Where do we go from here?

[elf]

The pragmatist...definition:
Reasonable and logical way of doing things or of thinking about problems that is based on dealing with specific situations instead of on ideas and theories ...

So, being the pragmatist I am, we need to stop complaining about our lack of finances due to cup exits, and start seriously thinking about what we can do to resolve the situation for the future.
I've said it before, and it's the only way forward I can see.
We need to look closely at the possibility of combining forces with Hamilton & Airdrie and becoming Lanarkshire Utd (or whatever).
We can't keep living from hand to mouth much longer. If we can't sell a player a year because our youth setup isn't good enough, and can't generate any income to buy players, do we want to keep going downhill, in terms of finances not performance, and end up part time?
Absolutely not!
If SM has any sense, he'll be gone at the end of the season because you can't manage with one or both hands tied behind your back.
We ca

[steviex]

[quote="elf"]The pragmatist...definition:
Reasonable and logical way of doing things or of thinking about problems that is based on dealing with specific situations instead of on ideas and theories ...

So, being the pragmatist I am, we need to stop complaining about our lack of finances due to cup exits, and start seriously thinking about what we can do to resolve the situation for the future.
I've said it before, and it's the only way forward I can see.
We need to look closely at the possibility of combining forces with Hamilton & Airdrie and becoming Lanarkshire Utd (or whatever).
We can't keep living from hand to mouth much longer. If we can't sell a player a year because our youth setup isn't good enough, and can't generate any income to buy players, do we want to keep going downhill, in terms of finances not performance, and end up part time?
Absolutely not!
If SM has any sense, he'll be gone at the end of the season because you can't manage with one o

[LawSteelman]

Well that frankly ludicrous and outrageous suggestion would be one way to speed up the death of football in this country. If you seriously believe that supporters from ourselves, Accies and Clydebank Airdrie would all combine forces and turn out to support a Lanarkshire United then you're living in cloud cuckoo land. You are effectively saying that we should kill three clubs off and wipe out hundreds of years of history - albeit 12 in Airdrie's case - as well as the identity and traditions of these clubs. What on earth makes you think that this would work? What makes you think that this type of 'model' would attract the support needed to survive? Apart from any of that I cannot for the life of me fatholm why any Motherwell FC supporter would want to see our club lose everything that makes us what we are and become 'Lanarkshire United' and I hope and indeed believe that the overwhelming majority of our support would agree with me that such a suggestion is completely outrageous and shoul

[elf]

Of course you're absolutely right.
I don't want to lose our identity any more than you do, however, at the rate we're going, we might not have an identity for much longer.
Come on LS, please try and see the bigger picture. Football in Scotland is in major trouble and has to be addressed.
We're now without a game for 2 weeks and I wonder what the powers that be upstairs are having to do to ensure we can pay our bills & wages.
If this type of proposal could save Scottish football, it must be considered at least.
Remember, the teams were created when football was the major attraction for the working man. There was no telly, no internet, Sky or BT sport, no cars worth talking about, transport was poor and your wages got you by. Families didn't go abroad on holiday. Football was the release after a weeks work and the crowds in those days could afford to go to the game.
We have to move on.

[steviex]

Of course you're absolutely right.
I don't want to lose our identity any more than you do, however, at the rate we're going, we might not have an identity for much longer.
Come on LS, please try and see the bigger picture. Football in Scotland is in major trouble and has to be addressed.
We're now without a game for 2 weeks and I wonder what the powers that be upstairs are having to do to ensure we can pay our bills & wages.
If this type of proposal could save Scottish football, it must be considered at least.
Remember, the teams were created when football was the major attraction for the working man. There was no telly, no internet, Sky or BT sport, no cars worth talking about, transport was poor and your wages got you by. Families didn't go abroad on holiday. Football was the release after a weeks work and the crowds in those days could afford to go to the game.
We have to move on.

Lanarkshire utd would interest a man and his dug. how

[elf]

Manchester City say they have almost halved their losses for the second consecutive season, posting a net loss of A£51.6m, down from A£97.9m.

The report for 2012-13 also reveals the club, crowned Premier League champions in 2012, generated an annual turnover of A£271m, second highest in the league.

How the other half live eh?

[LawSteelman]

Well possibly me and you differ over this 'bigger picture' thing. For me the bigger picture is what is best for Motherwell FC, not Scottish football as a whole. That is to say that I want us to do what is best in our own interests in order for us to get ourselves into the best position both on and off the park. If that means that the only option open to us is to become a part time club then so be it, I will continue to support the club to the hilt. I could never and will never support any other club than Motherwell FC and the day that Motherwell FC cease to exist in our current form is the day that I stop following football.

[elf]

I too am Motherwell totally.
However, if by creating something which would allow me to believe 'my' team could progress and become financially stable was on offer, I would seriously look at it.
In the grand scheme of things, if we became an amalgamation, Motherwell would still be the major force within the new team with the biggest support.
Let's hope we're not looking for reasons why we went part time in a few years time and crowds are down to 2000 in Div 1.

[LawSteelman]

But we wouldn't be Motherwell FC though would we? Unless folk delude themselves even more than Sevco fans do that they are still Rangers then we would be a new entity made up of three clubs. It wouldn't work because I'd guess that sizable proportions of the three clubs wouldn't support it and given that we are the best supported out of the three and our support is p!ss poor then I fail to see how this would get off the ground.

[dazlhigh]

Goodness knows. If we were getting only half the crowds of Killie, St.Mirren, Thistle etc. I'd be thinking that there was bound to be something the club should be doing to get our crowds up. But we're not! In comparison with clubs based on similar population centres, our attendances are comparable - comparably low!
There's even a limited amount we can do about the 'product' - the other team is part of the 'product'; few teams come to Fir Park intending to make an exciting game of it!
Last April - around the 1st - I posted a spoof 'suggestion' that, basically, the top Scottish League should be confined to teams in the Central Belt. Plenty of derbies, grounds virtually all less than an hour apart, lower cost for clubs and fans.
It's becoming less of a joke the more I think about it.

[firparkloony]

Of course you're absolutely right.
I don't want to lose our identity any more than you do, however, at the rate we're going, we might not have an identity for much longer.
Come on LS, please try and see the bigger picture. Football in Scotland is in major trouble and has to be addressed.
We're now without a game for 2 weeks and I wonder what the powers that be upstairs are having to do to ensure we can pay our bills & wages.
If this type of proposal could save Scottish football, it must be considered at least.
Remember, the teams were created when football was the major attraction for the working man. There was no telly, no internet, Sky or BT sport, no cars worth talking about, transport was poor and your wages got you by. Families didn't go abroad on holiday. Football was the release after a weeks work and the crowds in those days could afford to go to the game.
We have to move on.

Lanarksh