Morton Club Together Updates

[EanieMeany]

I’m glad Morton have rejected VAR as it stands as I have no faith at all that it’s going to result in an improvement to the game in any sense beyond a handful of decisions here and there, but the explanation offered is a wee bit bizarre and incoherent tbh.

Complaining about the price when it’s not going to affect us any time soon is particularly odd, and just makes the club look a bit silly. 

[TaunTon]

I'm not really surprised that a wider consultation did not take place given the ridiculous timescale of the decision being required. As for voting against it I couldn't really care much less.

[Jamie_M]

48 minutes ago, TaunTon said:

I'm not really surprised that a wider consultation did not take place given the ridiculous timescale of the decision being required. As for voting against it I couldn't really care much less.

Nah, plenty of clubs managed to knock together a quick fan survey.

[Madton]

16 hours ago, Jamie_M said:

Nah, plenty of clubs managed to knock together a quick fan survey.

I know Ayr did, who else?

[Jamie_M]

59 minutes ago, Madton said:

I know Ayr did, who else?

Livi and St Mirren definitely, can't be arsed looking further. It was possible, that's the point though.

[TONofmemories]

Latest MCT email has the begging bowl out. Not great reading and hints at piss poor budget next season. 

Dougie has one massive job to do on a nothing budget it would seem.

[TRVMP]

I'm fine with the occasional donation drive. Reminding people where the money's going and why is important, otherwise it's just another direct debit to go with streaming services etc., one that people will cut when money's tight or when they start looking at their monthly expenditure.

Pointing out that they're still actively getting new memberships and working on the commercial aspect shows that it's not *just* about milking money from existing members, too.

I agree the part about the budget is a bit concerning but overall MCT wouldn't be doing their job if they weren't trying to maximize their income from members and trying to get new members. If they own the club, and want the club to progress, then investment is going to be required, and we are the investors.

They do, however, need to make it easier to make a one-time donation and to have that tied to your account somehow (so you can see how much you've donated over time.) Right now it's just GoCardless for recurring payments. In the grand scheme of things this is a low priority but a user portal showing how much someone's donated over time, their membership status etc. would be a nice feature as well.

Edited May 2, 2022 by TRVMP

[vikingTON]

5 minutes ago, TRVMP said:

I'm fine with the occasional donation drive. Reminding people where the money's going and why is important, otherwise it's just another direct debit to go with streaming services etc., one that people will cut when money's tight or when they start looking at their monthly expenditure.

Pointing out that they're still actively getting new memberships and working on the commercial aspect shows that it's not *just* about milking money from existing members, too.

I agree the part about the budget is a bit concerning but overall MCT wouldn't be doing their job if they weren't trying to maximize their income from members and trying to get new members. If they own the club, and want the club to progress, then investment is going to be required, and we are the investors.

Investment can't be solely in the playing budget though. That's what season tickets, gate reciepts, sponsorship etc. are already for. 

You can get away with siphoning some of MCT subscriptions for the first team, but there has to be a serious pitch for what else they're going to do to make the club generate more revenue. That's the point of capital investment. 

Edited May 2, 2022 by vikingTON

[TRVMP]

37 minutes ago, vikingTON said:

Investment can't be solely in the playing budget though. That's what season tickets, gate reciepts, sponsorship etc. are already for. 

You can get away with siphoning some of MCT subscriptions for the first team, but there has to be a serious pitch for what else they're going to do to make the club generate more revenue. That's the point of capital investment. 

I agree totally. They did hint at it by talking about commercial improvements, but it would be great to see what the plan there is, along with any growth of commercial sponsorship.

What I'm saying is that, if the club's primary owner is now MCT, it makes sense to sugment commercial revenue with additional donations.

[TONofmemories]

It's not a great look every year to be begging for money to go directly into a playing budget. They have to do more to interest wealthy individuals to make one off, or recurring, large donations

That statement basically reads we've got a shite budget but you could make it less by increasing payments etc. There has to be other sources of income.

[Jamie_M]

Coming just a few days after Friday, where the club decided they had no interest in trying to earn an extra £12000 (which they would have got had they won the game against a weakened Arbroath team) by effectively chucking the game by fielding the kids.

That's 100 members for the next 12 months worth of income. 

[port-ton]

20 minutes ago, Jamie_M said:

Coming just a few days after Friday, where the club decided they had no interest in trying to earn an extra £12000 (which they would have got had they won the game against a weakened Arbroath team) by effectively chucking the game by fielding the kids.

That's 100 members for the next 12 months worth of income. 

The last time the board told our manager who and who not to play on the final day of the season over money didn't exactly go well. 

[TaunTon]

Are you suggesting that the club should have told the manager who to play?

