Is It Time For The Rae Family To Move Step Aside?

[irnbru]

reaching the play-offs was explicitly stated as being his target at the start of that season.

 

So we had a target that season and it was known?

 

 

Are you trying to lure him in?

[Madton]

Looking back at the 2013-2014 league table, it really is depressing. Dumbarton, Alloa and Cowden were all in the league , all part time and we would have had a much bigger budget than all of them, yet we finished 14 points behind Cowden in 9th!

 

Wonder how much money we spunked on guys like O'Connor, Novo, Robertson, Vine etc as well as paying off all the players we got rid of.

 

What a horrendous Job Shiels did. He had 22 league games to turn it around and he won 4.

[dunning1874]

I mentioned last weekend that I felt that Morton are being 'downsized' by stealth.

The current situation of Morton looks similar to that of Clyde around 10-12 years ago in their Dougie Imrie era, when they were riding high in the first division only to find themselves floundering in the bottom league a couple of seasons later.

With all these cost-cutting exercises, plus youth for the sake of it, dwindling support, alienation, apathy and disillusion amongst the support; an owner who looks like he's given up etc.

Don't be surprised if we end up just like Clyde in 5 years time.

A less drastic fall than Clyde but nevertheless a club that had a massive collapse from where they looked like they had the potential to be is Airdrie United. They were a full time side when they won promotion ahead of us in 2003/04, with an average attendance of 1800. Their attendance grew in their first season up, then it fell year on year as it became clear they were never going to progress beyond battling relegation. When they did go back down to the third tier they immediately went part-time.

 

They've been in the second tier three times since and every time they've been relegated, with the Chairman simply saying that Airdrie can't be expected to do better than that. The managers who got them up deserve their chance to keep them up and if they fail, it was all that could be expected for a club like Airdrie; despite the fact their last season in this division saw Dumbarton go from being adrift at the bottom with five points in December to finishing 7th, 9 points clear of 9th and 21 ahead of 10th placed Airdrie thanks to a managerial change.

 

Airdrie fans took to referring to this as a 'managed decline', where a Chairman obsessed with sustainability couldn't see the wood for the trees and condemned the club to operating at a level where sustainability became impossible as a result. Having entered that spiral of decline, they've only made the promotion playoffs once in their four seasons back down and their average attendances are now comfortably under 1000.

 

A Chairman who was once seen by their fans as a hero for saving the club (of course this is an incorrect description in Airdrie's case as they died) mismanaged the club so badly over the course of 15 years that he destroyed his legacy by squandering any potential they had. When new owners took over at the start of this month and Jim Ballantyne's long relationship with the club was brought to an end, the overwhelming reaction of Airdrie fans was 'Good ****ing riddance', and rejoicing that he couldn't do any more damage after they spent the start of this season fighting to avoid administration while Ballantyne issued club statements left right and centre accusing fans and journalists of vendettas against him.

 

There's a cautionary tale for the Raes in there. It's not too late for Douglas' long-term legacy to be salvaged as the man who will be historically remembered for saving the club post-administration, even if those of us who've lived through the 17 years since will remember it as mostly being utter s***e, but time is running out for that. If things get as bad as we fear with the plan of the bulk of the starting eleven coming from the academy when those players clearly aren't ready for first team football being realised and we find ourselves in even the best case scenario of being an Ayr United style yo-yo club with no hope of improvement, he'll be remembered as the man who condemned the club to that existence when even basic competence in the boardroom could have given us so much better. If we fall further than that to the Airdrie or Clyde level, he'll be viewed in an even poorer light.

 

It's remarkable that we've reached this point considering the goodwill he had in his first few years in charge, but it's testament to his own incompetence rather than any impatience on the part of the fanbase - indeed it's a sign of how ridiculously patient and trusting most Morton fans are that he's still able to live off the goodwill he rightfully earned 17 years ago despite doing just about nothing right since.

[Jamie_M]

A less drastic fall than Clyde but nevertheless a club that had a massive collapse from where they looked like they had the potential to be is Airdrie United. They were a full time side when they won promotion ahead of us in 2003/04, with an average attendance of 1800. Their attendance grew in their first season up, then it fell year on year as it became clear they were never going to progress beyond battling relegation. When they did go back down to the third tier they immediately went part-time.

