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Carl McHugh has decided to relinquish his role as captain of Motherwell Football Club.

The influential Irishman has made the decision after a summer of personal reflection, after which he believed it would be both in his own interest and that of the team to pass on the armband.

Peter Hartley will be the new captain of the club, a decision taken after consultation with McHugh and other senior players.

“It’s definitely not a decision I’ve taken lightly,” he explained. “It’s been a tough decision to come to but I think it’s the right one going forward.

“But I just feel at times I wasn’t happy with the level of consistency I showed over the season.

“The captaincy was affecting me in different ways. But most importantly on the pitch, I felt my level of performance [had dropped].

“I’m quite hard on myself, to be honest, and when I analysed my season after the last few games I felt this was something that could help me moving forward, and help the team.

“I could have just carried on and stayed in the role for another season. That would have been the easy thing to do. But I think the right thing to do is what I am doing now.

“It is the right thing for me personally, which in turn will help the team and the club move forward. I believe this will help me overall, it’ll help my performances and it will help the team.

“We’re a close knit squad and Pete has always been supportive of me as captain and I’ll do the same for him. I know that Pete will go on to be a terrific captain of this football club.”

Manager Stephen Robinson and McHugh spoke about the matter for several weeks, after the player made the first approach to say he wished to pass on the armband.

“I don’t think there’s many managers you could probably speak to about something like this and for him to be as understanding as he was,” he said of the manager.

“He’s been great about it and he’s just wanted to help me and do the right thing for me and the club moving forward.”

McHugh was the first captain since the 1950s to lead the team into two cup finals and says he’s happy with the role he played, but now wants to focus on playing.

“I’ve captained the club in two finals and that’s something I can look back on and be proud of,” he said.

“I feel now getting it sorted and getting it out in the open, I can focus on the cup games and look forward to getting back to football and enjoying my football.”

Tickets for our two home matches in the 2018/19 Betfred Cup are now available to buy online.

Motherwell host Edinburgh City on Tuesday, 17 July in their first competitive match of the campaign, before Queen of the South are visitors to Fir Park a week later.

Adult tickets are priced at £12, while concessions can get in for £6. You can buy yours online right now.

• Buy your tickets for Motherwell v Edinburgh City
• Buy your tickets for Motherwell v Queen of the South

We encourage all fans to buy early and make use of our new online ticket platform. Our print at home function is not available for these two matches but you can have your match ticket posted to you, or collect it from the ticket office.

Pay at the gate will also be available on the day.

Pre-match hospitality

Both the Cooper Bar and Centenary Suite will be open for pre-match food and drink ahead of our two home matches.

Our usual pre-match hospitality will not be in operation. Food can be purchased before the game and access to the bars will be available before and after the match, as well as at half time. Opposition fans are also welcome in the bars at both games.

Both the Cooper Bar and Centenary Suite will be open for pre-match food and drink ahead of our two home matches in the 2018/19 Betfred Cup.

Motherwell face Edinburgh City and Queen of the South on 17 and 24 July respectively, as the team look to replicate last season’s run to the final.

Our usual pre-match hospitality will not be in operation. Food can be purchased before the game and access to the bars will be available before and after the match, as well as at half time.

Opposition fans are also welcome at both games.

Welcome to the new website of Motherwell Football Club.

After extensive development and consultation with supporters over what they expect from their club website, we’ve worked with Scottish web development agency mtc to bring you our new offering.

Our previous website and server were not befitting of the strides we have taken as a club both on and off the pitch. Through our conversations with you, the fans, you told us that:

• Information on the first team was the main reason you visited
• You wanted more insight into the first team and more content around them
• Buying tickets online was also important, leading to the launch of our ticketing platform this summer
• A new, modern website that was fit for purpose in the current digital age was essential
• A responsive mobile website was critical, with 67% of those surveyed saying they visited the website on their mobile devices

The new website is based around those fundamental points. The main content you will see every time you visit will be geared around the first team matches and players, with fresh interviews, features, behind-the-scenes content and more on a daily basis, whether that’s in written, video or audio form.

Club websites can be cluttered. We wanted to strip things down so that you see only what the majority are interested in on first glance. But there are still lots of areas that are vitally important to the club, and we’ve organised these better through our new navigation system, that makes it quicker and easier to find the items you need.

