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7 hours ago, capitanus said:

Fair enough if it wasnt those exact words, but that was the sentiment from yourself early on whenever the MCT scheme was first launched.  I was critical of the idea and execution of it, and you were critical of me for speaking my mind.  Which you were perfectly entitled to be, however what has brought about the big change in your sentiment recently?

Tbh I've became that detached from Morton I can't even remember.   I'm not being awkward, I genuinely can't.  

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"CORNBEEF IS A BELLEND"

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44 minutes ago, LargsTON said:

Tbh I've became that detached from Morton I can't even remember.   I'm not being awkward, I genuinely can't.  

To be honest, i feel the same too.  I like the idea of following a supporter-owned club, being in charge of our own destiny etc. and around a year ago Dean convinced me to give MCT a fair chance. 

Whilst they done a good job in acquiring the club and its assets debt free, I think there was a lot more credit due to an over-eager seller wanting to rid themselves of a drain on finances, than any kind of foresight and ingenuity on the part of MCT.

Also, the interim period they have been in charge i've not been too impressed with them.  I've got a feeling were in for a long season here.

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1 hour ago, Cappiecat 1.2 said:

According to today's Tele it has now been sold for scrap.

The symbolism writes itself, really. In fact were it in a book or a film you'd think it was too on-the-nose.

EOho8Pw.png

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Can someone from MCT explain what the ownership of club and ground now looks like under the new agreement? If the ground has been protected under this new agreement if, god forbid, the club runs into financial difficulty how does that work from a legal standpoint?

Is the ground being held by a separate company or does ownership of the ground now fall to MCT?

If so have we effectively separated the ground from the football club i.e. GMFC no longer own Cappielow?

That being the case does this dilute the value of shares in Morton Football Club given it no longer owns its only asset, its only worth being its registration with the SFA?

If the above is correct then it would be incumbent of someone to explain this to the 10% of GMFC shareholders who have been kept pretty much in the dark and should be approached to join MCT which would be to their benefit.

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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3 hours ago, 9 Strathblane Crescent said:

Can someone from MCT explain what the ownership of club and ground now looks like under the new agreement? If the ground has been protected under this new agreement if, god forbid, the club runs into financial difficulty how does that work from a legal standpoint?

Is the ground being held by a separate company or does ownership of the ground now fall to MCT?

If so have we effectively separated the ground from the football club i.e. GMFC no longer own Cappielow?

That being the case does this dilute the value of shares in Morton Football Club given it no longer owns its only asset, its only worth being its registration with the SFA?

If the above is correct then it would be incumbent of someone to explain this to the 10% of GMFC shareholders who have been kept pretty much in the dark and should be approached to join MCT which would be to their benefit.

Got an answer for you which you can see below that hopefully explains everything you've asked.

The new company structure consists of three linked limited companies. A limited company is treated as a separate legal entity, and so although the three companies are linked, they are still three separate bodies.

The parent company is MCT Ltd - the same company that members have been contributing to. There is now a new mid-level limited company, which owns the stadium. This property company is 100% owned by MCT. The third company is Greenock Morton Football Club Ltd. That company owns the SFA and League registration and membership. 

Under this system, if the football club runs into financial difficulties, any creditors or administrator cannot get their hands on the stadium, as it is not an asset of the club. 

As a result, GMFC Ltd no longer owns Cappielow. However, it did not (from a practical point of view) own Cappielow before the takeover. At that point, although the club held title to the stadium, there were securities in place for the club debts which meant that, effectively, Golden Casket controlled the stadium. Currently, the stadium is owned by the membership of MCT.

The value of the remaining 10% of shares in Morton should not be significantly affected by the deal. It is true that they no longer own a share of Cappielow, but the write off of club debts is equal to or greater than the value of the stadium. As a result, the club’s balance sheet will have lost approx £2m in debt from one side and a £2m asset from the other. The overall value of the club has probably increased slightly (a £2m debt never looks good on a balance sheet), but the value of each share is so small that in practical terms there should be no real difference to the value of each share.

It is our intention to provide existing shareholders in the club with a full written resolution of the movements at the club as soon as we receive it from our solicitors. We anticipate that this will be circulated within the next few weeks.

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18 minutes ago, MCT Team said:

Got an answer for you which you can see below that hopefully explains everything you've asked.

The new company structure consists of three linked limited companies. A limited company is treated as a separate legal entity, and so although the three companies are linked, they are still three separate bodies.

The parent company is MCT Ltd - the same company that members have been contributing to. There is now a new mid-level limited company, which owns the stadium. This property company is 100% owned by MCT. The third company is Greenock Morton Football Club Ltd. That company owns the SFA and League registration and membership. 

Under this system, if the football club runs into financial difficulties, any creditors or administrator cannot get their hands on the stadium, as it is not an asset of the club. 

