Ross County vs Morton 25/04/26

[AyrshireTon]

Whilst I obviously agree that a draw would be enough, Murray is sending out formations that don’t work. A draw would have been a great result yesterday, but the moment we went behind it was off the cards. He isn’t learning from this and there’s no indications that he’s going to.

[vikingTON]

12 hours ago, TRVMP said:

 Anything else would be, I fear, the start of our Banter Years, we'd be in the wilderness for ages, it simply cannot happen.

• We have both lost to a team fully two tiers below us, and been gubbed 4-0 by Stenhousemuir in cup competitions this season. 

• It will be 35 years next season since we have reached the final of even the lower leagues' cup competition. 

• As of next season (removing 95-96 from the equation), we will have had one, very unlikely, sniff at top flight football in the past 30 years.

• 2013-14 league campaign: all of it.

Sounds rather like both the Banter Years and the wilderness are already here. 

Given all of the above, I fail to see any discernible impact of GMFC playing either in the second or third tier. It changes nothing of consequence. Unlike 2007-08 for example - when the hope was that if we could get survive, we would then consolidate and move upwards in the second tier - there is no such direction in place right now. If we 'survive', the tacit goal will be to get 44 points and finish 7th and do absolutely nothing else again next season. 

Meanwhile there is a similar lack of direction in terms of the club as a business. We are no further towards maximising revenue from matchdays, and have no concrete plans in place to start generating revenue on the other 300-odd days of the year either. So what exactly would playing in the second or third tier change? 

We have (or should have) little to no debt to outside creditors to account for, and by far the largest chunk of the operating budget is a first team squad and model of recruitment that is taking us nowhere, regardless of Friday's result. So the loss of divisional prize money (a risibly low, rentier-type aspiration for this once-proud club to have) can be balanced by simply purging more of the crop of players and backroom staff who directly caused that scenario. 

Let me be clear - I am not claiming that seaside league football will be a nostalgic improvement on our current status. But unless and until fundamental changes in the club's operations and aspirations take place, both scenarios are equally garbage. If there is a change in how the club and the first team squad operates, it will likely come through a successful partnership with Estrella regardless of what level we are playing in. That is the important thing in defining the club's future - not being a couple of places higher or lower in the middle of Scottish football's pecking order. 

Edited April 27 by vikingTON

[TopCat]

Relegation certainly wouldn't be an improvement, but the level of apathy on matchdays, shambolic infighting at board level and general lack of sporting interest over the last 2 seasons leaves us firmly at the bottom of a huge rut that we look incapable of getting out of.

Another 7th place finish in the Championship next season with Cappielow continuing to decay won't change anything. A lot of folk seem to view relegation as a disaster scenario which would put us on a path to League 2 obscurity - we're already on it. Dalrada should've gone a long way towards improving things, but they put their trust in the wrong people.

I still think we've got a decent chance getting it over the line on Friday though. Both of Airdrie and Ross County are unlikely have 3/4 big results in a row in them and Airdrie have also been chucking a lot of goals in despite their recent improved form.

[Ferguson]

Not sure if it’s been quoted already, Andy Ritchie summed it up well in the tele.

”Undoubtedly this has been a season of turmoil although it's my assertion that that eternally appears to be the case at Cappielow.”

Been a chore to support this group of players especially, but the last few years have been so so dull. Season ticket and POTY sales reflect a very fed-up fanbase. 

[Brian Skelton]

52 minutes ago, TopCat said:

Relegation certainly wouldn't be an improvement, but the level of apathy on matchdays, shambolic infighting at board level and general lack of sporting interest over the last 2 seasons leaves us firmly at the bottom of a huge rut that we look incapable of getting out of.

Another 7th place finish in the Championship next season with Cappielow continuing to decay won't change anything. A lot of folk seem to view relegation as a disaster scenario which would put us on a path to League 2 obscurity - we're already on it. Dalrada should've gone a long way towards improving things, but they put their trust in the wrong people.

I still think we've got a decent chance getting it over the line on Friday though. Both of Airdrie and Ross County are unlikely have 3/4 big results in a row in them and Airdrie have also been chucking a lot of goals in despite their recent improved form.

