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piehutt

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piehutt last won the day on December 18 2020

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About piehutt

  • Birthday 02/26/1985

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  1. Completely agree. If you have had discussions or contact with anyone, share them for others to become more informed. It would be good to know about the budget for players and if this has been aggressive or conservative. I suspect we would be shocked if we knew what GC were covering most seasons and it will take time to get our revenue streams back up to what we all hope they should be.
  2. No, but people could at least be constructive and worry about the big stuff and let some of the trivia go - eg spelling mistakes. Your most recent criticism, as an example, about Gordon Ritchie being arrogant is vague. It's also disrespectful in the way you've said it, which I'm sure was intended. What is the point? If you are going to comment, provide detail and context rather than just a blank statement that could be anything from a serious failing, to poor communication to a personality clash. MCT are there and this is the way we are going to be run going forward. Obviously the faces will change and evolve. So lets try and improve it and make the most of the groundwork that's been done and ensure fan ownership is successful.
  3. it's a democracy. Vote in new directors, stand up to do the job yourself if you feel so strongly about the direction.
  4. No doubt mistakes have been made and things have probably been harder than they have foreseen. I'm sure a combination of inexperience and the way the club had been run previously have made things tough. But I still think people are very quick to criticise and we have had this gradual good feeling slipping away as people want things done now, want the takeover complete, want new players, want the kit released, update on absolutely everything all of the time etc. It's a lot of things to happen and we've just about gotten there, even if it wasn't all as quick as would be optimal. In terms of whittling down the numbers - I don't know if that's something they are planning (I hope it is) or if it will take time for this to happen naturally as they realise 15 or 20 people is unnecessary as things move away from takeover and change, to hopefully the day to day running of the club. I hesitate to be too critical as I have not put my own hand up to help out, other than being a member. And I would plead with the people who are criticising to be constructive at the very least. We all want the same thing, which is Morton to be successful on the park and secure off it. There seems to be a lot of gripes about personalities thus far with ultimately fairly minor practical criticism. I'm sure the main known unknown regarding the takeover being complete would be complete by now if it was possible for MCT to action this themselves, but of course there are multiple parties involved .
  5. I think that a lot has happened in a fairly short space of time, in terms of MCT becoming established, getting involved in a takeover, negotiating and re-negotiating that - then taking the reigns a few months ago. The reality is, these people are volunteers with day jobs. I think people are being overly critical of what has happened and the squad we have assembled. Probably more critical and / or more vocal than we would have been if GC had still been there. I obviously don't know the reasons why Dean McKinnon resigned and he has been fairly vague on this. MCT seem to have a team sizeable in numbers, but probably too big to make effective decisions. I would hope that is naturally whittled down to someone in charge of finances, someone on communications, someone on staffing / recruitment and one or two others to help out and be a sounding board. Ideally in time, more and more decisions will be made by hired professionals - but it takes time and money for these relationships to be established. Ultimately we don't have the Golden Casket overdraft facility that kept Morton operating on a larger budget than we could account for previously. That means players who sign, we have to reasonably expect that the revenue for that contract can be accounted for over the next 12 or 24 months. Of course you could be aggressive or conservative with that budget, and hope that better players brings more revenue. I reckon / hope that we have been on the conservative side of that at this point. I'm also realistic that as a team who finished a fairly poor 9th last season and have gone through major upheaval off the park, we are unlikely to be in a position to go pushing up the league this season. But I hope with MCT established and hopefully revenue streams maximised far more effectively, we will see improvements on the park within a season or two. My feeling is we have a better 1st team than last season, but are light on numbers and the youngsters will have a part to play during the season as injuries or suspensions bite. I'd say, lets support MCT and give them time to make a difference. Because these guys want Morrton to do well and the alternative to MCT is probably not very palatable to any of us.
  6. fair play to all involved. I was always sceptical that Morton (under MCT) should have a substantial asset that would be very tempting to run up debt on or be the subject of unscrupulous takeover bids. I also couldn't really see if GC could write off £2M+ of debt to a solvent company without HMRC potentially assessing those funds as 'income' they had taken out of GC and spent running their football club. My belief is that the original deal was to protect Cappielow from falling into the wrong hands or a sale being forced due to financial hardship. As well as a way of keeping the GC balance sheet in check. I know people seem to think of Rae as some kind of enemy of the club, and you are entitled to your view, but I certainly don't see it this way and there's dozens of things he could have done if he just wanted some cash out of all of this. I didn't see how Rae was benefitting from the previous deal and I don't think he will or is trying to benefit from this deal. Other than the fact he won't be underwriting the running costs of a football club any more. With this new deal, they are perhaps operating at the margins of what HMRC would be happy with... but as we've long argued on these pages Cappielow & the car park could be worth anything from £1 to £millions, depending on what you plan to do with the land. On the wider point of MCT... I think we / they certainly have a job on their hands, but I do believe they can run the club much more effectively and make better use of our resources than the previous owners have done over the past decade or so. Here's hoping they at least start with owning a Championship club.
