Morton Club Together Updates

[TONofmemories]

Ive zero issue with it either tbh. He committed the crime (a long, long time ago) and has had several employers since. I'm sure hes remorseful for his actions, whether he went about apologising the right way or not. Its not really our business. A huge song and dance is being made about it IMO. This "we're a community club signing a sex offender" is complete nonsense and nothing more than a good excuse for people to get the claws in. Let's be honest, no one out with anyone with a real interest in Morton A. cares and B. probably knows who he is. 

I agree with TRVMP's assessment. Morton could have done a bit more, but the actual signing is a non-event tbh. 

Edited October 21, 2021 by TONofmemories

[irnbru]

24 minutes ago, TONofmemories said:

Ive zero issue with it either tbh. He committed the crime (a long, long time ago) and has had several employers since. I'm sure hes remorseful for his actions, whether he went about apologising the right way or not. Its not really our business. A huge song and dance is being made about it IMO. This "we're a community club signing a sex offender" is complete nonsense and nothing more than a good excuse for people to get the claws in. Let's be honest, no one out with anyone with a real interest in Morton A. cares and B. probably knows who he is. 

I agree with TRVMP's assessment. Morton could have done a bit more, but the actual signing is a non-event tbh. 

I think it all comes back to everything being a bit faceless and a severe lack of comms. 

Don't really have a huge problem either but if we had a board member or general manager who gave regular updates and said something along the lines of "the manager identifies players and, as a board its our duty to do due diligence, contractual or otherwise, before completing the signing." No real need to address individual signings directly but at least have some accountability on show. 

Obviously not everyone would be happy as some are dead against this signing but it would show the decision making process and give some comfort to show its all been considered. Instead there's a growing lack of trust. 

[TONofmemories]

I agree in that we should have addressed it somehow,  but the faux outrage is OTT IMO.

[irnbru]

1 hour ago, TONofmemories said:

I agree in that we should have addressed it somehow,  but the faux outrage is OTT IMO.

I can see why people are unhappy but when there's little information or clarity about anything controversial it tends to get blown out of proportion so complete silence is only going to magnify things regardless of what options are. 

[bob_the_builder]

I suppose we can all take comfort in the fact that we don't have this board:

Absolutely delicious viewing

[TONofmemories]

At least they have the balls to face a fanbase though. Doesn't seem at all scripted either. 

[TRVMP]

33 minutes ago, TONofmemories said:

At least they have the balls to face a fanbase though. Doesn't seem at all scripted either. 

Looks scripted to me, this fucking welt thought he'd give an inspirational speech, then one guy claps, then another guy, then everyone's on their feet cheering, hoisting him aloft and dousing him in Gatorade.

Every other chairman/board member in the country must have watched that through their fingers. It's fine to say that stuff when things are going well but Falkirk just got humped 3-0 at home and they're as close to League Two as they are to the Championship. What on earth possessed him?

[TONofmemories]

When i say scripted i should have said vetted. It looks an open forum to ask whatever to me. 

[TRVMP]

Just now, TONofmemories said:

When i say scripted i should have said vetted. It looks an open forum to ask whatever to me. 

Aye, fair. It was an open-ticketed event (i.e. you had to register to attend but anyone could do so) and as we can hilariously see there was no Prime Minister's Questions pre-vetting.

[vikingTON]

Doesn't sound too different to what Chairman Ritchie might be saying in twelve months' time unfortunately.

I'd like some clarity on why a two year deal was handed out in the summer given the financial instability of the club: who signed off on this and why was it deemed necessary?

I'd also like clarity on how first team performances will be evaluated. What are the benchmarks for performance; how regularly will this be reviewed; what insight does the club use to exercise this judgment? 

The key task at the moment is to make sure that fan ownership retains the appropriate degree of professional oversight over first team issues, as well as openness between the board and the fanbase on how the new structure works in practice. Otherwise it risks being run like a glorified social club, and down with the Brechin we could swiftly go. 

[TaunTon]

25 minutes ago, vikingTON said:

I'd also like clarity on how first team performances will be evaluated. What are the benchmarks for performance; how regularly will this be reviewed; what insight does the club use to exercise this judgment? 

The key task at the moment is to make sure that fan ownership retains the appropriate degree of professional oversight over first team issues, as well as openness between the board and the fanbase on how the new structure works in practice. 

This is crucial as far as I'm concerned as it essential if we are to avoid the mistakes of the past and install some real determination to drive improvement on the pitch and expectation among the fanbase. Simply surviving is not a medium to long term strategy.

