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We have let players go during the window so surely it should be a like for like replacement in terms of the actual budget and not MCT money that’s sorting this signing out?

 

Feels like the club are being let off big time.

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I have to admit I’m a bit confused, frustrated and underwhelmed by what’s happening or not happening around our club at the moment. My main concern is that the statements coming out haven’t been matched the actions. It’s quite similar to listening to politicians on Question Time.

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We have let players go during the window so surely it should be a like for like replacement in terms of the actual budget and not MCT money that’s sorting this signing out?

Feels like the club are being let off big time.

I think they’re just attaching the thank you to MCT for the contribution to the budget in every player we sign.

 

You could take the view that a set number of players in the club are being covered by the budget the club set before including MCT money and every player signed beyond that is covered by MCT money, but I think they’re viewing it in terms of x% of the budget comes from the club’s usual revenue, y% is on top of that, so MCT are covering y% of every player’s wage and therefore contributing to everyone.

 

I get why they feel it’s useful for PR to do the ‘thank you for the contribution’ with every signing and contract renewal, but looking at this thread I feel it’s creating confusion about what MCT’s for at this point.

 

It’s the route to clearing the club’s debt, creating the conditions for either someone else to take over from the Raes without the debt hanging over us or to build to taking over the club themselves, but either way the end game is the Raes out of the club. The first team budget is irrelevant to that, it’s a sideshow which is besides the whole point of the exercise, but instead people are being put off the far more important bigger aim because they don’t like what signings we’re making.

Brian Wake my Lord, Brian Wake

Brian Wake my Lord, Brian Wake

Brian Wake my Lord, Brian Wake

Oh Lord, Brian Wake

 

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"It’s the route to clearing the club’s debt"

No it's not, Crawford Rae had already committed to clearing the debt at the meeting in the Gamble Hall. Crawford Rae knows that he can never sell the club with the debt attached and so did Dougie who wrote of £500k before he passed away and was willing to write of the rest. The debt will dissappear the minute there is a realistic bid for the club no matter who buys it.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
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No it's not, Crawford Rae had already committed to clearing the debt at the meeting in the Gamble Hall. Crawford Rae knows that he can never sell the club with the debt attached and so did Dougie who wrote of £500k before he passed away and was willing to write of the rest. The debt will dissappear the minute there is a realistic bid for the club no matter who buys it.

So the whole MCT scheme is a sham?

"CORNBEEF IS A BELLEND"

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So the whole MCT scheme is a sham?

The basic point is to show that a fans group can cover a realistic shortfall there will be every year in running the club at it's current level. This was previously covered by Golden Casket (creating a 'debt'), and MCT is now filling that gap (to some extent). If they can do that successfully, and can demonstrate that they have a plan and model for running the club, then the club will be passed over into 'fan ownership.'

 

The MCT funds are currently covering part of the substantial cuts to the playing budget which were put in place part way through last season.

Edited by SpoonTon
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  • 4 weeks later...

Quite interesting reading the Brown family on St J over the last couple of days:

 

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/sport/football/st-johnstone/1159526/st-johnstone-geoff-brown-owner-steve/

 

Losing money, don’t want to keep it in the family, no buyer on the horizon (“who wants to own a football club”), and they don’t think fan ownership can work. So...

Edited by cmdc
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Morton reporting a loss of 75k last year, which would have been 575 if 500k of the loan wasn’t written off

 

https://twitter.com/kieranmaguire/status/1234749398833356800?s=21

 

The 12 full time SPFL clubs who made a loss for 2018/19:

Aberdeen (£1m)

Dundee (£1.8m)

Dundee Utd (£3.7m)

Dunfermline ('substantial loss')

Falkirk (£700k)

Inverness CT (£892k)

Morton (£75k)

Motherwell (£436k)

Rangers (£11.3m)

Raith (£200k)

Ross County (£1.4m)

St Johnstone (£150k)

Edited by Renfrew
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I've not read over it all but wasn't the MCT contributions to write off existing debt rather than operating losses? This would suggest we've just in the same position.

Given the way we approached last season (significantly lower prices, increasing player budget, etc), and how disappointing it was (with no cup runs either), there was always going to be a substantial loss. £500k+ isn't that surprising - even a good cup run or two would've taken a big chunk out of that.

 

The club has since tried to reduce spending - who knows how that'll actually turn out. Our currently attendance levels are pretty bleak. It doesn't look good at all.

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Morton reporting a loss of 75k last year, which would have been 575 if 500k of the loan wasn’t written off

 

https://twitter.com/kieranmaguire/status/1234749398833356800?s=21

 

The 12 full time SPFL clubs who made a loss for 2018/19:

Aberdeen (£1m)

Dundee (£1.8m)

Dundee Utd (£3.7m)

Dunfermline ('substantial loss')

Falkirk (£700k)

Inverness CT (£892k)

Morton (£75k)

Motherwell (£436k)

Rangers (£11.3m)

Raith (£200k)

Ross County (£1.4m)

St Johnstone (£150k)

How the fuck did we lose £575K? I know this wasnt the end figure but fuck me.

"CORNBEEF IS A BELLEND"

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Given the way we approached last season (significantly lower prices, increasing player budget, etc), and how disappointing it was (with no cup runs either), there was always going to be a substantial loss. £500k+ isn't that surprising - even a good cup run or two would've taken a big chunk out of that.