As a result, GMFC Ltd no longer owns Cappielow. However, it did not (from a practical point of view) own Cappielow before the takeover. At that point, although the club held title to the stadium, there were securities in place for the club debts which meant that, effectively, Golden Casket controlled the stadium. Currently, the stadium is owned by the membership of MCT.

The value of the remaining 10% of shares in Morton should not be significantly affected by the deal. It is true that they no longer own a share of Cappielow, but the write off of club debts is equal to or greater than the value of the stadium. As a result, the club’s balance sheet will have lost approx £2m in debt from one side and a £2m asset from the other. The overall value of the club has probably increased slightly (a £2m debt never looks good on a balance sheet), but the value of each share is so small that in practical terms there should be no real difference to the value of each share.

It is our intention to provide existing shareholders in the club with a full written resolution of the movements at the club as soon as we receive it from our solicitors. We anticipate that this will be circulated within the next few weeks.

Thanks for that, I'm assuming that in time that Companies House will be updated with all the relevant detail concerning the three companies?

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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We've emailed round members and posted on our social channels that we'll be stopping the weekly updates now the takeover has gone through.

As and when we've got things to share we'll be doing that. Still here and on email at communications@mortonclubtogether.co.uk for any questions anyone has at any time.

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In case you haven’t spotted this yet on the SLO’s social accounts, the club is arranging a Q&A session with the new GMFC board. It’ll be recorded and put out across club channels. There’s certainly appetite for a live, in-person event so I’m taking this as an action to make sure our first MCT event gives fans and members that opportunity to attend. 

If you have any questions you’d like to ask the club board, don’t hesitate to ask them directly to the SLO or ask them here and I’ll pass them over to him. 

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11 hours ago, vikingTON said:

I have to say I don't understand why that decision has been taken. Unless the idea is that the club will be taking over the role of regular communication, it seems to me that MCT should still keep its members in the loop on a regular basis. Particularly if there is an ongoing drive for new subscribers to join as well as the (arguably tougher) task of convincing people to let their DDs roll over and not to chuck it.

The issue I have with an ad hoc communication strategy is that it is easy to let things slide when people are busy and there is no fixed deadline in place. This then snowballs and suddenly you have rumours growing arms and legs that wouldn't have arisen in the first place with effective communication - followed by an ad hoc rebuttal from MCT or the club anyway. We've already seen that play out a few times over the summer.

I appreciate that providing regular updates is hard and/or an annoying use of time, but simply scaling back the schedule of updates to a fortnight or even every month - and to view them as a chance to pitch what changes are being made and why they matter - seems a much more sensible response to that pressure. I also appreciate the engagement with the forum but the reality is that this is only a fraction of the fanbase and probably MCT's membership as well.

If GMFC will be taking up that task of regular engagement from now on then great, but I don't think now is the time to appear to be disengaging with the fanbase in any way whatsoever. Getting and keeping the fanbase on board through this difficult campaign is still a serious obstacle that this ownership model has to overcome in order to simply function, never mind flourish. 

 

Thanks for the really valuable feedback @vikingTON

It’s definitely about finding that right balance between what the club is doing or planning to do, coupled with what we then do and whether we over-communicate and annoy some people versus providing something for those that want updates even when not a lot is happening. While the regular updates were appreciated by a lot of members, we got some responses from some who didn’t want to be updated that regularly believe it or not. 

The intention isn’t to stop communicating, it’s just to not put something out on that strict weekly schedule. We’ll definitely have something to share from an MCT perspective in the next couple of weeks after a strategy session we held this week but there’s actions off the back of that that now need to happen to get us moving following all the recent changes. We’ve also got the club board Q&A coming soon too so from that high level perspective they’ll be things coming soon. 

But I do completely take your points on board and we’ll figure out something that works best to update members and fans. 

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Maybe a small thing, but we've heard about more people subscribing to MCT since the take over was finalised. However, the MCT website still shows the membership at 850 and has done since long before the finalisation.

There could be people out there who may well be thinking of joining and could be encouraged by seeing the membership rising.

Doesn't need to be done every day, maybe once or twice a month.

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18 hours ago, vikingTON said:

I have to say I don't understand why that decision has been taken. Unless the idea is that the club will be taking over the role of regular communication, it seems to me that MCT should still keep its members in the loop on a regular basis. Particularly if there is an ongoing drive for new subscribers to join as well as the (arguably tougher) task of convincing people to let their DDs roll over and not to chuck it.

The issue I have with an ad hoc communication strategy is that it is easy to let things slide when people are busy and there is no fixed deadline in place. This then snowballs and suddenly you have rumours growing arms and legs that wouldn't have arisen in the first place with effective communication - followed by an ad hoc rebuttal from MCT or the club anyway. We've already seen that play out a few times over the summer.

