Thread About Ex-Players

[dunning1874]

1 hour ago, port-ton said:

Bring Mcginty home 

I know you're joking but in case anyone from the club is reading this, I would demand a refund of my season ticket and cancel my MCT subscription if this happened.

[dunning1874]

5 hours ago, vikingTON said:

Not really given the claim was:

"even though it's league one, if the fans that watch you all season rate you then you must be doing something right?"

And we've also signed older players at a lower ebb in their career in just that position in recent times too (Kirk Broadfoot) - but shouldn't be signing Buchanan or anyone else who has already blotted their copy book at this level. Move On Please. 

Among others, Gillespie, Quitongo, Muirhead and Blues had blotted copy books at this level (or lower) and were still part of our best season in the last 13 years. There are players who've had poor Championship seasons in the past without being Ally Roy, Steven Boyd or Gregor Buchanan levels of obvious dud signings.

[Pedrodelawasp]

On 5/11/2026 at 6:16 PM, CM48 said:

 

I also always liked Lyon (and Alexander King!) and thought they'd both go on to do much better then they have, but accept that my memories of both are a bit rose tinted towards the games they played well in. But even though it's league one, if the fans that watch you all season rate you then you must be doing something right?

King may be remembered, as you say, with rose tinted glasses owing to his very occasional display of an ability to dribble by two or three opposition players with a sharp turn or a drop of the shoulder. He also had an occasional good effort from distance that could be quite memorable. But we’re talking about two, maybe three instances of each in total across all of his first team appearances.

Like Mark Russell, in a sense, but far fewer starts at the same stage of his career.

[Mr.Blue]

Lyon, King, McGrattan and Strapp were all allowed to leave by Imrie. I think he questioned attitude and effort for the first 3 and Strapp just didn't see eye to eye with him. Did Imrie replace them with better players? I'm not sure about strapp but the other three, yes. 

In saying that Lyon has went away and seems to have grown as a player, getting very positive reviews at QotS. I wouldn't be against him and Strapp coming back.

Edited May 12 by Mr.Blue

[Jamie_M]

17 minutes ago, Mr.Blue said:

Lyon, King

[SpoonTon]

21 minutes ago, Mr.Blue said:

Lyon, King, McGrattan and Strapp were all allowed to leave by Imrie. I think he questioned attitude and effort for the first 3 and Strapp just didn't see eye to eye with him. Did Imrie replace them with better players? I'm not sure about strapp but the other three, yes. 

In saying that Lyon has went away and seems to have grown as a player, getting very positive reviews at QotS. I wouldn't be against hin and Strapp coming back.

Without trying to defend McGrattan or trying to say that Imrie made the wrong decision, it depends on who you count as his replacement. The record of signings in that type of role has been pretty sketchy in the last couple of years. 

[GiGi]

If Lyon has dropped down a level, screwed the nut a bit and become a more effective and better player then I wouldn't mind him signing.

We're not going to have loads of better options of goalscoring midfielders at that level I reckon. 

[vikingTON]

On 5/12/2026 at 7:12 PM, dunning1874 said:

Among others, Gillespie, Quitongo, Muirhead and Blues had blotted copy books at this level (or lower) and were still part of our best season in the last 13 years. There are players who've had poor Championship seasons in the past without being Ally Roy, Steven Boyd or Gregor Buchanan levels of obvious dud signings.

You failed to comprehend the point. None of the above 4 players had blotted their copy book at this club, only to return because a bunch of seaside league diddy fans reckon that they're God's gift to football. On the other hand, we would not touch Gregor Buchanan with a bargepole again - whether he was 26 or 36 years old. Sean McGinty falls into the same category too. Your list precisely demonstrates the difference.

To make this fully straightforward, let's use the 'professional football is a job' analogy - used every summer to justify utter mercenaries signing up for East Kilbride etc. If you were punted from an employer for piss-poor performance, then while you may find an alternative employer in the same field, you are not going to be brought back to do the same job again by the same organisation. That door has closed permanently. 

Edited May 13 by vikingTON

[dunning1874]

12 hours ago, vikingTON said:

You failed to comprehend the point. None of the above 4 players had blotted their copy book at this club, only to return because a bunch of seaside league diddy fans reckon that they're God's gift to football. On the other hand, we would not touch Gregor Buchanan with a bargepole again - whether he was 26 or 36 years old. Sean McGinty falls into the same category too. Your list precisely demonstrates the difference.

To make this fully straightforward, let's use the 'professional football is a job' analogy - used every summer to justify utter mercenaries signing up for East Kilbride etc. If you were punted from an employer for piss-poor performance, then while you may find an alternative employer in the same field, you are not going to be brought back to do the same job again by the same organisation. That door has closed permanently. 

