refreshing Barmack’s X feed every half hour? ‘It’s such a bizarre story,’ says fan and journalist Andy Ross. ‘Essentially we’ve spent the last six months debating over investment from an American former Netflix exec, who got in touch with the club following a video paid for by the outgoing chairman, asking Taylor Swift to give us money… ‘The whole thing is an absolute mess and, without wanting to sound over-dramatic, the fallout is going to be difficult to bounce back from.’ It all started in January when Motherwell put out that infamous video plea to Swift, a light-hearted 90-second clip aimed at encouraging investment from the type of high roller who might be capable of turning them into North Lanarkshire’s answer to Wrexham. The sales pitch was either cheekily endearing or overwhelmingly cringe-worthy, depending on your perspective. Within a few months, however, it appeared to have achieved exactly what it was designed to do, with April bringing news that the club were in talks with former Netflix vice-president Barmack and his wife Courtney, under the guise of Wild Sheep Sports. The American visited the town, attended a game, and came across as enthusiastic and well-briefed in the early days. The trouble began when the details of Wild Sheep’s proposal were revealed: just £1.95m invested over a span of six years in return for a 47-per-cent stake, and a reduction in the Well Society’s stake from 71 per cent to 46 per cent (albeit later amended so that the Society would retain 50.1 per cent). ‘When you go back to the video’s release, there had been no signs that we were in financial turmoil, then suddenly it felt like the begging bowl was out, and I think that irked and embarrassed a lot of people,’ says Ross. ‘So, people maybe already had their guard up at that point. I think I speak for most Motherwell supporters when I say that we’re open to outside investment, especially if it makes a difference on the park, because the last couple of seasons have been more difficult, with worries over relegation and suchlike. ‘When the story first emerged, I wouldn’t say people were really up for it, but there was an intrigue there, like: “Let’s listen to what this guy has to say then take it from there”. But it’s unravelled quite drastically. I felt a bit sorry for Erik at times, he fronted up and took the abuse and the questions in equal measure. But a lot about the deal didn’t seem right all the way through.’ Chairman Jim McMahon and the club board were soon at loggerheads with the Well Society board, the former strongly in favour of pursuing the Barmack deal and the latter voting 6-3 against it. Maureen Downie and Douglas Dickie — who also serves on the club board — resigned from the Well Society board in the days following that vote in early June, and it was around then that things began to get truly surreal. Barmack is a tech expert who runs a website documenting AI’s growing role in the entertainment industry, but that experience doesn’t appear to have prepared him for Pie & Bovril, the famously anarchic football forum for Motherwell fans. And on which the former ESPN senior director made the brave, if foolhardy, decision to have a series of lengthy back-and-forths with supporters in mid-June. Barmack was then beaten to the punch by the Well Society, who released their growth plan ‘Our Club, Our Future’ on July 2. When Barmack released his own ‘strategic partnership proposal’ on July 5, it was met with a lukewarm response, with some supporters even suggesting that sections of it may have been AI-generated. The decision was then put to a ballot, with Well Society members and club shareholders having the chance to approve or reject the Wild Sheep proposal over a 14-day window that would have concluded on Monday — if Barmack’s offer hadn’t been withdrawn. That chairman McMahon’s final statement on the issue was published on the club website over an hour after voting began on July 8 — and on which Barmack’s surname was initially misspelled four times — seemed to rather sum up the whole affair, and a strange contradiction at the heart of the club board’s stance. ‘Jim McMahon has spoken at length about the fact that we’ve got assets in players like Lennon Miller and never given the impression that things are at any kind of crisis point financially,’ says Ross. ‘But, ever since the first press conference, all we heard was backing for the investment proposal — a proposal which so clearly undervalued the football club. So, it smacked of desperation and jumping into bed with the first interested party that comes along.’ After Barmack withdrew last week, a statement on the club website lamented ‘significant divisions within the fanbase’, while the Well Society welcomed the news but thanked Barmack and expressed disappointment that the ballot had not been allowed to reach its conclusion, after a process incurring ‘significant financial costs’. Citing their renewed focus on trust and transparency, the Society then released the figures for their portion of the vote last Thursday, which showed that 78 per cent of members had voted ‘no’, from a 56-per-cent turnout. As the dust settles, what now seems clear is that the status quo won’t cut it. This is a club in need of a serious reboot and a rethink regarding their future direction. However, Well Society board member Sean Baillie believes that the Society can be the vehicle to deliver exactly that. Even those in favour of fan ownership concede that the Society had grown slightly stale in recent years, beholden to what Ross describes as a ‘bowling club mentality’. However, after the election of Baillie, Amber Johnstone and Philip Speedie last October, and the departures of Dickie and Downie — with three more positions to be filled at this year’s elections — the Society board suddenly has a much younger and fresher look to it, and their growth plan has so far been met with broad approval from the fanbase. ‘I agreed to stand for election as I believed that the Well Society was not reaching its full potential,’ states Baillie. ‘I was seeking a mandate to help spur a positive change in how we operate. We have had little opportunity to begin that process due to the huge amount of work required around the investment proposals but, despite this, we’ve seen around 300 new monthly contributions since the beginning of the year. If we can maintain that rate of growth, we could double our annual revenue within three years.’ While claims like ‘We will provide our members and the club’s supporters with the highest quality customer service, fan engagement and youth development of any club in Scotland’ may strike some as overambitious, the Society’s growth plan is written with a clear-eyed love for the club and is mostly grounded in sensible targets. Where Barmack spoke of launching an app that would attract 50,000 downloads, the Society simply hope to add an extra 535 season-ticket holders. Where Barmack wanted to court the fleeting interest of US ‘soccer’ fans by filming a documentary, the Society simply want to gain more supporters and Society members across Lanarkshire, in settlements like Stonehouse, Law and Shotts. A 34-year-old regional organiser for the GMB union, Baillie draws inspiration from the concept of La Cantera, or ‘The Quarry’, whereby clubs like Athletic Bilbao lay down deep roots in their communities to ensure fanatical support and the first pick of local-born talent. ‘Our vision for the Society and Motherwell to reach their potential is to develop our own “quarry” based on the towns and villages throughout the old Lanarkshire coalfield,’ he explains. ‘Our quarry will be focused not only on developing young players for the future but digging deeper roots in our communities, nurturing and growing our fanbase for generations to come. I view it in much the same way as I approach work in my professional life: we need to define our target catchment areas and negotiate entry into communities.’ The Society will also have the benefit of working alongside popular new chief executive Brian Caldwell, who described himself and the fan group as ‘very much aligned’ about how to ‘improve all aspects of the club’ after talks held on Thursday. Almost forgotten at times during this long-running saga are manager Kettlewell and his players, who were held to a 1-1 draw by Montrose and then beat Clyde 3-1 in the Premier Sports Cup last week, but could be facing another long, hard season if midfielder Miller follows striker Bair out the door. As proudly proclaimed by the Society in their growth plan, in the years following their first financial contribution in season 2012-13, Motherwell qualified for Europe four times, reached two national finals in one season, comfortably outscored the points tallies of teams like Hearts, Hibs and Kilmarnock, and sold David Turnbull to Celtic for a club record fee of £3.25m. However, whether you put it down to the loss to Aberdeen of respected chief executive Alan Burrows — who wasn’t permanently replaced for 14 months — or a host of other factors, somewhere along the line a malaise set in, summed up by an uncharacteristic level of managerial churn and just one top-six finish in the last four seasons. In spite of everything, the Society insist that they are still open to external investment. With or without it, it is now their responsibility to arrest that malaise in the coming weeks and months. ‘Alan Burrows leaving certainly didn’t help,’ reflects Ross. ‘He’s one of the best communicators in the Scottish game, but it’s also to do with things like going into the New Year last season on the back of a 15-game winless run. There’s been a stagnation on the park and a sense that the club are going through the motions off it. ‘But I think all of this has maybe lit a fire under the Society, which could be a good thing. They do (need to change), but there’s a lot of new blood on the board who have brought a determination to make a difference. Their counterproposal has very clear aims and targets, and people are open to that. Of course, it’s now up to them to deliver on those.’ Nature is healing, as they say. Back over on Pie & Bovril, people are talking, lo and behold, about actual football again. As for Baillie, while excited about the opportunities that lie ahead, he acknowledges that some of the scars left over from the Barmack affair will take time to heal. ‘It has been a massively upsetting period for everyone involved,’ he admits. ‘The two members of the Society board who resigned had invested a huge amount of time, effort and commitment for the success and security of our club, and were only acting in what they believed was the club’s best interests. ‘The best route forward and best decisions are often only found through a period of debate and, unfortunately, disagreement. But there are also a lot of positives we can take from the past few months. ‘We now have an opportunity to build momentum going into the new season, with supporters enthused and re-engaged in the Well Society and the future success of the club.’ For clarity, I hate the paper and all they stand for, I signed up for a free month to get access to an article a the height of the investment "debate". I also used a virtual credit card which I immediately froze. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'WellDel Posted July 23 Share Posted July 23 So a draw on Sunday now enough to top the group with Partick losing tonight. We've got this, right?... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welldaft Posted July 23 Share Posted July 23 Just now, 'WellDel said: So a draw on Sunday now enough to top the group with Partick losing tonight. We've got this, right?... Clyde beat Thistle 3-2. May well help us finish top of the group but sadly we are unlikely to be seeded as Livi, Ross C and Aberdeen all look more than likely to get the maximum 12 points. And only 3 teams join the 5 Euro participants as being seeded. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swello Posted July 23 Share Posted July 23 Clyde did us a right favour tonight - going into Sunday's game in 2nd place would have added a wee bit of pressure.. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vietnam91 Posted July 23 Share Posted July 23 33 minutes ago, AnderooMFC said: I get that that's The Brand in general, but they seem to have been ramped up more than usual to the point where everyone was getting fed up of our eulogizing players who were/are mainly substitutes for their countries. Just had a look back and since our last league game there's been 25 posts of players with their countries (11 for Theo, 7 for Kelly, 4 about Miller and even 2 for Davor and 1 for Mugabi). The cynical part was me wondering if the two players we all knew were away had possibly agreed new deals already, but signed an extension/held off announcing it until their international duties were finished. Especially if the Euros money goes to Kelly and we get nothing from the Copa - what we did get was 18 posts to further The Brand to any and all recruits. It's just the timing seems convenient; Canada's last match was on the 14th of July and BBC report Theo's away on the 15th. Either he has a fast agent, or we just sit on the announcement for a few days to bump a few more posts to any agents watching. But take it with a shaker full of salt, I'm the least ITK person and it's probably just timings working ever so slightly in our favour. You've got to consider that Auxerre had just ponied up £1.6m and want to announce their new guy plus get the wheels in motion for him to get his pre-season started and something for their fans to bump gums on. They would have been very keen to get that announcement out ASAP and safe to say anyone thought Canada would still be in the Copa America till the 13th, one day before the Final. What may be very ironic about this whole saga, if WSS hadn't been so greedy and came to the table initially with 50.1% for the WS there would have been no need to offer a re-jig. There would have been no need for an extension to the consultation period by a week and the vote would have started on the 1st and ended on the 15th, one whole day before Bair's move was announced. As it turns out, the club earning potentially in excess of the WSS commitment midway through vote made the offer untenable when your balance sheet is going to look much healthier in the current years accounts overnight. It's also safe to say Auxerre would not have been keen to delay the announcement till the afternoon of the 22nd, if it was floated as an option. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim McLean's Ghost Posted July 23 Share Posted July 23 12 minutes ago, welldaft said: Clyde beat Thistle 3-2. May well help us finish top of the group but sadly we are unlikely to be seeded as Livi, Ross C and Aberdeen all look more than likely to get the maximum 12 points. And only 3 teams join the 5 Euro participants as being seeded. Aye County, Livi, Aberdeen and Dundee are all on track for maximum points. Likely 3 of the 4 get them or even if Dundee got held and won a shootout we have no chance of overhauling the goal difference. Clyde winning tonight means a draw is good enough to win the group and penalties won't matter to us. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MurrayWell Posted July 23 Share Posted July 23 Just on Sunday, I see Seddon has been fully upgraded to fit from Doubtful. I know he made the bench at the weekend without getting on, wonder if he, along with McGinn, might come in for some minutes. Perhaps the first opportunity to see the new look defence (with the exception of Johnny Koutroumbis of course). Seeding for this is a bit all of the shop anyway, going to be some tough "unseeded" ties, with some perceived easier teams actually seeded. You'd imagine most teams would prefer to avoid a trip to Easter Road in last 16. Let's just make sure we win and see what happens. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archie McSquackle Posted July 23 Share Posted July 23 6 minutes ago, Jim McLean's Ghost said: Aye County, Livi, Aberdeen and Dundee are all on track for maximum points. Likely 3 of the 4 get them or even if Dundee got held and won a shootout we have no chance of overhauling the goal difference. Clyde winning tonight means a draw is good enough to win the group and penalties won't matter to us. Does it come down to head to head or goal difference? A draw and losing the penalties puts us on 9 points. If Clyde beat Montrose they're on 9 points, probably with a superior goal difference. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim McLean's Ghost Posted July 23 Share Posted July 23 8 minutes ago, Archie McSquackle said: Does it come down to head to head or goal difference? A draw and losing the penalties puts us on 9 points. If Clyde beat Montrose they're on 9 points, probably with a superior goal difference. it goes to goal difference. tbh i had totally forgotten about Clyde 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archie McSquackle Posted July 23 Share Posted July 23 He didn't look as though he had this in his locker on Saturday. Maybe more than the awkward big nuisance he looked against us. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archie McSquackle Posted July 23 Share Posted July 23 1 minute ago, Jim McLean's Ghost said: it goes to goal difference. tbh i had totally forgotten about Clyde Our failure to thump Edinburgh City may come back to haunt us. Or, indeed, to take a few more chances against Clyde. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redstarcvedza Posted July 23 Share Posted July 23 2 minutes ago, Archie McSquackle said: Our failure to thump Edinburgh City may come back to haunt us. Or, indeed, to take a few more chances against Clyde. Yep if Thistle and Clyde win we are out.... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welldaft Posted July 23 Share Posted July 23 Ordinarily you would expect League 1 Montrose to get a draw against League 2 Clyde but as mentioned above Clyde look a decent team for that level. I fully expect them to beat Montrose, so we would need at least a bonus point win. A loss and we are probably out. A penalty shoot out loss gives us 9 points and may be enough to get us through. A win of course and we will win the group but be unseeded barring a couple of major shocks. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Molotov Posted July 23 Share Posted July 23 1 hour ago, Vietnam91 said: For clarity, I hate the paper and all they stand for, I signed up for a free month to get access to an article a the height of the investment "debate". I also used a virtual credit card which I immediately froze. From the article: “Barmack is a tech expert who runs a website documenting AI’s growing role in the entertainment industry, but that experience doesn’t appear to have prepared him for Pie & Bovril, the famously anarchic football forum for Motherwell fans….” Think @Div might want words with that reporter. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Electro Posted July 23 Share Posted July 23 2 minutes ago, Molotov said: From the article: “Barmack is a tech expert who runs a website documenting AI’s growing role in the entertainment industry, but that experience doesn’t appear to have prepared him for Pie & Bovril, the famously anarchic football forum for Motherwell fans….” Think @Div might want words with that reporter. Malcolm McLaren: Be childish. Be irresponsible. Be disrespectful. Be everything this society hates. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevie Kirk Posted July 23 Share Posted July 23 34 minutes ago, Archie McSquackle said: He didn't look as though he had this in his locker on Saturday. Maybe more than the awkward big nuisance he looked against us. He gave Blaney a torrid 25 minutes to be fair 0 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.