Our new site will also help us grow the business, with the ability to sell tickets and hospitality, increase opportunities for digital sponsorships and better promote the sale of club merchandise. It is also hosted on a new server which will be able to handle large volumes of traffic.

“This is an important day for Motherwell FC as we step up our digital offering,” communications manager Grant Russell said.

“Our supporters have told us exactly what they expect from our website, and we’ve looked to reflect that in what we are launching today.

“Our previous offering had become not fit for purpose and it was important we took the time to properly investigate and then design a website that would best serve the club and its supporters.

“We have a lot of innovative features and we’ve spent a lot of time on the user experience, making it as easy as possible to find the information you want as easily as possible. We are also now able to integrate our website with our new ticketing system, meaning it is now possible to buy tickets for matches through our website in just a few clicks.

“There are a number of features still to follow that will even further enhance our website for our fans that we will announce shortly.”

Ryan McGinnis, lead designer on the project at mtc, added: “We are delighted to present the new club website after months of collaborative research, design and development between Motherwell & mtc,”

“Our primary aim was to establish a highly engaging fan experience by placing supporters at the forefront of the digital journey. We have created a system that allows users to effortlessly find key content and can withstand the technical pressures expected of a progressive, traffic-heavy football club.

“We’re thrilled to welcome the club to our ever growing sports line-up and look forward to growing our digital partnership with Motherwell FC.”

Neil McLaughlin and Broque Watson have been recruited to form part of Stephen Craigan’s reserves team for the 2018/19 season.

The pair have been signed up on one-year deals. McLaughlin joins from Partick Thistle, while Watson has signed from Celtic.

McLaughlin has immediately gone out on loan to Stirling Albion for the season, with the club holding a recall option in January. He will also be eligible to play for the Motherwell reserve team.

The 19-year-old forward, who made three appearances for the Jags, also spent last campaign with Stirling, playing 33 times and scoring four goals.

Watson, a winger, has played for Celtic in the UEFA Youth League and will also form part of the reserves.

Prior to both of last season’s cup finals, the ‘Well support produced two amazing card displays which not only looked the part, but also raised over £9000 for the Well Society.

Organised by the Well Bois, with support from the Well Society, the fundraising effort was initially to cover the costs of the display. Following on from this, any additional funds generated were to be donated to the Well Society, with money raised further boosted with the “Double Your Money” initiative still in play.

Our support responded in their droves and by digging deep, they exceeded all expectations and ensured that the Well Bois were able to turn our end of Hampden Park claret and amber, giving our players a sight to behold as they walked out of the tunnel to a rapturous welcome.

“We would like to thank the Well Bois and the Motherwell support for this incredible effort,” Well Society board member Maureen Kirkwood said.

“Each and every person involved should be exceptionally proud of how it looked and, of course, the funds raised too.

“Time and time again our fans knock it out of the park, and we at the Well Society will never take that for granted.”

Derek Watson, one of the many fans who helped coordinate the displays, added: “We wanted to make sure our fans were represented at the final and we were delighted about how it all turned out.

“We greatly appreciate everyone’s efforts in making this happen, in particular a big thanks to John McAlpine and Andy Lewis who helped design the displays.

“It’s always been our aim to bring colour and atmosphere to Motherwell matches, both home and away, and we are extremely grateful to the Motherwell support for their continuous support.”

If you haven’t already done so you can continue to play your part and help support the club towards more success on and off the field by pledging to the Well Society from just £5 per month by clicking here.

Supporters attending Motherwell’s final pre-season fixture at Dunfermline Athletic will be able to pay at the gate.

Adult prices are £10 and concessions can gain entry for £5.

The match at East End Park on Thursday, 12 July will kick off at 7.30pm.

Watch the best of the action as Cédric Kipré, Danny Johnson, Allan Campbell, Ryan Bowman and James Scott net in the 5-1 win at Darlington.

Ryan Bowman, Trevor Carson and Liam Grimshaw give their thoughts after the 5-1 pre-season win over Darlington.

Assistant manager Keith Lasley reflects on ‘Well’s 5-1 win over Darlington as pre-season preparations continue.