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I got a speeding ticket once in 2006 but I'd just like to say how much I respect Lewis Hamilton for his work in the community.

It’s about Callum. It’s always about Callum. He doesn’t have to be relevant to a story to make it all about himself.

A really interesting read, many thanks for posting this. I have to admit that I was possibly the fiercest critic of both MCT and Graham McLennan, but I am thoroughly impressed and encouraged by what I have seen/read over the past few days. They have managed to do within the space of little over a year what the GMST were unable to do in nearly twenty years - despite the GMST having countless fundraising events throughout that period plus several representatives on the GMFC board etc. Also, with regards to the Rae Family who have came in for a fair amount of criticism over the years, but credit has to be given to them for turning down a more 'lucrative offer' in favour of MCT. The identity of those behind the 'lucrative' offer is unknown, probably due to non-disclosure clauses etc. However there have been 'local businessmen' with a dubious reputation circling the club for several years now. Their presence was most likely to be off-putting to other potential suitors however credit where it's due to Mrs Rae for preferring the supporters ahead of some local villains who were considered to be 'the only show in town' and inevitable incumbents by so many Morton supporters. I'm personally delighted it's not them who are taking over Morton. Finally, the future is ours to make. It's the start of a journey. Along the way there will be personality clashes, attention seekers, gloryhunters etc. But there will also be a lot of good, honest, well meaning Morton supporters doing the best for the club. If others can do it, why can't we? With this in mind, it's time for a giant leap of faith - I'm finally signing up. The ownership of the stadium remains an issue of concern, but I'm sure that can be overcome. It may be that public funding, grants etc. May be available to facilitate the purchase of the stadium for community purposes - one things for sure is those third sector gravy train types will know what's what in that regards.

The most common word in that tweet is "I".

If you're sceptical then why not write down your concerns and ask MCT to address them? Its in none of our interests to sit back and watch this fail

Not answering this on MCT's behalf at all but that depends on conducting a sober cost-benefit analysis of running an academy system for the first time in its existence. In the heady blue skies and helicopter thinking days of the Geordie and his Trust mates, we were of course told that the club would be paying nothing at all to build and maintain the setup and this was of course utter bollocks. Our setup subsequently failed to get into the credible bracket of academies that are massively subsidised under the hugely flawed Project Brave scheme to the detriment of any independent competitor. When even the likes of Hibs are rumoured to be putting their youth setup at least on hiatus for the coming season, it's worth questioning whether it's both i) sustainable and ii) rational to keep our own system going when there won't be a pound going spare on other priorities any time soon. The youth players that break through to the first team still in time require professional wages like any other first team signing would: unless there's a queue of suitors waiting to snap them up for a transfer fee then it acheives little tangible value in itself. The MCT statement has indicated that it values the 'they'll support one of their own' argument, which won't be applicable if 'our own' are getting shoed by fucking Montrose on a regular basis. That said, there should be at least equal concern raised about the largely lazy, rent a jobber merry-go-round system that clubs of our size have been using for years. That lower-Championship standard players like Darren Jamieson (Arbroath GK), Paul Paton, Darian McKinnon etc. are instead dropping all the way down to stupid wee outfits in the fifth to seventh tiers in their droves this summer signals a major shift in preferences towards overall financial security versus playing at the appropriate level among professional footballers. As we've also seen ourselves with McHugh's utterly pathetic choice of fourth tier football with King Snake. The bottom of the established full-time footballer market in Scotland is collapsing, which was probably inevitable but has been accelerated by the impact of the pandemic. If/when MCT acquire the reins, identifying a new transfer strategy based on hard-headed reason rather than blind attachment to either of the above models has to be the top priority.

Except on the club's official channels where the result of a whisky raffle takes top billing.