[capitanus]

7 hours ago, TONofmemories said:

I agree in that we should have addressed it somehow,  but the faux outrage is OTT IMO.

It's not faux outrage to expect the club that you support to have some kind of standards of decency for the players they recruit, and to feel badly disappointed by them when they recruit a sex offender.   Regardless of whether or not he is a good player, I would sooner have a hapless jobber without his talent, knowing that he wasn't a wrong'un of that sort. 

[MCT Team]

We've just sent round an update to members which you can also find here

https://mortonclubtogether.co.uk/latest-news/24-member-update-22nd-october

[irnbru]

1 hour ago, MCT Team said:

We've just sent round an update to members which you can also find here

https://mortonclubtogether.co.uk/latest-news/24-member-update-22nd-october

I don't think this really addresses the problems most people have (which the update seems to partially attempt to do).

MCT is the conduit to the club for its members. The people running things at the club need to be visible and accountable to these members as they wouldn't be there without them. It doesn't really matter if they are on both boards or not so I don't think there's any confusion as the update suggests. 

The fact there is a crossover actually makes it a bit worse for me though. Most members haven't heard a word from the people who've been on both boards (apart from a few snippets from Graham Barr) so there should 100% be more transparency here as there is (or was) a direct link from MCT member to these MCT board members through the MCT channels. 

The obvious example is that Gordon seems to be the main decision maker and is running things at the club (which is a privilege he only has because of the members) but has been totally anonymous and the impression most have (rightly or wrongly) is he doesn't take on any accountability. This is a direct result of a lack of transparency and might not actually be the case. 

Like it or not, the main thing for members is how the club is run and not how MCT itself is. The relationship between the two separate bodies and how fans get involved and updated needs to be the focus, not who's on the MCT board doing marketing, etc. 

Even if over time it is the case that the club is more at arms length from MCT, when the mood amongst the fans isn't good there's no excuse for MCT not being proactive in addressing concerns with the club and relaying these back to fans asap.

There's clearly some unrest now with significant concerns being raised over a few months (using here and Twitter as a guage). An SLO led Q&A wouldn't have been needed as much if MCT were proactively updating on what's happening at the club and there was more transparency across the board.

As it stands, the impression most people have is that the board members have free reign with no accountability and there's no acknowledgement that they're in that position because of the MCT membership. 

Edit to add - the updates are appreciated and the last paragraph might be a frustration the MCT board share so are essentially caught in the crossfire and taking the flak (I obviously wouldn't expect an answer on that from an individual!). 

Edited October 22, 2021 by irnbru

[HamCam]

I agree with irnbru on this issue. While it is appreciated MCT and the club have different responsibilities and priorities there is undeniably a mutuality of interest requiring increased transparency, communication and accountability. For me, MCT continue to be more reactive than proactive and even when it comes to the club there is a distinct lack of output - I do not believe Gus offering up the same platitudes and excuses after most matches satisfies most fans. Of course much of the current 'noise' off the park on this issue would not exist if the team on the park were performing...

[capitanus]

5 hours ago, MCT Team said:

We've just sent round an update to members which you can also find here

https://mortonclubtogether.co.uk/latest-news/24-member-update-22nd-october

Yet another post from MCT Team where he/she failed to acknowledge the fact that the club have recruited a convicted sex offender and that a lot of people feel uneasy about it. 

It won't go away, regardless of whether or not you think I'm a 'trouble maker'. 

[9 Strathblane Crescent]

On 10/20/2021 at 2:28 PM, Toby said:

Because with this format, Gordon Ritchie won’t have to answer questions he doesn't want to answer from mischief makers in the support who are no more than background noise to him running his football club, rather than contributors who have helped him get into the position he now occupies.

I've missed this Gordon Ritchie stooshie. What are his supposed misdemeaners?

[9 Strathblane Crescent]

There's a lot covered in this topic but one thing sticks out for me is that there is a lot the club should be doing that they are not. That's all down to roles and responsibilities which we don't appear to have given some of the points made.

Directors of the football club need to have specific roles and not just be seat warmers at games and meetings.  That way they can be held accountable and this gives members a better idea who they should have running the club. The same goes for MCT.

[Toby]

1 hour ago, 9 Strathblane Crescent said:

I've missed this Gordon Ritchie stooshie. What are his supposed misdemeaners?

It was discussed on here, but Dean removed the debate as it could’ve potentially affected the alleged victim’s professional life, so not something that can really be discussed. If you look back a few months there might be something hinting at what I believe he did.

[Waverley]

i don't know what the division of roles and responsibilities are between MCT and GMFC, but I suggest that some of these football questions should be answered by GMFC, not MCT.