  7. People are painting Rae as this villain. He has still supported the club financially and personally, so I am some way off the view some of him have on here. Yes - they've made bad footballing decisions but they've also put hundreds of thousands in (far more than the £2m on the balance sheet, that they are not actually trying to recover). It would be interesting to know Rae's motives, whether there are tax or financial implications of writing off the debt at GC end. Perhaps in the event of a write off this becomes taxable as GC profits? Or is it simply that he is a businessman and doesn't want to give things away and that the asset could end up as a carrot to tempt another Hugh Scott type into the club. in terms of control... if Morton went into hardship under option 1 - having no major asset means this would never be any more than a cashflow issue. No lender is going to give us huge amounts of credit as it would be completely unsecured, so I don't believe the actual existence of Morton would at stake. If Morton owned the stadium, then perhaps relatively tempting to access any credit that was on offer to ease cash flow worries, and things could spiral from there. Under option 2 - once again, with a £2m debt on the balance sheet... Morton raising substantial commercial finance or share capital is unlikely from anyone that would be expecting their money back. And if the club did go into administration, GC would likely be the largest creditor who would be due the biggest share of any assets - i.e. the stadium. Therefore, once again, much reduced chance of that falling into non-football hands.
  8. If anyone thinks Rae's motivation in all of this is personal financial gain, then I'd like to see what they are putting in their sandwiches. If Rae was looking to gain financially, he'd have walked / sold years ago. They are still paying running costs to keep the lights on now. And Rae is still attending games. If he really didn't care, would he bother his arse? Personal view is that Rae is concerned a debt free / asset rich business, potentially run by a combination of fan committee and online polls, could quickly get in over their skis and end up mortgaging the property and whatever else. This could likely lead to administration where the whole lot could be sold at a cut down price with creditors effectively making that decision. I personally think that's unlikely and am positive MCT ownership will create opportunity and enthusiasm, but it's definitely not going to be easy for the club under new owners with not a huge amount of revenue to start with. With both options on the table, Rae would have an element of control if the club did go into financial hardship, either by being the owner of the asset or by being the primary creditor. I'm personally comfortable with those options if it means MCT take control. I'd rather that than roll the dice on Rae electing to sell to a 3rd party or the club meandering on in it's current state. Of course nothing is agreed till it's all signed and sealed, but I trust that the MCT board are thoroughly exploring all realistic options for a settlement with GC.
  9. absolute nonsense. A business doesn't give contractual or written assurances of meeting it's own obligations. it is implied or else people will pursue them financially. and in the context of a global pandemic nothing is certain if you take that view. Whether they make a written promise or declaration. So I'm not really sure what would satisfy you at this stage. Anything from Morton you will choose not to believe and anything from MCT you are treating as not the full story.
  10. From the statement; MCT has been assured by the Rae family and Golden Casket that they will continue to underwrite the financial security of the club until the end of the season. You can believe what you want to believe but how you could read that and think GC aren't going to ensure we fulfil our obligations this season, is that you just choose not to believe it.
  11. I agree communication is important. In fairness to MCT they are not in control yet and I think, rightly, are keeping Rae / GC onside as I don't think it benefits anyone to fall out with them at this stage. The statement confirms GC will provide financial backing till the end of the season so there is no risk of us not paying players or being unable to fulfill fixtures. Perhaps there are more wages to come off, but we certainly aren't staring into the abyss as press reports and other rumours would have us believe. My belief is other clubs will be in a similar position and may well run tighter squads going forward so we may find we are in a no worse position, relative to rival clubs. But what Morton and MCT are not obliged to do is to respond to every rumour on twitter or in the press. And they aren't obliged to provide a commentary on negotiations on the terms of the deal. The statement is fairly comprehensive and strongly worded in many areas. It has more credibility than the Morton statement on Hopkin's departure. Hopefully we can now concentrate on the football, at least for a few months.
  12. Good statement and gives some fairly categoric assurances over recent press and fan speculation.
  13. Q&A from MCT in July. Strange that this has become such a hot topic in the past couple of weeks when it has been public knowledge for months. The terms of the lease are still under negotiation. What has been agreed is the outline of the deal. The lease fee or annual rent will be minimal. It will NOT be a market value rent. It will be a repairing and insuring lease, which means that the club will be required to maintain the stadium to at least the same standard as it is at present. This does not preclude us from making improvements to the stadium. The lease will run for as long as MCT is the owner of Morton. The lease will preclude any significant increase in rent – it will continue to be a nominal rent for the duration. I
  14. February is Derek Collins and Alan Mahood posing with Tenants Lager cans.
  15. Razorlight album, cleverly entitled Razorlight. There's so many promising albums out at the mo, could spend a fortune on them.
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