While this is true, we need also to take stock of the SPFL's first fan-owned club - Stirling Albion - who have spent the entire decade since as a basketcase irrelevance even by their club's modest history before that. And that's at a level where if the worst came to the worst (at least before the pyramid opened up a bit) you could just run as a glorified social club for years until you sorted things out off the park. A club of this size operating in a stadium like Cappielow simply cannot afford a similar drop down a level for a decade as a new ownership model finds its feet. There are definite pitfalls to community ownership when done badly and I don't think that some of them can even be anticipated yet: some mistakes will be discovered when mistakes are made in the job. Even if done well it's going to require a degree of patience that does not come easily to the fanbase of any football team along the way, as well as serious oversight. If you managed to write that while keeping a straight face then you deserve an Academy Award.

Sustainability under community ownership might mean we end up at the same level as Airdrie, Clyde or Falkirk. However other clubs around us are going to need to wake up to the same reality. Inverness, Dundee, QoS etc will fare no better. MCT are going to have to find significant income sources for this to work in the long term. But since we know who will own the club from here I will be happy to increase my contributions to give it the best shot. Hopefully other people who are able will do so as well, and others who were skeptical of joining will now see a better reason to get involved.

It's genuinely a shame to see how social media affects some people. He's getting these wee dopamine hits from watching the like and retweet numbers go up, and that's leading to him contriving endless new ways to chase virtual ambulances.

Stonewaller Magazine (never read it, but they seem to be quite reputable) have been offering help with a number of clubs on their marketing, Ayr included for their hideous away kit. Whilst they've been restricted by COVID and social distancing, they've used the approach of fans modelling the kit in everyday environments, instead of the traditional couple of players out on the pitch. The computer generated image posted on Twitter on a Monday morning, the launch day that was only advertised by going into the Smiths website rather than in the original tweet, the late change of date (from a Wednesday to a Monday) are all pretty poor. I could probably go back a few weeks on this thread to point at a few more failings that have escaped me. Don't know where I said it, but the whole thing struck me as the club having the approach of realeasing the kit so now they can get on with paining the crash barriers on the Cowshed. I don't think it's too harsh at all to say the marketing has been lazy. Whether it's because of the pandemic and furlough or whether it's because the club in general don't really give a fuck about marketing even under normal circumstances is up for debate, but there's a good case for both arguments.

Fuck. Wish I had known that when the Mrs asked if I fancied pizza last night, my 'no' meant the option would never be an option again.

Do we even want to change a football club that does stuff like this? The predictable incompetence is almost half the fun by now.

Every taxi driving gossip in the town will certainly be fuming that they can no longer offer the inside scoop on what's really going on at Cappielow within 0.3 yards of pulling away from The Norseman.

Folk on that Fans Facebook group will now have a say in how we’re run. We’re doomed.

It might help it obtain some of the begging bowl grants that Warren and his big mates were after from the government. There are many worse ways that this spell of rudderless uncertainty could have gone for the club in the past couple of years - not least given the way this season ended - so it is to the Rae's genuine credit that they're willing to see things out on honourable terms. The devil will of course be in the detail. Personally, I think that MCT should welcome some external investment in the club in exchange for shares, if there were some sort of gradual buyback option available; hopefully talk of never selling the club doesn't rule out any sort of similar option, as otherwise you're limiting your options straight off the bat. The ground is not so much a concern in terms of ongoing payment as to what our balance sheet is going to look like for the foreseeable future. 'Morton fans trying to run a football club' sounds like the tagline for a head in hands mockumentary on Netflix but hopefully they'll be able to prove me wrong in having those doubts.

