Ian Stillie, a virtually unknown Director of the club as far as most supporters are concerned, has taken over the reigns as Chief Executive and has introduced well-known Motherwell supporters Alan Burrows and Davie Tonner into his back-room team. You could be forgiven for thinking that a head man coming to power from the existing board would mean very little change from the lacklustre secret society we've become used to over the years. However, this seems to be far from the truth.
One of the many weaknesses that have been identified by the new regime is that the fans have were disillusioned by poor customer service and communication from the club in recent times. As a result, transparency is the new order of the day and every decision made, however unpopular, should be justifiable to the faithful followers of the team.
The main bone of contention in recent times has been the reallocation of Davie Cooper Stand Season Ticket holders for visits from the Old Firm. Ian Stillie has continued with this policy but, unlike his predecessors, he has made every effort to explain his decision. Fans were invited along to the Centenary Suite tonight to allow him to do this. He was flanked by the afore mentioned Commercial Manager and Media Officer who were all open to questions.
They spoke very well and made a very impressive presentation, including possible alternatives to the reallocation and projected income for each. They also provided information on police guidelines and answered queries on Health and Safety issues surrounding each proposal. The headline figure quoted was that the current arrangement bring an added £100k to the club - which was described as the equivalent of two players in Mark McGhee's squad.
Some Motherwell fans will, quite understandably, still feel aggrieved by the fact that the 'No Means No' protest seems to have fallen on deaf ears but, had they bothered to turn up tonight, they would realise that the decision has not been taken lightly and that efforts will be made to appease such fans in the future. It seems that the Motherwell support aren't too interested in reasonable discussion and would much rather hold up a placard proclaiming their disgust as a mere five diehards were in attendance tonight, only two of which were Cooper Stand season ticket holders.
We have been hearing for long enough that the club have been poor on communicating to fans but Ian Stillie may well be asking himself why he should bother to talk when nobody seems to be interested in listening?