Questions Addressed Tonight. . .

[Graeme]

1 - Will Paul McGowan be staying at Morton

 

A - In talks with Celtic regarding staying till the end of the season. It is now a question of Celtic giving it the ok. We are getting closer though.

 

2 - Covering Sinclair Street?

 

A - On going plans with the stadium, depends on SPL 2 etc We have plans however regarding seating for when the time is right.

 

3 - What do you think of the quality of Ref's in our division

 

A - Was mentioned that Hardie has an arrogance about him and the manager felt that all the managers in the league should come together and lodge a complaint.

 

Felt that overall the quality was poor

 

4 - Bit of a pointless Q regarding Jim refering to the players as boys

 

A - This lead to the manager stating he believes that we need to win the league so players can gain confidence and belief in ability etc

 

The Chairman wants the fans to have belief as the anxiety does have an affect on the players.

 

Their is a time for telling people off and a time for encouragement . . . Saturday's

 

5 - Has been a dip in form, any chance of transfer marker movement for a striker as it could provide more variety.

 

A - Weatherson is not going to play up front as he has done well at the back and scored 9 goals. Yet when played up front he does not contribute as much/score as many.

 

6 - Lack of physical edge, is it worth us having a more physical style.

 

A - Big enough guys to look after theselves. Will try to adjust to different games and surfaces.

 

 

 

 

23 Q in total, will post rest shortly

[Scott_Gillan]

Hoops Returning next Year with "NIKE" making the strips !!

[puggsy_ton]

Hoops Returning next Year with "NIKE" making the strips !!

 

Sounds good

[TRVMP]

I took notes again this year and will have a report up in a couple of days.

 

I'll very briefly go through a couple of the most salient points, though:

 

Please remember that these at the moment are only notes and don't in many cases do the full replies justice, so wait for the full report and/or other people to post their recollections of the meeting before jumping headlong into it

 

Signings

 

There was a bit of truth in the Deuchar rumours. Morton approached Gretna who gave GMFC permission to speak to him, but Deuchar's agent (Drinkell) said that Kenny will only talk to Morton as a last resort and was not otherwise willing even to listen to the club's offer. Apparently Drinkell said he may come back to us if all his other moves fall through. DDF said that if a player isn't willing to play for the jersey then they shouldn't really be considered, but Jim was slightly more open to this. Either way, it looks unlikely.

 

Jim says he was wrong to play Finlayson up front against Stirling. As for Peter playing up front, Jim says (and this is apparently backed up by the player himself) that Peter does not play as well with his back to goal and at the moment is phenomenal where he is. So, a signing looks likely to be a striker. We are looking at one. No names were named but a wee snippet came out during proceedings that he was young and scores plenty of goals. (That narrows it down ) McGowan's deal will hopefully be extended until the end of the season.

 

As for Steve Tosh, it seems his Gretna departure was (as many speculated) not down to footballing reasons, but QoS or a lower-half SPL side are favourites to land him and it's extremely unlikely that we would do so.

 

Guys like Vareille and Connolly are apparently on very big wages for P/T players; clubs like Ayr and Stirling seemingly break the bank on a few guys then fill up the team with lower-paid players, hence our difficulty in getting them F/T. (F/T is here to stay for the time being.)

 

Players

 

As for another experienced midfielder, again, no names and little concrete compared to the striker mention but Jim maintained that Mathers was signed to fill the "voice gap" and it's already working. In practice games, it is Mathers' voice that rings out across the pitch.

 

Jim says that Temps is used to playing now in front of crowds and his aggression/aerial ability has increased so much. He now contributes in ways that are not just scoring goals and has really come onto his game as a result, knowing he can keep his place if his work rate is high.

 

Most promising reserves are Brian Graham, a prolific reserve goalscorer, and "wee Blackie" :lol (Craig Black) who is a real prospect but sadly ill at the moment so only training intermittently. But Black and Graham are likely to be brought into first team action at some point as both are looking very good.

 

Killing teams off

 

A lot of the players lack belief and confidence (this was rammed home during the night, I'll give exact examples tomorrow) as it's a young squad. However, although the squad is young, a lot of the players are seasoned already so it's up to the boss to get belief into them. Jamie Stevenson is held in very, very, very high regard but Jim needs to get him out of his shell, to name just one example.

