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3 hours ago, Madton said:

Aye it was purely tongue and cheek when i said they are theoretically paying their wages. Think everyone knows MCT can't control that in the slightest.

The frustration lies with Hopkin offering these guys new deals in the 1st place.

Tongue in cheek or not it is an issue if people perceive their contributions are funding the wages of players not good enough to take the club forward - that is one of the main reasons I have not joined. I, perhaps mistakenly, thought MCT was generating additional funds for 'new' signings not deadwood.I appreciate it is not the role of MCT to interfere in 'football' matters but I see the signings previously mentioned as a waste of funds. I know the manager argues he did not want to start afresh in a truncated season but we all saw enough last season to form the view that a significant number of the squad are miles of the pace.

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MCT are funding the first team squad, so players already signed for that squad have to be funded.

They can't pick and choose who receives wages from their donations, in the same way we can't buy a season ticket and say " I don't want X or Y player to get any of MY money" 

IMO the more people who join up, the more money can be donated, therefore a better standard of player can be attracted.

Of course, if that doesn't happen, then theres always the option to resign your membership.

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13 hours ago, vikingTON said:

Waves of contradictory pish about whether MCT should or should not meddle in the first team signing policy, a point that is made irrelevant anyway by the fact that the contributions to MCT stand to actually make Morton a fan-owned club in the very near future. Your 'ahm no' gien munny just to pay shite players' hot take is therefore completely out of date - find another shite excuse for not getting on board with the program or better yet don't bother. 

Oh Barbara, you do make me laugh.

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  • 1 month later...

Dear Members,

Thank you to all of you who have signed up for Wednesday's AGM.  Those of you who have done so should now have received your link to join the webinar.  If you have not received yours, please let us know.

Registration officially closed at 5pm today, but should anyone else wish to join, we will extend this to 5pm tomorrow.  Please click here to sign up.

Ahead of the AGM, we have also produced a short Annual Report for all of our members. Within the Annual Report, we have also incorporated some reasoning behind each of our recommendations for the AGM. 

You can view this by clicking the button below.

Should anyone have any questions, please feel free to get in touch.

https://mcusercontent.com/bed32e84e49e39393352f8d72/files/d7faa53b-f858-4ce3-a51e-197f74c1956d/MCT_Annual_Report.pdf

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From the document:

Quote

If the takeover goes through in June 2021, as planned, MCT will be responsible for all running costs at the club. Members’ contributions can then be used to meet costs such as ground maintenance and improvements etc.

I asked back in July about capital improvements. Looks like Golden Casket get to keep an asset on their books and get a bunch of free upgrades. Nice deal for them.

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The devil will be in the detail, but I suppose the trade off for MCT is that GC won’t be charging rent on Morton’s use of Cappielow (beyond a peppercorn rate) and Morton will retain all income eg from renting space to GMCT at a commercial rate or from hospitality. Also, unlike if GC was eg to get ‘free’ upgrades of its factory units from tenants’ money, most improvements to Cappielow will be of limited commercial benefit to GC as they will (most likely) essentially be single use for professional football - I’d guess GC’s commercial interests lie in the land itself rather than what’s on top of it.

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3 hours ago, TONofmemories said:

The worry then is that MCT are already significantly propping up (or probably even paying a majority towards) the budget. Where does the extra cash come from for things like ground improvements?

Where does money come from to pay staff, which i presume we aren't paying atm?

 

The normal day to day revenue of the club, exactly as it did before the MCT takeover.

While MCT money isn't going to go entirely to the first team budget once they're in charge, it's not like MCT membership money is the only income into the club. The every day revenue from ticket sales (Covid-19 dependent) and commercial activity - which you'd hope would improve from the farce of the last 20 years with new owners at the top conducting a review of how the club operates - is still going to be there with MCT contributions on top of it. That's exactly what the club has been surviving on as a break even model under Crawford Rae already with Golden Casket not putting anything in so there's no change there.

The balance to find for MCT is obviously how much of member contributions to put into running costs versus building up reserves for unexpected costs arising when you don't have an owner with deep pockets, but the deep pockets were already taken out of the equation two years ago.

