Community ownership not too far away??

With John Boyle having handed his shared over to the current board, the first hints of the plan for Community Ownership appeared in the Herald this morning.

Boyle has gifted his 73% shareholding, and the freehold on Fir Park, to the club. Having received similar such share donations to take them up to the required 75%, Motherwell will now become an Industrial and Provident Society – which will mean significant changes to the way the club is run.

Chief Executive Leeann Dempster is quoted in the paper saying, “We’re going to create two, or three, levels of membership, the first will be aimed at the regular punter, costing about £300.

“There will also be corporate membership, and possibly a tier for wealthier individuals. We will start to publicise the scheme in the next few weeks – but regardless of whether you invest £300 or £5000 each member will get one vote.

“The principle is one of democracy, and importantly a say in how the club is run, moves forward and develops. A supporter who invests more will get more overall benefits in terms of value, but this will not mean they have a bigger say than the regular supporters. This is a very important point.”

It is hoped this will raised £750000 which will be banked and used to cover times when cash flow is tight and will not be used for funding transfers.

The Chief Executive pointed towards one of the cubs she has used as a role model, “Norwich is a club I look towards – over the last 10 years they have gone from 7000 season ticket holders to over 20,000. It’s very much a family-orientated club with a good match day experience. We can do something very similar here. Our season ticket sales were up 13% last season.

“Furthermore, football clubs we’ve been to on the continent, especially Odense, put themselves at the heart of the business community, not just the wider community. That is also something we have to learn from.”

I am a bit surprised we are only looking to raise £750000, I thought that John Boyle’s shareholding was worth much more than this. I am therefore a bit disappointed that we are not looking to put more into the pot to tide us over.

£300 may also price many of the ordinary fans out of the chance of buying into the scheme particularly in these troubled times and after paying about the same for a Season Ticket.