 

Fans

 

Financial situation not good; bring another fan; most fans are supportive but it's a minority - loud - that are not. Crawford: Some users on "the rag" of an unofficial website (that's me told) are way over the top with their negativity and it does rub off on the players, as does negativity from the terraces.

 

Fans' forum in the Tele is great coz of accountability (Crawford) and a good set of opinions on it.

 

SPL2

 

We have around 2,500 seats at the moment eligible for the SPL2 so 500 more won't be too hard. For the SPL1 there have been surveys into covering the WDE: it's possible. Floodlights are also needing upgraded.

 

Right, I'll add more in the form of a full report over the next few days.

[TRVMP]

Sounds good

 

It's not 100% definite yet, apparently, but, yes, higher quality of product at last

[ThornTON]

Hoops Returning next Year with "NIKE" making the strips !!

About time we got rid of Vandas***e

[dazza]

I took notes again this year and will have a report up in a couple of days.

 

I'll very briefly go through a couple of the most salient points, though:

 

Please remember that these at the moment are only notes and don't in many cases do the full replies justice, so wait for the full report and/or other people to post their recollections of the meeting before jumping headlong into it

 

Signings

 

There was a bit of truth in the Deuchar rumours. Morton approached Gretna who gave GMFC permission to speak to him, but Deuchar's agent (Drinkell) said that Kenny will only talk to Morton as a last resort and was not otherwise willing even to listen to the club's offer. Apparently Drinkell said he may come back to us if all his other moves fall through. DDF said that if a player isn't willing to play for the jersey then they shouldn't really be considered, but Jim was slightly more open to this. Either way, it looks unlikely.

 

Jim says he was wrong to play Finlayson up front against Stirling. As for Peter playing up front, Jim says (and this is apparently backed up by the player himself) that Peter does not play as well with his back to goal and at the moment is phenomenal where he is. So, a signing looks likely to be a striker. We are looking at one. No names were named but a wee snippet came out during proceedings that he was young and scores plenty of goals. (That narrows it down ) McGowan's deal will hopefully be extended until the end of the season.

 

As for Steve Tosh, it seems his Gretna departure was (as many speculated) not down to footballing reasons, but QoS or a lower-half SPL side are favourites to land him and it's extremely unlikely that we would do so.

 

Guys like Vareille and Connolly are apparently on very big wages for P/T players; clubs like Ayr and Stirling seemingly break the bank on a few guys then fill up the team with lower-paid players, hence our difficulty in getting them F/T. (F/T is here to stay for the time being.)

 

Players

 

As for another experienced midfielder, again, no names and little concrete compared to the striker mention but Jim maintained that Mathers was signed to fill the "voice gap" and it's already working. In practice games, it is Mathers' voice that rings out across the pitch.

 

Jim says that Temps is used to playing now in front of crowds and his aggression/aerial ability has increased so much. He now contributes in ways that are not just scoring goals and has really come onto his game as a result, knowing he can keep his place if his work rate is high.

 

Most promising reserves are Brian Graham, a prolific reserve goalscorer, and "wee Blackie" :lol (Craig Black) who is a real prospect but sadly ill at the moment so only training intermittently. But Black and Graham are likely to be brought into first team action at some point as both are looking very good.

 

Killing teams off

 

A lot of the players lack belief and confidence (this was rammed home during the night, I'll give exact examples tomorrow) as it's a young squad. However, although the squad is young, a lot of the players are seasoned already so it's up to the boss to get belief into them. Jamie Stevenson is held in very, very, very high regard but Jim needs to get him out of his shell, to name just one example.

 

Fans

 

Financial situation not good; bring another fan; most fans are supportive but it's a minority - loud - that are not. DDF: Some users on "the rag" of an unofficial website (that's me told) are way over the top with their negativity and it does rub off on the players, as does negativity from the terraces.

 

Fans' forum in the Tele is great coz of accountability (Crawford) and a good set of opinions on it.

 

SPL2

 

We have around 2,500 seats at the moment eligible for the SPL2 so 500 more won't be too hard. For the SPL1 there have been surveys into covering the WDE: it's possible. Floodlights are also needing upgraded.

 

Right, I'll add more in the form of a full report over the next few days.

