(Source: thewellsociety.co.uk).
We can today confirm that negotiations have been successfully concluded to
purchase Les Hutchison’s majority shareholding and that Motherwell FC has now
transferred into fan ownership.
ou will recall back in January of 2015, after fourteen
years, John Boyle sold his majority shareholding in the club to Les Hutchison
for £1 (as a guarantor) to instigate the transition to fan ownership.
At the recent Well Society Annual General Meeting and
subsequent Q&A session, the Society Board reported that they would only
agree to terms and conditions that would allow them to take ownership and at
the same time maintain the sustainability of the club.
The basis
of the now signed agreement is that the Society would purchase Les Hutchison’s
76% shareholding for the £1 he purchased it for, and the club will be
responsible for repaying any outstanding money.
An important element in the agreement is that loan
repayments for the first three years will be made from a percentage of player
transfer income only.
This means
that the club will not be burdened with loan repayments from regular income
during this period, but will still benefit from player transfers by receiving a
percentage of transfer fee income. After the initial three year period,
outstanding loans will be repaid on a fixed payment schedule. All of these
factors protect the financial security of the club.
Our ongoing responsibility as fans, through the Well
Society, will be to generate additional income for the running of the football
club through monthly direct debit payments of £10 or more. The income generated
by our fans via the Well Society will be crucial to our financial stability
over the coming years.
The
day-to-day operation of the club will remain in the hands of our Chief
Operating Officer, Alan Burrows.
As you may expect, there will be changes to the governance
structure. A new Supervisory Board will be formed comprising initially the
current members of the Well Society Board, with additional members to be
appointed in due course.
A
Supervisory Board will sit alongside a newly formed Executive Board, which is
in effect the existing Motherwell FC Board. The Supervisory Board will
be key and involved in all major strategic decisions at the club. The Executive
Board will comprise Jim McMahon as Chair, Douglas Dickie, Tom Feely, Leanne
Thomas and Alan Burrows. Graham Keys will continue as Company Secretary. All
members of both Boards are Well Society members.
Mr Ian Reid
and Mr Peter Kellie have stood down from their positions as Directors to
facilitate these changes and everyone at both the club and the Society wish to
place on record our thanks and appreciate to them for their service.
For several months the Well Society Board has been working
on measures to ensure that when fan-ownership is achieved, we would have the
right mechanisms in place for fans’ views to be heard and represented. Further
announcements will be made on this in the very near future.
The Well Society Board will be consulting with you on a set
of values that we believe will make sure that the entire organisation builds on
oursuccess on the field and in the community, and does so with a culture and
tone of respect for all, and a striving for excellence at every level.
The current
board members of the Well Society, who have been involved in all aspects of the
process, Doug Inglis, Maureen Kirkwood, Markus Schieren and Gavin Whitefield,
would like to put on record special thanks to our Joint Chairs, Douglas Dickie
and Tom Feely, who fronted the negotiations for the Society, and sincere
appreciation to Jim McMahon, a Well Society member and a long-time member of
the MFC Board, who has given invaluable advice throughout. We also
acknowledge the work of past Well Society Board Members including Brian
McCafferty and Robert Montgomery.
The Society
wish to acknowledge and to thank Mr Les Hutchison for his valuable input to the
club in terms of financial support and business experience, and for assisting
in our drive towards fan ownership.
They would also like to thank Mr John Boyle for his huge
service over the years as majority shareholder and continuing support and
assistance in concluding this successful transfer agreement.
And finally, to the loyal, dedicated, passionate Motherwell
supporters, withoutwhom, none of this would have happened.
Jim
McMahon, Motherwell Football Club Chairman and a founder member of the Society
commented: “The last two years have been dramatic and challenging for the club.
“Having triumphed in the play offs we all hoped that the
next period would be more settled and allow us to move gradually to fan
ownership over the five year timescale envisaged.
“Instead the opportunity arose almost immediately and it is
a credit to the Well Society that they have been able to deal with the abrupt
change. I agreed to act as Chairman during that transition and it is an honour
to serve the club that I have supported all my life.
“I
appreciate there have been different views expressed in meetings, online and on
social media about the validity of fan ownership, but it is now up to us to
make this work – for our part, we will aim to become more open, change
thegovernance structure and listen to all and any ways to help. This is
a realchance to do something special”
Douglas Dickie, Well Society Joint Chair, said, “Our aim of
fan-ownership has been, at times, a challenging road, but it has been achieved
by a great amount of effort by Well Society members, fans and volunteers.
“It has
also been made possible by a number of people who have given their expertise
and commitment over a period of time to reach a satisfactory conclusion to our
goal. We are now entering a new phase in our history.
“Fan
ownership has responsibilities and we all need to realise that continued and
growing financial support from all fans will be required. Together we
can maintain, strengthen and be proud of the qualities and values of this
greatcommunity club. The future is what we make it!”
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