TopCat

Aye, the minority stake is an issue, but we need to wait and see on whether that's the actual offer. Otherwise I don't see a big difference in terms of the actual entertainment/quality being offered on the park.

Agree with the general gist of this, but I don't think significant improvement is really on the cards at this point. Coverage of this season's shortfall, £150k a year going forward and some assistance with governance would be a good outcome, given the current state of things. However, any investment from this consortium should prompt an open discussion and rethink over how the MCT funds are allocated. Personally, I'd rather accept our status changing to become one of the best-funded part-time clubs in the pyramid with a separate e.g. £100k annual MCT contributions going towards gradual stadium improvements. Others will no doubt disagree with this as many seem to view full-time training and championship football as a big status symbol for the club.

I can't believe we haven't binned this nonsense shape and obsession with wingers. We leak soft goals so consistently and have the squad to play a stuffy 4 or 5-man midfield and hit on the counter.

What a strange combination of whiny self-serving drivel, sympathy-seeking and backstabbing. It's like a petty MAGA political speech and a "Pm me hunni xx" level facebook post rolled into one. If this is the sort of behaviour to be expected from someone who views himself as our white knight then we might as well start filling out our newco registration forms now.

Murray is only leaving with a severance payment in his hand. The idea that another club might try to poach him isn't a serious one. P26 W4 D5 L17

Desperate for a win now. There's a big difference between a backs-to-the-wall battle for survival (or pride) and the trajectory we're currently on. If a 9-game* winless streak becomes 11 or 12, folk will just stop turning up. *this season. In reality, it's 14 and we haven't won a game since March.

Our short term solvency issues appear to have been known to the GMFC board before the signing of Carse (no harm to the lad). Has he been signed on the promise of Dalrada or Estrella funding? Putting out the begging bowl might be necessary but the level of funding required from October onwards need to be laid out to the fans. I'd be happy to donate further to e.g. cover medical insurance for amateur players to fulfil fixtures (to use Murray's nonsense hyperbole as an example) but I'm not happy with the idea of a general slush fund sitting with the club board with no strings attached. Goodwill has an actual value and it's unwise to take it for granted.

This group basically needs to be discounted until they make a solid offer. There's been a lot of hints and rumours about them over the last couple of years but not much more than that. How much are they willing to put up? 5k a month? 10? 50? Over how long? Will it be enough to keep our head above water? For what it's worth, I'm now at the point where I don't particularly trust Estrella to conduct themselves professionally but 2 warring factions (MCT, Estrella) is better than 3 (MCT, Estrella or others, rump of the club/Dalrada influence). I'm not convinced the club board has it in them to sort this situation out and external support is required.

It's hard to even get annoyed at any of this stuff. Both the club board and MCT feel like organisations that have just run out of steam.

Exactly. Estrella are a commercial outfit. If circumstances have materially changed in this acquisition (they have, we're pumped) then they should be expected to push for a better deal. I think what we need to bear in mind when considering a vote is that this is a new situation for us as well. We needed this season to be a controlled transition away from dependency on poorly implemented Dalrada funding but that's been a disaster. Whether that's happened through misfortune, naivety or incompetence at the club or MCT doesn't matter at this point. The choice in front of us is whether we want to throw our lot in with a foreign investor (others have had mixed results at this level) or hope to cling on with paper thin resources on the park and at board level until next summer. Both are valid options with different risks: we either give up control or face the consequences of increasing fan apathy.

I thought there would've been a bit more dissent from our regular "just get a filthy rich idiot to buy us!!!" contingent? Should this not be the point where it happens?

The fitness and organisation issues and Murray's finger pointing are laughable, especially as the the Championship's status as a competition for serious professional athletes gets flimsier with every passing year. Arbroath have had 2 recent impressive spells as a part time team and the likes of us, Stenny and Queens Park are a mile off the standard of this league 10 years ago. We're not fielding a plucky Junior squad in the Champions League qualifiers here: Murray should still be able to get this rabble playing like a team to at least give the impression of being competitive.

Would it, aye? Heard it, did ye?

Also worth noting that our last actual moneybags-funded season was 2012/13 (14 years ago), where we finished a glorious 2nd to Partick Thistle in the old First Division and got papped out all the cups at the earliest opportunity. Our Titan of Industry then took the huff, hacked the budget, signed a load of unknown regens and we got relegated the next season after the manager chucked in the towel. So, no real success on the park and a similar situation to the one we're in now.

Imrie having us punching above our weight and the club being outspent (even with the Dalrada money) by the competition isnt really in question. Fan ownership also isn't a perfect solution and I don't think any of the fanbase are really right-on evangelists for it either. MCT was a desperate necessity after the Raes cut us off and the benevolent soft loans started looking like they might turn into a pile of hard debt. If Greenock's answer to Roy McGregor existed, Crawford Rae or MCT would've sold the club to them already. My main issue with calls to bring in outside investors is that the folk asking for it never define what they would reasonably expect. Pushing for playoff places, stadium upgrades, no debt? That'll be a £5m-£10m investment over a 5 year period, based on what other clubs at this level are spending/hemorrhaging to remain "competitive".