Exclusive: Chairman Warns Of Part-time Football

[ThornTON]

This....

Hello Scott's close friend.

 

===============

 

 

 

Morton on current support levels must be run part-time, if it were run on 80% of the income (a roughly plausible percentage), then imagine how s*** and lacking in any depth the team would be on full time wages!

 

Yeah, we might struggle at first but without investment it may be the best option!

[SpoonTon]

When Thomas Cook suffered financial difficulties in the winter, I don't recall the Chief Executive blaming the customers for not booking more holidays. Football clubs are not in the position to depend on the 'loyalty' of its customers, and Rae is doing an absolutely abysmal job of handling those who remain willing to go to games.

 

You're picking some terrific examples there to back up your point, really.

 

If you're point is that Rae is as much of a damaging egotist as most of the above, sure.

 

I honestly meant that last bit as a joke. I probably should have attached a

 

It wasn't meant to be taken as a serious point in defence of Rae, simply that there are many high profile businessmen (often especially those who are in football) that are mad egotsists

 

And you've still missed my original point. It wasn't a defence of Rae. I said that being s*** was no reason for fans not turning up. My point was that you're not really a fan if you only come along when the going is good, and it's not Rae's fault (directly, anyway) that there aren't enough fans (in this sense). It wasn't a defence of what he said in the paper.

 

You seem to think I was making some sort of argument about...actually, I have no idea

[Spot Ton]

How long is a piece of string? there is no rhyme or reason to what is paid for football clubs and normal commercial arrangements seem not to apply.

 

The club's balance sheet suggests it has a net worth of around £2m but that might contain some undervalued assets such as the car park. On the other hand, who knows what Cappielow is worth? If you assume there are assets undervalued because the car park was acquired pretty cheaply that add maybe another £1m maybe its worth £3m but losing money hand over fist!

 

Who knows what it would cost is the short answer but based on how things are at the moment it would need a minimum of £3-400k per annum to keep it going and more to try to make a step up to contest promotion.

 

Putting a value on a football club is indeed very difficult. Who in their right mind would by a business that is in £1.4 million in debt and losing £300k a year. The only person other than a supporter(s) who would buy that type of business would be an asset stripper who had their eye on the ground, Morton’s only asset.

 

Step forward Hugh Scott No2, or indeed a Craig Whyte type character. Hugh Scott was all for selling the ground and walking away had the council not told him he had no chance of getting the planning restrictions lifted. So instead he walked away after leaving a trail of damage and debt. At least all we have to contend with right now is debt.

 

Although the ground and car park may be worth £3million that’s most likely to be based on non football use of Cappielow which politically Inverclyde Council would find very difficult to sanction even today. EDIT to Add...There may even be environmental restrictions on the car park given it was once a coal yard. Who knows what the make up of that ground is.

 

Dougie has said in the past he doesn’t intend making money from Morton only getting back what he invested. Which raises an important issue regarding the debt the majority of which is not due to investment but mismanagement and poor decision making. The only real investment is the upgrading of the ground which no doubt does not come anywhere near £1.4 million but I’m sure Dougie wouldn’t see it that way.

 

Whatever Morton’s worth you can bet Dougie will overvalue it and chase away any prospective buyers just like he does with everything else, including supporters.

Dougie says he’s had bids which he has turned down. I for one don’t believe that for a minute!!!!

[tolmie perms r bak]

please let me win the lottery tonight then you can get to fcuk dougie ,mind you he prob wont sell

 

The whole club is a joke from the commercial side to playing staff

[Rhubarb Mess]

Dougie can go f*** himself, why should we watch s***e week in week out? Get a decent team on the park who care and win, and fans will turn up.

It's not only fan money he's losing, it's sponsorship. A close friend is a sponsor of the club until the end of this season and has been for 5 years but won't be after this season. Not once has this person been thanked for their contribution. To make things worse, his w*** of a son was speaking to this person, and never even knew who he was even though business names etc were mentioned in the same conversations.

