6.55pm

The following statement appeared on the Official MFC site this afternoon:

The administrator called into run Motherwell Football Club during a period of interim administration today (Monday, April 29) announced details of playing and non-playing staff affected by a financial restructuring of the club.

The financial restructuring of the club is necessary in order to preserve it as a going concern while a buyer is found.

Bryan Jackson, the administrator and his staff, met the club's staff collectively and individually today.

Following those meetings, Mr Jackson said the majority of the 51-strong playing staff will be unaffected financially by the restructuring and will remain at the club on their existing contracts. 17 non-playing staff are also unaffected but three have been made redundant.

The contracts of 10 players whose contracts are due to expire before or at the end of the season will not be renewed and the players have been released early. Nine players have been made redundant.

The club has offered revised contracts to four players. The club captain, Scott Leitch and Derek Adams have accepted new terms and Dirk Lehmann and Eric Deloumeaux are considering new offers made to them.

Mr Jackson said:"The players have been told today who is staying at the club and who, unfortunately, will be leaving. We have kept the redundancies to a minimum but if we did not do this Motherwell would not be able to continue. The staff affected will receive their statutory redundancy payments.

"It is a very painful process for everyone at the club but to ensure the survival of Motherwell Football Club there is no alternative. The club is very grateful to those players who have agreed to stay on revised terms and this will be a great help to the club at this difficult time."

The players affected by the financial restructuring are as follows:

Mark Brown
Stephen Cosgrove
Andy Dow
Eddie Forrest
Roberto Martinez
Brian Macdonald
Karl Ready
Greg Strong
Kevin Twaddle

The above players have been made redundant.

Franck Bernhard
Billy Brawley
John Fallon
David Ferrere
Liam Fleming
Steven Nicholas
Ange Oueifio
Yan Soloy
Scott Wilson
Martin Wood

The above players have been released early from contracts due to expire before or at the end of the current season.

As usual, Ricky was present at the press conference and would like to add the following:
Apparently Terry Butcher took it all well.  There are no further plans for any more redundancies at present. There is considerable interest in the club.  The Administrator is optimistic that things are on the up. Players overall took it well apart from those who were released and those who agreed new terms right away were "anxious to do so".  The decisions were made by the Directors and Management prior to last week's meeting.  The Players Union was involved, and their reaction was one of concern, though mainly about the state of Scottish Football.  Alasdair Barron said it was difficult and unpleasant for him to be involved. The relevant information for potential bidders will be compiled by the end of the week and they are aiming for an early closure (7 - 10 days) regarding bids.

It is understood that three non-playing staff will also leave the club.

4.04pm

It's just been announced that NINETEEN players are to be made redundant - a third of our playing staff.  A press conference is scheduled for 5pm, but the players involved have already been informed, first individually and then as a group.

In summary, the 19 players to go are the 10 who are out of contract plus the 9 highest earners.  The 9 are Mark Brown, Greg Strong, Karl Ready, Andy Dow, Kevin MacDonald, Eddie Forrest, Roberto Martinez, Stephen Cosgrove and Kevin Twaddle

Club captain Scott Leitch and Derek Adams have agreed to take a cut in wages to stay, while Dirk Lehmann and Eric Deloumeaux are thinking over new deals.

This page will be updated as soon as we have more information.

1.30pm

Since the traumatic events of last Wednesday, The Unofficial Motherwell Homepage has received many email messages of support from fans of opposition teams.  It's not possible to list them all, but here are three which arrived over the weekend that are typical of the emails we have been receiving:

This a message to all Motherwell fans from a fan of Partick Thistle.  I hope that your club survives, Scottish Football needs teams like yourselves.  The media as this moment in time only talks about yourselves along with Morton, Clydebank, and your rivals Airdrie being in financial-debt. What about the Old Firm  I don't hear them talk about them being in debt. I understand that Rangers are around £32 million pounds in debt, while Celtic are around £16 million pounds in debt, and also note that Celtic were once in debt before, obviously they've not learned their lesson have they? Once again, I hope your club survives, don't let Motherwell die!
Alasdair Buchanan

I am a Hibs fan that has been living in San Diego for the last 15 years. I've been to many a Hibs, 'Well encounter and can honestly tell you that I am with you in your fight for survival. Although I can't say that I don't remember seeing a Motherwell scarf at Easter Road in 1990 for the 'Hands off Hibs' rally, there was a sense that fans outside of the OF wanted Hibs to make it through the blackest period in our history to date. We cannot allow any senior club to fold, that includes Airdrie, Morton or Motherwell. No good can come of it. So I say to you, fans from around the league are offering support, in fact the Sunday editorial at Hibs.net called for fans to show up for the Chievo game and if they couldn't make that then to send donations to MFC. No back slapping down Easter Road way I assure you. We know where you are, we've been there and with a rally of support from all quarters we'll hopefully live to fight another day. Is 'Well worth saving? You're damn right they are. Without each other, there's no point BEING. That's the part that the Huns and 'Tic don't get. That's going to be their problem. If you haven't already, why not contact each webmaster for the other NINE SPL unofficial websites and brainstorm an Internet campaign of some sort? Good luck to you, we're standing shoulder to shoulder so that for seasons to come we can all enjoy the banter that comes with being division rivals in Scotland playing the beautiful game.
John Inglis

Thanks to everyone who took the time to email us.  It was greatly appreciated.

8.50am

This morning's newspapers have began speculating which of the current squad will be made redundant by the administrator tomorrow.  It is believed that 30 staff in total will lose their jobs, most of them players.  The total playing squad of around 50 will be cut in half, and the highest earners and fringe players are believed to be in jeopardy.  Talks will be held to see if some players will accept wage cuts rather than the dole, but one way or another the wage bill of £1.4 million will be reduced dramatically.

It is believed the administrators will use information from Eric Black and Pat Nevin to help them decide which players to make redundant, but all those on £2000 a week or more will be asked to leave.  Redundancy money will not amount to very much as the club don't have the cash to pay out.

The Daily Record speculates that Kevin Twaddle, Andy Dow, Karl Ready, Roberto Martinez, Scott Leitch, Eric Deloumeaux, Yann Soloy and Greg Strong could be among those targeted, and any players out of contract at the end of the season won't have their deals renewed.

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