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The first wasn’t a booking from what I recall- it looked more like he was fouled but Callum Scott (of Longridge at Firhill penalty fame) booked Adeloye instead of the Peterhead player. The second one he put his arm across the defender when jumping for a header. Not much in it but by the laws of the game it’s a booking whether you agree it should be or not. Ironically the sort of challenge that he normally infuriates us by not even attempting to go into. Despite how difficult an afternoon it turned out, I thought we were pretty good for the most part. We completely dominated the first half and missed a number of really good chances before being sucker punched and reacted well after half time to turn the game around with minimum fuss. The game turned completely on the red card as Peterhead smelt blood and threw everything at us, while we had no real out ball on the halfway line to give us any respite. Once the equaliser came it felt there was an inevitability that rather than our superior fitness seeing us through, the extra man would see us unstuck, but the players did a good job of dragging themselves through it. No complaints about the penalties either, especially given that we didn’t look to have too many natural takers on the park at full time. Longridge nearly ripped the net out. Peterhead aren’t a good side at all but you’re unlikely to get an easy ride against a team only a division below you in the big cup, as St. Johnstone found to their cost. It wasn’t pretty, but we’re through. And rather than hammering anyone for struggling against League One opposition I’m inclined to credit them for getting through a sticky situation when they could easily have crumbled.

Some may (nor may not, I don’t expect anyone to hang on any of my words) have noticed I’ve not had much to say on here since joining the MCT board. Given that my main sales pitch was transparency, I think it’s only fair that I do comment, albeit from a personal viewpoint, rather than the collective MCT board view. Some of our board may agree or disagree with me as I’ve not ran this by them, though the Morton board made it clear that I’m free share my opinions. Firstly, the reason I’ve not been so active hasn’t been any deliberate lack of transparency, more a case of being involved in regular calls, dealing with MCT comms (which have admittedly been sporadic), writing for the Tele and discussing Morton in my own private chats, there comes a point that talking, writing and posting about Morton all the time gets tiresome, even for me. However, I do feel the need to answer the quoted post, albeit belatedly. Again, this is personal opinion, so not necessarily that of the rest of the board, but when not in full possession of the facts, I don’t feel it is responsible of the MCT board, nor is it constructive to be commenting on such sensitive matters. We’re also volunteers with jobs, who were working at the point this demand to answer an unsubstantiated rumour was placed on us. I know that Dean and I are the prominent board members on this forum, so don’t think it’s unreasonable to suggest this was aimed at us, but I wasn’t going to drop everything to deal with gossip, especially having given up some of my employers’ time earlier in the week to ensure a statement was released addressing Imrie’s departure. This didn’t just involve waiting by my phone to click a button as the process dragged on throughout Tuesday before finally being confirmed by both clubs. The club board have been open with us throughout the process of Imrie’s departure, and we’re grateful to them for that. I was also in receipt of Chris’s voice note, given that we’re friendly and have a working relationship, which differed greatly from their version of events. Being honest, I was fairly comfortable with the club’s version, having been given regular updates over last weekend, and while I didn’t want to see Imrie leave, didn’t see a problem with how Morton conducted themselves. That said, as is the case with most difficult situations like this, there are normally three versions of events, with the third being what actually happened, and somewhere in the middle. That’s not to say there are untruths from the Morton board, and Chris has conceded there were untruths on his version. But as I said above, without knowing for certain, it would be wrong of us to comment. I don’t know if John Laird gave Imrie three games to save his job- this was never communicated to us at a time the Morton board were open with a lot of sensitive information, so I personally don’t believe this to have been the case. On the subject of Chris, it’s a situation that I’m saddened by. I know there were folk he upset at times, and he could be divisive and made mistakes along the way, but I had, and still have a lot of time for the guy. It may not seem like much to a lot of folk, but a few years ago I was shovelling chips into boxes, and now I write a newspaper column. That’s a big deal for me, and for that opportunity I owe him a debt of gratitude. I really hope he gets over this and goes onto have a long and successful career. I get that I’ve not answered everything that’s been asked of myself or the board in the last week or so and apologise for not managing that yet. For example @Madton tagged me on P&B the other day. I’m not ignoring that but there’s a lot in it to cover so will ask the necessary questions and get back to you, though I’m definitely trying to steer clear of posting on that forum and getting into battles with fans of other clubs. This won’t satisfy everyone of course- I may have missed something and won't be able to answer any replies today given the long drive to and from Peterhead, but I’ll try to get to anything that is directed to the MCT board when I can over the weekend. In the meantime, if anyone has anything to ask at the game feel free. If you don’t know me, someone will be able to point you in my direction.

