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Hoppy Gone (Potentially)


ChampTon

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I said on this Forum a few years ago when I was in Tasmania to watch the Scotland Cricket team at the 2015 World Cup.. I met people from Greenock Cricket Club( who know CR ) and they told me that Crawford Rae had no interest in Greenock Morton Football Club whatsoever and  that he prefers to go play golf rather than look after out beloved club...so it looks like what the guys from the cricket club told me 5 years ago is coming to fruition.. The sooner we supporters start backing Morton Club Together the better and rid our great club of CR before we end up in the seaside leagues again or worse still no club.

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26 minutes ago, Scozzie said:

I said on this Forum a few years ago when I was in Tasmania to watch the Scotland Cricket team at the 2015 World Cup.. I met people from Greenock Cricket Club( who know CR ) and they told me that Crawford Rae had no interest in Greenock Morton Football Club whatsoever and  that he prefers to go play golf rather than look after out beloved club...so it looks like what the guys from the cricket club told me 5 years ago is coming to fruition.. The sooner we supporters start backing Morton Club Together the better and rid our great club of CR before we end up in the seaside leagues again or worse still no club.

I think we all realise that Scozzie!

I only ever met Crawford once, at my cousin’s 40th birthday party. My cousin was a painter and decorator at Cappielow and Crawford celebrated his birthday as if it was his own son. 
I felt quite assured that Night that Morton were in safe hands with such an honest and generous man, until I realised that he had absolutely no interest in Greenock Morton, in fact it was like a noose around his neck! I don’t feel that we should blame him for this in any way as he was left with an inheritance from his father that he had watched earlier and saw that it was a poisoned chalice. If anyone on this forum had taken hold of that chalice from Douglas I would question their sanity, far less Crawford who had witnessed the shambles first hand. None of us should want Crawford to be the one to take our club forward, in the same way that Crawford shouldn’t touch a project that he wants nothing to do with, in his heart or in his head!

Let us move on and see where the next chapter takes us.

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I met CR for the very first time when I worked sadly for Me in his sweetie factory in the Port... When I told him I was a Morton Supporter I thought He would say great We all have to stick together nope He laughed in My face & muttered well someone has to be.. He has never been interested & now his true colours are coming to light.. He just seen it like a millstone round His neck when the old man passed away & get rid of it quick..

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18 minutes ago, DreamOakTree said:

I think we all realise that Scozzie!

I only ever met Crawford once, at my cousin’s 40th birthday party. My cousin was a painter and decorator at Cappielow and Crawford celebrated his birthday as if it was his own son. 
I felt quite assured that Night that Morton were in safe hands with such an honest and generous man, until I realised that he had absolutely no interest in Greenock Morton, in fact it was like a noose around his neck! I don’t feel that we should blame him for this in any way as he was left with an inheritance from his father that he had watched earlier and saw that it was a poisoned chalice. If anyone on this forum had taken hold of that chalice from Douglas I would question their sanity, far less Crawford who had witnessed the shambles first hand. None of us should want Crawford to be the one to take our club forward, in the same way that Crawford shouldn’t touch a project that he wants nothing to do with, in his heart or in his head!

Let us move on and see where the next chapter takes us.

I totally agree DreamOakTree I am not being bitter about this, I was only stating a fact and that I would encourage all Morton Supporters to join MCT and save the club, and Crawford can go on his merry way and get on with his life and he can just be a supporter if he so chooses.

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The Morton fans saved Morton. We backed them to the hill And back 

Douglas Rae destroyed the club will false promises, complete ineptitude to running a football club, no stability rot succession planning and a failure to move Forward and stop looking to previous glories. 
 

The club are bigger than the RAE’S or Anyone but this mess stems from Poor management from Douglas Rae down to contempt from Crawford. 

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If we are talking about Crawford Rae's shortcomings then a friend of mine who is a referee at our level said he is one of the worst club officials to deal with in the spfl. According to him, Morton are always late with match fees for friendlies and a couple of years ago we were forced to forfeit match-day revenue for a friendly because Crawford didn't pay the refs. 

