Morton Club Together Updates

[RealTonKid]

Quote

Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?

[Cappiecat 1.2]

9 minutes ago, RealTonKid said:

Quote

Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?

There's no point in asking, you'll get no reply...

[TONofmemories]

19 hours ago, port-ton said:

I noticed yesterday that because we didn't have a second goalkeeper (and probably a lack of bodies available ) that the bloody kit man had to take part in the warm up to help warm up Hamilton with his distribution. 

As far as amateur goes it doesn't get much more tinpot than that. 

 

Don't we have a goalkeeper coach? I thought we got one in a while back. 

[port-ton]

1 hour ago, TONofmemories said:

Don't we have a goalkeeper coach? I thought we got one in a while back. 

We do. He was warming up Jack as well but they needed someone on the half way line for him to kick balls to. Obviously in most cases you'd have both keepers doing that warm up routine but we roped in the kit man due to our lack of a second keeper and presumably the fact that every first team player available was in the match day squad. 

 

[Jamie_M]

On 11/14/2021 at 12:21 PM, Toby said:

This, incidentally is something that could cost the club a fine in a few weeks. I read recently that one of the non-league clubs was given a suspended punishment for not listing a reserve goalkeeper for their Scottish Cup tie this season.

Can we assume that those running the club know that they’re required to have two goalkeepers in their playing squad for Scottish Cup games?

Astonishingly, I think there might actually be some awareness of this from within the club based on the fact Wylie miraculously appeared on the bench last season for the Scottish Cup games before disappearing again for the league games.

Yet here we are, 2 weeks away from the cup game and the party line is that they will look at keepers in January. Are they choosing to take a fine over paying wages?

Penicuik got a £1000 fine for their breach.

 

[The Bewilderedbeast]

Not for a second saying this is what should happen, but does it have to be a "recognised keeper", could they not just name any registered player as sub goalkeeper for the day.

Some will recall Ally Maxwell coming on as an outfield player at Alloa.

[TRVMP]

35 minutes ago, The Bewilderedbeast said:

Not for a second saying this is what should happen, but does it have to be a "recognised keeper", could they not just name any registered player as sub goalkeeper for the day.

Some will recall Ally Maxwell coming on as an outfield player at Alloa.

There are slightly looser cup-tied rules applied to players whose 'customary position' is goalkeeper. Such players must only play in goal and nowhere else. However, you're correct in asking - in the reverse case, of an outfield player being named as a substitute 'keeper, that is perfectly allowed. And as long as the player was otherwise completely eligible to play for the club in the Cup, you could sub him on up front if you wanted to.

Like you, I am not saying this should happen, although it would be a tremendously Morton thing to do.

[dmcewan16]

21 hours ago, irnbru said:

It's easier when you can spend 4 million and run at a loss of 20 odd grand a month though. 

It was more around the way the club involved the community. 

[irnbru]

14 hours ago, dmcewan16 said:

It was more around the way the club involved the community. 

We were the same coming out of administration though. It's a lot easier in times of real adversity. 

Personally, I thought that documentary just came across as a programme about a rich guy with a new toy. 

[StuartTon]

On 11/15/2021 at 10:18 AM, StuartTon said:

Genuine question. I know the Easdales are still regulars in the Directors box (this season both at home AND away games), but why was Crawford Rae back sitting in what is traditionally the Chairman’s seat for the match against Killie?

Anyone from MCT able to comment on this?

[irnbru]

25 minutes ago, StuartTon said:

Anyone from MCT able to comment on this?

Why should they? There's moaning over nothing and then this.

[Mr.Blue]

On 11/15/2021 at 10:18 AM, StuartTon said:

Genuine question. I know the Easdales are still regulars in the Directors box (this season both at home AND away games), but why was Crawford Rae back sitting in what is traditionally the Chairman’s seat for the match against Killie?

Would really like some clarification as to why the easedales, Rae and 2 councillors are all sitting in the directors box? I also hope that they all paid in or have season tickets.

[port-ton]

The Easdales who are our major sponsors and the former chairman who allowed the transfer to fan ownership being guests at a game really shouldn't be major news. 

If the board start having to publically comment on nonsense like that then we might as well shut the club down. So many more pressing matters of concern than that.

[Cet Homme Charmant]

1 hour ago, Mr.Blue said:

Would really like some clarification as to why the easedales, Rae and 2 councillors are all sitting in the directors box? I also hope that they all paid in or have season tickets.

Seriously, your biggest worry at the moment is the biggest club sponsors have comfy seats? 

[TRVMP]

Bet he used the disabled bogs as well for the extra space. Get him hounded!

[Toby]

9 hours ago, irnbru said:

We were the same coming out of administration though. It's a lot easier in times of real adversity. 

Personally, I thought that documentary just came across as a programme about a rich guy with a new toy. 

I sort of agree with this. Would only really be inclined to listen to Savage whenever Wales suffer a setback and he starts whining about the whole injustice of it all, so I've not watched this documentary.

But rather than comparing us to the bastard spawn of Macclesfield Town, I'm more concerned looking closer to home. Look at us in comparison to Raith and Arbroath- two clubs who are having a rare time. I'm inclined to think that Arbroath have reached the peak of their potential and eventually they'll fall to a more natural level, but these are two clubs with feel good factors that have been forged through years of hard work and building up relationships and trust amongst their sponsors, partners and support and within their local communities.

MCT can go on and on about transparency but they're not walking the walk, and after years of false dawns from the previous owners (not just Golden Casket, their predecessors, too) getting off on a good footing with the support was imperative. They've fucked that though, and are now chasing their tails to regain some credibility.