Dear Member, Thank you to those of you who are currently attending our webinar. For all our members, please find below the historic press release outlining tonight's announcement: Morton Club Together (MCT) have tonight announced to their members that an agreement in principle has been reached with Golden Casket, the current owners of Greenock Morton, to take over majority shareholding of the club with effect from the summer of 2021. The agreement reached with Golden Casket, headed up by current club Chairman Crawford Rae, will see the club sold to MCT for a nominal sum. As part of the deal, Golden Casket will also write off the club’s debt in its entirety while retaining ownership of Cappielow to rent it to Morton at a nominal fee. This will mean that MCT will own approximately 90% of the shareholding in the club and in time for the 2021/22 season, Morton will join the growing list of community-owned clubs in Scotland. Speaking about the announcement, MCT Founder and Director, Graham McLennan said, “Our goal has been clear from the outset – we want to move Morton forward. “We want a better team on the pitch. We want a better match day experience for everyone attending Cappielow. We want to listen to the fans and to communicate effectively with all fans, stakeholders, and partners. “We are all Morton supporters; we all want what is best for the club and now is our chance to be that best for the club through community ownership. “In April 2019, MCT was just an idea. Now, with 440 members, we have achieved so much and have an exciting future ahead of us. We would like to thank every single one of our members who has supported us so far. “As we have always said, we encourage Morton fans from everywhere to join us on this journey, and we hope this announcement will encourage many more to come on board.” Over the coming nine months or so, MCT will be working closely with the existing board members and key club personnel to better learn the business of the club and fully understand its operations. MCT Director Stewart Farmer added, “This is a magnificent achievement in a very short period. MCT was formed in April 2019 and has already made significant contributions, both financially and increasingly on an administrative basis, into Morton. “Over the last 14 months, we have had a team of dedicated, hard-working and extremely capable volunteers working around the clock to get us to where we are now.” The agreement is also conditional on both parties, MCT and Golden Casket, agreeing in March 2021 that MCT are in a financial position to run the club in a viable manner. In recent months, negotiations had been ongoing between a third party and Golden Casket, with involvement from MCT, around a purchase of the football club. Despite the terms of that deal being much more financially beneficial to Golden Casket and the Rae family, an offer from the third party was rejected in favour of facilitating community ownership through MCT. Current Greenock Morton Chairman, Crawford Rae, said, “The Rae family’s final act of devotion to the club is to hand it over to the fans, marking their last involvement in the financial responsibility and stewardship at GMFC.” MCT Director Gordon Ritchie also added, “The faith that Golden Casket and the Rae family have shown in all of us cannot be underestimated and we thank them for that. 20 years ago the Rae family saved the club, and now their legacy will be a club at the heart of Inverclyde, owned by the people who love it most, the fans.” To all our members, thank you for all your continued support, without you, none of this would be possible. Should you wish to ask any questions, or provide feedback, please email us at mortonclubtogether@gmail.com. Thanks, MCT Team

Moans about getting his content lifted by the big papers... Does same to Stenhousemuir 🙄

Every Morton fan's best pal has been getting a wee skelping on Twitter this morning again

Bring him home.

My point was about the marketing overall, but as GIGI says even the mannequin effort itself is shoddy at best. It looks tacky, lazy and all a bit of an after thought. I spoke before about training kits not matching etc - and was criticised on twitter for it and probably on here (i can't really remember), but for me it's these small details that really let us down. It just doesn't look all that professional IMO. Lower league teams (see Falkirk) and even Junior teams are capable of producing better quality images for things like kit launches than we seem capable of COVID or no COVID. I suspect that comes down to not really giving much of a fuck on the whole, rather than this isolated incident.