I appreciate that providing regular updates is hard and/or an annoying use of time, but simply scaling back the schedule of updates to a fortnight or even every month - and to view them as a chance to pitch what changes are being made and why they matter - seems a much more sensible response to that pressure. I also appreciate the engagement with the forum but the reality is that this is only a fraction of the fanbase and probably MCT's membership as well.

If GMFC will be taking up that task of regular engagement from now on then great, but I don't think now is the time to appear to be disengaging with the fanbase in any way whatsoever. Getting and keeping the fanbase on board through this difficult campaign is still a serious obstacle that this ownership model has to overcome in order to simply function, never mind flourish. 

 

Agree with this. A fortnightly update with a link to a feedback form to encourage members to contribute shouldn't be a big ask. 

Leaving it ad-hoc means that it's up to the comms person to decide what's important or not. All members might be interested in different things. 

Not sure what you use to email but having an unsubscribe option for different categories of mail could be an options, i.e. to weekly updates, events, all. 

6 hours ago, MCT Team said:

Thanks for the really valuable feedback @vikingTON

It’s definitely about finding that right balance between what the club is doing or planning to do, coupled with what we then do and whether we over-communicate and annoy some people versus providing something for those that want updates even when not a lot is happening. While the regular updates were appreciated by a lot of members, we got some responses from some who didn’t want to be updated that regularly believe it or not. 

The intention isn’t to stop communicating, it’s just to not put something out on that strict weekly schedule. We’ll definitely have something to share from an MCT perspective in the next couple of weeks after a strategy session we held this week but there’s actions off the back of that that now need to happen to get us moving following all the recent changes. We’ve also got the club board Q&A coming soon too so from that high level perspective they’ll be things coming soon. 

But I do completely take your points on board and we’ll figure out something that works best to update members and fans. 

Is there a reason there's not been any engagement with members ahead of a strategy session? Surely there needs to be input from everyone and not just the board. 

Edited by irnbru
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7 hours ago, The Bewilderedbeast said:

Maybe a small thing, but we've heard about more people subscribing to MCT since the take over was finalised. However, the MCT website still shows the membership at 850 and has done since long before the finalisation.

There could be people out there who may well be thinking of joining and could be encouraged by seeing the membership rising.

Doesn't need to be done every day, maybe once or twice a month.

An oversight following the switchover in individuals involved and the capabilities of the website. I've now been able to update it. Almost hitting 900 👍🏼

5 hours ago, irnbru said:

Agree with this. A fortnightly update with a link to a feedback form to encourage members to contribute shouldn't be a big ask. 

Leaving it ad-hoc means that it's up to the comms person to decide what's important or not. All members might be interested in different things. 

Not sure what you use to email but having an unsubscribe option for different categories of mail could be an options, i.e. to weekly updates, events, all. 

Is there a reason there's not been any engagement with members ahead of a strategy session? Surely there needs to be input from everyone and not just the board. 

One of the agreed actions discussed last night was bringing back the feedback loop that members can input into and we'll take to the club for answers on, so that's certainly on the radar. 

I'll explore whether that option is available on our email platform, thanks for that.

On your last point, it was an initial strategy session that we'll be sharing the output of with members once we've collated everything. At that stage, just like with comms around the deal and the community ownership prospectus produced previously, it'll be open for members to digest and provide any feedback on. 

24 minutes ago, Madton said:

No post match interview with Gus after Montrose, no pre match with Gus on Inverness. New owners, same old shite.

Thought half the new board were Marketing experts??

There has been pre and post-match interviews going out across the season so far, I'm not sure why there hasn't been anything this week unfortunately. This is a good example of the type of thing that can input into that feedback loop when it's reinstated. I'll raise this with the club and see why it hasn't been the case this week. 

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2 hours ago, MCT Team said:

An oversight following the switchover in individuals involved and the capabilities of the website. I've now been able to update it. Almost hitting 900 👍🏼

One of the agreed actions discussed last night was bringing back the feedback loop that members can input into and we'll take to the club for answers on, so that's certainly on the radar. 

I'll explore whether that option is available on our email platform, thanks for that.

On your last point, it was an initial strategy session that we'll be sharing the output of with members once we've collated everything. At that stage, just like with comms around the deal and the community ownership prospectus produced previously, it'll be open for members to digest and provide any feedback on. 

There has been pre and post-match interviews going out across the season so far, I'm not sure why there hasn't been anything this week unfortunately. This is a good example of the type of thing that can input into that feedback loop when it's reinstated. I'll raise this with the club and see why it hasn't been the case this week. 

The problem is sharing with members isn't community or fans being involved. It's a group doing stuff. It's being told, not contributing. There needs to be more engagement all of the time. Otherwise you've got animal farm in football form. 

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