Commercial Activity

[Charles_Joe]

We’ve got to be one of the thickest teams in Europe.

[SassenachTon]

It says something about the quality of a new manager when - just a few weeks in - supporters are already getting worried about him being poached by a bigger club with more money. This says a hell of a lot to me not just about Dougie’s impact - but about the state of Scottish football management in general - a subject about which Ton supporters sadly know better than most.

My take (putting aside the 100% understandable current joy, positivity and ‘fuck-it’s-about-time’ euphoria) is that Dougie’s most probably set himself two challenges in his first team management role - #1 keep us up this season, and #2 make us champions the next. There’s no doubt in my mind that he’s in it for at least the medium-term haul. But we all have to look at this from his perspective, not ours. He’s young, hungry, ambitious, hugely talented, and he possesses that rarest of football management skills - the ability to motivate, excite, and get the absolute best out of people - the kind of skills which often come from experienced, driven, intelligent ex-players who’ve been there, done that, and who understand exactly what makes a player tick. Just look at what Brian Clough did with Derby County in the 1970’s - 2nd division relegation candidates to League Champions inside 4 years. We’ve all seen the transformation of player attitude, effort and workrate. We’re starting to see almost instant strides forward in commercial activity, the club’s social media presence and more besides. For me - a distant English Morton supporter since 1970 - it’s the beginning of a dream period for the club we all love. But this kind of impact is obviously going to get noticed by bigger clubs (especially those with shite managers) and we’d be naive to imagine otherwise.

But when Ton lift that trophy next season, his job will be done. If he chooses to stay and drive us to further success in the next tier - fantastic. But having achieved his two goals - if he does choose to further his career elsewhere? Then fair play to him. He’s got his family, his mortgage and the rest of his life to think about. But if that does happen, I firmly believe that his legacy will be a long one. He’ll leave the club in an infinitely better state than which he found it. He’ll have rebuilt everything important both on the turf and off it. He’ll have made Morton a club we can all believe in again.

Remember his Celtic penalty - and just ask yourselves this. If one man can make that much difference in 10 seconds, what could he do given a year and a half?

As someone’s already said on here - this is a great time to be a Morton supporter.

 

 

 

Edited February 17, 2022 by SassenachTon

[The Bewilderedbeast]

8 hours ago, Charles_Joe said:

We’ve got to be one of the thickest teams in Europe.

Aye, some of the answers have been hilarious.

[HamCam]

14 hours ago, Charles_Joe said:

We’ve got to be one of the thickest teams in Europe.

I suspect you will find we are no different to most dressing rooms or indeed your average man on the street.

[EanieMeany]

16 hours ago, The Bewilderedbeast said:

May well already be planned, but I'd like to see the winners go head to head and end up with a club quiz champion

Assuming the season ends with the same kind of mood around the place as there is, that could make a cracking public event with a few other bits and bobs around it. 

14 hours ago, Charles_Joe said:

We’ve got to be one of the thickest teams in Europe.

Oliver and Strapp, god love them, seemed like they were struggling to read the questions at times never mind answer them  Good on them though, it's entertaining viewing and it's good to see players having a laugh with each other. I'd guess that these wee contests might not have worked so well a couple of months ago.

[Toby]

The other spin off is that it allows the fans to identify a bit more with the players. The only positive impression I had about any of them was from a couple of pals that are also mates with Lewis Strapp.

Other than that my impression a couple of months ago came from Lithgow and Muirhead cupping their ears to us. It’s not terribly important to a miserable old bastard like myself, but I think it can only be a good thing if it’s allowing younger fans to identify with their personalities and to see them having a laugh.

I’ve never actually seen him name checked on the progress in terms of social media interaction, so it’s about time the lad Gareth got a well deserved pat on the back for his hard work.

Also really pleasing to see Open Goal turning up at Cappielow today- again, not my favourites, but they’ve got a bloody big following, so a bit of nationwide exposure can only be a good thing.

[Mr.Blue]

1 hour ago, Toby said:

The other spin off is that it allows the fans to identify a bit more with the players. The only positive impression I had about any of them was from a couple of pals that are also mates with Lewis Strapp.

Other than that my impression a couple of months ago came from Lithgow and Muirhead cupping their ears to us. It’s not terribly important to a miserable old bastard like myself, but I think it can only be a good thing if it’s allowing younger fans to identify with their personalities and to see them having a laugh.

I’ve never actually seen him name checked on the progress in terms of social media interaction, so it’s about time the lad Gareth got a well deserved pat on the back for his hard work.

Also really pleasing to see Open Goal turning up at Cappielow today- again, not my favourites, but they’ve got a bloody big following, so a bit of nationwide exposure can only be a good thing.

Spot on Toby. Gareth deserves a lot of credit. Also good to see the Open Goal boys showing an interest.

[gmfc_craig]

Coming into spring soon and people thinking about holidays etc…how about having Morton flip flops or sliders if your a millennial! 

[Guest capitanus]

Who/what is open goal? 

[Mr.Blue]

3 hours ago, capitanus said:

Who/what is open goal? 

It's a podcast/ show. Simon ferry, Paul slane, Kevin Kyle, Andy Halliday all seem to be the mainstays. They've had a few cracking guests and has a big following. Always a good listen/watch.

[vikingTON]

3 hours ago, Mr.Blue said:

It's a podcast/ show. Simon ferry, Paul slane, Kevin Kyle, Andy Halliday all seem to be the mainstays. They've had a few cracking guests and has a big following. Always a good listen/watch.

[Mr.Blue]

1 minute ago, vikingTON said:

[TONofmemories]

Just finished the interview. Thoroughly enjoyable. Imrie comes across very well.

 

[TRVMP]

They sent out a "Weekly Update" to my email. It's got ticket info for the Arbroath game, a brief recap of the Thistle game (they should have added a link to the highlights on Youtube), info on the new Morton-themed milk chocolates, and the featured product on Smiths (the 63-64 retro top.)

Nice, concise email. Room for a bit of improvement but as a first attempt this is very slick and shows that they are now being active in reaching out to fans.

[Cappiecat 1.2]

[Madton]

43 minutes ago, TRVMP said:

They sent out a "Weekly Update" to my email. It's got ticket info for the Arbroath game, a brief recap of the Thistle game (they should have added a link to the highlights on Youtube), info on the new Morton-themed milk chocolates, and the featured product on Smiths (the 63-64 retro top.)

Nice, concise email. Room for a bit of improvement but as a first attempt this is very slick and shows that they are now being active in reaching out to fans.

I've had it weekly for the last 4 or 5 weeks now. 

[TRVMP]

4 minutes ago, Madton said:

I've had it weekly for the last 4 or 5 weeks now. 

Weird. Well, this was my first one. Happy to receive it.

[TaunTon]

Loved that shirt at the time and still looks great.

[SassenachTon]

Me too, @TaunTon. I’m having one of those …..

[Jamie_M]

2 hours ago, TRVMP said:

new Morton-themed milk chocolates

If only we had been owned by a Confectionary company, we could have had Morton branded chocolate years ago...