This reads a bit like cutting your nose off to spite your face; either a player who once didn't cut it in the Championship has improved in their time playing at a lower level and is now considered good enough for another crack at it or they aren't. If they are good enough (which remains to be seen with Lyon) then not bothering with a worthwhile signing just because they played for you already and left 4 years ago would be an odd approach to recruitment.

In the last 3 years alone that would have ruled us out of signing Ali Crawford and Lewis Strapp for second spells, who were both very worthwhile signings with the former being massively improved on his return after being piss poor in his first spell.

[vikingTON]

11 hours ago, dunning1874 said:

This reads a bit like cutting your nose off to spite your face; either a player who once didn't cut it in the Championship has improved in their time playing at a lower level and is now considered good enough for another crack at it or they aren't. If they are good enough (which remains to be seen with Lyon) then not bothering with a worthwhile signing just because they played for you already and left 4 years ago would be an odd approach to recruitment.

In the last 3 years alone that would have ruled us out of signing Ali Crawford and Lewis Strapp for second spells, who were both very worthwhile signings with the former being massively improved on his return after being piss poor in his first spell.

Nice try, but Strapp and Morton failed to agree terms when he left the first time. Lyon was released like countless other players deemed surplus to requirements by the end of their spell here. 

It is absolutely not spiting anything to base your transfer policy on proven evidence of performance at this football club over conjecture and bluster. Luke Donnelly 'performed' at a lower level and indeed later returned to Championship football: we shouldn't and thankfully didn't move to re-sign him at any point. What braying Arbroath fans said about his breathtaking talent for their club was irrelevant. Any move to re-sign Sean McGinty - who has played far more games at this level - would result in you having an aneurysm. So two issues:

1) The reason why people are placing Lyon in a different category is not down to objective achievement: it is subjective bias because he's a 'Morton product' and 'local boy'. This is double standards, but more importantly would be a piss-poor influence on the rational judgment of a professional football club.

2) The constant revisionism about how and why such starlets get cruelly jettisoned by the club is also one of the 527 reasons why we can Never Have Nice Things. That Imrie was having to field regular complaints about this two years ago in Q and As was not a good look; that the proposed investors had to handle similar old men yelling at clouds nonsense about guid youth products in the Cappielow meeting a few months ago was fucking wild. 

Edited May 14 by vikingTON

[Jamie_M]

49 minutes ago, vikingTON said:

Nice try, but Strapp and Morton failed to agree terms when he left the first time.

Nah, that was the 2nd time.

[Cet Homme Charmant]

23 hours ago, Jamie_M said:

Nah, that was the 2nd time.

Correct. Dougie released him in the summer of '23 and resigned him on a short-term contract about 6 months later (ref the now infamous 'you'll probably think I'm a dick' phone call), when he was still a free agent. He was offered a contract extension when that expired, and knocked it back.

Edited May 15 by Cet Homme Charmant

[Greacen2000]

3 hours ago, vikingTON said:

Nice try, but Strapp and Morton failed to agree terms when he left the first time. Lyon was released like countless other players deemed surplus to requirements by the end of their spell here. 

It is absolutely not spiting anything to base your transfer policy on proven evidence of performance at this football club over conjecture and bluster. Luke Donnelly 'performed' at a lower level and indeed later returned to Championship football: we shouldn't and thankfully didn't move to re-sign him at any point. What braying Arbroath fans said about his breathtaking talent for their club was irrelevant. Any move to re-sign Sean McGinty - who has played far more games at this level - would result in you having an aneurysm. So two issues:

1) The reason why people are placing Lyon in a different category is not down to objective achievement: it is subjective bias because he's a 'Morton product' and 'local boy'. This is double standards, but more importantly would be a piss-poor influence on the rational judgment of a professional football club.

2) The constant revisionism about how and why such starlets get cruelly jettisoned by the club is also one of the 527 reasons why we can Never Have Nice Things. That Imrie was having to field regular complaints about this two years ago in Q and As was not a good look; that the proposed investors had to handle similar old men yelling at clouds nonsense about guid youth products in the Cappielow meeting a few months ago was fucking wild. 

If we were being linked with one of the best midfielders in league 1 (but who was not a former player) how would you feel about it then?

[dunning1874]

13 hours ago, vikingTON said:

Nice try, but Strapp and Morton failed to agree terms when he left the first time. Lyon was released like countless other players deemed surplus to requirements by the end of their spell here. 

It is absolutely not spiting anything to base your transfer policy on proven evidence of performance at this football club over conjecture and bluster. Luke Donnelly 'performed' at a lower level and indeed later returned to Championship football: we shouldn't and thankfully didn't move to re-sign him at any point. What braying Arbroath fans said about his breathtaking talent for their club was irrelevant. Any move to re-sign Sean McGinty - who has played far more games at this level - would result in you having an aneurysm. So two issues:

1) The reason why people are placing Lyon in a different category is not down to objective achievement: it is subjective bias because he's a 'Morton product' and 'local boy'. This is double standards, but more importantly would be a piss-poor influence on the rational judgment of a professional football club.