Nah, gutted it looks like he is finally away. 5th longest serving manager in the entire SPFL. Kept us up after the carnage of Macpherson and kept the ship steady when all around him was a bin fire. Regardless of his personal ambitions, nobody can say he didn't work his arse off for the club despite all the challenges put in front of him. Would have liked to see what he could do with a larger, more competitive budget but also a full, clear summer to run and it and build with it. Will go down as a very good appointment all things considered and one of the few real positives to give the board of recent years credit for. Let's hope their next appointment turns out as favourable.

That was terrific. Every player did well there and you could single any of them out, but Shaw had his best game for Morton and was imperious. Moore was superb, MacPherson looks a totally different player when he's playing higher up the park, Moffat and Adeloye both ran themselves into the ground out of possession while their decision making in it was consistently good. The shape asked a lot of Wilson having to be more advanced and do more on the ball which he did well.

Anyone actually wanting Imrie to leave or talking of sacking him is wild. You can spin various stats any way you like and argue managers who managed a top four finish for us were ultimately more successful because of managing one higher league placing, but for consistency of performance Imrie had a better points per game record at this level than any Morton manager since Tommy McLean. At any club at this level, but especially Morton with our past track record, it's an unavoidable reality of football that you'll have more bad managers than good ones and most will end up going due to being sacked or mutually consented for poor results. That being the case, when you actually get a good manager you should do everything you can to keep them, because it's extremely difficult to keep getting appointments right and especially so when you're operating with a lower budget than your competitors. Everyone agrees that 3 wins in 16 needed to improve but he should have been absolutely nowhere near the sack, the idea that we'd have been anywhere near paying him off is risible. If there'd been no interest from Raith and we'd sacked him on Monday for poor performance, the sack the board shouts in response would have been deafening.

The statement is worded very carefully to appease all parties and allow them to move on. That’s very different from either side admitting that the version of events were incorrect. I know which side I’d trust more and it’s probably not the side of the people who have been caught in multiple lies and coverups.

His opinions should now be treated with the same attitude shown to any other opposition manager. I've got nothing against the guy for making a career move to suit himself, but football is tribal and he's ditched us for a direct competitor mid-season after fumbling a transfer window. I hope we pump Raith in all the remaining fixtures.

At least we had two sixteen-year-olds on the bench. Fantastic for the football club and everybody in the building.

Who were the sectarian bigots who hounded Jim McInally out of Cappielow for being a Catholic?

Ach go on.

Disappointed, but not as gutted as I would have been a couple of years ago. It's probably not an overstatement to say Dougie completely transformed the team and its relationship with the fans in his first season-and-a-half when he took over the helm. His high work ethic and demands were just what was needed at the time, and he was a breath of fresh air. Quite a few players from that time are in debt to Dougie for (re)igniting their career. But we've treaded water since then, so I think he's probably taken us as far as he could. Of course it's far from guaranteed that whoever takes over will do any better, but it's maybe a good time for a change for both him and the club. Huge respect also to him as a person, for the dignity and courage he showed during his personal tragedy at the start of the season. All the best, Dougie.

Livingston went from League One, with an average home attendance of around 700, to the Premiership in 2 years. They obviously have facilities which help, but where would they be right now if they didn't achieve those unexpected promotions? I get what Davies is saying, but we've had 2 year, 3 year, 5 year plans and we're still here. Actually getting promotion is arguably the very thing which would allow us to move forward in the longer term (as long as we're sensible). Scotland have qualified for 3 world cups since we last won promotion to the top flight - it would be massive for us. And if it's a longer term plan we're after, then we'd actually need much more investment off the pitch.

