That's Entertainment
Well, as the lyric goes, "That's entertainment" or not as the case may be. According to 'J.B.' the chairperson, he's not prepared to sustain the present heavy financial losses and intends cutting our cloth accordingly. The gospel per say our chairperson lays much of the blame for the wrongs of the SPL at the door of the Old Firm and warns them not to take the rest of the clubs for granted as regards TV rights, Pay-per-View etc.
I agree with a great deal of what John Boyle comments on as regards the state of the SPL etc. Although realising this, he attempted to lure people through the gates to watch football at Fir Park. The old saying of taking horses to water springs readily to mind. All good and well providing nice shiney seats and a menu for the eateries, running hot water in the toilets etc, but if the fare onfield is unacceptable then the punters won't show up.
The chairperson seems surprised that he has failed to entice punters, indeed in losing some thirteen per cent despite the club challenging for a Euro slot. Unfortunately the home form since his arrival has been inconsistent to say the least. I'm not a statto type, but I reckin I wouldn't be far out in saying we've lost almost as many as we've won at Fir Park. No club will achieve much without a decent home record.
Inconsistency is something I'm used to, watching Motherwell; getting a level of consistency in performance is what managers strive for. As stated, this has always been a problem of following Motherwell - if I was a glory hunter I'd watch whichever of the Old Firm was the liklier to provide trophies. But I live without such success watching Motherwell, but I go along hoping to be entertained at Fir Park or whatever away games I manage to get to.
Unfortunately this magic ingredient entertainment has been a sadly missing comodity for the last couple of seasons. Sure, there's been a couple of high-scoring games, exciting to watch perhaps but Motherwell seem to achieve coming out as losers on the day. Of the games I've watched I'd love to say I've come away feeling entertained, but in fact I can count that experience in the last few years on one hand. So that probably explains any reduction in attendance figures. All well and good reducing prices, but if the product ain't right you won't get an increase. Can't fault the chairperson over the pricing policy or his stated ambitions when he arrived, although now the detractors will be smirking over the cut-backs which are now due. The policy of luring high or comparibly high earners in Motherwell's terms was to be lauded. Unfortunately the said high earners seemed to be able to produce the goods on a regular basis.
So a pruning excercise has to take place in the summer and the emphasis put on youth. All well and good if we had a supply of decent kids waiting in the wings. At present we do have some youngsters who could do a job, probably no worse than the high earners, but unfortunately they only get limited chances to show if they are capable or not. So if (?) there is a wholesale clearout, which isn't beyond the realms of imagination as few of the high-rollers will take a pay-cut, would you? And as other clubs are prepared to pay their current lifestyle demands or more, they will walk.
Leaving us to get by with the youngsters and those prepared to accept Boyle's shilling as they say. Not the best scenario for the rigours of the SPL but there's not a great deal of choice. Other clubs are in a similar position although Motherwell's fan base isn't as large as some. Again, the chairperson ought to have done some market research and would have realised this pre his takeover and subsequent plans.
So what lies ahead - who knows. I know many fans are critical, I'm as bad (as regular readers of the fanzines will be well aware!) but we are going to have to take the stick together as the lyrics go. Through thin and thinner, as they say, forever Dosser and hope the entertainment gets better!
John Creighton
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