Questions and Answers After Community Ownership Announcement Following the announcement regarding community ownership on Wednesday 8th July, we have been asked a number of questions. We have aimed to answer as many of these as possible below. We have tried to group the hundreds of questions we have received into topics. There will inevitably be more questions, so please do continue to ask these and we will continue to provide answers. Cappielow and the Car Park Not surprisingly, many of the questions from the announcement have been around the ownership of Cappielow and, to a lesser extent, the car park. Questions like the lease fee, can we purchase Cappielow, who will be responsible for maintenance and upgrade costs, how long will the lease run, will Golden Casket raise the rent to unmanageable levels, what if Golden Casket sell the land? We will try to deal with all these issues together. The terms of the lease are still under negotiation. What has been agreed is the outline of the deal. The lease fee or annual rent will be minimal. It will NOT be a market value rent. It will be a repairing and insuring lease, which means that the club will be required to maintain the stadium to at least the same standard as it is at present. This does not preclude us from making improvements to the stadium. The lease will run for as long as MCT is the owner of Morton. The lease will preclude any significant increase in rent – it will continue to be a nominal rent for the duration. Insofar as any purchase of Cappielow is concerned, there are numerous legal options that can be pursued in the lease. For example, there could be an option to buy after a certain number of years, or there could be a clause giving MCT first option to buy should Golden Casket ever decide to sell. We are not saying that these will be included, as the fine print is still being considered, but we can assure you that the future of the club at Cappielow will be protected. We will also publish the details of the lease after it is agreed. What if Golden Casket went into liquidation, or through a change of ownership? This is one of the issues we are aware of and will be writing something into the lease to safeguard the stadium. Once the lease is finalised, we will be able to give further details. Maintenance and Upgrades of Cappielow Another popular question was about maintenance and upgrades of the stadium. Who will pay for these? Can we afford them? The current budget for the club contains a sum for annual maintenance. We anticipate that the club will be able to continue to pay this from the budget. As indicated above, the general maintenance of the ground will be the responsibility of MCT as club owners. The cost of upgrades is more difficult to explain. Depending on the nature of the upgrades, and the terms of the final lease, they may fall to be paid by the landlord, the tenant, or a combination of both. Once the lease terms are finalised, we will publish it. It will be a commercial lease which will be registered as normal, and will be available to view. If the club wishes to upgrade the stadium and the landlord does not agree to pay, the tenant can, if the landlord agrees, carry out and pay for the upgrades themselves. Finances We were also asked questions about how much we need to raise to make the club viable. There is no single answer to that question. We have identified a number of areas where savings can be made, but also recognise the need to raise income. It is not as simple as saying “we need to raise £100,000 per year”. If we raise £150,000, that means we can afford to sign more and better players than we could if we raised £75,000. There is no magic number here. The more money we raise, the better the club will be. Significantly, as MCT has no shareholders, all profits will be ploughed back into the club and not paid out as dividends. Shareholders We were asked whether members of MCT are shareholders and can you sell your shares. The answer is no. MCT has been set up as a company limited by guarantee. We do not have shareholders – we have members. As indicated in our terms and conditions, membership is not transferable. Greenock Morton Budget Are we confident that we can run Morton as a viable business – yes. We truly believe that this can be done. As indicated, we have seen the club accounts and are aware of the issues. We do not think that this is going to be easy. We will need the support, financial and otherwise, of large sections of the community. The more people who support us, the easier our jobs will be! We desperately want to see Morton succeed both on and off the pitch. The more help we get, the more likely it is that we will succeed. Will the current MCT Directors remain in place? We serve at the will of the members. Our first AGM is due, COVID permitting, in August. None of the current directors have indicated an intention to resign, and they are not required to resign this year. Some of them are required to resign next year, but can stand for re-election if they wish. We are a democratic organisation, and whether we remain in place after next year will be entirely dependent on your votes. External Investors We have been asked about external sources of revenue. We are at very advanced stages of discussions with a number of people who have expressed an interest in supporting MCT and Morton. It would be unfair to name those parties at present, but we are confident that we will secure this funding to supplement the monthly contributions from members. How many members do we need? There is no magic number. Our membership has increased significantly over the last few days, and we are grateful to all members for their support. The more people who join, and the more money that they contribute, the more money that we can spend on players, ground repairs and upgrades, and other projects that we would like to develop. Is this a done deal? Effectively it is, although both parties have a “get out” arrangement in March. Nobody wants to see MCT fail in their stewardship of the club. If it becomes apparent that we are not ready by March, the deal may be delayed. None of us, including Golden Casket, want to rush into this and then fail. How far can we go under community ownership? That’s an impossible question to answer. We guess that the only answer would be “as far as the supporters are willing to take us”. The traditional football model in UK has been ownership by a wealthy benefactor. Unless you are playing in the English Premiership, there are few of these. When looking further afield, there are numerous clubs in continental Europe (many of them being very successful) who operate under a fan ownership scheme. There are also a number of successful community owned clubs closer to home in Scotland who we can learn from. What if COVID is an issue for longer than anticipated? That is one of the reasons for the option to defer the takeover for 12 months. We live in uncertain times Morton in the Community This is a separate company, but it runs with close ties to the club. The future links with the Community program will be part of our agreement. We will be a community owned club, and we wish to maintain strong links to the community. We do not envisage any huge changes to the relationship with this program and if anything, we will look to strengthen this. Should we look at a business club to generate income? This is a good idea – thanks to the member who asked – and is something we will consider. Will David MacKinnon remain as CEO? We hope to be sitting down with all key employees of Morton in the near future to discuss their roles going forward. As we said in the webinar, we will be fan owned but not necessarily fan run. We will need the assistance of an experienced chief executive to manage the day-to-day business of the club. Is relying on large personal donations sustainable? We believe it can be. Those who are interested are Morton supporters. It is a better financial model, we believe, to ask 6 people to pay £25k each, plus individual member contributions, rather than one person to pay £250k. If you rely on one person to pay £250k, and they fail or decide not to pay, the club is in serious trouble. We will also be planning to take advantage of efficiencies that can be implemented at the club, as well as looking to generate more income commercially. What about the Youth Academy? We see the academy as both another strong tie to the community, and a great resource for producing talent for the first team. There is no doubt that good young players who are acedamy graduates get stronger support from the fans as “he’s one of our own”. We would like to see the academy continue to thrive, but again this will depend on the post-COVID financial position. If a lottery winner wants to buy the club, what happens? MCT would require to hold a general meeting to discuss this offer before accepting it. The money would then be distributed to members on an equitable basis, as decided by that meeting Who makes the decision on viability in March? That decision will be taken by Golden Casket and MCT together. What have we learned from other clubs? I’m not sure that we have enough space on our website to answer that question, we have had an incredible amount of support and advice from so many other clubs that are either wholly or partly fan owned. Say it quietly, but one of the most helpful groups has been the St Mirren Independent Supporters Association. From the launch of MCT, these groups have offered their advice about funding, structure, liaison with the club, marketing, supporter liaison etc. We genuinely could fill a book with the advice given, and everyone at MCT is very grateful for that help. Supporters Trust Members We have been asked why supporters trust shares have to be transferred to MCT. This is not what we said at the webinar. If former trust members, or indeed any existing shareholder in Morton, wish to donate their shares to MCT they can do this by contacting Morton. There is no obligation for them to do so. We will be seeking to contact individual shareholders in Morton after the takeover is completed. Is there a planning restriction on Cappielow? We understand that Cappielow is zoned by the council as a sports facility. Any change of use would require re-zoning. We are not aware of any request or desire to re-zone the land. Will the Rae family still be involved in Morton? We have not made any decisions about the future board membership, and have not spoken to current board members about their interest in remaining with the club. The Rae family has 20 years of experience of running Morton and that experience would be invaluable to us. The same applies to other board members. There will certainly be changes, but we cannot say, at this stage, what those will be. The other side to this question, of course, is “Do the Rae family still want to be involved with Morton?” We will be asking that question soon.

