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Before I even think about making up my mind about this, I have one question.

How will the club make money (or break even) once it is fan/community owned?

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McGhee needs some support, there's no-one backing him up.
Hayes playing it forward, Bell being forced to do it all alone, now forward from Marr, here's Ritchie, still Andy Ritchie, look at the control...

That is a marvellous goal from Andy Ritchie. Twenty minutes on the clock and Morton's supporters come alive. A goal which epitomises the control, the arrogance, the cheek of Andy Ritchie.

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There are other options to safeguard the ground in the event that things go wrong. I would say that my general unease here is that Golden Casket still want to retain something - why do they need to be the third party safeguarding the club?

There's just something about it which doesn't sit right. 

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So they want either the club's main assets, or to keep us indebted to them forever? You could knock me down with a feather!

I imagine this is an unpopular opinion but at this point if I was running MCT I'd pay all existing supporter pledges to the club, then halt any future pledges and leave GC to get on with it. It's absolutely clear that, having got MCT locked in to a deal - any deal - they are using it to ensure the Raes get out with as much loot as possible. Which is fine, of course, they have to look out for themselves, but they've now given an option even worse than the first one.

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EOho8Pw.png

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2 hours ago, irnbru said:

MCT might prefer these approaches as a way of safeguarding the assets if things don't go to plan, i.e. GC would have them and not unknown administrators. It would be interesting to hear what they say about it all. 

Gullible nonsense. If MCT wanted to keep the ground separate from the club for safeguarding, then there's nothing to stop them doing that once they have obtained ownership of the assets in the first place. The idea of letting Crawford and his brood of sprogs look after it and not expect them to swan off with the goods as soon as it is in their self-interest is utterly risible. 

 

Edited by vikingTON
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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

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1 hour ago, vikingTON said:

Gullible nonsense. If MCT wanted to keep the ground separate from the club for safeguarding, then there's nothing to stop them doing that once they have obtained ownership of the assets in the first place. The idea of letting Crawford and his brood of sprogs look after it and not expect them to swan off with the goods as soon as it is in their self-interest is utterly risible. 

 

But then GC wouldn't have a 2m+ asset on its books, which is important for Morton because something something.

EOho8Pw.png

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Worrying times. Even if we were to assume Crawford and the current GC board are being genuinely benevolent and wouldn't screw us over by either selling Cappielow or calling in the debt, how can we be sure that will still be the case in 5, 10 or 50 years time? New people joining the GC board with no attachment to GMFC or concern about Dougie's legacy may well start asking questions about why this sleeping asset is not being capitalised, or 2m pound debt isn't being called in, depending on which option on the table MCT go for. We also have to consider the possibility of GC getting into financial difficulties themselves at some point in the future. After the transfer of ownership, the GC board's legal responsibilities are of course to protect the interests of GC shareholders, not GMFC. I'm not an expert on company law by any means, but I'm fairly sure in such a situation it would in fact be a dereliction of their duties not to capitalise Cappielow, if the cash injection from it was needed to keep the company afloat.

I just hope and assume MCT are getting sound advice from specialist company lawyers to ensure there are watertight, legally binding safeguards in the purchasing contact to prevent either Cappielow being sold, or the debt being called in, at any time in the future. Although I'd be very pleasantly surprised if the GC board would sign up to such a permanent commitment. In fact, it may even be considered a dereliction of their duty to GC shareholders if they did, but again, I'm certainly not claiming to be an expert in company law. 

MCT are in a stronger negotiating position here than perhaps they realise. Crawford is obviously desperate to extricate himself and GC from the club, while minimising the damage to his dad's reputation and legacy. It's MCT who should be the ones playing hardball here.

Lastly, wasn't there another interested party in buying the club last summer, or did I dream that? I assume they were rejected because Crawford was wary of the potential purchaser's motives, or perhaps he simply believed that MCT were the better option for the long term security of the club. But it would be interesting nevertheless to know more about that offer, and why it was rejected.

Edited by Cet Homme Charmant
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7 minutes ago, The Bewilderedbeast said:

The cynical side of me wonders if all of this , either by chance or design, allows a third party to come into the process like knights in shining armour.

A scenario I'd rather not think about, indeed I'd rather have either of the options, as poor as they are, currently on the table than that.

