Motherwell FC - A Thread For All Seasons

[Vietnam91]

Just now, Neil86 said:

 

I suppose it's like any building work, even the work you carry out in the house/garden. You never really quite know what your getting into. The bigger the job, the bigger the problems, the more money it costs. 

There's probably a chance the main stand is full of asbestos, which I don't think you'd know until you got int it for eg

Yeah even the recent building works on the pitch/Hunter ... from memory:

• Excavation reveals second pitch, not sure if that affected thing much but was a thing
• More earth than expected to be removed
• Issue where I think they found a leak in the pipework and had to dig it up again
• Overrunning time so Hunter couldn't be tackled
• Temporary wavy astroturf for a season to be ripped up the following summer

It all shows that essentially .... sh!t happens

[YassinMoutaouakil]

Drain Strathy park again and build there IMO.

[Handsome_Devil]

24 minutes ago, StAndrew7 said:

The idea we'll have someone with deep pockets come in and just fire us cash because they like the idea of the Club/WS etc. is totally unrealistic.

We should absolutely (and are) looking for investment partners to support the Club but they won't be doing it for free/as a benefactor.

A key part of the thinking behind the scenes should be much less dreaming about what we want than defining what we're prepared to give away the next time an offer comes. Getting that nailed down is tricky - it's complicated and depends - but will make life a lot easier down the line.

One of the (many, obviously) problems with Barmack's bid was everyone acknowledged he was there to make money but neither side detailing how this would happen just led to suspicion and distrust.

[Cedrics Mighty Well Army]

I'd be more than happy to give my professional services (ooh, err, missus!) gratis if the Club seriously wanted to look at a ground move or redevelopment.

So probably would my pal who is a big-wig in NLC when it comes to land issues.

[thisGRAEME]

1 hour ago, welldaft said:

As an example I read recently that the Brentford Owner was apparently interested in investing in Scottish Football.  With a net worth above £200m.  There can be few realistic options available outside Motherwell and St Mirren due to current ownership models at Hearts, Aberdeen, Hibs, Celtic, Killie and Ross C etc. Now whether this is accurate or not I really don't know. But I would hope the Well Society would be investigating and actively working on alternatives. 

These things make me sooooooo suspect. 

Times are good for Brighton, Bournemouth, Brentford et. al., but the moment things become even slightly dicey on the main stage, everything else will immediately be shed. 

I don't believe it for a minute that anyone has the desire to make it happen, but say Manchester City are actually found guilty of things, and binned off to the bottom of the EFL as punishment, what happens to everyone else connected?

[Swello]

1 hour ago, welldaft said:

I don't know what has happened over the past few months, but reading between the lines he feels that with all this effort and contribution he should not have to interview to effectively stay in post. In some ways that is understandable. If you put yourself in his shoes for a minute.

I get what you mean - but I think the issue is contained here (and it's the bit I find weird) - he's not been "in post" as a WS rep for a while now. He resigned very publicly when the WS and he disagreed about the merits of Erik Barmack's proposal. Since then, he was effectively sitting on the BoD with no mandate from anyone. 

He wasn't interviewing to stay in post - he was interviewing to get his role back, which is a fairly important distinction. 

[StAndrew7]

2 minutes ago, Swello said:

I get what you mean - but I think the issue is contained here (and it's the bit I find weird) - he's not been "in post" as a WS rep for a while now. He resigned very publicly when the WS and he disagreed about the merits of Erik Barmack's proposal. Since then, he was effectively sitting on the BoD with no mandate from anyone. 

He wasn't interviewing to stay in post - he was interviewing to get his role back, which is a fairly important distinction. 

Aye, his attempt to try and claim he was there to represent "the 29%" in his statement (even indirectly) is absolute folly, too.

[Vietnam91]

Just now, StAndrew7 said:

Aye, his attempt to try and claim he was there to represent "the 29%" in his statement (even indirectly) is absolute folly, too.

That's a recent thing when looking to engineer said mandate.

[Swello]

12 minutes ago, thisGRAEME said:

These things make me sooooooo suspect. 

Times are good for Brighton, Bournemouth, Brentford et. al., but the moment things become even slightly dicey on the main stage, everything else will immediately be shed. 

I don't believe it for a minute that anyone has the desire to make it happen, but say Manchester City are actually found guilty of things, and binned off to the bottom of the EFL as punishment, what happens to everyone else connected?

Yep - anything that would see us somehow tied up with another club (especially one in the EPL) would be a big no from me. Some kind of big collapse down there has got to be a possibility (and I'm not sure one of these tie ups has ever worked for a club like ours)

[welldaft]

What I said clearly was that I approve of the fact he was being asked to interview for the role on the Exec Board. That I made very clear. So subsequent follow up comments baffle me a little tbh.

He did back the wrong horse and to this day I still cannot come to terms with the Chairman and Exec Board thinking that was anywhere near an acceptable and attractive investment to try and push through. That does not (for me) dismiss or diminish lot of the good work he has done for many years before and that some seek to belittle imho.

As for someone wealthy wanting to buy a football club. There are only hundreds of examples out there. To be fair very few work out well. But to state almost categorically that no one outside of a fan would be interested (ever) is not entirely accurate. It may be for now but forevermore .

We now have the safety net of the WS and fans to ensure any future investment opportunities would be of a long term benefit to Motherwell FC. 

 

 

[Archie McSquackle]

3 hours ago, Vietnam91 said:

100%, it was more to give a more rounded idea of the cost of groundworks if you had a building of a commensurate size within 500m built 15 years ago. Just trying to avoid the +/-50% thing you cited in your outline post from earlier.

That sort of information should be available from the body that was set up to prepare the overall area for development. I believe there was a lot of government investment to remediate the area by removing contamination and addressing mining issues.

From dealing with parts of the Ravenscraig site, I know the ground had been treated to provide suitable strength for normal foundations and contamination levels were such that the only additional measures likely to be required were higher spec concrete for the foundations.

[Ceiling Granny]

Personally, I think the ship has sailed on moving elsewhere - especially to the Ravenscraig (which if it had been redeveloped as first mooted would be a reasonable suggestion). I realise the money we need to spend on the stadium is high, but spending a bit each year is still far more appealing to me than taking out loans/getting investment etc to move - which I’d need to be persuaded was worth the risk.  I’d probably also need to be persuaded on the value before spending the required money to find out if it was viable (but this probably stems from my risk averse nature and lack of understanding on how these things work).