BishopBrennan

Whilst demands for the club to communicate regarding losing out on a potential assistant manager is obviously daft, I do think there is an ongoing comms issue that I'd like to see the club address and improve upon. The constant use of 'a club spokesperson' appearing in the Tele when reporting on a story. It might just be a pet peeve of mine, but for a fan-owned club who are supposedly looking to rebuild the trust and confidence of the fanbase, 'a club spokesperson' doesn't cut it. Why exactly are our club staff/directors refusing to put their names to their statements? The credibility of both the GMFC and MCT boards have been rightfully called into question over the last few months. At the MCT EGM to vote on the Dalrada proposal, we were offered rather mealy-mouthed apologies from Barr and Robinson for misleading the fanbase, and we were told that lessons would be learned by the individuals involved. Nameless individuals feeding information to the press doesn't come close to meeting that standard. How are we, as the club's owners, supposed to hold GMFC directors to account if we can't attribute information released to an individual? If we are looking to improve standards around the club then that is an easy first step that I'd like to see us take. I suggest two quick ways to do this would make a massive difference - record and release minutes from both GMFC and MCT board meetings (redacted where necessary), and making a blanket policy that all information released to the press must have a name attributed to it.

If we had a reasonable competent backup goalkeeper, instead of Woods, I'd be fine with Dunning's suggestion to play it by ear judging on the League Cup group stages, but that's not the situation. Given his age and lack of experience at this level, there is a very good chance that at some stage in the season we would need to bring Murdoch out the team. From what I've seen of Woods, a potentially prolonged period of games with Woods in goal could be disastrous. I think the best course of action for both Murdoch and the team is him finding a loan club at a good level. Let him play every week at a more suitable level and see where we are come January.

Enjoy your night mate.

I just renewed my season ticket and I have to say that the Fanbase app is wonderfully easy to operate. The fact you can buy season tickets, match tickets and hospitality all in under two minutes is a massive improvement from previously.

I think you mean Chris Ross rather than Chris Samson. Chris Ross was the club's GM previously, Chris Samson is part of the MCT interim board who works for Southampton in their media and comms team.

I think the number of votes that were cast before the EGM probably supports that idea.

I think overall the meeting has to be considered a success, largely thanks to Brian Bonar reassuring us regarding any future share issues. I do think though that, yet again, MCT need to address online attendees having their questions ignored in favour of questions in the room. This has been an ongoing issue, and although there is some mitigation because of the venue change and the technical difficulties, there needs to be a bit more structure in these meetings to make sure members attending online have their questions heard. Ahead of the meeting, my main concerns were future GMFC share issues, the club chairman and the credibility of the MCT representatives on the club board. Brian Bonar dialling into the meeting via Zoom was a very welcome development, as he allayed the fears many supporters had that Dalrada may have nefarious intentions regarding the running of the club and their representation in the boardroom. I do think however, the fact that Mr Bonar convinced more people within five minutes than the two documents and video released by MCT/GMFC directors, is rather telling of how poorly the proposal was relayed to the membership. The sheer volume and range of questions, along with the turnout at the meeting, highlighted how many supporters did not feel they were in a position to make an informed decision. This underlines just how lacklustre the presentation of the proposal was. Both the club and MCT need to learn from this and quickly. This is underlined by the fact that GMFC/MCT refused point blank to release the proposed agreement, citing commercial confidentiality as the reason for this refusal. Brian Bonar then refuted this outright, saying that he’d make the agreement available to anyone who wished to view it. Again, this gives little confidence in the capabilities of those negotiating and communicating to the membership on behalf of MCT. For all Brian Bonar’s very charming performance at the meeting did reassure me that future GMFC share issues would not be a concern, the opposite could be said of the performance of the club chairman. I felt Laird presented in an incredibly arrogant and self aggrandising manner. Given his role in hiding a transfer embargo from the club’s majority shareholders, I’d assert that Dalrada may be the only stakeholder in the club that are pleased to see Laird continue in this role. The complete lack of transparency regarding the links to his son’s football coaching and analysis company seems to be an issue that has not been answered, given his complete denial of any knowledge of this in the FAQ document. I for one am very concerned that our club chairman has never been subject to the SFA’s fit and proper assessment for club directors, and the motivations behind the decision not to enlist him for these assessments. Regardless of the outcome of the vote, this is incredibly concerning and something I feel fans deserve answered definitely, rather than the chairman consistently trying to dodge this issue. With John Laird confessing that the transfer embargo is still an ongoing matter at the EGM, this brings me to the subject of our MCT representatives. For all both Robinson and Barr seemed to offer rather mealy mouthed apologies for their role in this, my position is that the damage has already been done. The confidence of the membership is absolutely vital to MCT, and for such an egregious breach of trust to be willingly conducted by both these individuals, and the knock on effect this caused within the MCT board, is risible. I'd also remind the membership that this is not the first time Graham Barr has wheeled out the 'learn lessons and do better next time' line. MCT need a clear plan on how they plan to re-establish the trust of the membership. I’m incredibly pleased that Dalrada’s involvement in Greenock Morton will continue, and that certainty can be provided to Dougie Imrie as quickly as possible to allow our squad building to commence. That doesn’t paint the whole picture however, and I think both boards must be willing to reflect on how poorly they have performed over the last few months. We need an MCT that thrives and continually pushes the club forward, and the behaviour of some of our representatives in recent times has rocked the organisation to its foundations. I'm glad Dalrada are on board, but we must do better.

