Squad for next Season

[TRVMP]

Why should MCT be saying something? They've given the manager a budget to build a first team squad, like every professional club in existence has done this summer. What's so unusual that we need an ownership announcement about it?

We've made several signings appropriate for the level we play at, including Boyd on a two-year deal. There's every indication that there's at least one more player to come, then the loan market. It looks like a very normal transfer window for a full-time Championship club trying not to overspend.

[irnbru]

5 minutes ago, TRVMP said:

Why should MCT be saying something? They've given the manager a budget to build a first team squad, like every professional club in existence has done this summer. What's so unusual that we need an ownership announcement about it?

We've made several signings appropriate for the level we play at, including Boyd on a two-year deal. There's every indication that there's at least one more player to come, then the loan market. It looks like a very normal transfer window for a full-time Championship club trying not to overspend.

There's clearly some friction between manager and board so an interview or something from someone on the board would hopefully clear that up for fans. There's already rumours flying about that don't help anyone. 

[vikingTON]

25 minutes ago, irnbru said:

At the end of the day if there's no money there's no money but the club MCT should be saying something and not leaving Imrie to answer questions about it when he's clearly annoyed. 

Imrie is answering questions about it because Imrie wants to talk about it. 

[SassenachTon]

8 minutes ago, irnbru said:

There's clearly some friction between manager and board so an interview or something from someone on the board would hopefully clear that up for fans. There's already rumours flying about that don't help anyone. 

This probably applies to every professional club in the UK - especially one featuring a young, hungry first-team manager, determined to make his mark in his first senior position. Like everything else in life, fitba's not an ideal world. It's a series of compromises aimed at getting the best overall result - that of making some of the stakeholders happy for some of the time.

[irnbru]

8 minutes ago, SassenachTon said:

This probably applies to every professional club in the UK - especially one featuring a young, hungry first-team manager, determined to make his mark in his first senior position. Like everything else in life, fitba's not an ideal world. It's a series of compromises aimed at getting the best overall result - that of making some of the stakeholders happy for some of the time.

Aye, although not every club replies as much on the goodwill and continuing support of the fans as us. A bit more transparency on things like this would help when people are putting hundreds of pounds of their own money into the club now over and above just season tickets, etc. 

[port-ton]

While there is clearly friction between the board and Imrie regarding signings I don't really think there should be a statement from the club regarding budgets at this stage of the season unless it's something drastic like last summers statement. 

We are still in July but if we get well in to the season with three or four subs every week then it's clear there's a budgetary issue compared to last season and at that point I think it's fair for fans to expect some kind of statement from a community owned club why that is considering the increased prize money, sponsorships, MCT members, season ticket sales and merchandise sales. 

I've not saw a fan who thinks MCT should be throwing money at Imrie to sign who he wants, but there is definitely a portion of fans wondering why the players we have lost in the summer vs the players brought in so far don't add up, even excluding "bonus" signings like Ali Crawford, but again July is far too early to be demanding information from the club as we have to let the window play out first. 

[TRVMP]

1 hour ago, irnbru said:

There's clearly some friction between manager and board so an interview or something from someone on the board would hopefully clear that up for fans. There's already rumours flying about that don't help anyone. 

Don't spread rumors, then.

[irnbru]

18 minutes ago, TRVMP said:

Don't spread rumors, then.

I haven't but there's a few of them going about. 

[TRVMP]

10 minutes ago, irnbru said:

I haven't but there's a few of them going about. 

There were last summer as well, when the financial situation was a good deal tighter. We had people saying he was so scunnered he was going to take the Accies job, we had people in June saying we were stick-ons for relegation, we had people saying MCT had irrevocably fucked it, they couldn't raise more than 30 grand in sponsorship, and it was time for the Easdales to ride in to the rescue.

It's called silly season for a reason. MCT have no need to dignify it, even if - as seems possible - the budget is down slightly on last year.

[Pedrodelawasp]

7 hours ago, irnbru said:

There's clearly some friction between manager and board 

Is there? Can’t they all share frustration at not being able to bring in everyone they may wish to, while also sharing the understanding of the financial reality? Even if there has been some butting of heads that’s unlikely to be anything out of the ordinary in football.

