Well Society delight at Les Hutchison gesture

Les Hutchison has been hailed by the Well Society for his "fantastic gesture"

The Barbados-based philanthropist is owed £1.47 million by Motherwell FC as payback on an interest free loan negotiated when he agreed to sell the club to the fans for £1 in October.

In a new initiative, Hutchison has now offered to match the total amount of funds raised by the Society in 2017 with a reduction of his loan by the same amount, to a maximum of £500,000.

So every £1 raised will count as £2.

“We were going to pay back Les what the club owes him over the next three years from transfer fees,” Craig said.

“But this gives us the chance to do it a lot quicker.

“It is a brilliant gesture by Les which helps us in a big way.

“He didn’t have to do this. But before he left, he said he could keep giving us a hand in the future.

“What he has done is brilliant. It shows he wants to help the club even after leaving.

“It enables people to pledge to the club in a way which has double the benefit.

“This is an outstanding opportunity to improve the financial position of this great club.”

Craig revealed the Well Society currently has 2060 members, paying anything from £5 a month in direct debits to one-off donations.

“The amount of people who’ve joined the Well Society has been good,” Craig said.

“We got a large number coming in after the ownership announcement in October.

“This is the next push. More members will come on board on the back of this.

“Two thousand members was our original target and we just want to keep growing to as high a membership number as we can.”

Motherwell supporters wishing to pledge to the Well Society can do so by emailing [email protected]