Working together on the next steps of implementing ‘Our Club, Our Future’ – The Well Society’s plan for growth – was one of the subjects of a joint meeting of the new Well Society board and the club executive board on Monday evening.
Continuing the regular dialogue established recently by The Well Society and chief executive Brian Caldwell, Well Society board members Philip Speedie and Sean Baillie updated on the recent election, new members and the make-up of the new Communications, Membership, Governance and Growth Plan workstreams.
As outlined at The Well Society’s recent AGM, society members updated on plans to complete the society board structure through co-opting three additional members. The society also talked through plans to reset and refresh its representation on the club’s executive board. Well Society directors Amber Johnstone, Derek Watson and Martin Grey are working up role descriptions, a process and timeline for recruitment.
Aligned with the reset, the Society updated on plans for a new shareholders agreement, formally detailing the relationship between The Well Society and Motherwell Football Club.
The club gave an update on finances. As declared at the club’s Annual General Meeting earlier this year, a small profit, before depreciation charges, is expected when the annual accounts are published around the turn of the year. As previously stated, the club re-invested some of Theo Bair’s transfer fee into Stuart Kettlewell’s squad to help his summer rebuild.
Both boards are working together to promote upcoming games at Fir Park. The first is Sunday’s SWPL game against Partick Thistle (1pm kick-off) – which supporters can attend for free, although they will be asked to make a donation to the girls’ academy. We are also working on efforts to boost ticket sales for Friday night football at Fir Park for the Premier Sports Cup quarter-final against Dundee United on Friday 20 September.
Both boards discussed a focus on attracting young fans, including the Community Trust’s plans to refresh the programme of gifting tickets to local clubs and schools, where kids can visit Fir Park for free when accompanied by an adult. Brian Caldwell further explained the child safeguarding rationale behind new rules stating that under-14s must be accompanied by an adult, which were first relayed in the club’s season ticket renewal literature towards the end of last season. The Well Society asked that the club continue to monitor the impact of the policy.
A lengthy discussion took place around the issues affecting the Block E supporters’ group. Several members have been temporarily banned from Fir Park and the group boycotted the recent home game against Hearts as a result. Brian explained that the club had acted following notification from the police of arrests made on suspicion of football-related offences as part of a UK-wide information-sharing policy that all clubs are party to. Those banned deny any wrongdoing and some say they have had no written information from the police. Brian talked about the club’s obligations around SPFL rules on unacceptable conduct and that the club had been in contact with both the police and a lawyer for supporters to ascertain the exact situation with police enquiries. The Well Society will continue dialogue with both sides and encourage further engagement in an attempt to resolve the situation.