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Something that is often missed out regarding the Rae's saved Morton narrative is that John Wilson was so absolutely against selling the club to DDFR. 

The reason he sold to HS was because he wasn't DDFR. He saw the controlling interfering, other arm of GC that we became possibly.

Back to 2001, we have never been a sustainably run club. The fans meetings that DDFR held were all about "I am the saviour and I will plow money in. I know how to run a football club. I know what is best."

The youth set up. The commercial arm of the club. The selection of managers. The favourite players. All of it points to decisions made by DDFR without listening to anyone who may have had a measure of expertise (apart from TTGJ who told him the youth set up was a pile of nonsense)

How the club has actually been run over the past 19 years is the precise reason we are in the predicament we are just now.

Livingston, Hamilton, Dunfermline, ICT, Raith, Dundee etc etc have been in worse states than we were yet have got their shit together. 

 

Where we are just now will be the legacy of the Rae's. 

I realise this should have been posted in the CR thread

20.1.09

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On 12/11/2020 at 12:58 AM, WhowouldbeaMortonfan said:

I could go on all day..........

Which lead to my question 

By fuxk he did.

Not sure that he is a member of Rae family but we did get a new appointment to the board last week.

The question, is it not, are MCT wholly independent of CR or are they his strategy and convenient solution to leaving Morton and cutting his losses. 

Concerned about comment on ground ownership. MCT do not have any leverage to modify this position and sounds like GC see MCT as a failure waiting to happen, but not on our watch.

End result delayed asset sale

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2 hours ago, El gofer said:

Something that is often missed out regarding the Rae's saved Morton narrative is that John Wilson was so absolutely against selling the club to DDFR. 

The reason he sold to HS was because he wasn't DDFR. He saw the controlling interfering, other arm of GC that we became possibly.

Back to 2001, we have never been a sustainably run club. The fans meetings that DDFR held were all about "I am the saviour and I will plow money in. I know how to run a football club. I know what is best."

The youth set up. The commercial arm of the club. The selection of managers. The favourite players. All of it points to decisions made by DDFR without listening to anyone who may have had a measure of expertise (apart from TTGJ who told him the youth set up was a pile of nonsense)

How the club has actually been run over the past 19 years is the precise reason we are in the predicament we are just now.

Livingston, Hamilton, Dunfermline, ICT, Raith, Dundee etc etc have been in worse states than we were yet have got their shit together. 

 

Where we are just now will be the legacy of the Rae's. 

I realise this should have been posted in the CR thread

Spot on here. 

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Been a fan for 40 years but new on here, catching up with it all and despite fearing a torrent of abuse thought I'd join in while waiting on the Dunfermline stream. Not looking for a fight just hate seeing all the fall-out on here. I understand that differences of opinion is exactly the idea of a forum, but it all just seems a bit mental at times.

Things obviously a bit scary just now with an obvious lack of cash and another manager leaving but not sure the club has been "destroyed" or whatever over the last few years? 

Managers leaving - This is how I understand the circumstances but of course like most people I'm guessing I suppose.

Alan Moore, took us to 2nd at a time when unfortunately that still counted for exactly nothing promotion wise and earned us about £50K prize money. Then had a terrible season so no surprise he went.

Shiels, a desperate situation due to above, a desperate attempted solution that went woefully wrong. Terrible. Still gives me shivers.

Duffy, won League 1 at first attempt, something Falkirk, Dunfermline, Raith, Airdrie, Ayr(?) (and probably Partick) have all failed to do. Got us in the play-offs by being unbeaten at home for a year. Sacked/left after a poor last 18 months. I was sad he left. No revisionism pretending everything was great, but just always felt he was a good fit for the club. A lot of fans wanted him out.

McKinnon, simply left because he thought he'd earn more and have more success at Falkirk as they're a bigger club. He also threatened that we'd all find out some story or truth about it all. Still waiting on that.

JJ, hired after criticism that we usually went for, tired, established old Managers. Stormed out (because he knew he was to be sacked? and most fans wanted him gone) because the chairman asked him not to play Telfer as that would trigger a clause that we had to keep him. On the one side, the game counted for nothing so why not save some cash? On the other, the board should NEVER interfere with team selection. I have sympathy for both views. Not sure how I would react if I was in either's position.