Brian Wake my Lord, Brian Wake

Brian Wake my Lord, Brian Wake

Brian Wake my Lord, Brian Wake

Oh Lord, Brian Wake

 

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18 minutes ago, dunning1874 said:

The normal day to day revenue of the club, exactly as it did before the MCT takeover.

While MCT money isn't going to go entirely to the first team budget once they're in charge, it's not like MCT membership money is the only income into the club. The every day revenue from ticket sales (Covid-19 dependent) and commercial activity - which you'd hope would improve from the farce of the last 20 years with new owners at the top conducting a review of how the club operates - is still going to be there with MCT contributions on top of it. That's exactly what the club has been surviving on as a break even model under Crawford Rae already with Golden Casket not putting anything in so there's no change there.

The balance to find for MCT is obviously how much of member contributions to put into running costs versus building up reserves for unexpected costs arising when you don't have an owner with deep pockets, but the deep pockets were already taken out of the equation two years ago.

It isn’t quite accurate that GC are no longer putting anything in so there is still a challenge there. The club has aimed to break even but according to the most recent accounts (despite reporting ‘significant improvement’) still runs at a loss (or at the time of publishing the accounts a loss looked likely), which has been financed by GC. The other important contribution GC makes is financing short term cash flow issues which might arise, for example, if home games are cancelled. The latter is probably the more pressing issue for MCT/Morton post-GC (and in no small part is why GC are holding the stadium - in case cash flow problems become overwhelming and lead to administration).

Edited by cmdc
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31 minutes ago, cmdc said:

It isn’t quite accurate that GC are no longer putting anything in so there is still a challenge there. The club has aimed to break even but according to the most recent accounts (despite reporting ‘significant improvement’) still runs at a loss (or at the time of publishing the accounts a loss looked likely), which has been financed by GC. The other important contribution GC makes is financing short term cash flow issues which might arise, for example, if home games are cancelled. The latter is probably the more pressing issue for MCT/Morton post-GC (and in no small part is why GC are holding the stadium - in case cash flow problems become overwhelming and lead to administration).

I struggle to think of anyone who would see an outgoing owner of a football club selling the club and retaining it’s only asset for himself as anything other than a negative.

I know he’s your mate, but what he’s doing with Cappielow’s despicable. MCT are effectively buying a brand name, an SFA licence and a league membership, whilst Crawford keeps anything of any value for himself.

If he doesn’t trust MCT to be able to stave off administration, he shouldn’t be selling to them in the first place- that’s how a responsible custodian would approach any such concerns.

The only folk he’s fooling here are the folk who are quite prepared to be fooled. Take the blinkers off.

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8 minutes ago, cmdc said:

Nothing to do with blinkers - just a clarification that GC still put money in to cover cash flow and losses, because it is often assumed that this is no longer the case.

I don’t think anyone  who has any sort of clue doesn’t realise they’re still plugging the gaps, albeit to a much lesser extent, but that doesn’t mean that Crawford is acting in anything other than his own and his family’s interests, rather than the club he is currently the custodian of, and should have a moral obligation to do.

You’re painting the picture that if Morton go into administration, or worse, the ground won’t be repossessed. My reading of it is that if another buyer for the club was to come in down the line, who may just happen to own a lot of and in the surrounding area, the land that Cappielow currently sits on may all of a sudden become more valuable to that particular buyer than it currently is.

Retaining Cappielow for his own company is about money and power for himself, not for acting in Morton’s interests once he’s out the door.

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I'm not painting that picture - GC and MCT are painting that picture. And, like I said (a) GC's commercial interest will be in the land, and (b) the devil will be in the detail. All I'm really doing here is replying to Dunning: that we aren't starting from a break-even budget, and that unforeseen losses/expenses (like those experienced this year) and cash flow issues (like those experienced, say, over a harsh winter) will contnue to present significant challenges (now more so than ever - as they do to every club at this level) but (as far as I'm aware) without the backstop of a lender of last resort. In that context there is a certain logic to the position GC and MCT have arrived at but we need to see how the agreement takes shape and how Morton's interests are protected within it. 