He was one of the good guys on the Forum. Sorry for your loss.

The Championship teams for next season have been confirmed as - Airdrieonians Arbroath Ayr Big Spending Raith Rovers Dunfermline Morton Partick Queens Park Ross County St. Johnstone

I may be missing something, but there seems to be a direct contradiction here. John Laird's son seems to be the sole proprietor of 'SJL Soccer Coaching'. On the SJL Soccer Coaching Twitter account, it states that they 'conduct match, team & player analysis reports for clients, as well as opposition reports for clubs'. Someone may have misinterpreted a football analytics company for a football analysis/coaching company, but for Laird to claim he 'has absolutely no knowledge of any such connection and is unsure what is being referred to' appears highly dubious.

That's exactly my thinking. If we have to suffer relegation and part-time football to keep control over the club we've had to fight to gain control of, it's a price worth paying in my opinion. I'd never advocate us cutting off our nose to spite our face, but unless we are absolutely certain of the intentions of anyone looking to involve themselves in the club, then we should approach it with scepticism.

It's a bit late for that.

Has it been mentioned anywhere who will be in attendance from MCT? I'll be honest - if Barr and Robinson aren't in attendance I'll be incandescent. They must face their membership and answer all questions put to them regarding their recent actions.

I've just submitted this rather large list of questions to MCT. I'm assuming they will collate questions and answer them at the meeting. Dalrada: Should Dalrada continue their history of missed/late payments to GMFC, what protections are GMFC implementing to protect the club’s financial wellbeing? If Dalrada miss or default on payment(s), will the number of Dalrada board members on the GMFC board be reduced? If not, why not? What failsafe measures have MCT discussed should the proposal be rejected by the membership? Why, and by who, was it decided that a written summary of the proposed agreement sent to the membership, rather than the proposed deal in its entirety? Will a full version of the agreement (redacted where necessary to protect sensitive data) be sent to the membership? If not, why not? It is stated within the email that the agreement, should it be successful, will be reviewed in twelve months time. Given the proportion of the club’s income that comes from Dalrada, could this review begin in February 2026 instead, with the aim of having a final decision by May 2026 instead? Whilst we cannot guarantee which league we would be playing in for the following season, and some additional caveats may need to be inserted into any proposed agreement, this would give the men’s first team manager a more definitive idea of the budget for the season ahead, allowing squad building to begin as soon as possible. GMFC Chairman: Is or has John Laird ever been a member of MCT? Has John Laird invested any money in the Club or MCT? Has John Laird been registered as a director of GMFC with Companies House? If not, why not? Over the last twelve months, how many MCT board meetings has John Laird attended? Does John Laird currently have any financial interest in any footballing companies, including coaching, scouting and agency organisations? If so, what mechanisms have the GMFC board put in place to prevent conflicts of interest from arising? If there are none, why is this the case? What mechanisms are in place to allow the MCT membership, the clubs owners, to remove a Chairman should they be unhappy with their leadership? MCT Reps on the GMFC Board: Given a clear failure in communication and governance, and a clear breach of the memberships’ trust by both Graham Barr and Sam Robinson, what is the justification for the interim MCT board being ‘happy’ for both named individuals to continue in their role? What is the justification for MCT directors who have previously resigned from their posts making such an important decision without allowing a vote of the membership to inform their decision? Have Graham Barr or Sam Robinson offered any explanation or apology for their actions in hiding vital information from both the club’s owners and the men’s first team manager? What assurances have the interim board sought from Graham and Sam regarding their future conduct and responsibilities towards all MCT members? What are the mechanisms by which MCT members can remove representatives should their conduct fall below an acceptable standard? Given recent developments, and the subsequent impact upon the trust the fanbase have in MCT as an organisation, and the representation the membership have on the GMFC board, would this be a prudent opportunity to start recording minutes from discussions held at MCT and GMFC board meetings? Obviously, certain information would need to be redacted, but this could go a long way to improving the transparency and integrity of our elected representatives. If this is not possible, why not?

Thorniewood are quite good at uploading his multiple screamers onto Twitter. His left foot is as wonderful as always.