Squad for next Season

[Jamie_M]

6 minutes ago, Cet Homme Charmant said:

If it's not mutual then presumably we'd have to pay off the remainder of his contract in full, in which case we'd be as well holding on to him for emergency cover. So I would guess it's at his request, rather than Dougie's choice? 

Would still be cheaper to let go rather than keep (tax, national insurance, meals, other expenses).

If he's out of the plans completely, still worth it from Morton's side.

[so72]

13 minutes ago, Jamie_M said:

Or it was less mutual (no coming to an agreement) so just told he is released?

Yes my thinking too, certainly wouldn't see the sense in paying up his contract without an agreement so doubt it will have come from our end if that was the case.

 

**Just seen your reply above, never really thought of it in that way. 

Edited January 5, 2023 by so72

[Madton]

When Dougie signed Grimshaw, he spoke about trying to bring that kind of quality player to the club. Looks to me like he is getting rid of anyone who doesn't cut it and will then replace with quality additions.

The MCT mission statement about quality of quantity might actually happen now!

All for Dougie being ruthless and excited to see what we do next. 

With Garrity back and Miller signing, we still have 18 bodies for Sat so no immediate rush for new players but I think we will add at least 2/3 over the next few weeks.

[Jamie_M]

16 minutes ago, so72 said:

Yes my thinking too, certainly wouldn't see the sense in paying up his contract without an agreement so doubt it will have come from our end if that was the case.

 

**Just seen your reply above, never really thought of it in that way. 

Sometimes it can be playing politics with budgets as well, we don't know how his budget is structured.

For example, he might have a total wage budget he is not to break, but can justify a release out of a different pot so gets him off his wage budget.

So much guesswork based on a slightly different wording.

[port-ton]

I wonder if he will try and arrange the release of Lithgow as well. He's surely the highest earner left that's not near the squad and was our marquee signing at the time so he must be on a decent amount. 

If you can free up that wage as well we could hopefully see the best strengthening of a Morton team in January for quite some time. 

[EanieMeany]

1 hour ago, dunning1874 said:

With Hynes and Jacobs away, every player at the club has now had a new contract since Imrie got the job. Debates about how much he had to do with some of those contracts for younger players of course, but it's pretty much entirely his squad now.

Ultimately I wouldn't be surprised if Jacobs is still good enough for the Championship, but he was never fitting Imrie's style of play and it's therefore the right decision. His time ending with  a loan spell to a lower league side shouldn't have us forgetting that he was comfortably one of our best players in his first two seasons with the club. Good luck to him, as he can't play for anyone other than Edinburgh for the rest of the season I look forward to him swording Falkirk.

Aye, it's been a slightly unusual one with Jacobs given that he held the captaincy etc, which suggests he was a prominent member of the squad even aside from his role on the pitch. That's not to say I think Imrie has got it wrong at all (I've never been overly taken by Jacobs tbh), and it's very much to his credit that he didn't fanny about being overly-sentimental - players fall out of favour under new managers all the time, it's how it goes, but the status Jacobs held and the fact he's an established Championship player makes it a wee bit unusual. 

As for McGregor, obviously we don't know the full story but on the face of it I feel like he's been a wee bit hard done by this season tbh. It'd be quite hard to argue he's not shown enough any time he's got on the pitch to merit getting off the bench ahead of Kabia more often, at the least. Will be interesting to see where he ends up, if anywhere.

Overall though, the clarity and purpose Imrie works with and which he's evidently instilled in the club too is just so impressive - back in his very first interview, he explicitly stated that the whole club had to change, and he hasn't half set about making it happen. We go on about this so often, but it's just so endlessly refreshing and invigorating to have a manager of his calibre at the club given how well-versed we are in the methods of complete and utter fuckin diddies.

Edited January 5, 2023 by EanieMeany

[Greacen2000]

If we are going to operate with a lean squad then we definitely need to get rid of players who aren’t likely to feature, and spend that money on strengthening. 

I’m guessing Jacobs might sign a deal with Edinburgh as he has played most of their games since joining and I think that he might not be allowed to play for another club this season?  Either way he leaves with my best wishes and thanks for his services.

