Motherwell’s Keith Lasley talks up fan ownership

Keith Lasley belives fan ownership at Motherwell could pave the way for success on the pitch. Picture: SNS

Lasley feels a spirit of togetherness has been a major factor in helping Motherwell to successive top-three finishes and the midfielder is optimistic the Well Society can consolidate that.

The Well Society, which has launched a 60-second online survey for Motherwell supporters, needs £1.5 million to take majority ownership of the club for the community but is less than a third of the way to that target as it seeks to revive the recruitment process.

Lasley said: “We are all in this together. We are trying to help the fans by entertaining them, the fans are trying to help us by giving us that extra yard. The Well Society adds another layer. You really are in it together because you have a part of the club and a share in the company. That can only help bring everyone together.

“Motherwell have done really well in recent years and I think one of the big plus points for the club as a whole is how close knit it is between the players and the fans and the people from the boardroom all the way down.

“New players who come to the club find it easy to settle in because there is a real good feeling within the club. The Well Society can bring everybody together and that can only be a good thing for the team.”

While similar schemes at Hearts and Dunfermline have hit the headlines in recent months as both sets of supporters bid to save their clubs, the Well Society is recruiting in more stable times. However, the need for financial security is no less important in the long term as Motherwell will no longer have the wealth of former chairman John Boyle to rely on. The money raised by the Well Society, which has two representatives on the club board, will act as an alternative financial buffer.

Despite Motherwell being more prudently run since they went into administration in 2002, the fragile nature of football finance was evident last season when conceding a last-minute equaliser at Aberdeen in the William Hill Scottish Cup meant the club would make a small loss rather than a profit.

Lasley said: “I’m involved in the Well Society, my kids are involved in it, and I think the model is the way forward for Scottish football. When you see the troubles at other clubs at the moment, the idea of fan ownership is a positive one.

“The club is for the people of Motherwell and if they can have a say in how it’s run, then that can only be healthy.

“You see in Germany how the model can certainly work at big clubs and, hopefully, it can work here at Motherwell as well.

“Everyone that is involved in it obviously has a feeling for the club and that’s the kind of people you want involved in running the club.”