Hoppy, seemed like a good fit again. Local boy, success at Livi. If he really has left because we either feel we can't afford his wages, or he feels he can't work under the board then that is bad, no doubt. If he's left because he thinks he might get back to Livi, or he has a problem with the board grilling him over a lop-sided squad with only one keeper, then that's different. Hard to comment until we find out?

Most seemed to have been given a workable budget (perhaps less so with Hoppy, and still 22 players?)? Not the biggest in the league ever, but not the smallest either? Not sure.

We all know that we're a team of a certain size in a town where most people support Celtic or Rangers, so who else fits that category? Well, if Hamilton or Livingston can play in the top tier then we too should be able to see that happen. Even when we got close with Moore and Duffy I don't think any of us thought it would happen. Pretty poor? Also, if you're not old enough to remember Benny Rooney's team, or McGraw's side with McInnes etc. then the good memories are surely few and far between.

On the other hand, we've only been out the Championship for one season since 2007. Perhaps we don't have a conveyor belt of young talent coming through the youths, but there is Lyon, Strapp.. are there others? Surely a youth set up is still worth it? Not an expert.

A great initiative, even though it is now a separate entity, that was started by the club is Morton in the Community. Not all clubs have bothered with this and it has won awards for the great work it does. The club set it up and we should all be proud of that.

My feeling (I don't know) is that yes, the chairman has had enough, but to suggest he doesn't give a shit I don't think is right. I also think that he wanted the club destroyed or folded, he could easily have let that happen by now, but he hasn't. Criticise his mistakes, no problem with that, but he's not Hugh Scott. We still have a club, and a team to support.

MCT is a tough and ambitious idea, but the team behind it seem enthusiastic, determined to keep it simple, keen to keep good and open communications going, and are the only alternative to the current set up. I've signed up and believe in them to protect the club.

I love Morton. I love the fact that it's rarely dull (hard to defend that statement on the park after the last few games right enough). And now I'm here I also realise I'm not sure what my point is. Just looking for a bit of balance and love for the team, rather than a constant stream of hating anyone that's ever had anything to do with running things on and off the park.

Am I alone in thinking like this?

 

 

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So Morton fans have basically been propping the club up through MCT this season and now we have the astonishing scenario of a Rae family member or close contact blaming the fans for the mess they've put us in.  The cheek.  Get these bastards out our club.  As soon as fans are allowed back i'll be there to back the team and hound the Raes out.  That post has boiled my blood.

"CORNBEEF IS A BELLEND"

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18 minutes ago, CM48 said:

Been a fan for 40 years but new on here, catching up with it all and despite fearing a torrent of abuse thought I'd join in while waiting on the Dunfermline stream. Not looking for a fight just hate seeing all the fall-out on here. I understand that differences of opinion is exactly the idea of a forum, but it all just seems a bit mental at times.

Things obviously a bit scary just now with an obvious lack of cash and another manager leaving but not sure the club has been "destroyed" or whatever over the last few years? 

Managers leaving - This is how I understand the circumstances but of course like most people I'm guessing I suppose.

Alan Moore, took us to 2nd at a time when unfortunately that still counted for exactly nothing promotion wise and earned us about £50K prize money. Then had a terrible season so no surprise he went.

Shiels, a desperate situation due to above, a desperate attempted solution that went woefully wrong. Terrible. Still gives me shivers.

Duffy, won League 1 at first attempt, something Falkirk, Dunfermline, Raith, Airdrie, Ayr(?) (and probably Partick) have all failed to do. Got us in the play-offs by being unbeaten at home for a year. Sacked/left after a poor last 18 months. I was sad he left. No revisionism pretending everything was great, but just always felt he was a good fit for the club. A lot of fans wanted him out.

McKinnon, simply left because he thought he'd earn more and have more success at Falkirk as they're a bigger club. He also threatened that we'd all find out some story or truth about it all. Still waiting on that.