Mcgregor is a bit of a strange one for me - definitely a player who I though had a lot of potential every time I’ve seen him play.  He won’t have been earning a huge amount so isn’t exactly freeing up loads of cash to spend on reinforcements.  On the face of it I would have thought loaning him out to get game time at a lower level might have made more sense.  As per other comments, maybe there’s a bit more to it with him and he either didn’t fancy being loaned out or has asked to be released for other reasons.  Either way I’m a bit disappointed to see him go and wish him all the best for the future.

Following this cull, the obvious next 2 candidates to look at would be Lithgow & Lyon.  Both seem pretty far out of the picture in terms of playing for our first team regularly, and are likely among our higher earners (especially Lithgow).  With Lyon extending his contract recently it might be less likely to happen (unless Annan express an interest in offering him a deal).  In the case of Lithgow, he isn’t going to walk away from a decent wage without something else on the table elsewhere so I suspect that it might be the end of the season before he moves on.

I’m pretty happy to see Imrie being ruthless and pruning parts of the squad that aren’t being utilised.  Hopefully we will see a couple of new additions coming in soon as these departures will have added a bit onto the budget that he had for January signings.

Edited January 5, 2023 by Greacen2000

[Jamie_M]

8 hours ago, Jamie_M said:

 

Signs for Edinburgh as expected.

 

Edited January 6, 2023 by Jamie_M

[AyrshireTon]

4 hours ago, Jamie_M said:

Sings for Edinburgh as expected.

That’s quite a career change.

[Jamie_M]

We apparently tried to sign Niall McGinn earlier in the season.

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/sport/football/dundee-fc/4032289/dundee-confirm-glentoran-contact-over-potential-niall-mcginn-switch/

[dunning1874]

McGinn would have made sense in September, I can fully believe we were interested then. We were still scrambling to add bodies, we hadn't found a front three that clicked, McGrattan hadn't established himself in the starting XI and we were realistically looking down rather than up.

Now that he's barely played all season, we've got a settled starting XI seriously challenging for promotion and he's looking at a step down to a joke league, we can surely do better.

[Jamie_M]

Seems Lyon is also back from his loan.

[BishopBrennan]

The Tele have mentioned in their match preview that Lyon has returned from his loan, but the club haven't confirmed his return like they did with Garrity. I don't see where Lyon fits into this team. He isn't as good at the holding role as Gillespie, he doesn't have the same work-rate or stamina as Blues and he isn't as creative, or as good at pressing high up the park, as Crawford.

That said, Imrie does have an excellent track record of improving players that we thought weren't good enough for this level, so maybe Lyon could be another success story. If I was Imrie I'd be looking to get him off the wage bill.

[Jamie_M]

6 minutes ago, BishopBrennan said:

If I was Imrie I'd be looking to get him off the wage bill.

Which could only really be back to Annan if done before the summer as he can't play for any other club.

[AyrshireTon]

21 hours ago, BishopBrennan said:

The Tele have mentioned in their match preview that Lyon has returned from his loan, but the club haven't confirmed his return like they did with Garrity. I don't see where Lyon fits into this team. He isn't as good at the holding role as Gillespie, he doesn't have the same work-rate or stamina as Blues and he isn't as creative, or as good at pressing high up the park, as Crawford.

That said, Imrie does have an excellent track record of improving players that we thought weren't good enough for this level, so maybe Lyon could be another success story. If I was Imrie I'd be looking to get him off the wage bill.

Looks like he's in the starting XI for Annan today.

 

[SpoonTon]

I do wonder if Lyon was back in this week until we figured out a deal with Annan for what's happening going forward. Perhaps we've kicked the can down the road to the end of the month or something will be announced at the beginning of the week. 

 

[port-ton]

He's part time with Annan so he still trains with us 2 days a week so the tele probably just has their wires crossed. He was with the squad on Tuesday coming out cappielow for training when I was down getting celtic ticket. 

[Mr.Blue]

No kabia in the squad today. Assuming he's back to livi?

[TONofmemories]

15 hours ago, Mr.Blue said:

No kabia in the squad today. Assuming he's back to livi?

With any luck. 

[ChampTon]

2 hours ago, TONofmemories said:

With any luck.

I thought Miller was 2x the player Kabia was in his first game yesterday. Will take a few games for him to get up to scratch and properly fit. Another Imrie upgrade.