Airdrie may be leaking goals our forward line is shite and don't score many and we also leak goals they have a bit of momentum we don't.

[TopCat]

12 minutes ago, Brian Skelton said:

Airdrie may be leaking goals our forward line is shite and don't score many and we also leak goals they have a bit of momentum we don't.

Very true, but home advantage is a big factor. They're also down at the bottom of the league with us because they're rubbish as well.

A point or more certainly isnt a given, but I haven't written us off yet (nor are Ross County guaranteed any points away to Raith - they've beaten them twice this season but also lost 6-0). 

[so72]

Agree with plenty that has been said above, but fear that a long stint in League 1 ala QotS could have a really negative long-term impact. I agree with VT that the current situation isn't positive.

 

However, I suppose its about what attracts people to Morton. At the start of each season, the chance of a crack at the playoffs or a decent cup run and the unlikely chance of playing in the premiership the following season is a big motivator for parting me with my money. I'll support Morton regardless, but I know more of my pals will come and spend money in the odd season we have had those things (12/13, 16/17, 17/18, 22/23). My fear would be that a prolonged League 1 stint would even further reduce our ability to bring in fans or to rebuild the club. QotS' attendances have dropped significantly since dropping down - 500 less than 17/18 and 300 less than 18/19 (discounting covid seasons). 

 

I'm not ready to give up the hope of seeing Morton in the Premiership in the next decade - especially if there is any future reconstruction of the leagues. A quick dropdown and bounce up like 14/15 could be beneficial, but a QotS situation could be ruinous.

[Ferguson]

11 minutes ago, so72 said:

A quick dropdown and bounce up like 14/15 could be beneficial, but a QotS situation could be ruinous.

I think we’re now in a position where any full time players we can attract will be worse than the best part time players, making a 14/15esque rebound unlikely. Arbroath making the Premiership playoffs twice in the last 4 years is evidence enough, but the Stenhousemuir shame game as well as 2 draws to Stirling Albion and Peterhead are confirmation of that. If we drop to part time it’s hard to see when our infrastructure will allow us to bounce back to being a full time club. I’m not saying part time is the answer, but I reckon a drop to league 1 would be far trickier than last time.

[SpoonTon]

1 hour ago, Ferguson said:

I think we’re now in a position where any full time players we can attract will be worse than the best part time players, making a 14/15esque rebound unlikely. Arbroath making the Premiership playoffs twice in the last 4 years is evidence enough, but the Stenhousemuir shame game as well as 2 draws to Stirling Albion and Peterhead are confirmation of that. If we drop to part time it’s hard to see when our infrastructure will allow us to bounce back to being a full time club. I’m not saying part time is the answer, but I reckon a drop to league 1 would be far trickier than last time.

Similar things were said when Dumbarton were the successful part time team, and the same again when it was Alloa. One reservation I've always had is about how deep the pool of part time players is, and how steep the fall might be if we get recruitment wrong in that situation. 

It's a risk we might have to take at some point, but a move to part time football is a big risk. No part time team has survived in this league as long as we have. 

[Cet Homme Charmant]

Not sure why it's a straightforward choice between full or part-time. I think at our level a hybrid model is something we should at least be considering, irrespective of the league we find ourselves in next season

[so72]

We could be a good part-time club, no doubt. However, we should be a better full-time club. There are people involved now with MCT and the Board who should help us move forward, at least according to the accounts I've heard and impression I've got. I think a move to part-time now would indicate a lack of ambition and once that gets a hold of a club, its an inevitability that the club moves backwards. 

[Jani Inenuot]

Some kind of hybrid model could be effective if executed well (admittedly the execution is often our downfall). I don't buy the idea that moving away from full time is inherently doomed - since Dale announced our three year vision to be a top 16 club in Scotland, a part time club has achieved that before we have.

[Brian Skelton]

1 hour ago, Jani Inenuot said:

Some kind of hybrid model could be effective if executed well (admittedly the execution is often our downfall). I don't buy the idea that moving away from full time is inherently doomed - since Dale announced our three year vision to be a top 16 club in Scotland, a part time club has achieved that before we have.