JJ, hired after criticism that we usually went for, tired, established old Managers. Stormed out (because he knew he was to be sacked? and most fans wanted him gone) because the chairman asked him not to play Telfer as that would trigger a clause that we had to keep him. On the one side, the game counted for nothing so why not save some cash? On the other, the board should NEVER interfere with team selection. I have sympathy for both views. Not sure how I would react if I was in either's position.

Hoppy, seemed like a good fit again. Local boy, success at Livi. If he really has left because we either feel we can't afford his wages, or he feels he can't work under the board then that is bad, no doubt. If he's left because he thinks he might get back to Livi, or he has a problem with the board grilling him over a lop-sided squad with only one keeper, then that's different. Hard to comment until we find out?

Most seemed to have been given a workable budget (perhaps less so with Hoppy, and still 22 players?)? Not the biggest in the league ever, but not the smallest either? Not sure.

We all know that we're a team of a certain size in a town where most people support Celtic or Rangers, so who else fits that category? Well, if Hamilton or Livingston can play in the top tier then we too should be able to see that happen. Even when we got close with Moore and Duffy I don't think any of us thought it would happen. Pretty poor? Also, if you're not old enough to remember Benny Rooney's team, or McGraw's side with McInnes etc. then the good memories are surely few and far between.

On the other hand, we've only been out the Championship for one season since 2007. Perhaps we don't have a conveyor belt of young talent coming through the youths, but there is Lyon, Strapp.. are there others? Surely a youth set up is still worth it? Not an expert.

A great initiative, even though it is now a separate entity, that was started by the club is Morton in the Community. Not all clubs have bothered with this and it has won awards for the great work it does. The club set it up and we should all be proud of that.

My feeling (I don't know) is that yes, the chairman has had enough, but to suggest he doesn't give a shit I don't think is right. I also think that he wanted the club destroyed or folded, he could easily have let that happen by now, but he hasn't. Criticise his mistakes, no problem with that, but he's not Hugh Scott. We still have a club, and a team to support.

MCT is a tough and ambitious idea, but the team behind it seem enthusiastic, determined to keep it simple, keen to keep good and open communications going, and are the only alternative to the current set up. I've signed up and believe in them to protect the club.

I love Morton. I love the fact that it's rarely dull (hard to defend that statement on the park after the last few games right enough). And now I'm here I also realise I'm not sure what my point is. Just looking for a bit of balance and love for the team, rather than a constant stream of hating anyone that's ever had anything to do with running things on and off the park.

Am I alone in thinking like this?

 

 

Yes, you are alone in thinking like that.

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10 hours ago, CM48 said:

Am I alone in thinking like this?

A number of points to make on this:

1) This is a general forum point right now: we need to stop focusing on Crawford Rae as the significant factor behind anything. This has been the mistake that people have been making for a decade: to assume that Golden Casket would operate like some French medieval estate and just descend automatically and intact to the first-born son. Crawford Rae does not have the casting vote at GC: he has a say in what happens but can be overruled by more significant shareholders. He is a placeman at Cappielow to look after the interests of GC first and foremost: what he thinks about the club, or the fans, or what he said to a taxi driver on the way back from the golf club about them one time is all irrelevant to what is happening now.

2) The real threat facing the club is from any combination of second/third generation scions of Douglas Rae deciding to flog the land on which the stadium is built to look after their company's interests and their own bottom line. You made the comparison with Hugh Scott: well the one thing that made Scott much less of a threat was that he was just one speculative investor who eventually lost interest in the fight. The Rae family poses a generational threat to the club so long as the only asset that the club should rightly hold is in their hands. That is intolerable. 

3) Nobody is putting a gun to the head of Crawford Rae or anybody else and begging them to take on the responsibility of running the club. They can leave tomorrow if they want and place that trust in a fans' group that aspires to ownership. What they do not get to do is swan out of the door with the stadium land as their payback for all the capital that their own father/husband/granda chose to throw on a football club that he badly mismanaged for years. 