Its Weatherston from queens park

[TRVMP]

You mean the kid who DIDN'T win the first scorer bet for me a few weeks ago? If we sign him I'm ripping up my season ticket

[TRVMP]

Oh aye, another one:

 

Referees

 

Jim alluded to the incident between Colin Hardie and Moore/McNally at Stirling at the weekend and that this is not at all unusual for a man of Hardie's arrogance. The question was whether or not the referees at our level are good enough. Jim said that we of Division 2 are lumbered with those just learning their trade or those who are not good enough to make the step up, and some are poor. As for Hardie, Jim seems to rate him as much as the fans do, and said he'd like to see all the Division 2 clubs getting together to lodge some sort of complaint because his arrogance is just over the top.

 

Cue round of applause

 

I thought Jim came across very well tonight for almost all questions, by the way, which set my mind at ease a bit. Of course it's what happens on the pitch that counts, however...

[montheton]

Hopefully we let deuchar, as a possible signing move to `bigger n better` places, after looking at us as an afterthought. We need all the positive influences available at the moment.

[alexp]

Hoops Returning next Year with "NIKE" making the strips !!

oh thank god

[TRVMP]

Nobody asked about it.

 

If I had to guess I'd say it's because Jamie's now back in the middle so it wasn't a pressing concern, plus a lot of people who post here weren't at the meeting.

[arklesTON]

any more?

[IainMorton]

Hoops Returning next Year with "NIKE" making the strips !!

 

[Tonsilitis]

Just as a general observation, I thought Jim McInally handled the questions superbly. He certainly demonstrated to me that he understands the psyche of young footballers and that thinks deeply about what he is doing. He acknowledges that we

 

1) Could do with a verbal motivator in the middle of the park. He thinks we have made the right move goalkeeper wise in that respect and generally ackonowledges that the team need to communicate with each other more

 

2) He says that Templeman has learned to cope with the different pressures that playing for Morton instead of Brechin brings and you can see it in his play

 

3) He justified playing Weatherson at right back by saying that he scores more from there than if he is up front with his back to goal

 

I was impressed with not only what he said, but how he said it. I think he will turn out to be a very, very astute signing as manager longer term.

[Madton]

Hopefully we let deuchar, as a possible signing move to `bigger n better` places, after looking at us as an afterthought. We need all the positive influences available at the moment.

 

I wasnt there but it does seem from whats been said its the typical fanny agent who talking his player up too much!!

[Satans Husband]

Cheers for the rundown. Frustrated that work stopped me getting down the road for it but it sounds like a positive night.

 

I guess Mortonjag somehow didn't make it as well as he was really going to let rip with his complaints.

 

By the way, I'm bringing 5 non Morton supporters to the Stirling game (and no they're not Stirling fans). Is there a competition to see who brings the most?

 

Actually it's now 4 non Morton fans. Maybe I won't win the prize after all.

[TRVMP]

Just as a general observation, I thought Jim McInally handled the questions superbly. He certainly demonstrated to me that he understands the psyche of young footballers and that thinks deeply about what he is doing.

 

Totally agree. He set my mind at ease a lot tonight, at least with the footballing side of things.

 

IF we can get promotion this season I really think we'll finish top half next year.

[Cawston]

Thanks to everyone who's taken the time to post info from tonight. Sounds very promising.

 

Good to hear some positive feedback on Jim Mc as well, when you take a step back you'll see a young manager whose team are sitting top of the league with a great points haul so far. And this despite all the failings some of this boards resident bell ends would have you believe

 

I notice some of our keyboard warriors are posted missing, never mind, I'm sure they'll be back tomorrow to resume p!ssing on the parade with tales of colds, flat tyres and A&E visits.

 

Why else would they have missed the chance to give it to Dougie and Jim with both barrels??

 

I hope Santa sh!tes in their stockings

[grnklad2006ton]

Hopefully we let deuchar, as a possible signing move to `bigger n better` places, after looking at us as an afterthought. We need all the positive influences available at the moment.

 

 

By the looks of things we will be signing he haw as per, we with have to put up with the bunch we have who in my opinion are just slightly not strong enough. Hope they prove me wrong, the only good news was about the strip thank f*ck for that, i mean who the fu*k is vandanelle if nike take over then it would be good, a good strip at last just hope they get rid off millions but yi cant ask to much from morton.