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Club Statement 24 November 2021


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Club Statement – 24 November 2021

Over the course of this season, it has been amazing to welcome our supporters back into Cappielow, as well as having you back the team across the country at away games.

The support and backing you have given the team, even in difficult circumstances, has been incredible and everyone at the club thanks you all for that.

This was most noticeable a few weeks ago against Hamilton at Cappielow when the backing of the home support in the second half kept the players pushing right until the death to get the equaliser.

Unfortunately, we regret that an incident has been brought to our attention from Saturday in Kirkcaldy, where abusive language and aggressive behaviour was used towards one of the club’s employees.

The results might not always end as we would like and every supporter is entitled to voice their opinion, but the line must be drawn at inappropriate personal abuse of someone who is trying to do their job.

The club has launched an investigation into this incident, and if anyone would like to get in touch with any information around such behaviour, please email us at ceo@gmfc.net.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
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9 minutes ago, Jamie_M said:

So by 'brought to their attention' they mean they read about it in the Tele....

They probably knew about it but thought by doing nothing it would quickly be forgotten about. But then, having seen it in the Tele, realised that they’d actually have to be seen to be doing something, rather than brushing the incident under the carpet.

Unlike their stance in addressing the alleged behaviour of a director towards a young journalist, or their absolute refusal to even acknowledge the fans’ concerns about the employment of Saturday’s alleged victim.

You couldn’t mark those necks with a blowtorch.

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Fan calls a spade a spade. Hardly a big deal. 

Deeply concerned at the club not wanting to address issues that supporters raised ahead of a Q&A, but willing to shoot down any supporter taking issue with the player. I've completely switched off from Morton over the past couple of years, and had hoped with MCT taking over it might get me interested again and in turn, start paying the monthly donation. But these jokers are going from pillar to post making a complete c*nt of it at every opportunity, and won't be getting a penny. 

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2 hours ago, HamCam said:

Ah, John Gisbey's selective outrage in the Smelly Tele's 'letters' page.  Incidentally he is the only person that ever sends anything to them most weeks, that is why he is the only letter that ever gets published.  Cue next week when they might have a second one.

*insert signature here*

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If this is the hill that GMFC are choosing to die on, then I'm wondering whether it's worth talking them down at all any more. 

Will we be getting a prissy club statement if another individual club employee just trying to do his job gets called 'an incompetent slaphead manager' (among other things) at the next home game? It's rather likely that he will after all - so will be sending out 1,000 Hawke-era letters about that 'unacceptable' behaviour? 

What qualifies board members who you wouldn't know from Adam a couple of months ago to decide what kinds of comments at a football match are acceptable, based on nothing more than their approval? 

Here's a thought: if you're so interested in 'unacceptable' comments, then take your own first team manager to task for his mewling shite after Saturday's match about how great the team performed in a completely deserved defeat to Raith fucking Rovers. Standards work both ways at a football club and you are failing them across the board right now. 

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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I've been vocal on here in my defence of Lithgow and if he's getting abuse shouted at him regarding his criminal record while doing his job then I've no problem with the person/people responsible for it being punished in some way. 

However yet again this board are so tone deaf it is frightening. A mealy mouthed vague statement about random abuse that they want contacted with information on despite not actually mentioning what the abuse was or who it was aimed at. They're literally so frightened to mention this issue that they can't even bring it up in the one statement they actually chose to release regarding the issue. 

The PR spin of specific moments that show how great fans have been before throwing in details about the abuse really rankles me as well for some reason. They're always selling themselves to us even at times when it's not called for, which would be absolutely fine if they hadn't constantly under-delivered on almost everything they've sold so far. 

Good people will do good things, bad people will do bad things, but only with religion do good people do bad things!

 

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4 minutes ago, port-ton said:

I've been vocal on here in my defence of Lithgow and if he's getting abuse shouted at him regarding his criminal record while doing his job then I've no problem with the person/people responsible for it being punished in some way. 

However yet again this board are so tone deaf it is frightening. A mealy mouthed vague statement about random abuse that they want contacted with information on despite not actually mentioning what the abuse was or who it was aimed at. They're literally so frightened to mention this issue that they can't even bring it up in the one statement they actually chose to release regarding the issue. 

The PR spin of specific moments that show how great fans have been before throwing in details about the abuse really rankles me as well for some reason. They're always selling themselves to us even at times when it's not called for, which would be absolutely fine if they hadn't constantly under-delivered on almost everything they've sold so far. 

The bit in bold, why should anyone be 'punished in some way' because the club that the supporters collectively own have signed a sex offender against our wishes?  He is a filthy pervert who deserves to be hounded out of the club, along with the manager who wanted him in the first place and the director who sanctioned the signing.

The guy(s) that shouted whatever to him will be there long after Lithgow moves on, and the charlatan of a director pisses off back to his ludge or golf club where he belongs too. And rightly so.

 

*insert signature here*

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3 minutes ago, capitanus said:

The bit in bold, why should anyone be 'punished in some way' because the club that the supporters collectively own have signed a sex offender against our wishes?  He is a filthy pervert who deserves to be hounded out of the club, along with the manager who wanted him in the first place and the director who sanctioned the signing.

The guy(s) that shouted whatever to him will be there long after Lithgow moves on, and the charlatan of a director pisses off back to his ludge or golf club where he belongs too. And rightly so.

 

That's your opinion and you're entitled to it. The issue of whether he should have been signed or not has been done to death, but the club are also entitled to protect their employee by punishing anyone found to be personally abused by fan(s) while doing their job. 

That's why I have no issue with the core message of the statement in isolation, but their complete lack of backbone when it comes to this issue is only magnified further from this nonsense of a statement. If you've got such high moral standards towards this issue as a board then own it and confront it and draw a line in the sand. 