4) The Raes might have gotten away with this swindle if it weren't for the fact that they have managed the club under the current constraints in such a cack-handed manner that they have let the manager walk out the door after six games played of a league season and have got the begging bowl out to fans to see them through the rest of the campaign. If they want a fan bailout now then they should agree to handing over the deeds to the ground back to GMFC when they leave in the near future. An unconditional hauner to let them leave on the conditions and time of their own choosing is just not happening. 

The site is supposed to be a place for the extended 'family' of Morton supporters - having an affinity with people that you don't know, because you share a love of your local football club. It's not supposed to be about point scoring and showing how 'clever' or 'funny' you are, or just being downright rude and offensive to people you don't know, because you can get away with it. Unfortunately, it seems the classic case of people who have little standing/presence in real life, use this forum as a way of making themselves feel as if they are something. It's sad, and I've said that before..

 

So, having been on Morton forums for about 15 years I guess, I've had enough... well done t*ssers, another Morton supporter driven away. You can all feel happy at how 'clever' you are

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Today's result, welcome though it is for securing our league status/staving off any future penalties, should not change the focus of discontent by a jot. The club is still a binfire from boardroom level down and its future is still on the line unless the Raes both leave and ditch their plan of spiriting away Cappielow.

Usually in this situation fans would be soon blamed for having a negative impact on performances on the pitch by voicing their grievances with the club. The only detriment to the performance of the first team at the moment though is the turmoil behind the scenes this week and tinpot coaching setup left remaining under the current regime. The board are the obstacle that the team is performing in spite of right now, not the big bad boo boys.

Having no crowds is therefore a potential advantage if the pressure can kept on the current board and the discontent organised into a steady voice of protest from afar.

The site is supposed to be a place for the extended 'family' of Morton supporters - having an affinity with people that you don't know, because you share a love of your local football club. It's not supposed to be about point scoring and showing how 'clever' or 'funny' you are, or just being downright rude and offensive to people you don't know, because you can get away with it. Unfortunately, it seems the classic case of people who have little standing/presence in real life, use this forum as a way of making themselves feel as if they are something. It's sad, and I've said that before..

 

So, having been on Morton forums for about 15 years I guess, I've had enough... well done t*ssers, another Morton supporter driven away. You can all feel happy at how 'clever' you are

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21 hours ago, WhowouldbeaMortonfan said:

....I to have the experience to put together a plan, forecast, sales targets or whatever.

It should also be understood the majority of the monthly costs are wages and are a business expense with very little return if any.

well if your plans are as good as your understanding of the value of wages, maybe you are CR then?

football context: if you want to put out a squad of jobbers on £50 a week and be happy with 8th place you are right, an expense with little return. However if you increase your budget and target a higher league finish and a decent cup run, there are financial returns even in these crowdless days - 3rd finish gets a lot more than 8th. exit the cup at group stage or first round in it, get a lot less sponsor money than if move on a game or two or more.

general work context: treat your workforce as a expense with little return (prob = you have them on min wage) you prob not got a place that appears in the best place to work lists. Treat with respect, give them the opportunity to make decisions and feel ownership and pride  and look after your customers - your company is more likely to see returns

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One of the points raised when the stadium thing first appeared over the summer was “It’s not in Golden Casket’s best interests to fuck Morton over, and would harm their reputation in the community” 

I agreed with that at the time, but how tue actually is it? How much would people here even care? 20 years ago yes I could certainly see marches/things getting hairy, but now? I don’t know that it’d really affect them that much.

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41 minutes ago, TheGoon said:

One of the points raised when the stadium thing first appeared over the summer was “It’s not in Golden Casket’s best interests to fuck Morton over, and would harm their reputation in the community” 

I agreed with that at the time, but how tue actually is it? How much would people here even care? 20 years ago yes I could certainly see marches/things getting hairy, but now? I don’t know that it’d really affect them that much.

Even if it's true - and it is to an extent, it's a bad look no matter what - it's also not in GC's interests to (hypothetically) be in bother and risk laying off factory workers when there's a stonking great useless asset on their balance sheet. In other words, in isolation the point is a fair one, but when you weigh it against the needs of the greater business it's a minor consideration.

EOho8Pw.png

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