No. Next.

We already knew Corr wasn't good enough for the Championship and should be getting moved on in January from the evidence of being consistently pish throughout his time with the club. We already knew that Hart will be also be leaving in January from his literal zero minutes in the league 17 games in, and somehow being poor enough in training to remain below Corr in the pecking order. Therefore there was no value in giving them game time as there was nothing to learn, we didn't need to write off a cup to get further confirmation about them being mince. Being papped out of our only realistic chance of a trophy by the poorest team in the SPFL so far this season can't be anything but.

That record article reads like a planted agent puff piece, to be honest. It's ambiguous in the wording about him leaving Coleraine, leaving open the interpretation that he chose to leave himself when he was actually sacked, and talks up a track record of working with tight budgets when Coleraine had pushed the boat out and gone full-time. Players like Charles Dunne and Declan McManus won't have come cheap and suggest he was working with a comfortably bigger budget there than he'd have here, despite being in a much weaker league overall. Lots of people thought it was a harsh sacking so I'm not saying he's necessarily a bad manager, but there are some eyebrow raising claims in there.

Lamie is better than what we have in starting XI and we're also only an injury away from Corr starting games; it's a no brainer. Bring him home.

On the subject of Murray, I wonder if the terms of his contract at big-spending Raith Rvoers is a reason why he’s not got a job yet. Given the exorbitant salaries the big-spending Fifers are rumoured to pay, and Murray having signed a lucrative new deal not long before being sacked by the big-spending Stark’s Park club, could it be a case that by going back into management he may have to forego some of the mammoth compensation agreed with the big-spending Kirkcaldy club?

Player of the year he is.

I’d like to take this opportunity to point out some people wanted him to be first choice keeper this season. Just worth a moment of reflection… Anyway I hope he gets support from his teammates and goalie coach this week.

I'm caught between my own ambivalence towards this competition (season, squad) and disdain for Billy Davies and the current regime. If we're not in any sort of financial position to be promoted without severe consequences, as claimed by Davies, why are we treating the Challenge Cup as a bounce game? Surely this competition is the pinnacle of what our Caretaker views as achievable? If Hart and Murdoch aren't capable of featuring at Championship level at all before mid-December, why are they being given a start now?

No. Do not even speak that into existence, because the alternatives are repulsive.

Mick Kennedy is the definition of a chequebook manager yet has also consistently underachieved despite his massive advantage, and has probably already been working with a larger budget than Imrie has for years. It would be an unmitigated disaster.

Whether or not parts of what was said in the voice note are true, this is not the first time this guy has stirred the pot with absolute misleading pish. I understand he's a journalist and that's how these things work to sell papers/get views, but it's incredibly frustrating especially as folk in our support are incapable of filtering the truth from sensationalist nonsense. Hopefully he doesn't darken our door again.

My main worry about all this now is that if things get worse they’ll just blame it all on Dougie and him leaving. An easy scapegoat/excuse. Deflecting attention away from the board and their governance m. As someone else pointed out on here, in his first full season in charge we got 57 points. The last season he had without our current chairman “advising”. Again I think the fans and MCT members deserve a bit more communication regarding how the club is being run right now. If there is more money coming into the club recently thanks to Dalrada, and nothing seems to have improved, then how do we as fans go about holding those in charge to account, try to improve things, and avoid more of all the nonsense we had in the summer? There can’t be any more room under the rug to keep sweeping things in there surely? But sure, as they basically said in that statement, don’t bother with any details about what you heard, just give us your backing… I’ll always cheer on the team on the park, I have a lot of time for some people who work at the club, and have volunteered many times to do work for the club, but I’m getting increasingly angry and frustrated (again!) by those in charge of running things and their motives for doing so. I hope this ages badly, the team move up the table, crowds increase, and the whole club improves all round. After all, along with most people on here, I’m part owner and proud to be so.