 

Both options effectively put a huge obstacle (2 million quid!) in front of any future investor who actually has Morton's interests at heart. I get that it protects us from vultures, but it works the other way as well.

Fan ownership doesn't need to mean 100% fan owned for the next 100 years. GC are effectively blocking other options (no time limit on their claim) until either party goes belly up.

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3 hours ago, The Bewilderedbeast said:

The cynical side of me wonders if all of this , either by chance or design, allows a third party to come into the process like knights in shining armour.

A scenario I'd rather not think about, indeed I'd rather have either of the options, as poor as they are, currently on the table than that.

 

Unless there are legally binding guarantees in perpetuity that Cappielow will not be sold or the debt will not be called in, the two options currently on the table aren't just poor, they're potentially disastrous. We'll have the sword of Damocles hanging over us until the end of our days,

Edited by Cet Homme Charmant
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Option 3 the nuclear option.

·       MCT withdraw their support for any of the proposed deals

·       MCT continue to raise funds from existing members and new members

·       GC continue to own GMFC until such times it’s sold to another buyer

·       In the event GMFC go into administration MCT approach the administrator to purchase the club and it’s assets.

·       If no other buyers came forward MCT would make an offer to the administrator to purchase club and assets at 10 pence in the pound.

·       Cost to MCT for club and assets would be £306,000 approx

·       MCT currently donates £10,000 per month with 700 members

·       Increased membership to 1000 members would increase income to £13,000 per month

·       This would give MCT 2 years to raise the money to buy the club out of administration if it came out with the 2 year window

Alternatively if administration came before MCT had raised the funds look for a soft loan from local businessmen to bridge the gap.

 

Edited by 9 Strathblane Crescent
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
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MCT need to take a tougher negotiating stance with GC, as neither option is preferable imo. GC have showed their hand and it’s time to call their bluff. Are the lesser Raes willing to tarnish Dougie’s legacy, by letting the outstanding debt accrued during his tenure destroy the club he stepped in to save?

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1 hour ago, Jamie_M said:

I fear they are too far up his arse for that to be considered, lapping up everything he says or offers.

Exactly.

It wasn’t that long ago they released a pathetic, patronising statement berating fans who had the temerity to compare Dear Leader Rae to Hugh Scott.

Edited by Alan_Partridge_Ton
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26 minutes ago, RealTonKid said:

MCT need to take a tougher negotiating stance with GC, as neither option is preferable imo. GC have showed their hand and it’s time to call their bluff. Are the lesser Raes willing to tarnish Dougie’s legacy, by letting the outstanding debt accrued during his tenure destroy the club he stepped in to save?

I've never had much faith in the Rae family when it comes to honouring Dougies' 'legacy' (whatever that is).

After hearing many statements about the debt being written off/reduced/never called in, we find that it has now conveniently morphed into a valuation of Cappielow minus the car park. 

I get the feeling that the next instalment will feature magic beans valued at £2m.

 

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33 minutes ago, RealTonKid said:

MCT need to take a tougher negotiating stance with GC, as neither option is preferable imo. GC have showed their hand and it’s time to call their bluff. Are the lesser Raes willing to tarnish Dougie’s legacy, by letting the outstanding debt accrued during his tenure destroy the club he stepped in to save?

Agree MCT have collected our money and used it to right off debt as agreed with GC.

Now GC have showed their hand and this is their ultimate route to maximum capitalisation.

Dougie's legacy is top business opportunist and triumphing Hugh Scott. In other words he looked like our saviour but turned out to be worse than HS.

We need to play hardball and get the Inverclyde Council fully on board, by blocking any change of use for the land.

Bottom line is this is not going to be cheap and what ever deal we accept the GC group must be fully removed in the deal.

While money is currently at it's best rates for years, if MCT can raise the capital, it will take the a significant part of the MCT funds to buy the stadium which also needs significant investment in the next five years to provide a reasonable fan facility. 

While this is the direction I would like us to take I am also concerned that the playing budget will have to be reduced and could result in us ending up in the seaside leagues for the next 20 years.

Maybe as said above we should go for the nuclear option and start again.

Must mention the Goverment now looks like the £500,000 grant has not help Morton but strengthened GC options.

I really develop hatred for anyone but this family %$£@!!!!

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