A complaint is sent to Dougie. The reply comes back hand written on the original letter with a coffee stain on it. How professional, that's why you're losing sponsorship

Dougie is the one dragging this club down. Yes he's saved us, but he's only taking us back. the club needs some new faces, not just on the field but in the board, less family members are needed too.

 

Is it not the case he dismissed an external shirt sponsor out of hand because only his company can do that role?

 

At every attempt he tries to rile the fans. I don't think its unintentional!!!

 

Another worrying aspect is the reports he has previously dismissed approaches for the club (they may have been bad, they may have been good) but is DDF so hell bent on his insistence of having complete control he would see us shrink rather than look at avenues to generate income.

 

Chairmen who usually have pops at the clubs own fans (as he has done over and over) would be chased out the door, but not oor Dougie, he can slag, moan and generally speak about Morton fans any way he wants and thinks its ok to do so. With his attitude the crowds will dip even more.

 

There are ****ing dark days ahead.

[Spot Ton]

Is it not the case he dismissed an external shirt sponsor out of hand because only his company can do that role?

 

At every attempt he tries to rile the fans. I don't think its unintentional!!!

 

Another worrying aspect is the reports he has previously dismissed approaches for the club (they may have been bad, they may have been good) but is DDF so hell bent on his insistence of having complete control he would see us shrink rather than look at avenues to generate income.

 

Chairmen who usually have pops at the clubs own fans (as he has done over and over) would be chased out the door, but not oor Dougie, he can slag, moan and generally speak about Morton fans any way he wants and thinks its ok to do so. With his attitude the crowds will dip even more.

 

There are ****ing dark days ahead.

I know of one in particular that wanted to do shirt sponsorship and was put off because he could have got an SPL club for what Dougie wanted.

 

I'm willing to bet nobody in their right mind has made an approach to Dougie to buy the club.

 

[capello]

Just skimmed over this topic,apologies if someone has made the following comparison -

bottom line is if dougies sweeties were crap no one would buy them,they do buy them and it has made him a very very rich man who has surronded himself throughout his business empire with good honest and trustworthy employees who know how to run a multinational brand and maximize profits while constantly adapting to an ever changing market.

 

Why should we, his other customers pay good money to watch the same s***e year after year,basic economics tells you that if the product is not right it wont sell and will eventually be discarded.

 

How many times have we rebuilt teams and sacked managers,morton are probably the best example of getting the fair weather fans out when the team is doing well,8500 v peterhead,6000 v gretna,the crowd at Raith when we won the 2nd division ,motherwell away 1st time in the cup,killie in the cup,skunks games etc,if the product is right the fans will come out in force,the pricing structure which is set by the league does not help neither does the global economic crisis but if it is being ran and marketed to its full potential then surely it should be better,losing fred,tidser and mcaffrey for so long early in the season as well as constantly chopping and changing an entire back four has certainly not helped,but looking at the basis of the side we should be far better than where we are ,should dougie step back and appoint a chief executive who is proven in football circles and not just someone who is no doubt very good at their own trade ,each man to his trade so to speak!!

 

 

[garymcc1874]

 

This....

 

... is a massive pile of unmitigated shite ?

[tom]

Hello Scott's close friend.

 

===============

 

 

 

Morton on current support levels must be run part-time, if it were run on 80% of the income (a roughly plausible percentage), then imagine how s*** and lacking in any depth the team would be on full time wages!

 

Yeah, we might struggle at first but without investment it may be the best option!

Wrong. I just agreed with his post.

[tom]

... is a massive pile of unmitigated s***e ?

 

 

Why?

[chrissiboi]

Dougie is like the boy who cried wolf and each time he has a go at supporters he alienates more each time. I would go part time , balance the budget and reduce the debt, so the club has a sustainable future.

 

There are mitigating circumstances to the decline in attendances and the threat of going part-time will not persuade anyone to return.