[TaunTon]

1 hour ago, TRVMP said:

I'm fine with the occasional donation drive. Reminding people where the money's going and why is important, otherwise it's just another direct debit to go with streaming services etc., one that people will cut when money's tight or when they start looking at their monthly expenditure.

Pointing out that they're still actively getting new memberships and working on the commercial aspect shows that it's not *just* about milking money from existing members, too.

I agree the part about the budget is a bit concerning but overall MCT wouldn't be doing their job if they weren't trying to maximize their income from members and trying to get new members. If they own the club, and want the club to progress, then investment is going to be required, and we are the investors.

They do, however, need to make it easier to make a one-time donation and to have that tied to your account somehow (so you can see how much you've donated over time.) Right now it's just GoCardless for recurring payments. In the grand scheme of things this is a low priority but a user portal showing how much someone's donated over time, their membership status etc. would be a nice feature as well.

I agree with much of that and I'll certainly be upping my DD. It is unfortunate though that this is against a backdrop of high inflation and increased bills for everyone. which will make this a tough if not impossible ask for many.

[HamCam]

You have to suspect MCT is disappointed some potential contributors have not come forward especially on the commercial side. This is not a criticism of MCT but sadly the reality they face. We appear to be determined to continue as a full-time club but operating on a part-time budget. Next season already looks to be a challenge.

[HamCam]

12 hours ago, Jamie_M said:

Coming just a few days after Friday, where the club decided they had no interest in trying to earn an extra £12000 (which they would have got had they won the game against a weakened Arbroath team) by effectively chucking the game by fielding the kids.

That's 100 members for the next 12 months worth of income. 

Do you not think the manager was making a point putting out a team largely comprising those that are signed up for next season even if it effectively minimized our chances of a win and sixth place?

Edited May 3, 2022 by HamCam

[TRVMP]

1 minute ago, HamCam said:

You have to suspect MCT is disappointed some potential contributors have not come forward especially on the commercial side. This is not a criticism of MCT but sadly the reality they face. We appear to be determined to continue as a full-time club but operating on a part-time budget. Next season already looks to be a challenge.

On what planet do potential contributors 'come forward'? Separating people from their money for any reason - business, charity - is absolutely ruthless business which takes an absolute ton of effort. If MCT needs contributions it needs outbound marketing (like this) on a consistent basis. A marketing plan with KPIs attached to it sounds like corporate wankspeak - it also works a lot better than sitting patiently waiting for someone to show up with a bag of cash.

If there are companies in Inverclyde or beyond on whom MCT is waiting, the solution is to ask them to the dance. 

Separately from that, the new commercial manager at Morton is presumably doing a ton of outbound sales work. At least I'd hope he is.

 

[port-ton]

Got a lot of sympathy for MCT. formed and taken control of the club during Covid and a cost of living crisis. 

I'm sure the people who can afford it will pledge more but the worry is also that they will lose members at this time also due to people's circumstances. 

[HamCam]

1 minute ago, TRVMP said:

On what planet do potential contributors 'come forward'? Separating people from their money for any reason - business, charity - is absolutely ruthless business which takes an absolute ton of effort. If MCT needs contributions it needs outbound marketing (like this) on a consistent basis. A marketing plan with KPIs attached to it sounds like corporate wankspeak - it also works a lot better than sitting patiently waiting for someone to show up with a bag of cash.

If there are companies in Inverclyde or beyond on whom MCT is waiting, the solution is to ask them to the dance. 

Separately from that, the new commercial manager at Morton is presumably doing a ton of outbound sales work. At least I'd hope he is.

 

In my experience many sponsors/contributors, especially in the lower leagues, are often fans and the 'investment' is not necessarily driven by financial considerations - football is a strange emotive world. When MCT launched I recollect they were talking about 5/6 parties coming forward at £25,000 - what happened? I agree the onus is on MCT and/or the club to translate commercial interest into contributions rather than simply rely on the ordinary punter to add a further £10/month - a real challenge in the current economic climate.

[TRVMP]

3 minutes ago, port-ton said:

Got a lot of sympathy for MCT. formed and taken control of the club during Covid and a cost of living crisis. 

I'm sure the people who can afford it will pledge more but the worry is also that they will lose members at this time also due to people's circumstances. 

It's a challenging business environment to be sure, but it's one that the other 41 clubs also face, and those reliant on benefactors may see those benefactors cut back in the same way as individuals, depending on the business they're in*.

*A combination of rampant QE and upwardly-redistributive social and economic policies have rendered big business the undoubted economic winner in the last few years, but at our level of the game we're not dealing with Jeff Bezos, so how the likes of Raith's backer and Accies' backer are looking is open to question.