The voice note is shocking - but unless the author is known, it's utterly pointless and invalid. I could sit and talk nonsense for seven minutes and send it round, doesn't make it reliable. It could be 100% on the money, but it's pretty pointless doing/feeling/saying anything without the most basic info of authorship

When Davies was first appointed I had a bad feeling that it was with a view to ousting Imrie & replacing him eventually. Along with the binning of Millen, delay in setting a budget, boardroom chaos, then some of the comments on team performance that Laird made, it would be easy to understand if Imrie wanted to leave. On the other hand, his earlier statements about wanting to stay & being open to contract discussions alongside the "nice to be wanted" comment in his interview on raith TV suggest that maybe there is more to it than him simply applying for the raith job and leaving us when he got the offer. If the club were planning to replace him then it would make financial sense to get a pay out from raith instead of having to pay him off, so maybe this is what has happened and he was pushed out. If this is the case then Imrie did not deserve to be treated that way and it would raise big questions about how the club is being run. Ultimately, I would like to echo what Russell said in the MCT statement - lets focus on what is best for the club right now. In my opinion that means getting behind the team & the manager, rather than speculating on whatsapp messages etc. If any of the stuff I've heard is true then we need major changes at the top, but to try and force this right now might cause more harm than good, potentially even leading to a rerun of the chaos we saw over the summer. I am gutted that Imrie is gone, but it has happened. Things haven't been great this season so lets hope that the change in manager will see a turnaround in our performances & results

Can’t speak for all of them, but I know one small local venue made a donation to the club with the money made from ticket sales for one of these nights. I paid a tenner a ticket to attend. Hardly room for £500 going into Dougie’s pocket off the back of that. You can just say you don’t like Dougie, you’re entitled to that opinion without baseless accusations of opportunistic money grabbing. Personally, I want the manager of our club to make the effort to engage with fans, schools, local sports clubs, pubs, hotels, supporters clubs etc. It literally benefits the club. I also think it’s a huge ask, particularly with the demands of the role at our club and the lack of support that our structure provides for the first team manager, especially one that isn’t based locally, and it’s an ask that Dougie met.

Let's call this a best case scenario - Bonar is still overreaching. The club sponsor, no matter how generous, can't be dictating football matters to the board. I'm also unhappy with the squad we've ended up with, which is no better than Imrie was working with for far less money, but my memory is long enough to know his preparation in the summer was far from ideal. No budget until the last second, his assistant who he relied on so heavily (and now working with again the second he leaves) whipped out from under him, no replacement - Davies isn't an assistant. It's not the worst time for him to move on all things considered but there's a way to treat people and the current board don't appear to understand it. If it were a choice between Imrie and Millen, or Laird and Robinson then the board would be out on their arses.

It was evident he wanted an escape. Applying for every job available which is his prerogative. The flip side is if the lack of wins continued, the board might have been considering a difficult conversation and that could have lead to paying off remaining contracted term, so to get some compensation (what that looks like im not sure) vs losing him in the summer on a free, is probably the best outcome. He has been an outstanding servant to Morton, lets not forget. Now, he's treated same as every ex player with seemingly bigger ambitions. Lets just see if the grass is indeed greener. The track record for that doesn't paint the best picture.

Ross County are where they are in the league for good reason. A motlew crew of mercenaries who have no connection to each other as team mates, or it seems much time for each other as individuals either. Their keeper seems to despise his own defence. We earned a comprehensive win today but it wasn't due to some one-off, worldy performance (like when we scudded QoS 0-5, for example). Our performance was similar to the one against Arbroath last week, though going up an extra gear in terms of shape/pressing off the ball. On the ball we also benefited from a further week in the same system, with Shaw transformed into peak Antoine Griezmann playing behind two central forwards. I've been banging on about this since day 1 of this season and will take my victory lap now - we do not need to play a formation with wingers. In fact, we were far more dangerous in wide areas today without our Subbuteo-style, rigid 4-3-3/4-5-1 shape. The narrow starting shape still allowed Shaw and Moffat and Delaney (and sometimes Adeloye too) to drift around and completely overload the right side of their defence in particular. Had we spotted Delaney more often as the completely free out ball, it could easily have been 0-3 at half time alone. Longridge and Moore were excellent in winning their individual battles, but were greatly helped by the superb work rate and organised pressing from the front that limited all service to White/Hale. Playing with a partner even halved Adeloye's job off the ball - he can quite effectively corral the opponent down one side of the pitch, where we were able to then win the ball back with good numbers. The key difference between the margin of today's score and last week's equally deserved win was the nick of the opposition though. Arbroath were no mugs after losing the ball and fought hard to stay organised and win it back straight away. Ross County are hilariously, catastrophically inept at doing so. As soon as a Morton player earned a second of time today, a simple pass or out ball almost always presented itself, with little serious risk of losing the ball for the next passage of play. When Ross County coughed up possession, they never looked likely to win it back straight away, and so got picked off by well-worked Morton moves. My only concern from today is that 'Uncle Roy' may consider swapping over a manager, given how inept they were. Otherwise, so long as we stick to this setup (which also suits Garrity, Blues and Crawford very well - and takes a bit less of the holding burden off an improving Wilson), then we can be a match for any team in the division, home or away.