 

It is no use saying if attendances don't improve we'll have to go part time but he has already stated going full time next season, hardly takes a genius to work out the hollow threat. If we are losing in the region of £300k per anum and attendances don't improve then any company would be duty bound to reduce costs, why wait another year ? to accrue another £300k+ !!!

 

Dougie can't make people turn up and his posturing looks like more bumming his gums.

[El gofer]

VT mentioned the crucial point earlier in the thread.

Our core support at Cappielow is about 1200 odd.

Many people are choosing not to go to the games as they can't legitimise the cost for what is essentially quite average fayre and Dougie knows it.

 

as eanie meanie and others have stated, would it be such a bad thing in the medium term to be part time? So we get relegated, maybe? We hopefully start blooding some of the new crop of players coming through the system, which will have had time to bed in. Looking at Livvy and some of their players that they were able to blood on the way up. I reckon they could be a decent shout for the title next year.

Just start running the club properly Dougie eh?

[marbellaton]

It's a one way street with Rae. Take the plaudits and praise, organise supporters rallies, Q&A's early in his administration but when his initial 5 year plan was bust after 3, the shutters went up, the rallies stopped, the fans get blamed and threats made.

 

Can't have it both son, your 5 year plan has still never even got close to being realised and at the end of the day, the buck stops with you, so get it back on track and look to rebuild relations with fans and locals in general instead of alienating them further. Oh and try and bring some of your commercial business sense from the sweetie factory to the commercial side of the football club too.

[El gofer]

It's a one way street with Rae. Take the plaudits and praise, organise supporters rallies, Q&A's early in his administration but when his initial 5 year plan was bust after 3, the shutters went up, the rallies stopped, the fans get blamed and threats made.

 

Can't have it both son, your 5 year plan has still never even got close to being realised and at the end of the day, the buck stops with you, so get it back on track and look to rebuild relations with fans and locals in general instead of alienating them further. Oh and try and bring some of your commercial business sense from the sweetie factory to the commercial side of the football club too.

 

exactly

[Colkitto]

I certainly don't want the club to go part-time, nor do I want Dougie to go. The day Dougie does go then we will realise just how much we are in deep doo doo - whether he leaves us debt free or not.

Yes there are big concerns about the club debt and various other aspects of how the club is being run to at least service that debt.

The Commercial side of things at the club seems to be a total mess and looked upon as an after-thought.

 

The Chairman is a businessman and won't say anything about what he would do about the debt should he depart the club. So it's pointless trying to get answers on that now.

 

Realistically who would buy the Club? You would basically be asking someone to pump about £300k a year into the club with no return. At this present moment in time, someone buying the club now would be £300k down by this time next year. Even if they bought a debt free Club!

 

So those who are shouting for Rae to go, who in their right mind would buy into such a venture???

 

[TONofmemories]

Is it not the case he dismissed an external shirt sponsor out of hand because only his company can do that role?

 

At every attempt he tries to rile the fans. I don't think its unintentional!!!

 

Another worrying aspect is the reports he has previously dismissed approaches for the club (they may have been bad, they may have been good) but is DDF so hell bent on his insistence of having complete control he would see us shrink rather than look at avenues to generate income.

 

Chairmen who usually have pops at the clubs own fans (as he has done over and over) would be chased out the door, but not oor Dougie, he can slag, moan and generally speak about Morton fans any way he wants and thinks its ok to do so. With his attitude the crowds will dip even more.

 

There are ****ing dark days ahead.

No, he tried to get the company i work for to sponsor the shirts.

[Tonsilitis]

Here's a few hard facts. The underlying overhead cost at Cappielow is around £600k per annum before any wages are paid. That covers the likes of rates, electricity, policing matches, insurance, etc, etc, etc. 1400 crowds brings in roughly £300-£350k. Throw in the odds and sods income - hospitality, lottery, replica kit, league money and you are talking about £500k.

