Popular Post MCT Team Posted July 8, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted July 8, 2020 Dear Member, Thank you to those of you who are currently attending our webinar. For all our members, please find below the historic press release outlining tonight's announcement: Morton Club Together (MCT) have tonight announced to their members that an agreement in principle has been reached with Golden Casket, the current owners of Greenock Morton, to take over majority shareholding of the club with effect from the summer of 2021. The agreement reached with Golden Casket, headed up by current club Chairman Crawford Rae, will see the club sold to MCT for a nominal sum. As part of the deal, Golden Casket will also write off the club’s debt in its entirety while retaining ownership of Cappielow to rent it to Morton at a nominal fee. This will mean that MCT will own approximately 90% of the shareholding in the club and in time for the 2021/22 season, Morton will join the growing list of community-owned clubs in Scotland. Speaking about the announcement, MCT Founder and Director, Graham McLennan said, “Our goal has been clear from the outset – we want to move Morton forward. “We want a better team on the pitch. We want a better match day experience for everyone attending Cappielow. We want to listen to the fans and to communicate effectively with all fans, stakeholders, and partners. “We are all Morton supporters; we all want what is best for the club and now is our chance to be that best for the club through community ownership. “In April 2019, MCT was just an idea. Now, with 440 members, we have achieved so much and have an exciting future ahead of us. We would like to thank every single one of our members who has supported us so far. “As we have always said, we encourage Morton fans from everywhere to join us on this journey, and we hope this announcement will encourage many more to come on board.” Over the coming nine months or so, MCT will be working closely with the existing board members and key club personnel to better learn the business of the club and fully understand its operations. MCT Director Stewart Farmer added, “This is a magnificent achievement in a very short period. MCT was formed in April 2019 and has already made significant contributions, both financially and increasingly on an administrative basis, into Morton. “Over the last 14 months, we have had a team of dedicated, hard-working and extremely capable volunteers working around the clock to get us to where we are now.” The agreement is also conditional on both parties, MCT and Golden Casket, agreeing in March 2021 that MCT are in a financial position to run the club in a viable manner. In recent months, negotiations had been ongoing between a third party and Golden Casket, with involvement from MCT, around a purchase of the football club. Despite the terms of that deal being much more financially beneficial to Golden Casket and the Rae family, an offer from the third party was rejected in favour of facilitating community ownership through MCT. Current Greenock Morton Chairman, Crawford Rae, said, “The Rae family’s final act of devotion to the club is to hand it over to the fans, marking their last involvement in the financial responsibility and stewardship at GMFC.” MCT Director Gordon Ritchie also added, “The faith that Golden Casket and the Rae family have shown in all of us cannot be underestimated and we thank them for that. 20 years ago the Rae family saved the club, and now their legacy will be a club at the heart of Inverclyde, owned by the people who love it most, the fans.” To all our members, thank you for all your continued support, without you, none of this would be possible. Should you wish to ask any questions, or provide feedback, please email us at mortonclubtogether@gmail.com. Thanks, MCT Team 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRVMP Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 Exciting times. But what is a 'nominal fee' for rent? How long is it binding for - by what mechanism can the rental arrangements be changed? Not trying to shoot this down by any means, and I'm sure that MCT (of which I am not a member) have given this all consideration, but I am curious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartTon Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 2 minutes ago, TRVMP said: Exciting times. But what is a 'nominal fee' for rent? How long is it binding for - by what mechanism can the rental arrangements be changed? Not trying to shoot this down by any means, and I'm sure that MCT (of which I am not a member) have given this all consideration, but I am curious. They’ve said they can’t disclose exactly what the amount is, but it’s very small. Its really time protect Cappielow should MCT fall into hardship then it’s protected from any creditors. Was described as “future proofing” to protect Cappielow. it will be written into the lease that Morton will continue to play at Cappielow for as long as MCT own the club. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRVMP Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 Just now, StuartTon said: They’ve said they can’t disclose exactly what the amount is, but it’s very small. Its really time protect Cappielow should MCT fall into hardship then it’s protected from any creditors. Was described as “future proofing” to protect Cappielow. it will be written into the lease that Morton will continue to play at Cappielow for as long as MCT own the club. That's fair enough and it makes sense when phrased that way. As long as it's a watertight agreement then the ground ownership issue doesn't strike me as hugely dangerous. The only danger would be that if MCT ever had to sell, for whatever reason, the tie between Greenock Morton Football Club Ltd and Cappielow is thus totally severed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartTon Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 Also worth saying they clarified that the club will still be responsible for the upkeep costs of Cappielow and the car park, but that all income from both go to the club. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRVMP Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 (edited) 1 minute ago, StuartTon said: Also worth saying they clarified that the club will still be responsible for the upkeep costs of Cappielow and the car park, but that all income from both go to the club. Maybe this still has to be figured out but what happens in the case of capital improvements? Like, purely hypothetically, how would a full rebuild of the WDE be handled, as opposed to just maintaining the relevant safety standards? Edited July 8, 2020 by TRVMP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGoon Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 I am, sceptical, to put it lightly but I’m 100% willing to get behind it. Interesting times. Wonder who the 3rd party was? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irnbru Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 (edited) Lots of unanswered questions in the call and a lot that were answered went off on a tangent without really answering what was asked. They've said they'll put more detail on the website within a week so it will be interesting to see what that is. The biggest concern to me was that they said any debt this season would be the responsibility of the current owners so I wouldn't expect us to have much of a budget at all. They also said if they aren't in a position to take over in March they'll look to defer it for a year so potentially two seasons on a shoestring with little effort to change things as the current owners won't have to worry too much about the future.... Edited July 8, 2020 by irnbru Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie_M Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/53335304 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post GMFC_Matt Posted July 8, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted July 8, 2020 If you're sceptical then why not write down your concerns and ask MCT to address them? Its in none of our interests to sit back and watch this fail 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madton Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 Hope it works but members contribute around 80k a year and that can drop at any time if people cancel their memberships. Surely it needs a lot more than that to be successful?? We need more fans through the gates and more members for MCT for this to work well. Not expecting much this coming season then, Crawford won't want to create any more debt Interesting times ahead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevie Aitken's Love Child Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 2 minutes ago, TheGoon said: I am, sceptical, to put it lightly but I’m 100% willing to get behind it. Interesting times. Wonder who the 3rd party was? Pretty much my thoughts. Just off the call and while I'm excited at the news and lots of talk about how the club can be more efficient, and identifying income generation, it's still of course with sole doubts. Stadium development for me is the big issue. Stadium improvements need to be high on the list for me. How does community ownership even think about funding something like that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irnbru Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 Just now, GMFC_Matt said: If you're sceptical then why not write down your concerns and ask MCT to address them? Its in none of our interests to sit back and watch this fail They've said they'll have faqs and answer anything from members on that. I asked 5 or 6 questions on the webinar that they didn't get to so hopefully a lot more detail comes out. Initial impressions were some of the board were clued up on what's needed for their part and others liked using buzzwords but didn't really have an answer so just talked for a while instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TaunTon Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 5 minutes ago, TRVMP said: Maybe this still has to be figured out but what happens in the case of capital improvements? Like, purely hypothetically, how would a full rebuild of the WDE be handled, as opposed to just maintaining the relevant safety standards? That was one of my first thoughts too. From the meeting it is clear to me that capital investment will be required for ground improvements rather than routine maintenance. Separating the club and ground has always concerned me but if what I heard tonight is right then there is some pretty good mitigation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGoon Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 3 minutes ago, GMFC_Matt said: If you're sceptical then why not write down your concerns and ask MCT to address them? Its in none of our interests to sit back and watch this fail I am sceptical at the idea of fan ownership at a club of our size in general, not MCT themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irnbru Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 2 minutes ago, Madton said: Hope it works but members contribute around 80k a year and that can drop at any time if people cancel their memberships. Surely it needs a lot more than that to be successful?? We need more fans through the gates and more members for MCT for this to work well. Not expecting much this coming season then, Crawford won't want to create any more debt Interesting times ahead. They expect 3 or 4 "patron members" to contribute up to 25k a year so they can be sustainable but that didn't really fill me with confidence either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post TorontoTon Posted July 8, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted July 8, 2020 The only sustainable way is community ownership. Then there is no repeat of past debacles. For those who missed the webinar, there are commercial plans to improve revenues / cut costs by £100k annually. Also, community businesses are signing up to be patrons /sponsors - 3 signed so far at £25k annually each, with 3 more in process. There is significant credibility for me here. Also a democratic governance structure. This is something to get behind. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post GiGi Posted July 8, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted July 8, 2020 Sustainability under community ownership might mean we end up at the same level as Airdrie, Clyde or Falkirk. However other clubs around us are going to need to wake up to the same reality. Inverness, Dundee, QoS etc will fare no better. MCT are going to have to find significant income sources for this to work in the long term. But since we know who will own the club from here I will be happy to increase my contributions to give it the best shot. Hopefully other people who are able will do so as well, and others who were skeptical of joining will now see a better reason to get involved. 5 Peter Weatherson is the greatest player since Ritchie, and should be assigned 'chairman for life' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post vikingTON Posted July 8, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted July 8, 2020 (edited) 13 minutes ago, Stevie Aitken's Love Child said: Pretty much my thoughts. Just off the call and while I'm excited at the news and lots of talk about how the club can be more efficient, and identifying income generation, it's still of course with sole doubts. Stadium development for me is the big issue. Stadium improvements need to be high on the list for me. How does community ownership even think about funding something like that? It might help it obtain some of the begging bowl grants that Warren and his big mates were after from the government. There are many worse ways that this spell of rudderless uncertainty could have gone for the club in the past couple of years - not least given the way this season ended - so it is to the Rae's genuine credit that they're willing to see things out on honourable terms. The devil will of course be in the detail. Personally, I think that MCT should welcome some external investment in the club in exchange for shares, if there were some sort of gradual buyback option available; hopefully talk of never selling the club doesn't rule out any sort of similar option, as otherwise you're limiting your options straight off the bat. The ground is not so much a concern in terms of ongoing payment as to what our balance sheet is going to look like for the foreseeable future. 'Morton fans trying to run a football club' sounds like the tagline for a head in hands mockumentary on Netflix but hopefully they'll be able to prove me wrong in having those doubts. Edited July 8, 2020 by vikingTON 4 The site is supposed to be a place for the extended 'family' of Morton supporters - having an affinity with people that you don't know, because you share a love of your local football club. It's not supposed to be about point scoring and showing how 'clever' or 'funny' you are, or just being downright rude and offensive to people you don't know, because you can get away with it. Unfortunately, it seems the classic case of people who have little standing/presence in real life, use this forum as a way of making themselves feel as if they are something. It's sad, and I've said that before.. So, having been on Morton forums for about 15 years I guess, I've had enough... well done t*ssers, another Morton supporter driven away. You can all feel happy at how 'clever' you are Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRVMP Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 2 minutes ago, GiGi said: Sustainability under community ownership might mean we end up at the same level as Airdrie, Clyde or Falkirk. However other clubs around us are going to need to wake up to the same reality. Inverness, Dundee, QoS etc will fare no better. MCT are going to have to find significant income sources for this to work in the long term. But since we know who will own the club from here I will be happy to increase my contributions to give it the best shot. Hopefully other people who are able will do so as well, and others who were skeptical of joining will now see a better reason to get involved. If and when they start supporting non-UK bank accounts, I'll be joining. I'm not opening a UK bank account for this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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