Sounding scarily similar to Davies’ post match here. He chose to prioritise some bizarre fact finding mission, learn a bit more about our fringe players, making young players feel good by getting some minutes… and then “hope” (Davies’ choice of word) that we can win the game. The priority IS to win the game. All that other nonsense is secondary, so pick a team to expect victory. As you pointed out, there are no other scheduled midweek games, so why rotate so much? It’s complacent. This was called out before the game, including before and after the team lineup was announced. No hindsight required.

I would like to take this opportunity to apologise to Michael O’Halloran, and remove him from my Imrie rogues gallery XI, to be rightfully replaced by Austin Samuels

Definitely back to his level. Pleased for Davies. He never lacked heart but just wasnt a Scottish championship level player.

For this to be a true account of what happened, the person recalling the events must have been there in person throughout it all. Otherwise, it's a version of events from second hand information. Sounds very much to me like its the latter. Whilst there's probably some truth to parts of the story, the truth will likely lie somewhere in the middle. Nevertheless, John Laird should be hounded out.

how much money do you think he made from a Q&A night at a local community centre with a capacity of about 100 people??? Hardly "lining his pockets".

Building relationships between the club and the community/local fans doesn’t benefit the club in any way? There’s a lot of ongoing initiatives that could be scrapped if what you’re saying wasn’t total bollocks.

I'm more annoyed at MCT about that. We are in a period with a promise of Dalrada doubling any funds raised by MCT. But all we have seen from MCT is a few messages asking for increased contributions and the release of another coin thing. Said it when I saw that event advertised - MCT should have been orgsnising stuff like that to capitalise on the matched funding.

Laird needs to fuck off out our club. He can take Sam with him.

If it is true Laird can fuck right off now

The first person to suggest Tidser can get in the sea without a lifebelt.

I don't mind Imrie leaving but I do mind the state of affairs that the likes of Raith and Inverness (who were headed down the tubes) are seen as a step up. This is a significant shift of the goalposts, but Imrie has not done that well at building his squad this season.

And the B side.