I don't condone any personal abuse shouted at any Morton player and it doesn't change my mind that there shouldn't be punishment if they are caught, but if certain fans feel they are being completely ignored on this issue by the board (which they are) then it's totally obvious that the place they're going to make sure they are heard regarding it is in the stands. 

Good people will do good things, bad people will do bad things, but only with religion do good people do bad things!

 

32.gif

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3 minutes ago, port-ton said:

That's your opinion and you're entitled to it. The issue of whether he should have been signed or not has been done to death, but the club are also entitled to protect their employee by punishing anyone found to be personally abused by fan(s) while doing their job. 

That's why I have no issue with the core message of the statement in isolation, but their complete lack of backbone when it comes to this issue is only magnified further from this nonsense of a statement. If you've got such high moral standards towards this issue as a board then own it and confront it and draw a line in the sand. 

I don't condone any personal abuse shouted at any Morton player and it doesn't change my mind that there shouldn't be punishment if they are caught, but if certain fans feel they are being completely ignored on this issue by the board (which they are) then it's totally obvious that the place they're going to make sure they are heard regarding it is in the stands. 

The bit in bold.  That's pure 'Word Salad' right there.  So you're saying that Lithgow now should be 'punished' because he was 'found to be personally abused by fan(s) whilst doing their job'???

You're all over the fucking place with your argument here.  

Thanks for playing, Champ.

*insert signature here*

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6 minutes ago, port-ton said:

That's your opinion and you're entitled to it. The issue of whether he should have been signed or not has been done to death, but the club are also entitled to protect their employee by punishing anyone found to be personally abused by fan(s) while doing their job. 

That's why I have no issue with the core message of the statement in isolation, but their complete lack of backbone when it comes to this issue is only magnified further from this nonsense of a statement. If you've got such high moral standards towards this issue as a board then own it and confront it and draw a line in the sand. 

I don't condone any personal abuse shouted at any Morton player and it doesn't change my mind that there shouldn't be punishment if they are caught, but if certain fans feel they are being completely ignored on this issue by the board (which they are) then it's totally obvious that the place they're going to make sure they are heard regarding it is in the stands. 

It depends entirely what form that abuse takes. I'm not defending it necessarily but if what I've heard is what happened then this is a storm in a teacup, and any 'aggression' - taking the word literally - was long after he was down the tunnel anyway.

For the club to have taken this step I assume the player or his agent have shown that he's upset or angry about how he's been treated. I'm obviously not happy to hear that but at the same time, it's not that big a deal in the grand scheme of things, is it? It's the nature of the job. I just don't agree that this is the place where they should be drawing the line.

Anyone who doesn't know what happened has the following to go on:

There was 'an incident' with 'abusive language' and 'aggressive behavior', and both of those took place towards one of the club's employees (I'm so sick of this fucking evasion, incidentally.)

Right, what was the latter, specifically? What was the aggressive behavior? I think this is very important to establish, personally. If the player's sad about having a bad word shouted at him that's one thing but the club is alleging something else on top of that towards the player. What is it?

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24 minutes ago, capitanus said:

The bit in bold, why should anyone be 'punished in some way' because the club that the supporters collectively own have signed a sex offender against our wishes?   

I've not done a poll or anything, but my gut feeling is that probably about 10% of the fanbase are outraged by it, about 10% are uncomfortable with it, and about 80% don't give a flying fuck about it.

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17 minutes ago, port-ton said:

That's your opinion and you're entitled to it. The issue of whether he should have been signed or not has been done to death, but the club are also entitled to protect their employee by punishing anyone found to be personally abused by fan(s) while doing their job. 

That's why I have no issue with the core message of the statement in isolation, but their complete lack of backbone when it comes to this issue is only magnified further from this nonsense of a statement. If you've got such high moral standards towards this issue as a board then own it and confront it and draw a line in the sand. 

I don't condone any personal abuse shouted at any Morton player and it doesn't change my mind that there shouldn't be punishment if they are caught, but if certain fans feel they are being completely ignored on this issue by the board (which they are) then it's totally obvious that the place they're going to make sure they are heard regarding it is in the stands. 

I agree about duty of care point but would go further. I think in the circumstances the club was right not to issue a statement when he signed, not to answer questions about it at the Q&A and not to directly address the issue in the statement above. His conviction is spent, he is no longer on the sex offenders register and so, in the eyes of the law, he is rehabilitated. If he was to move on he would be perfectly entitled not to disclose his conviction to prospective empolyers. It would have been unlawful to refuse to sign him on the basis of his previous conviction alone and it skirts the limits of the law, and in my opinion is morally and ethically dubious, to draw public attention to spent convictions through statements and the like. Taking rehabilitation seriously means not dragging the individual back over the coals each and every time he moves on. I suppose the issue here is whether an ambiguous statement was better than no statement at all, which probably depends on a host of factors behind the scenes.

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11 minutes ago, port-ton said:

That's your opinion and you're entitled to it. The issue of whether he should have been signed or not has been done to death, but the club are also entitled to protect their employee by punishing anyone found to be personally abused by fan(s) while doing their job. 

1) What punishment is the club entitled to dish out exactly? Are they going to get on the blower to Raith to ask them to stop anyone from shouting nasty things at Morton's first team squad in the future? Good luck with that. 

2) For a newly fan-owned club whose leadership is tanking credibility, this sense of entitlement is also woefully misplaced. They are in absolutely no position to take action. 

3) Will the club be exercising this non-existent entitlement of theirs to the individual club employee in the dugout? If not, why does he not merit their wagon-circling protection against very hurtful 'personal abuse' while doing his job'? 

Like a lot of club statements in recent times, they simply haven't thought this one through at all before flapping their trap and making things 10x worse. 

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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