7 hours ago, irnbru said:

… an interview or something from someone on the board would hopefully clear that up for fans.

What do you want someone to clear up exactly? Whether or not there’s been cross words exchanged behind the scenes? To address every rumour going, unsubstantiated or otherwise?

[irnbru]

5 hours ago, Pedrodelawasp said:

Is there? Can’t they all share frustration at not being able to bring in everyone they may wish to, while also sharing the understanding of the financial reality? Even if there has been some butting of heads that’s unlikely to be anything out of the ordinary in football.

What do you want someone to clear up exactly? Whether or not there’s been cross words exchanged behind the scenes? To address every rumour going, unsubstantiated or otherwise?

It's always good to hear about what's going on behind the scenes. A high level update about things goes a long way. The biggest issue for me is we're fan owned, people are putting a lot of money in and there's not really any update from the business side (or MCT for that matter).

Obviously they aren't going to talk about individual disputes but an assurance that there's budget there, etc helps give a bit more confidence in things and stop rumours from growing arms and legs. 

[RossMcC1874]

I have just joined MCT and would hope that there would be some sort of a monthly update about what's going on behind the scenes and what the money is being specifically spent on. 

We were at the same spot last season and it was clear Imrie was frustrated but in the end it all worked out fine, of course finances change every year and everything is more expensive in general now but you would think and hope we should still be able to sign one or two I feel we probably need 3 but that may not be possible unless it's the loan market.

The only slight thing I would say is I feel that the Jack Bearne singing was one that wasn't really needed or necessary, we are crying out for a right back and a backup goalkeeper and find it strange we went for another forward player rather than a defender. 

[Greacen2000]

14 hours ago, irnbru said:

I haven't but there's a few of them going about. 

Going about where?  I’ve made a real effort to try and find out what these supposed rumours are (asking about other Morton supporter friends, searched other forums & twitter etc) and can’t find anything other than the speculation that’s been happening on this thread.  What are these rumours relating to?

[TRVMP]

6 hours ago, RossMcC1874 said:

I have just joined MCT and would hope that there would be some sort of a monthly update about what's going on behind the scenes and what the money is being specifically spent on. 

We were at the same spot last season and it was clear Imrie was frustrated but in the end it all worked out fine, of course finances change every year and everything is more expensive in general now but you would think and hope we should still be able to sign one or two I feel we probably need 3 but that may not be possible unless it's the loan market.

The only slight thing I would say is I feel that the Jack Bearne singing was one that wasn't really needed or necessary, we are crying out for a right back and a backup goalkeeper and find it strange we went for another forward player rather than a defender. 

The problem with expecting MCT to justify the regular expenditure of the club via specific statements is that you can't logically separate the Bearne signing from that same analysis. If MCT are expected to say "here's all the stuff we're spending money on that isn't first-team signings" for the public to scrutinize, then logically we'll be going item-by-item along all expenditure under the CEO, the commercial staff, the ground staff... and the manager. There's nothing to separate "what the money is being specifically spent on" for staffing hospitality and staffing the first team. So we're left in a situation where fan ownership means, logically, that MCT needs to say "oh and the manager chose to spunk his cash on Jack Bearne rather than a right-back, that's why we had three defenders in the squad at Dingwall."

It's not a good way to run a fan-owned club. There needs to be some trust here. 

[bob_the_builder]

If there is any truth to these "rumours" (I know there isn't) and Imrie is pissed off about the budget then maybe he should take a look at some of the questionable decisions he made after January.  Specifically ones like persisting with Ali fecking Crawford, who's performances contributed to us going from bonafide title contenders to sliding down the table and missing out on the playoffs altogether and missing out on useful extra prize money.

[TRVMP]

It's still crazy to me that we're a couple of years into fan ownership, the club has proved itself sustainable (via not making an annual loss) for just the second or third time post-Hugh Scott, we had a good run in the league with a small squad, the club owners have got the fans back onside and have secured vital sponsorship at a time when a lot of firms are tightening their belts... and it's once again panic stations in July.

edit: and they took a gamble on Imrie, which paid off due to Imrie's hard work and demands for excellence, and each repaid their faith in the other with a contract extension that keeps an excellent young coach with us for the forseeable future! But apparently We Need A Statement because Imrie, well-known for being such a shrinking violet who wouldn't harm a fly to get his point across, is itching to improve the squad.

