Commercial Activity

[Gordon Ritchie]

On 12/21/2025 at 5:50 PM, vikingTON said:

Show us your workings please. 

I costed this while working as GM. There were empty shop premises around the corner on the A8 (now a plumbers, if I remember correctly) and we could have secured a low rent for them. 
 

The problems were essentially twofold. Firstly, nobody at the club had any significant retail experience. We would have required to staff it and have someone engaged in stock control.

 

Secondly, there is a huge risk with stock. If you get it wrong, you get stuck with a lot of stock that you can’t shift (eg kit in xs or xxxl sizes. I dipped my toe in the water with the “Dougie” T-shirts, which were relatively low risk, but I wasn’t qualified to run a large retail department. Smiths actually works ok for the club. They have a “High St” shop front and provide invaluable knowledge and expertise. They also carry the risk of unsold stock.

 

Please don’t ask to see MY workings!!!

[Pedrodelawasp]

Got a very unofficial Morton quiz book as a stocking filler for my dad.

Didn’t notice until he unwrapped it that the cover photo is not actually of Cappielow

 

Merry Christmas everybody in any case

[Greacen2000]

1 hour ago, Pedrodelawasp said:

Got a very unofficial Morton quiz book as a stocking filler for my dad.

Didn’t notice until he unwrapped it that the cover photo is not actually of Cappielow

 

Merry Christmas everybody in any case

Merry Christmas Peter.  Possibly Brightons former home the Goldstone ground?

[Stevie Aitken's Love Child]

13 hours ago, Pedrodelawasp said:

Got a very unofficial Morton quiz book as a stocking filler for my dad.

Didn’t notice until he unwrapped it that the cover photo is not actually of Cappielow

 

Merry Christmas everybody in any case

This same guy has made quiz books for loads of clubs, but has definitely used AI to make the questions. Seen a post yesterday with the Carlisle United questions and they were hilarious.

[Cet Homme Charmant]

On the subject of unofficial Morton gifts, one of my daughters gave me a custom-made calendar, where each month has pictures from a different era. It's really well done, and I'm pretty sure if the club sold something like this it would sell really well. Photo for January is an example...

[Pedrodelawasp]

8 hours ago, Stevie Aitken's Love Child said:

This same guy has made quiz books for loads of clubs, but has definitely used AI to make the questions. Seen a post yesterday with the Carlisle United questions and they were hilarious.

Yeah, not the best on reflection. The answers are printed immediately after each question too, rather than at the back, which takes away from the experience somewhat.

[Jamie_M]

3 hours ago, Cet Homme Charmant said:

On the subject of unofficial Morton gifts, one of my daughters gave me a custom-made calendar, where each month has pictures from a different era. It's really well done, and I'm pretty sure if the club sold something like this it would sell really well. Photo for January is an example...

Better than the official one that has a picture of Imrie for January.

[vikingTON]

A query about Saturday's game - I noticed that hospitality seemed to take 5 minutes to go inside at half time, and then didn't come out until 5 minutes into the second half. Are they showing the game in there at all, or did our paying guests really miss the only positive note of that entire, brutal game (teams/conditions)? 

[AyrshireTon]

13 hours ago, vikingTON said:

A query about Saturday's game - I noticed that hospitality seemed to take 5 minutes to go inside at half time, and then didn't come out until 5 minutes into the second half. Are they showing the game in there at all, or did our paying guests really miss the only positive note of that entire, brutal game (teams/conditions)? 

That appears to be the case every week and puts me off booking hospitality, which is a shame as it’s seemingly one of the best in the country.

It’s one thing to be able to wander up to your seat as late as you want, but it’s another to be stuck in a queue to climb stairs and miss part of the game.

[irnbru]

5 minutes ago, AyrshireTon said:

That appears to be the case every week and puts me off booking hospitality, which is a shame as it’s seemingly one of the best in the country.

It’s one thing to be able to wander up to your seat as late as you want, but it’s another to be stuck in a queue to climb stairs and miss part of the game.

Used to be. Feels like it's the Gerry show now and fans a bit of an inconvenience. 

[Roger McQueen]

It's no where near as good as it used to be and as IrnBru says, feels like an audience with Gerry than anything else. 

[Ray Von]

What is the score with the retro tops in smiths now?

Was in smiths there for a wee look at our stuff, and most of the retro tops have a GMFC 1874 logo where Matchwinner should be.

Makes them look cheap and nasty. Honestly think we don’t want to make money sometimes. 

[Mr.Blue]

Mark Kelly the new GM.

Is that a fucking joke?

[irnbru]

3 minutes ago, Mr.Blue said:

Mark Kelly the new GM.

Is that a fucking joke?

No harm to him, but this was a really critical appointment. We've got a club mostly run by volunteers with little or no experience of running a football club (or business) and really needed someone to come in with experience and hit the ground running. 

Taking this long for an appointment to essentially keep doing the same thing, which hasn't worked, and no need fresh ideas is really disappointing. 

[Deego]

Well, it’s some opportunity for him and I wish him well.

Will his current role be backfilled?

[John369]

51 minutes ago, Mr.Blue said:

Mark Kelly the new GM.

Is that a fucking joke?

Yeh, apparently is mate, hearing rumours the real GM is being announced tomorrow morning and it’s all a big prank!

[dazza]

We obviously haven't learned from the shambles that was Dale. I wasn't expecting us to attract anyone of any great stature, given the low salary that would be on offer. But surely we could have attracted someone with some experience of leading an organisation. Hospitality looks like it's been a struggle for numbers this season, from what i hear advertising income is down as well. Not a good appointment.

[Rossco]

Said when dale left would be promoted from within.

 

Not sure what to make of it as we have went this long without one and his work as commercial manager has been a bit underwhelming but at the same time it is someone who is familiar with the club so maybe it makes sense 

[irnbru]

3 minutes ago, Rossco said:

Said when dale left would be promoted from within.

 

Not sure what to make of it as we have went this long without one and his work as commercial manager has been a bit underwhelming but at the same time it is someone who is familiar with the club so maybe it makes sense 

Only thing that makes sense is it's a short term thing until the investment deal comes through and they bring in someones who's done a similar role before. Good experience for Mark and fills a gap just now. 

It makes no sense that we've got no one at the club with any experience of running a football club and, as far as I know, no paid staff with experience of running a business. 

[dunning1874]

The idea that any internal/inexperienced appointment is automatically a bad one doesn't really stand up. To give one example of it working, Alan Burrows started out at Motherwell as part of the media team doing articles for their website and through a series of internal promotions became their CEO, where he lasted for 10 years over a highly successful period for them on and off the park before being headhunted to a bigger club.

I'll judge him on what he does in the job.