 

The club has since tried to reduce spending - who knows how that'll actually turn out. Our currently attendance levels are pretty bleak. It doesn't look good at all.

Agreed to an extent- and there was also the loss of St. Mirren to the division last season. But without having the figures to hand, it’s a significantly bigger loss than the free spending days of the mid-late noughties. Crowds are down, yes, and we still had the likes of Tidser on big contracts, as well as the badly planned season ticket deal, but there was also the compensation from Falkirk, and sponsorship and TV revenue since the formation of the SPFL.

 

I suppose we’re not getting any rent from Celtic or the SFA now, but we only had that in recent years anyway. I’s probably accept the figures as accurate if I didn’t see less money being lost on more expensive squads in our years of underachievement.

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Agreed to an extent- and there was also the loss of St. Mirren to the division last season. But without having the figures to hand, it’s a significantly bigger loss than the free spending days of the mid-late noughties. Crowds are down, yes, and we still had the likes of Tidser on big contracts, as well as the badly planned season ticket deal, but there was also the compensation from Falkirk, and sponsorship and TV revenue since the formation of the SPFL.

 

I suppose we’re not getting any rent from Celtic or the SFA now, but we only had that in recent years anyway. I’s probably accept the figures as accurate if I didn’t see less money being lost on more expensive squads in our years of underachievement.

I'm with you on the longer term cynicism about the figures. Absolutely.

 

In the context of the figures presented in recent years, the big loss makes sense.

 

The average attendance went down from 1986 in 17/18 to 1943 in 18/19, despite the big drop in season ticket cost and much higher season ticket sales - this must have created a significant drop in sales income. It was 2362 in 16/17 and 2731 in 15/16. The drop is nearly completely down to the drop in away supports (the home support actually increased in 18/19). This season so far it's 1617 - which is more down to a drop in the home support. But I'd guess last year's price drop might have still been more costly that this year's drop in attendance.

 

We got knocked out of the League Cup by Ayr and Partick, the Challenge Cup by Dumbarton, and the Scottish Cup at East Fife (after being dragged up to a replay by Peterhead). I wouldn't be surprised if we managed to make a loss in the cups. We struggled to make an overall profit in the year that we made the semi final of the League Cup, had a Scottish Cup game at Ibrox, and finished in the playoffs.

 

Players like Millar, Johnstone, McAlister, Tidser, Telfer, and Buchanan would've been on decent salaries. We overspent. The club has made that clear.

 

In that context, the massive loss makes sense. Like you, I still don't think the longer term figures make sense (when we were throwing money about for Templeman, etc, and making less of a loss than last season) but last year was a bit of a disaster. I think 16/17 has been the only season that could actually be described as sustainable.

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  • 2 weeks later...

What's the bets that the guy that brought you 'ivry buddy chips in munny' will soon be along and asking folk to dig deeper at the behest of Crawford.

Nothing he's done has been at the behest of anyone. He's a good guy.

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  • 3 weeks later...
As outlined in the Open Letter to Fans published by Greenock Morton this afternoon, an agreement has been reached with players that will see them placed on furlough.  Morton Club Together (MCT) have been in close communication with the Club since the beginning of the current situation and have worked hard alongside them to reach best solution for the long-term sustainability of the Club.

 

The first thing to note, is that the ongoing contributions and additional contributions made in recent weeks have been extremely valuable and appreciated.  Since the suspension of football, the club’s cashflow has understandably been significantly affected and the backing of MCT and its members has been vital.

 

With the first team squad now being furloughed, we want to explain how MCT money will be used in the coming months. 

 

Since the players wages will be being covered by the government’s scheme, a scheme which will be extremely valuable to Morton, MCT will not be making contributions until the players are off the furlough scheme.

 

Looking ahead to when football resumes, this will put MCT and the Football Club in a much stronger position than would have been possible otherwise.  It means that the money that would have been contributed during this time will instead be accrued and will go towards the budget once play resumes, allowing us to potentially increase our monthly contributions by a significant amount. 

 

What is also important to keep in mind, is that once football does resume, it may take time for cashflow to reach its potential and therefore the support of MCT towards first team wages will be crucial for getting things back up and running. 

 

What this current situation has highlighted is just how important the support of MCT and all of its members has been and will be to the Football Club.  We would like to thank each and every one of you for your ongoing commitment and contributions.  There are now 430 members of MCT and we have contributed more than £50,000 to the playing budget.  Looking forward, we will be on target to significantly increase our contributions to the playing budget once play resumes. 

 

We realise this is a tough financial time for many people, but by continuing with your monthly contributions during this time, it will make a massive difference as outlined above.

 

As always, if anyone has any questions at all, please do get in touch.  You can do so by emailing enquiries@mortonclubtogether.com and we will be happy to answer any questions.

 

Finally, we would just like to offer one more sincere thanks to each and every one of you and say that we hope you and your families all stay safe during this difficult time.

 

We can’t wait to be back at Cappielow once play resumes and your support helps ensure that we will still be able to do that once this is all over and long into the future.

 

Thanks,

 

MCT Directors

Graham McLennan, Stewart Farmer, Gordon Ritchie and Ivor McCauley

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