10 months ago
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Motherwell chairman Jim McMahon has revealed all behind the club’s viral plea to popstar Taylor Swift.
The Scottish Premiership side released a tongue-in-cheek video where they were targeting Hollywood celebrities for investment.
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It has been a trend in recent months and years for British clubs to get new high profile owners.
Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney famously invested in Wrexham, while Michael B. Jordan is part of the Bournemouth ownership groups.
Tom Brady has even become a part owner in Birmingham City.
In the video, a young fan appeals directly to Taylor Swift, who has recently gained plenty more media attention for her high profile relationship with NFL star Travis Kelce.
Read more on Taylor Swift
The boy pleads: "Taylor Swift, gies some dosh."
Motherwell became the first fan owned club in 2016, with supporters paying into the Well Society.
Well Society chairman McMahon joked to talkSPORT: “As you can hear from my voice, it is very croaky because I’ve been on the phone to Taylor [Swift] for the last six hours discussing her involvement, how many gigs she is going to do at Fir Park, whether she wants to turn out for the ladies team."
McMahon added: “We’ve had an incredible amount of interest from the video, at all levels.
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“A lot of people are wanting to become members of the Well Society and therefore become club owners. There’s lots of interest from existing advertisers and sponsors saying ‘that’s great, the amount of interest you’ve pulled [from the video] has made us feel better about next year.
“We’ve also had about a dozen expressions of interest from people who want to come and possibly invest in the club.
“We are just trawling through those now and have had some initial debates with those people to see how serious they are.
“It’s been incredibly encouraging so far as what’s happened.”
The short video highlighted the organisation's community offerings, including kids clubs and its walking and para-football programmes.
Although the community club is not officially up for sale, they are looking investment to be able to continue its work.
McMahon added: “The idea to get out to the world and tell our story is something I’ve been talking about for a while.
“We've been fan-owned for seven years now, we've broken even cumulatively over that period. We've got to some cup finals, we've got into Europe, but the job of a board is always to try and look ahead and see. Can we do better, can we find other sources of funds or income?
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“So we had an idea about trying to tell a story to a bigger audience. We think we've got a great story to tell, particularly the work we do in the community and the first Premier League club anywhere to be owned by fans.
“But the idea of the scripts were done by a creative agency. We then looked at them in detail and there were three potential ways to go, but it was the creative agency who came up with the scripts and with the very interesting finish. That wasn't me, I can assure you.
“And we have other ideas, equally quirky or equally cheeky, depending on how you see it, for keeping this going.”
