He will not take any payment for his shares in the club and a plan to widen ownership beyond the control of any one individual is under development. Boyle will step down from the chair before the start of next season and he expects to come off the board thereafter. He explained that the models of community involvement he witnessed at Aalesund and Odense gave him a pointer to the way forward at Motherwell. He felt that his outright ownership would be an impediment to any future inward investment and hence his decision to withdraw.
The hopes for the future ownership of the club were outlined by director Jim McMahon when he spoke to shareholders at the meeting before the St Mirren game. He explained that the board would come forward with proposals that would allow supporters, local businesses and the wider community a chance to own the club. He wanted as broad a base as possible as future owners.
Make no mistake, this is a momentous change and an incredibly generous gesture by John Boyle. Many have argued that our club would benefit from wider community involvement and this is our chance to show that the club can flourish at the heart of Lanarkshire.
John Boyle
John Boyle’s fortune was based on the sale of his travel firm, Direct Holidays, for £56M in 1999. He took charge of Motherwell in 1998 and invested in a diverse range of companies. His ambition for the club was to make it the third force in Scottish football and to that end he set about encouraging Lanarkshire fans to support their local club and to break their ties with Rangers and Celtic.
He appointed Pat Nevin as a player then Chief Executive and he fuelled a spending spree with players including John Spencer, Ged Brannan, Tony Thomas and Andy Goram.. Sadly, his hopes faded with mounting debt and little significant increase in the Fir Park crowds. The club went into a period of interim administration in 2002 and he stood down as chairman.
It was felt that the club’s future was secure as he remained majority shareholder and he returned to the chair after the club came out of its difficulties. In recent times it seemed as though he was more in the background and David Weir joined the board with the remit of overseeing the club’s finances.
His views on modernising the Scottish game gained some publicity following our Europa League trip to Norway. He enthused about their playing surface, social facilities, standing area and the support the team in Aelesund had from their local area.