Motherwell are looking for new owners now that owner travel agent magnate John Boyle has decided to 'walk away' from the club after nearly fifteen years behind the scenes. He's hoping to give the club over to a wider local community. It's every fan's dream, but could the dream turn into a nightmare?
In addition to being the majority shareholder at Fir Park, John Boyle, along with his brother Hugh, made his fortune as founder of a slew of holiday-related companies such as Falcon Holidays, Direct Holidays and low-fare transatlantic airline Zoom Airlines.
A life-long fan of the club, Boyle's time at the helm has straddled good times and bad. European qualification, third place SPL finishes and the 2005 League Cup where achieved, while the sale of players like Stephen Pearson and James McFadden, who emerged through the ranks after the club was forced to sell 19 players as a result of administration, saw the club recover from financial meltdown in time for the 2004/05 season.
But despite his significant investment in the club, Boyle failed in his attempt to turn Motherwell into the third force of Scottish football using the more traditional methods of heavy spending on 'star' players (Andy Goram to name but two #lol). In relinquishing his ownership, he hopes to move the club into a new model of community ownership, the likes of which he saw during visits at Norwegian side Aalesunds FK.
Yeah, never heard of them either. Here's a link.
Apparently, Aalesunds is a club owned by the community (it says here), possible meaning (sorry, I should have done more research) that you join up to become a member, in return for which you get a nice plastic seat in a spanky new stadium to cheer your team on to glory. The trick seems to have worked for plucky little Aalesunds, whose attendances have been rising from about 1,000 to well over 10,000. The funds from ownership and match day catering and assorted merchandise has turned Aalesund from an obscure club into a club that won the Norwegian Cup - Norway's premier cup competition - two years ago for the first time in their history.
But prior to the heady success of winning the Norgesmesterskap, it's been pretty rum going. Aalesunds finished 4th last season, some 21 points behind winners and total Norwegian footballing leviathans Rosenborg, suggesting that perhaps Boyle might want to do some more research into the comparative merits of all-out spending versus handing over the club to the locals. To continue: Aalesunds have never finished in the top half of the table prior to this (although I must admit, most of the sites I used to check these figures gave conflicting data), but you get the point I'm sure.
Still, I'm all for community ownership. Football clubs, after all, belong to the community, not big business.
But a word of caution must follow.
If Norwegian punters are quite keen to see their club struggle near the bottom of the league season on season, it's maybe because there's very little in the way of competition to tempt them away. Consider that within an hour’s drive of Motherwell you have the chance to see the Old Firm or either of the Edinburgh teams in action. If you're a Norwegian fan and you don’t fancy (another) pointless bottom of the table clash, but rather you want to see some proper football as played by Rosenborg? Well, we hope you've got your petrol money at the ready, because Trondheim is a mere 300km away. Viking Stavanger? A paltry 592km.
While Motherwell has begun to recover from the high unemployment and economic decline brought about by the collapse of the steel industry, Motherwell continues to feel the effects of the general economic downturn. In contrast, Ålesund remains an important fishing port and offshore base. Subsequently, local investment on the scale needed might be harder to come by for Motherwell if there's not much money around to begin with.
But every great journey begins with the first step. In letting go of the club he supported all his life, Boyle, who spent nearly £10 million during his tenure as owner, has begun the process of diversification, of handing the club back to the supporters and the wider community. It's a model that brings with it risks, but in making the club less dependent on just one owner he's making a brave and valid point.
It's a lesson that the likes Gretna learned the hard way, and that the likes of Hearts may well come to learn soon.
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