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7 hours ago, cmdc said:

The devil will be in the detail, but I suppose the trade off for MCT is that GC won’t be charging rent on Morton’s use of Cappielow (beyond a peppercorn rate) and Morton will retain all income eg from renting space to GMCT at a commercial rate or from hospitality. Also, unlike if GC was eg to get ‘free’ upgrades of its factory units from tenants’ money, most improvements to Cappielow will be of limited commercial benefit to GC as they will (most likely) essentially be single use for professional football - I’d guess GC’s commercial interests lie in the land itself rather than what’s on top of it.

The usage is secondary to the ownership. The ownership of assets with a new capital value attached to them opens up new lines of finance. Unless there's something in the covenant between MCT and GC to prevent this (and I think such a covenant is unenforcable) there's nothing to stop GC securing credit against upgrades paid for by MCT. Hypothetically, if we ripped down the WDE and built a luxury hotel and spa in its place - something the East End of Greenock is surely crying out for - that asset will belong to GC, even if MCT are responsible for the operating expenses and income. And, as you say, if their commercial interest is in the land, they can secure credit against that tomorrow if they want to, and we have no recourse. I mean, the agreement that Morton will play at Cappielow as long as MCT own the club - that's an agreement between MCT and GC, not between MCT and some hazy notion of Cappielow. If GC have Cappielow foreclosed upon, or just opt to sell it one day (bearing in mind that Crawford won't be around forever, and he's not a dictator today anyway - I don't believe that a rental agreement can preclude sale in perpetuity), then the covenenat just disappears into thin air.

I have no doubt that people at MCT have thought about this and are acting in what they believe to be Morton's best interests (while also being realistic about how much money they have) but at the end of the day we're a few steps away from a very, very precarious position, and while I don't think Crawford is eager to pull the carpet out from under Morton, others in GC's future may well be, or at least forced into the reluctant position of doing so. What safeguards will there be beyond promises?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Dear Members,

MCT, and indeed many fans, had significant concerns over the capacity of the website prior to the game and strongly advised testing its capability. Unfortunately, that was not done, and the harsh lesson was learned in a competitive scenario leaving many of us angry and frustrated as we tried to tune in.

Following MCT making our disappointment clear, the club invited us to be part of the discussions regarding the situation. During these discussions we shared our disappointment, and were keen to hear how the club planned to move forward, both with limiting the damage to fans from last night, and seeking a new way forward. 

You will hopefully all have seen the statement from Greenock Morton Chairman Crawford Rae this morning. If you have not, you can do so here.

The key points from Crawford’s statement are:

The club have apologised unreservedly for the failure of the match streaming service.

All fans who purchased tickets for Tuesday night’s stream will be refunded in full. This process will be done automatically by the club and you will not have to claim.

The club believe that the developers have identified the issues that caused the problems and the steps needed to correct them. 

A test event will be carried out this Saturday to ensure they have found a workable solution ahead of Tuesday night’s game against Queens Park. 

We are pleased to see that the club have apologised to all fans and indeed committed to refunding everyone who did not get to view the match as intended on Tuesday night.

Further details in terms of timings for the test will be provided by the club in due course. Fans will have to re-register due to the new process but we would encourage as many of our members to take part in this test event as possible as it will help ensure that the club can effectively test the system.

At MCT, this testing is what we advocated should have happened prior to the Queen of the South game. Unfortunately, that is now in the past and we must look towards the future with the expectation that lessons have been learned.   

Given the current circumstances, streaming is the club’s main source of income and it is extremely important that the service provided meets expectations to ensure that fans from across the globe can tune in and watch Morton in action. 

With further Covid restrictions being announced yesterday, we believe this is more important than ever as the opportunity to watch our team play is something that many of us have been eagerly awaiting. 

Like all of you, we hope and expect to see a successful stream for next Tuesday’s game at Cappielow against Queens Park. 

Thanks,

MCT Team

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