But oor Dale did talk a lot of shite to be fair.

[TopCat]

Going to an 8-8-8 setup as a cost cutting exercise was a failure when Rae tried it but a hybrid/part time model with a budget the same or larger than this season could give us an edge.

We currently can't compete with the likes of Partick and Dunfermline for wages but we might be able to tempt better players with e.g. £800/900 a week part-time deals.

 

[GiGi]

3 hours ago, so72 said:

We could be a good part-time club, no doubt. However, we should be a better full-time club. There are people involved now with MCT and the Board who should help us move forward, at least according to the accounts I've heard and impression I've got. I think a move to part-time now would indicate a lack of ambition and once that gets a hold of a club, its an inevitability that the club moves backwards. 

I think if we move hybrid or even fully part time it won't be an issue of ambition but a necessity. 

We cannot spend money we don't have and need to make the best of it. 

[so72]

55 minutes ago, GiGi said:

I think if we move hybrid or even fully part time it won't be an issue of ambition but a necessity. 

We cannot spend money we don't have and need to make the best of it. 

If it becomes necessary, so be it. We are not in that situation at the moment.

[vikingTON]

 

5 hours ago, so72 said:

I think a move to part-time now would indicate a lack of ambition and once that gets a hold of a club, its an inevitability that the club moves backwards. 

What ambition does GMFC demonstrate exactly - and where does the earlier list of the past 30 years of dross fit into that? Even the now maligned Queen of the South reached a Scottish Cup final and briefly played in European football: Dunfermline have been up and down like a whore's knickers and yet are in a SC final as a second tier club. 

Never mind managers for a moment: how many executives have been emptied for such a lamentable record of non-achievements and zero progress as a commercial enterprise at GMFC too? 

7 hours ago, SpoonTon said:

No part time team has survived in this league as long as we have. 

If this is the sum total of our aspiration then we're as well shuttering the club after Friday's game regardless of the result. 

Surviving in this league - with no broader purpose or goal in mind beyond that - is categorically not an achievement. 

[HamCam]

It matters not a jot if we remain full-time, go part-time or adopt a hybrid model if our recruitment remains woeful. We allegedly had more money this season to invest in the squad and look at what was assembled. Despite all the hot air from the various charlatans in the board room we have been treading water for years. Even if we stay up on Friday the apathy surrounding the club suggests we are only delaying the inevitable. I hope I am wrong but at the moment it is difficult to be optimistic. You have to offer fans more than just survival as the extent of your ambition.

[bob_the_builder]

11 hours ago, HamCam said:

It matters not a jot if we remain full-time, go part-time or adopt a hybrid model if our recruitment remains woeful. We allegedly had more money this season to invest in the squad and look at what was assembled. Despite all the hot air from the various charlatans in the board room we have been treading water for years. Even if we stay up on Friday the apathy surrounding the club suggests we are only delaying the inevitable. I hope I am wrong but at the moment it is difficult to be optimistic. You have to offer fans more than just survival as the extent of your ambition.

Spot on.  It's easy to forget Dalrada pumped even more money than usual this year and its been absolutely spaffed up the wall.  The thought that nearly a year ago we were even kept hanging for weeks by Tomi Adeloye and Nathan bloody Shaw makes my blood boil.  On a positive note however, I believe the proposed partnership with Estrella should eventually help us in that respect 

I'm also not against a full time/part time hybrid model if we could make it work, but how exactly would we do that?  The more successful part time teams seem to be Central/East coast, are there even a pool of decent west coast/central part time players?

 

[Ferguson]

1 hour ago, bob_the_builder said:

The more successful part time teams seem to be Central/East coast, are there even a pool of decent west coast/central part time players?

Yeah this probably makes a sharp switch to part time near impossible, but maybe opens up a decent market for a hybrid approach. Being the only west coast club to offer part time contracts at this level could be a good selling point if there’s 4 or 5 right good part time players wanting to play closer to home or full time players wanting to drop down to part time without travelling across the country. I’d certainly favour that approach to loaning strikers in their mid 30s from Ayr.