 

They've been in the second tier three times since and every time they've been relegated, with the Chairman simply saying that Airdrie can't be expected to do better than that. The managers who got them up deserve their chance to keep them up and if they fail, it was all that could be expected for a club like Airdrie; despite the fact their last season in this division saw Dumbarton go from being adrift at the bottom with five points in December to finishing 7th, 9 points clear of 9th and 21 ahead of 10th placed Airdrie thanks to a managerial change.

 

Airdrie fans took to referring to this as a 'managed decline', where a Chairman obsessed with sustainability couldn't see the wood for the trees and condemned the club to operating at a level where sustainability became impossible as a result. Having entered that spiral of decline, they've only made the promotion playoffs once in their four seasons back down and their average attendances are now comfortably under 1000.

 

A Chairman who was once seen by their fans as a hero for saving the club (of course this is an incorrect description in Airdrie's case as they died) mismanaged the club so badly over the course of 15 years that he destroyed his legacy by squandering any potential they had. When new owners took over at the start of this month and Jim Ballantyne's long relationship with the club was brought to an end, the overwhelming reaction of Airdrie fans was 'Good ****ing riddance', and rejoicing that he couldn't do any more damage after they spent the start of this season fighting to avoid administration while Ballantyne issued club statements left right and centre accusing fans and journalists of vendettas against him.

 

There's a cautionary tale for the Raes in there. It's not too late for Douglas' long-term legacy to be salvaged as the man who will be historically remembered for saving the club post-administration, even if those of us who've lived through the 17 years since will remember it as mostly being utter s***e, but time is running out for that. If things get as bad as we fear with the plan of the bulk of the starting eleven coming from the academy when those players clearly aren't ready for first team football being realised and we find ourselves in even the best case scenario of being an Ayr United style yo-yo club with no hope of improvement, he'll be remembered as the man who condemned the club to that existence when even basic competence in the boardroom could have given us so much better. If we fall further than that to the Airdrie or Clyde level, he'll be viewed in an even poorer light.

 

It's remarkable that we've reached this point considering the goodwill he had in his first few years in charge, but it's testament to his own incompetence rather than any impatience on the part of the fanbase - indeed it's a sign of how ridiculously patient and trusting most Morton fans are that he's still able to live off the goodwill he rightfully earned 17 years ago despite doing just about nothing right since.

Cracking post.

 

The Airdrie comparison should be forwarded straight to Dougie.

 

The part about patience is spot on. The 'big, bad' Morton fans, worst fans in the universe that have actively stopped players from signing for us because we're so mean, quick to judge, impatient and demanding, have been ridiculously patient during Dougie's almost 2 decades of failure.

[Ed de Ball]

Airdrie Utd are really a Clydebank franchise and arose out of some rather dubious financial and administrative shenanigans. Their financial model was never likely to get them far never mind what their fan base was.

[capitanus]

Airdrie Utd are really a Clydebank franchise and arose out of some rather dubious financial and administrative shenanigans. Their financial model was never likely to get them far never mind what their fan base was.

No they aren't, Dickhead.

[capitanus]

A less drastic fall than Clyde but nevertheless a club that had a massive collapse from where they looked like they had the potential to be is Airdrie United. They were a full time side when they won promotion ahead of us in 2003/04, with an average attendance of 1800. Their attendance grew in their first season up, then it fell year on year as it became clear they were never going to progress beyond battling relegation. When they did go back down to the third tier they immediately went part-time.

They've been in the second tier three times since and every time they've been relegated, with the Chairman simply saying that Airdrie can't be expected to do better than that. The managers who got them up deserve their chance to keep them up and if they fail, it was all that could be expected for a club like Airdrie; despite the fact their last season in this division saw Dumbarton go from being adrift at the bottom with five points in December to finishing 7th, 9 points clear of 9th and 21 ahead of 10th placed Airdrie thanks to a managerial change.

Airdrie fans took to referring to this as a 'managed decline', where a Chairman obsessed with sustainability couldn't see the wood for the trees and condemned the club to operating at a level where sustainability became impossible as a result. Having entered that spiral of decline, they've only made the promotion playoffs once in their four seasons back down and their average attendances are now comfortably under 1000.

