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We need to talk about Sir Douglas Imrie


Jamie_M

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1 minute ago, Scott said:

Seems a bit pish that a football club gets punished for an individual’s actions 10 years ago. Ridiculous rule, if they’re that bothered about gambling in football they should be banning all forms of gambling advertising. Money talks though 

I agree. I don't see why Morton should be punished for this. 

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It’ll restrict him from certain areas of grounds for certain periods of time. Not sure exactly what the times are but he won’t be allowed in the changing rooms at half time and for a period before and after the game.

There was a point after Neil Lennon got (yet another) touchline ban for being a wee fanny that Celtic made a pretty big deal of holding back their trophy lift to allow him to come down onto the pitch, IIRC. 

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Cue Imrie arriving in disguise. £5 to first person to spot him. I suggest the full Arab outfit with dark glasses and a blue and white striped head covering.

"Any nation given the opportunity to regain its national sovereignty and which then rejects it is so far beneath contempt that it is hard to put words to it."

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There's not really any excuses to make for players daft enough to get caught gambling, but it seems quite absurd that the punishment is a ban when the offences took place as a player 10 as long as 10 years ago. If he had still been at Livingstone, what would the punishment have been there when games weren't really as big deal in his role?

Surely a fine and even a few game ban is more appropriate, but either way it's high time the conversation was had about the role of gambling money in Scottish football. It's just bonkers that you can get hit with a 10 match ban as a manager 10 years later for availing yourself of the services of a company who's logo appears on strips and trophies - which isn't to say players should be allowed free-reign to gamble, not at all, but you can't credibly have it both ways.

AWMSC

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1 hour ago, EanieMeany said:

There's not really any excuses to make for players daft enough to get caught gambling, but it seems quite absurd that the punishment is a ban when the offences took place as a player 10 as long as 10 years ago. If he had still been at Livingstone, what would the punishment have been there when games weren't really as big deal in his role?

Surely a fine and even a few game ban is more appropriate, but either way it's high time the conversation was had about the role of gambling money in Scottish football. It's just bonkers that you can get hit with a 10 match ban as a manager 10 years later for availing yourself of the services of a company who's logo appears on strips and trophies - which isn't to say players should be allowed free-reign to gamble, not at all, but you can't credibly have it both ways.

Totally agree! 

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1 hour ago, irnbru said:

Hopefully there's an appeal that pushes this back a bit. 

I don't really see the point of appeal just to delay a ban. Six games between now and the end of this season is not a terrible hardship - we're really not in a dogfight in which we absolutely need Imrie there every single game any more.

If there's a reasonable expectation to reduce the overall term then appeal, but that costs money and they could act like arseholes about it. 

13 minutes ago, TRVMP said:

Presumably they've set it up this way so he appeals it and they get rid of the four suspended games, leaving the immediate six.

Load of rubbish. Far too harsh a punishment.

While I agree that the situation is hypocritical nonsense, I was bracing myself for far worse given the sheer number of offences he was charged with. It's hard to justify a game or two ban for single-time offenders, if there isn't a greater sanction for the charges stated. 

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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Pretty standardised punishments also.

Cove Rangers coach Gordon Young has been given the same punishment for breaches between 2014 and 2021.

And Arbroath midfielder Gavin Swankie has been banned for eight games - four suspended - for bets placed between 2012 and this.

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1 hour ago, Jamie_M said:

Pretty standardised punishments also.

Cove Rangers coach Gordon Young has been given the same punishment for breaches between 2014 and 2021.

And Arbroath midfielder Gavin Swankie has been banned for eight games - four suspended - for bets placed between 2012 and this.

 

I don't think that's standardised at all, actually. Swankie is still playing and his offences continued into this very season, whereas Imrie's charge related to matches up to 2019, the same year he stopped playing. It also suggests the behaviour is historical (even if not in the far distance) rather than current like Swankie, who operates in the same role as when the offences were committed, so I don't think it's really standardised at all except superficially.

I've been giving this some thought and I think there's any number of issues with it. 

