Ten years of fan ownership in Scotland - could Celtic and Rangers follow suit? || Graeme McGarry "It will never work. The club doesn’t have a large enough supporter base. We’ll never be able to compete. "Those who were at the vanguard as the concept of fan ownership was introduced to Scottish football have heard all of this, and many other doubts around the viability of the model, before. Ad nauseam. And yet, a decade on from Motherwell becoming the first majority fan-owned top-flight club in Scotland, the Fir Park outfit are thriving with the Well Society as their main shareholder, embedded more deeply than ever in their community, and coming off the back of one of their most successful Premiership campaigns in living memory. "That success story is not unique to Motherwell, though. There are now four clubs in the Scottish Premiership showing that fan ownership is no limit to ambition, or to how competitive a side can be put out on the field of play. "Were it not for the intervention of their supporters and the Foundation of Hearts back in 2013, as club legend and then manager Gary Locke has starkly outlined, there might not be a Hearts today at all. Now, the Tynecastle club are the largest fan-owned club in the country, while on the field, they came within minutes of winning the title last season. "St Mirren, meanwhile, were the first fan-owned club in Britain to win a trophy when they picked up the League Cup last season, while Falkirk more than consolidated their back-to-back promotions to reach the top-flight by finishing in the top six last term. "All of that is, in the view of Derek Watson, current Well Society chair, cause for celebration. And on Saturday evening in Glasgow, that is just what he and many others from all of those clubs will be doing." 👇