The SPL In Crisis – Mainstream Media Add Fuel to the Fire

Season tickets and Well Society

In an unprecedented move, Motherwell FC have put the fate of the club in the hands of the fans. Often football fans claim that the club is “theirs” and the current owners/board are nothing more than “custodians”, and, in the case of Motherwell FC it seems to be more the case than in most. Following the Barcelona model, Motherwell FC have asked their fans to own the club, and as a result The Well Society was formed – where fans can help finance and have a say in the running of the club. A great idea on many levels, but few foreseen the first act of The Well Society being one which would rock Scottish Football to its very core – being given the vote for MFC to decide whether The Rangers FC or “newco” would be allowed entry into the SPL after the death of its rotten old granny RFC.

It’s a huge decision. One which is without a winner, in many aspects, and one which is in turn easy and impossible at once. To help with the decision it is of course reasonable to have all the facts, and again, Motherwell FC made another very bold move and put our finances our there for all to see and said “Here’s the facts, the pros and cons – now you decide!”

It is indeed a bold and brave move. Fans by their very nature rarely do things through clinical and business like thinking, we do things instinctively, and follow our heart and emotions. But we can’t do that this time. We have to be sure that voting NO for the Newco isn’t about getting it up Rangers, it isn’t about laughing at rival fans in the pub or the work place, and it isn’t about some revenge for a dodgy goal twenty years ago. It has to be done because it’s the right thing to do.

Of course, in the previous blog I talked about the difference between the right thing to do and the best thing to do, and this is very much the case here. Motherwell have lay bare their finances, and warned what will happen if things don’t go their way – and it’s a fair assumption that this will be the case for many of the other clubs in the SPL. Few have benefactors with unlimited resources who can fund principal over business, few have an infrastructure to sustain a nuclear strike. But that is something Motherwell are asking fans to do. For everyone crossing the box “No For Newco” is now required to step up. Everyone who has had a moan, a tweet, a post or a comment about it, now it’s time to put your money where your mouth is. Of course, not everyone is able to buy a season ticket, or attend the games and most certainly not everyone has the £300 needed to join the Well Society, but there are plenty of ways to support your local team. And this goes for Celtic fans too. If they want us to back their huge cry for No, then get behind us too. If you stay in Lanarkshire, hire out our facilities for your functions, buy from the Well Shop (which sells neutral sports stuff too) and get behind us. Join our lottery, get your kids up to our training facilities, or buy an MFC gift for a friend. The Well Society membership for children starts at £25 for instance. To Well fans – get your name on our wall, enter the 50/50 draw… anything you can do, even if you live to far from Motherwell to attend the games or you’re skint – is money we will desperately require next year. And this goes for every other club in the SPL. Whoever you support, if you have been advocating the NO vote, then up off your bums and do something.

The document sent to us by Motherwell FC does show a worst case scenario situation – it is not an admission of insolvency by any means – but it is important that everyone knows the severity of a NO vote. However, a NO vote is what we must do to keep the game real. To allow Rangers to enter the SPL again is unthinkable.

And now it seems Stewart Regan and his cohorts, desperate to appease their Rangers friends, are trying to find some kind of parachute loophole that will allow Rangers to enter into the First Division with the SFL being compensated with by the very money we’re so keen to keep. This cannot be allowed to happen either. Yes the whole of Scottish football needs an overhaul and yes some kind of amalgamation with the SFL is necessary, but this is a separate issue from Rangers. It seems churlish to keep banging on about this but Rangers are dead, they liquidated. They don’t exist. Even their Captain, Steven Naismith said “Rangers in that form are gone”, and he and several others are leaving to go elsewhere, so there is absolutely no precedent to allow them into the SPL. By that rule, ANY club from ANY division can apply to join the SPL. Or perhaps we should make a club up and apply? Why not? Hell, this new Zombie Rangers don’t even have the criteria to enter the SFL at Division 3 – and if I were Spartans or Cove Rangers for instance I’d be watching this very carefully, as I would if I were Gretna or Livingston – so there’s no way they should be allowed into the SPL.

But again this means we need to look at how we all support our local teams and what we do about that now.

Motherwell say – “There are clear risks to the financial stability and very future of this Club presented by the current situation.” and this cannot be underestimated. But by no accounts does this statement read “We’re about to go into administration”. Speaking to the fans last night Alan Burrows, head of media at Motherwell, was very adamant. He said: “It’s worth pointing out folks that the Board at MFC have not said insolvency is inevitable in the event if a Newco…it’s likely to see you take a hit financially. Most ‘Well fans I have read have ‘got that’ and haven’t been found wanting previously. We’re moving towards a sustainable fan ownership model and, together, everyone needs to pull together, which we will!”

So Motherwell needs us. Are we ready to step up? Are you ready to step up if you’re an Arab, a Don, a St or a Celt?

We’re either in this together, or not at all.

Forever Claret and Amber

Ed

VFTES