 

The arithmetic is not pleasant and maybe its not part time we need to be talking about but amateur if we are to come even close to balancing the books. You may not like what he is saying, but DDFR is right about the level of crowds being unsustainable.

 

The reason crowds are declining is as rightly pointed out, because of performances on the park. Is that all DDFR's fault? He put his hand in his pocket to sign the likes of Jackson and MacDonald and keep Fred here. He signed a management team we all approved of at the time. In the context of the first division he gave us a team this season that had at least top four aspirations. Its not his fault that it has underachieved. That was caused by a number of factors, not the least of which was an exceptionally bad season in terms of injuries.

 

Maybe the Rae's have taken the club as far as they can but they are still funding the losses albeit as lenders. No bank would lend us the money. If we could find a mega rich new owner maybe a change of direction would help but you also have to be careful what you wish for. Ask Rangers, Dundee, Livingston, and others. The last time Morton fans forced a chairman out we got Scott!

[Colkitto]

Here's a few hard facts. The underlying overhead cost at Cappielow is around £600k per annum before any wages are paid. That covers the likes of rates, electricity, policing matches, insurance, etc, etc, etc. 1400 crowds brings in roughly £300-£350k. Throw in the odds and sods income - hospitality, lottery, replica kit, league money and you are talking about £500k.

 

The arithmetic is not pleasant and maybe its not part time we need to be talking about but amateur if we are to come even close to balancing the books. You may not like what he is saying, but DDFR is right about the level of crowds being unsustainable.

 

The reason crowds are declining is as rightly pointed out, because of performances on the park. Is that all DDFR's fault? He put his hand in his pocket to sign the likes of Jackson and MacDonald and keep Fred here. He signed a management team we all approved of at the time. In the context of the first division he gave us a team this season that had at least top four aspirations. Its not his fault that it has underachieved. That was caused by a number of factors, not the least of which was an exceptionally bad season in terms of injuries.

 

Maybe the Rae's have taken the club as far as they can but they are still funding the losses albeit as lenders. No bank would lend us the money. If we could find a mega rich new owner maybe a change of direction would help but you also have to be careful what you wish for. Ask Rangers, Dundee, Livingston, and others. The last time Morton fans forced a chairman out we got Scott!

 

Good post.

 

[LargsTON]

Part-time football is definitely NOT the answer, imo. Fans would desert the club for good and we'd be consigned to the lower leagues forever. You think crowds are bad now? Make us part-time and see how far they plummet. I doubt very much I'd be at Cappielow to follow a team that showed this kind of "ambition." I'd always be a Morton fan but would be reluctant to support a team that had no intention of progressing. I can stick it out when times are tough but efforts are being made but not when there is no indication of taking the club to the next level.

 

The answer is looking at ways of bringing in additional revenue and reducing the annual loss - which im certain could be substantially cut to near enough a break even point.

 

We've been over this all before though, haven't we? <_>

[Rhubarb Mess]

It's a one way street with Rae. Take the plaudits and praise, organise supporters rallies, Q&A's early in his administration but when his initial 5 year plan was bust after 3, the shutters went up, the rallies stopped, the fans get blamed and threats made.

 

Can't have it both son, your 5 year plan has still never even got close to being realised and at the end of the day, the buck stops with you, so get it back on track and look to rebuild relations with fans and locals in general instead of alienating them further. Oh and try and bring some of your commercial business sense from the sweetie factory to the commercial side of the football club too.

 

Correct and DDF still cannot detail to fans what the future is.

 

Instead of having a go he should be spelling out what the intentions are (PT might be unavoidable). How the debt is going to be tackled? Would he consider selling if someone was interested?

 

A bit of honesty might go a long long way to repairing the blatant damage he is doing to his relationship with the fans (which to be brutal is at an all time low and the most concerning thing is he continues to do it and feels like he has the right to do it). What a way to run a business.