The stadium is the big downside of this. I'm not at all comfortable with Cappielow passing out of the hands of the club, but if the lease agreement ensures Golden Casket can't either raise the rent to an exorbitant amount or sell it from under the club's feet then those are good safeguards to have in place. Questions about the costs of any future redevelopment do need an answer. Frankly I'd still prefer to wait a few more years to get to the position of community ownership and have to raise a significant sum to buy GC out with the stadium remaining in the hands of the club than have MCT getting the club for £1 or whatever the tiny nominal fee is without ownership of Cappielow. However I also don't think those valid concerns are a reason not to support this. We've known for years that the club is effectively in a managed decline with the Raes in charge and ownership had to change. Now we've got that opportunity. This is a chance to build a more sustainable club and possibly a more successful one - fan owned doesn't mean fan run and overhauling the culture of the club from top down with new and above all else competent faces could be exactly what we need for the club to progress.

And I see no reason why more people shouldn't get involved, finances allowing. As Matt said earlier it's in no one's interest for MCT ownership to fail.

The only sustainable way is community ownership. Then there is no repeat of past debacles. For those who missed the webinar, there are commercial plans to improve revenues / cut costs by £100k annually. Also, community businesses are signing up to be patrons /sponsors - 3 signed so far at £25k annually each, with 3 more in process. There is significant credibility for me here. Also a democratic governance structure. This is something to get behind.