The new regime was never going to have quite the same backing as Golden Casket had twenty years ago, but when they kick off their tenure by doing things like *allegedly* threatening journalists, giving a manager who failed to set the heather alight an extended deal which gives them no room to manoeuvre when things start to go tits up, signing sex offenders, blaming the local paper for mix ups when games are under threat of going ahead, refusing to acknowledge fans concerns about the signing of said sex offender, not even appointing a chairman and having a musical chairs policy for making important decisions, influential members of the club board *allegedly* making disparaging comments about MCT contributors' impact on the club and getting into a Twitter spat with the admin of the support's busiest website and only fans' podcast after backing down on an agreement to discuss everything has done what could already be irreparable damage to them. What it's almost certainly done is set them back years to get to where they should hope for their reputation to be in the eyes of the support.

There's no quick fix to make Morton a happy club, which should in theory go a long way to making them a successful one, but they're going the wrong way about it. I of course understand that now and again unpopular decisions have to be made, but it's a bloody long list of unpopular decisions- without, imho too many of them being correct ones, and is doing so much to set them back even further than their original starting position, which takes quite some doing.

How far behind the two clubs I mentioned we are on the park is up for debate, but in terms where they stand in the eyes of it's support, we're on a different stratosphere from the two of them, and heading further away from where we want to be with every passing week and PR own goal.

1 hour ago, irnbru said:

Why should they? There's moaning over nothing and then this.

A mate of mine asked me my opinion of this at the game last night, and to be honest, he was more bothered than myself. But it's still not the wisest of moves. Are Golden Casket even club sponsors anymore? There's nothing in the match programme anyway and I don't recall seeing any advertising around the ground this season.

I'd prefer if Crawford Rae didn't ever darken our door again, but it doesn't work like that, and I'm sure both parties like to keep each other onside. I've just written a diatribe about their monumental fuck ups earlier on in this post though, and Crawford Rae turning up and sitting in "the chairman's seat" is so far down the list of issues we're needing answers to that it's unreal.

I can see how him swanning back in as if he still owns the place gets under folks' skin, but not a big thing in the grand scheme of things.

1 hour ago, port-ton said:

The Easdales who are our major sponsors and the former chairman who allowed the transfer to fan ownership being guests at a game really shouldn't be major news. 

If the board start having to publically comment on nonsense like that then we might as well shut the club down. So many more pressing matters of concern than that.

Aye, love them or loathe them, they're the club's major sponsors. They're not putting in £XXXXX a season to be told they've got to spend an extra £20 to stand in the Cowshed with us.

[vikingTON]

I wouldn't use Raith as an example of a club developing a feel-good factor and success off the back of the fans. They've handed over their ground to a private owner and were subsidising a shortfall of £400k in the third tier a few short years ago. 

It's not making fans feel happy (though I agree that egregious mistakes do not help) but rather providing a clear plan for what will be done to modernise the club that will make us stronger in the long-term. 

[Toby]

18 minutes ago, vikingTON said:

I wouldn't use Raith as an example of a club developing a feel-good factor and success off the back of the fans. They've handed over their ground to a private owner and were subsidising a shortfall of £400k in the third tier a few short years ago. 

It's not making fans feel happy (though I agree that egregious mistakes do not help) but rather providing a clear plan for what will be done to modernise the club that will make us stronger in the long-term. 

That’s a good point- a move comparable to what MCT proposed to us before the fans kicked off about Crawford taking them for absolute mugs. Should stick that one on my list.

[dunning1874]

With Raith, I think you actually see a good example of how quickly the mood of a club can be transformed. Nothing significant has changed off the park there since they were haemorrhaging money in three seasons in League One; they just got one managerial appointment right and that was enough to take them from circling the drain and maybe being a season away from becoming another Airdrie to being a top half Championship club, where the increased prize money as a result will go a long way to addressing those losses.

That's not to say all the other issues aren't extremely important in their own right, but even lucking into one good managerial appointment can go a long way to making it easier to address other issues while also getting the support off your back even without resolving them. Rightly or wrongly, every support has a significant element who'll stop caring about any other issues if they're given a successful team on the park and that happy support gives clubs more leeway. When there's literally nothing going well like us this season, there's no deflecting it.

Of course, in Morton’s case this brings us back to the question of the likelihood of making that good appointment if there's no change to the decision making process which led to a two year deal for Gus MacPherson.

[vikingTON]

A model that is based on never appointing a dung manager and always having prize money to stave off losses is a deeply faulty one. Having an effective team now is only papering over the cracks unless a credible infrastructure is being built off the park. In three years' time there's every chance that Raith will be in our current situation and asking serious questions of the private owner who has their only asset as well.  

The reality is that the mood would not have been good around GMFC in this season's Championship regardless of what MCT are doing. 'Winning' the play-offs hopelessly compromised this season from the off. The idea that the fanbase would be content with grubbing around for a 7th place finish and 40 points Because Of The Prize Money was folly - even if our current manager was competent enough to do this. We have spent too long circling the drain already for that to be a sustainable strategy. Going down, putting the blame squarely where it belonged on Crawford and the gang for that failure and doing a complete rebuild would have been a better outcome. 

The mood is driven for the most part by that current reality of the first team squad. MCT have compounded this by:

- handing a two year deal out to a dinosaur

- blowing off most criticism of their first team oversight, as well as the Lithgow controversy

- not demonstrating their commitment to transparency and accountability for decision-making

- not providing a meaningful strategy for modernising the club

among other shortcomings. Even if they were doing well across those club management issues though, there would still not be a feel-good factor until the performances, results and above all the demonstrated ambitions of the first team change as well. 

Edited November 17, 2021 by vikingTON