I worked closely with Dougie during his time at the club, and I think it’s a mistake to let him leave. He was far from a perfect manager (is there such a thing?) but he was a good tactician and an outstanding motivator. During his tenure, we created an atmosphere within the squad that meant that players wanted to come to Morton (sometimes for less money than was on offer elsewhere). From what I’ve heard, that atmosphere has been destroyed in recent months. Some fans have criticised his recruitment, and commented on his failure to get the most out of his increased budget. I’d respond with two comments. Not every signing was Dougie’s. I believe that some signings were done at the insistence of a Chair and GM who exceeded what I believe should have been their role. Secondly, there is only a limited pool of good Championship players available. When you don’t get a budget on time, most of the quality talent has signed elsewhere. He cannot be blamed for that. I don’t know who was at fault for the late budget, but I can make an educated guess. Dougie was responsible for turning around many careers at Cappielow. Muirhead, Oakley, Grimshaw, Crawford, Quitongo and others were on a downward trajectory until they came to work with him in Greenock. Dougie made them better players. I don’t think any of them have improved since they left. The decision to let Millen leave had undermined Dougie. Andy and I were never friends at Cappielow, but I respected his talent and knowledge of the game. His greatest value to a manager was that he had no ambition to be a manager himself. He was happy to be the assistant, and so never threatened the manager’s position. When he left, and Dougie was denied his choice as a replacement, the writing was on the wall. The club supported Dougie through his compliance issue for gambling, and through his pro license. He was always grateful for that support, and for us giving him his chance at management. I wonder if he thinks he had the same support in recent times. I am sorry to see him leave. He was not the finished article, and at times could be a stubborn b****** to work with, but his commitment to his players could never be questioned. Given that it has taken the board 18 months and counting to find a new finance director since Harkins announced he was leaving, does anyone have confidence that they will get this process right? I was regularly telling them that they should always have a shortlist of managers ready, as Dougie was certain to leave at some point. Their statement does not inspire confidence of a quick resolution. Will we choose the best candidate, or will it be one of Laird’s buddies that gets the job? But of course, that can’t happen as he (apparently) plays no part in the decisions! Dougie’s success on the pitch has papered over many of the cracks behind the scenes. Finally, ask yourselves this question. If everything was good at Cappielow, why was Dougie applying for almost every job that came up? I can understand Inverness (at the time it happened) and Partick. Raith? Not so much. But I’m told he made an approach to Airdrie. How desperate must he been to leave Morton? And it wasn’t for money. Dougie was well paid at Cappielow.

Sad to see Imrie leave albeit strangely not as gutted as I was when I thought he was going to partick. It felt like the writing was on the wall from the time that we got rid of Millen, and the fact he is taking him to raith tells its own story about how he felt about that situation. He really was a breath of fresh air and gave the whole club a lift from the moment he came in. His work ethic, attitude & the standards he set were exactly what we needed at that time. He pulled us up by the bootstraps and for that I will always be grateful. He has also shown an amazing knack of improving players. That said, for every Oakley, Muirhead & Blues there's been a Broadfoot, McGinn, Ally Roy and JET so across the piece he has done plenty of poor transfer business too(not least with the imbalanced squad he has built for this season). Without knowing exactly what went on with regards to Lewis Strapp, it also seems like he might have let personality/ego get in the way of what was best for the team on that occasion so his tenure hasn't been without its flaws. It does seem strange he is choosing to go to raith after knocking back partick, which on the face of it looks like a bigger job as well as being more local. I can only assume he didn't fancy being a "head coach" working under barraclough and has maybe been told he is getting a bit more autonomy at raith? For all that their fans seem unexcited by the appointment I actually think he could do pretty well there. They have some talented players who are definitely performing below their level - I am sure Imrie will fancy himself to get more out of the squad than their last couple of managers have. Looking forwards, it was always going to be Davies taking charge & I fully expect that to remain the case for the rest of the season. Yes, he has been out of management for more than a decade but his record at Preston, Derby & the first spell at Forest is pretty great, and during that time it looked like he was destined for bigger things. From what I have heard it was non-footballing issues that held him back, with him behaving pretty strangely and coming across as a bit of a prck on several occasions. Hopefully this side of his character has mellowed a bit with age but he still has something to offer as a manager. If that is the case then he could end up surprising a few people. Athough Imrie voiced his support at the time of Davies appointment I always thought they seemed like strange bedfellows - both very strong & stubborn characters who I found it hard to imagine working together harmoniously. To that end, I expect us to get a lot more value out of Davies as acting/interim manager than we did as "technical head coach".

I really don't think he has. For Alloa's squad and likely budget to be consistently below Stenhousemuir in the same division, and for them to pose no serious challenge for promotion are both signs of underperformance. If Graham didn't have a Morton background he wouldn't even remotely be in the conversation right now.

So it’s a top 4 budget in the sense that there are 9 teams in the league with a top 4 budget. Got it.

It he goes, the shortlist to replace him should begin and end with Michael McIndoe. It will likely just be Davies for his first managerial job in almost 12 years though.

Made-up outfit that would be in League 2 groundsharing with some 'camanachd' outfit if not for Uncle Roy. Morton on the other hand - what a team, eh?