Edited July 25, 2023 by TRVMP

[RossMcC1874]

1 hour ago, TRVMP said:

The problem with expecting MCT to justify the regular expenditure of the club via specific statements is that you can't logically separate the Bearne signing from that same analysis. If MCT are expected to say "here's all the stuff we're spending money on that isn't first-team signings" for the public to scrutinize, then logically we'll be going item-by-item along all expenditure under the CEO, the commercial staff, the ground staff... and the manager. There's nothing to separate "what the money is being specifically spent on" for staffing hospitality and staffing the first team. So we're left in a situation where fan ownership means, logically, that MCT needs to say "oh and the manager chose to spunk his cash on Jack Bearne rather than a right-back, that's why we had three defenders in the squad at Dingwall."

It's not a good way to run a fan-owned club. There needs to be some trust here. 

I don't expect them to tell us every specific detail but there has to he something back from the directors on what they are doing when fans are forking out additional hard earned money ever single month there needs to be some sort of update to let us know what is happening, it's okay to say there needs to be trust and obviously with how well MCT has done in the short time it's optimistic but members should still have some transparency on what's happening and what plans are going forward. 

[Ton in Shawlands]

The bottom line to me is we can't realistically expect a running commentary on the running of the club as it doesn't make sense to broadcast potential signings etc. We can't expect confirmation/denial/clarification every time some speculation crops up on an Internet forum. There will always be things better kept behind the scenes, we all have disagreements & tensions in our working relationships, but this shouldn't be taken out of the workplace. There's a practical limit to transparency.

[TRVMP]

4 hours ago, RossMcC1874 said:

I don't expect them to tell us every specific detail but there has to he something back from the directors on what they are doing when fans are forking out additional hard earned money ever single month there needs to be some sort of update to let us know what is happening, it's okay to say there needs to be trust and obviously with how well MCT has done in the short time it's optimistic but members should still have some transparency on what's happening and what plans are going forward. 

They send out monthly updates. I just pulled up the last one from the 16th. Here's a brief summary:

• Over 1,000 active members for the first time.
• Clear indication that they want to keep growing.
• Only a few cancellations even though we're in tough financial times.
• Statement of gratitude for all members old and new.
• Brian Bonar and Dalrada noted the large membership when deciding to come on board.
• Review of the last Volunteer Day with lewis McGrattan.
• Soliciting more volunteers for the future.
• Setting up an event for potential volunteers to learn more.
• Club has sold over 1,000 season tickets.
• Call to action to get an ST through Fanbase.
• Call to action for Viaplay Cup tickets and the upcoming hospitality offer for the Edinburgh game.

This is the MCT newsletter, remember: MCT owns the club but does not formally direct or manage it, rather they (or rather we) nominate candidates who may then join the board of Greenock Morton FC Ltd.

So what have Morton FC themselves been up to? Let's look at their latest communication - bear in mind this is weekly, rather than monthly:

• Ticket info for the game at County
• Ticket and hospitality info for the Edinburgh game
• Interview with Jack Bearne
• Call to action to get Fanbase to buy tickets

Now, admittedly this is a bit thin, but again, it's weekly. Notice that one of the four items was an interview with a new signing, something the knicker-wetters think we'll never see again since we're apparently broke and the manager's chucked it.

Meanwhile on the official site there's hospitality packages on sale for the league openers, a new announcement on subsidized season tickets for Morton in the Community (including an anonymous donation of over 3 grand - very nice, whoever did that).

I'm not saying this is as good as it's ever going to be or there aren't little marginal improvements to be made, but people who think the club needs to stop the current plan and momentum to address a supposed recruitment crisis are hugely overreacting. We're in better financial shape than we've been in many a year, no debt hanging over us, we have almost a full squad in late July with at least one more reinforcement to come... what am I missing here? What's the lack of planning? What's the lack of updates? From what I can see both MCT and Morton are doing a good job of fulfilling their respective remits, and telling people about it.

[Pedrodelawasp]

15 hours ago, irnbru said:

stop rumours from growing arms and legs. 

When amateur taxidermists are stitching arms and legs to rumours that they themselves are perpetuating (perhaps even inventing) that is very hard.