A Chairman who was once seen by their fans as a hero for saving the club (of course this is an incorrect description in Airdrie's case as they died) mismanaged the club so badly over the course of 15 years that he destroyed his legacy by squandering any potential they had. When new owners took over at the start of this month and Jim Ballantyne's long relationship with the club was brought to an end, the overwhelming reaction of Airdrie fans was 'Good ****ing riddance', and rejoicing that he couldn't do any more damage after they spent the start of this season fighting to avoid administration while Ballantyne issued club statements left right and centre accusing fans and journalists of vendettas against him.

There's a cautionary tale for the Raes in there. It's not too late for Douglas' long-term legacy to be salvaged as the man who will be historically remembered for saving the club post-administration, even if those of us who've lived through the 17 years since will remember it as mostly being utter s***e, but time is running out for that. If things get as bad as we fear with the plan of the bulk of the starting eleven coming from the academy when those players clearly aren't ready for first team football being realised and we find ourselves in even the best case scenario of being an Ayr United style yo-yo club with no hope of improvement, he'll be remembered as the man who condemned the club to that existence when even basic competence in the boardroom could have given us so much better. If we fall further than that to the Airdrie or Clyde level, he'll be viewed in an even poorer light.

It's remarkable that we've reached this point considering the goodwill he had in his first few years in charge, but it's testament to his own incompetence rather than any impatience on the part of the fanbase - indeed it's a sign of how ridiculously patient and trusting most Morton fans are that he's still able to live off the goodwill he rightfully earned 17 years ago despite doing just about nothing right since.

Brilliant post.

 

I looked at an Airdrie thread on PnB and the 'managed decline' and what they are describing has a kind of similar ring to it. There are a lot of similarities between ourselves and Airdrie - similar sized clubs from similar sized towns, history, in administration around the same time, both with the potential to be huge but hampered by perennial underachievement etc.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if I were to learn at a later date that Airdrie and their 'managed decline' was to be the business model which was decided upon in the boardroom which we were looking to emulate to in this quest for 'sustainability'.

 

Being sustainable in itself isn't a bad thing, but the KPI needs to be achievements on the Park, in the League tables and in the cups; rather than whoring your club to the SFA to be part of their latest Project Fail, when they've already decided they don't want us or turning Morton into a big 'community' charity - complete with a 'big' charity salary for the self-ambitious CEO.

[LinwoodTON]

Lets not let a few good results get in the way of the single most important issue at the club.

 

RAES OUT.

[HamCam]

Father and son were at the game today, unlike many posters on this messageboard  .

[LinwoodTON]

Father and son were at the game today, unlike many posters on this messageboard  .

 

Correct. They've driven many fans away. 

[Toby]

Correct. They've driven many fans away.

Don’t kid yourself. Being spotted by one of the many folk you and your groomer have upset is what stopped you going to games.

 

One meeting with a guy that you think will be a bit more open minded than the rest doesn’t change that you f*cking coward.

[LinwoodTON]

Don’t kid yourself. Being spotted by one of the many folk you and your groomer have upset is what stopped you going to games.

 

One meeting with a guy that you think will be a bit more open minded than the rest doesn’t change that you f*cking coward.

 

Is that a threat Russell?

[Toby]

Is that a threat Russell?

It’s an observation, Gordon. Stop trying to put words into my mouth.

[TaunTon]

It reads like an opinion to me.

[LinwoodTON]

It’s an observation, Gordon. Stop trying to put words into my mouth.

 

So what would happen if one of your wee team spotted me?

[Toby]

So what would happen if one of your wee team spotted me?

I don’t know, Gordon, I’m not the coward who has lifted photos of folk with loved ones and lost friends and relatives from Facebook to put on a blog, so am not in the position to be concerned about potential retribution.

[LinwoodTON]

I don’t know, Gordon, I’m not the coward who has lifted photos of folk with loved ones and lost friends and relatives from Facebook to put on a blog, so am not in the position to be concerned about potential retribution.

 

Is that a threat?

[Toby]

Is that a threat?

Stop trying to put words into my mouth, Gordon.

[LinwoodTON]

Stop trying to put words into my mouth, Gordon.

 

It's a simple question. A yes or no will do. 

[Toby]

It's a simple question. A yes or no will do.

No, it’s not a threat. It’s a criticism.