2) The constant revisionism about how and why such starlets get cruelly jettisoned by the club is also one of the 527 reasons why we can Never Have Nice Things. That Imrie was having to field regular complaints about this two years ago in Q and As was not a good look; that the proposed investors had to handle similar old men yelling at clouds nonsense about guid youth products in the Cappielow meeting a few months ago was fucking wild. 

When Luke Donnelly returned to the Championship he continued to be shit, which confirmed that League One is level. Maybe that will be the case with Lyon too, it's up for debate and we'll find out next season whether that's as a Morton player or another Championship club, but I also don't think it's obviously a terrible signing in the same way that signing Darren Hynes just because he's an ex-youth player would be.

I competely agree with the gist of your point 1 and especially point 2, but don't agree that either of those points being fundamentally correct necessarily make Reece Lyon a bad signing in 2026. There is no evidence that Lewis McGregor or Alex King are better players than they were when we released them, and even suggesting signing either of them could only be put down to being desperate for a Morton academy product to make it at Morton. There is evidence that Reece Lyon or to take another example Josh Cooper are better players now than when they were punted.

They're in different categories, one of which could only be put down to the subjective bias you point out which absolutely exists among the kind of weirdos who think it's still the 90s so we can sell teenagers for half a million every summer if we just try really hard, and so berate managers and potential investors about that fantasy at public meetings. The other can be put down to the well established phenomenon of some players who've previously not been good enough to play in the Championship becoming better footballers over a period of several years.

Edited May 15 by dunning1874

[Chicken_Soup]

I’m aware it’s now a cliche to bring up Shankland, and he was a loan player rather than someone we released. But he failed at us, went to league one and came back out of it a far better player. It happens, especially when players are still relatively young. Josh McPake just dominated the division and is on his way to Hearts, after a stint at Stirling Albion when he was 23.

I see no reason why we should rule out players performing well in that league, if it’s someone we would otherwise look at, purely because they played for us before.

[TRVMP]

Barrie McKay was mediocre for us but that's because he didn't bother. It was clear as day he was going to play at a high level, up to and including Scotland. 

I'll admit I didn't see Shankland being as good as he turned out to be, though. 

[SpoonTon]

1 hour ago, TRVMP said:

Barrie McKay was mediocre for us but that's because he didn't bother. It was clear as day he was going to play at a high level, up to and including Scotland. 

I'll admit I didn't see Shankland being as good as he turned out to be, though. 

Yeah, he never looked close to it but I remember Shankland looking like a really good striker in a game against us for St Mirren - scored a cracking goal down towards the away end at their ground. But you can't play to your potential if the fitness and motivation isn't there, and that applies to many players. Some manage to recapture it, many don't. 

If a player had a problem with his attitude, application or fitness and has improved that, then it's very possible for him to move back up a level or two. 

[dunning1874]

7 hours ago, Chicken_Soup said:

I’m aware it’s now a cliche to bring up Shankland, and he was a loan player rather than someone we released. But he failed at us, went to league one and came back out of it a far better player. It happens, especially when players are still relatively young. Josh McPake just dominated the division and is on his way to Hearts, after a stint at Stirling Albion when he was 23.

I see no reason why we should rule out players performing well in that league, if it’s someone we would otherwise look at, purely because they played for us before.

For all that he was only on loan, that was the summer he was released by Aberdeen and he trained with us before signing for Ayr, with Duffy deciding not to offer a contract. 

[vikingTON]

17 hours ago, dunning1874 said:

When Luke Donnelly returned to the Championship he continued to be shit, which confirmed that League One is level. Maybe that will be the case with Lyon too, it's up for debate and we'll find out next season whether that's as a Morton player or another Championship club, but I also don't think it's obviously a terrible signing in the same way that signing Darren Hynes just because he's an ex-youth player would be.

I competely agree with the gist of your point 1 and especially point 2, but don't agree that either of those points being fundamentally correct necessarily make Reece Lyon a bad signing in 2026. There is no evidence that Lewis McGregor or Alex King are better players than they were when we released them, and even suggesting signing either of them could only be put down to being desperate for a Morton academy product to make it at Morton. There is evidence that Reece Lyon or to take another example Josh Cooper are better players now than when they were punted.

No, there's no evidence for Reece Lyon to be anything other than at his appropriate level. Just as Luke Donnelly was. 

[Cet Homme Charmant]

18 hours ago, dunning1874 said:

 There is evidence that Reece Lyon or to take another example Josh Cooper are better players now than when they were punted.

A decent season in a lower league is absolutely not evidence that he's improved since leaving us