Motherwell become fan-owned club for £1
Friday 28 October 2016 18:05, UK
Motherwell have agreed a deal to become the first fully fan-owned club in the Scottish Premiership.
Majority shareholder Les Hutchison's 76% stake in the club has been sold to the Well Society supporters group for £1 following talks which lasted a year.
The Barbados-based Scot had purchased the club for the same amount in January 2015 and plugged debts with interest-free loans.
A Well Society statement read: "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."
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Jim McMahon - a founder member of the Well Society - remains as Motherwell chairman.
"The last two years have been dramatic and challenging for the club," said McMahon.
"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 time scale 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."
