Motherwell move into fan ownership with Well Society and Les Hutchison takeover

Motherwell have moved into fan ownership after the Well Society and Les Hutchison concluded their takeover agreement.

The Well Society supporters group has assumed a 76 per cent shareholding from Hutchison for £1 following talks which lasted most of this 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."

The Well Society was initially set up in 2012 as a vehicle to transfer ownership from John Boyle to the fans and help meet short-term cash flow shortages, but the club subsequently lost about £2million in four seasons.

Hutchison initially planned to stay for five years while the club and Well Society gradually paid off the debt but decided to accelerate the transfer of ownership after putting more loans in. Now the club will be responsible for paying back his loans.

Jim McMahon - a founder member of the Well Society - remains as Motherwell chairman.

He said: "The last two years have been dramatic and challenging for the club. 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.

"I appreciate there have been different views expressed in meetings, online and on social media about the validity of fan ownership, but it is now up to us to make this work - for our part, we will aim to become more open, change the governance structure and listen to all and any ways to help. This is a real chance to do something special."

Well Society joint chair Douglas Dickie added: "Our aim of fan-ownership has been, at times, a challenging road, but it has been achieved by a great amount of effort by Well Society members, fans and volunteers.

"It has also been made possible by a number of people who have given their expertise and commitment over a period of time to reach a satisfactory conclusion to our goal. We are now entering a new phase in our history.

"Fan ownership has responsibilities and we all need to realise that continued and growing financial support from all fans will be required. Together we can maintain, strengthen and be proud of the qualities and values of this great community club. The future is what we make it."