  • The context of being a player and being a manager is entirely different. The choices somebody makes in both areas are very likely to be different, so can you take an offence from 10 years ago and punish the person for it in a role they wouldn't have had any thought of being in any time soon and where the ban is ultimately much more damaging to the club? It's not right to then transfer the punishment to an entirely different context and frame of reference from that which the offence was committed in.
  • The rules exist only to serve the interest of bookmakers and, imo, a blanket ban on betting is inherently unfair, although that said players know the score. 
  • If players' welfare was the issue behind the ban, which obviously it isn't, why not make the punishment in a case like this a token ban and some form of footballing community service such as gambling addiction awareness talks in schools, for example? Something that would have a tangible benefit rather than this carry-on.
  • Further to that, the damage increases in severity the further you go down the leagues. The top teams have a load of coaches, smaller ones don't and it impacts them more with no justification. The workload of a manager at a much lower level on a matchday is also potentially much wider-reaching than just the football stuff so the consequences are inconsistent.
  • Teams lose players for a while all the time, it's the cost of business. Losing a manager is an entirely different thing and it's just wrong, to me, to take a punishment for an incident during a playing career and apply it so far after to a management role. It's simply not the same thing.
  • We're ultimately being (in part) punished due to the incompetence and inefficiency of the SFA. If players sticking a few coupons on was really so dangerous, it wouldn't take a fuckin decade to get round to dealing with it. It's an absolute sham of a process.

Ultimately, the entire process is wrong and exists for the wrong reasons imo. I'm not here to defend Imrie, not at all, and if he'd been hit with the ban as a player it'd be his own fault even if some above issues still applied, but what we're getting here is collective punishment for an organisation that had absolutely no connection to the offences committed. 

Finally, going back to my first post, it's just absurd that you can benefit from prize money or awards from bookies partly funded from your stake money but then be banned for putting the money forward in the first place.

Gambling interests should be nowhere near football in any organised way, it's a poison that has no place in the game and causes a damage far outweighed than any benefits it may bring.

AWMSC

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1 hour ago, vikingTON said:

I don't really see the point of appeal just to delay a ban. Six games between now and the end of this season is not a terrible hardship - we're really not in a dogfight in which we absolutely need Imrie there every single game any more.

If there's a reasonable expectation to reduce the overall term then appeal, but that costs money and they could act like arseholes about it. 

While I agree that the situation is hypocritical nonsense, I was bracing myself for far worse given the sheer number of offences he was charged with. It's hard to justify a game or two ban for single-time offenders, if there isn't a greater sanction for the charges stated. 

Counterpoint: the SFA 'beaks' are a pack of fuds and if Hampden collapsed on itself with them all inside the world would be a better place.

EOho8Pw.png

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13 minutes ago, TRVMP said:

Counterpoint: the SFA 'beaks' are a pack of fuds and if Hampden collapsed on itself with them all inside the world would be a better place.

These are all facts, but in this case it should either be an admonishment and compensation paid for wasting Sir Douglas' time, or a minimum of a multi-game ban. It should be the former but there's no real grounds to declare the extent of punishment as harsh. 

When this broke I feared for a wee while at least that we had 'Tidsered' ourselves once again. We are instead just putting the champagne on ice until a record-breaking title sequence next season - and this club doesn't do promotion without a title anyway.

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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33 minutes ago, capitanus said:

Jim Goodwin looks to be on his way to Aberdeen.

I think that Dougie Imrie's brief success at Cappielow wont have gone unnoticed by those at St.Mirren.

I’ve had that lingering fear bugging me all week.

19 minutes ago, TRVMP said:

Counterpoint: the SFA 'beaks' are a pack of fuds and if Hampden collapsed on itself with them all inside the world would be a better place.

I know Ewan Murray’s an absolute cretin, but…

 

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2 minutes ago, Scott said:

Isn’t Dougie despised by St Mirren and I’m sure the feeling is mutual? 

Well, Alan Lithgow is despised by quite a few in the Morton support but...  :)

Anyway,

Owen Coyle would make the perfect St.Mirren manager.  He even looks like one of them.

*insert signature here*

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