Absolutely, and good on fans who have donated cash to Morton/MCT during the pandemic, but that doesn't give the club an out for doing nothing. The club should have been pulling out all the stops to maximise revenue during this period, in the knowledge that other clubs in our division were doing exactly that.

Helicopter saturday 14/15.

I didn't know the name until about a year ago when I started collecting my data. 100+ is all the more impressive when you consider that we weren't exactly short of regular goal-scorers back then. Scored in a win at Douglas Park, which is hall-of-fame material really. Thoughts are with the family.

I see the club have announced the passing of Eddie Beaton, who signed in 1956 and scored over 100 goals in only four seasons at the club. I’m no AyrshireTon, but I’d like to think I’m pretty well briefed on the history of the club. Of course, the 50s wasn’t a terribly successful period for Morton, certainly compared to the 60s, but that’s some record, even considering goals were easier to come by back then- am I alone in saying I can’t remember ever hearing of him or his goal scoring feats? Rest in peace, of course.

Did anyone from the club do any sampling or quality control between the kits being manufactured and sent to Smiths? If not then why not? Morton seem to have very little interest or control over the quality/consistency of their most important piece of merchandise. The entire production chain seems to be an absolute clusterfuck.

Just signed up, change is requires as we were stagnant in recent years. The Rae's have done a good job since Scott era but time to move forward and great to see so many fans following suit

Sad news that Jack Charlton passed away peacefully last night aged 85. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/53373542 What a great guy he was.

I met him about 2006 at Kings Park in Stirling when Keir was playing in a football tournament, he was handing out the prizes. Only spoke to him briefly, but found him to be a genuinely decent, friendly and down to earth man. RIP

Indeed. As you'll remember it was nice to meet him in 2008 when we went to Carlisle v Bournemouth at Brunton Park. On overhearing our Scottish accents he asked why we were at the game and who we supported up here, before going on to chat to us about Morton, although his knowledge was understandably limited. Certainly the only World Cup winner, but also the most approachable, amiable footballer or ex-footballer I've ever met . Quite saddened by this news today, rest in peace.

Graeme McLennan on the bbc sportsound podcast. Skip to just before the 14 minute mark. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08k8srj

I wondered when No.9 Strathblane Duncan was going to grace us with his presence on this subject.

Not for me... McGills would look decent though, not garish and colours fit. Would be happy with that as long we were getting a good deal. However

Tbf simple but classy post from Crawfords son on twitter.

The news is certainly getting well covered.

Whose interest is it in exactly for 'Dunfermline thinking about a potential contract offer mebbe' to be splashed across the Tele as 'an audacious move'? I sense a ham-fisted agent at work here.

Great post.

Pretty sure I’ve said it elsewhere on here, but at 31 I’d like to see us bring in Stephen McGinn if the price is right. There must be more left in his tank than there was in both Millar’s and McAlister’s when they arrived here. Regarding Ramsbottom, I actually think we’re being a bit too kind to him by wishing him luck but saying he’s not up to the required standard. The amount of times I saw him cutting about at half time last season with his hands in the pockets of a massive big coat doing keepie ups instead of facing shots and crosses on the off chance that, you know, he might be called into action and want to be properly prepared for it, was infuriating. Not only has he been the worst goalkeeper I can recall in my time watching Morton, I’d question how much he wants to be a professional footballer from what I’ve seen of him when he’s been a substitute. I won’t pretend to be an expert on how a goalkeeper should prepare themselves at half time in the unlikely event of being needed, but I can’t imagine his “work” is in the textbook.

credit tontastic

"I've made a right c*nt of this!"

Speaking of Peterhead, Balmoor in 2014. We'll disregard the snake who scored and just recall the scenes. I believe there is also a gif of said scenes.

I prefer this one from the same, utterly hilarious day:

@dunning1874 shared these beauties in our group chat the other day. That day was the 4-2 win at home on BBC Alba wasn't it?