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  1. In case you missed it, Hearts are third in the Premiership, beat the champions last weekend, have in their possession the country's top goalscorer (whom we managed very well), and while we did indeed have a positive spell at the start of the second period, that was game management on their part, knowing they had reinforcements for the closing stages when we would - without any bench options - inevitably tire. Their goal was a counterattack and if you go all-out after that there's only going to be one ending: they throw people forward to catch the out-balls and you're screwed. It's just nasty to say Imrie doesn't trust the guys he's signed or whom he chooses to put on the bench. Again, this is the third-best team in the country. He's set our guys - who are a mix of good Championship players, former top flight players at the end of their careers, and youths - out with a plan, and throwing warm bodies at a plan for the sake of doing so is bad for all concerned. With no forwards on the bench, whom would you have put on with five minutes to go to hold the ball up against Sibbick and whoever the other one was at center-back? Was it: Jack Bearne, a winger Lewis McGrattan, a winger and midfielder Michael Garrity, a midfielder (and a diminutive one at that) or Sam Murdoch, a goalkeeper? Remember, everyone was saying Broadfoot was done since he was playing at LL level, and Imrie has - with some admitted road bumps along the way - got both him and Power playing well. Shankland was left in no doubt whom he was up against tonight and said as much in his post-match interview. Will Broadfoot get any recognition for that - again, Shankland is the best striker in the country right now, and will probably go to the Euros? Or will he just get slated for not scoring a last-minute equalizer? In a game where we'd been on the back foot for the majority, except early in the second half, Broadfoot did an admirable job keeping them to relatively few open chances. He deserves credit for this - and so does Imrie for signing and playing him! Long story short: if Imrie didn't trust Bearne he wouldn't be here, and if he didn't trust McGrattan and Garrity they wouldn't be getting minutes at all. Instead Bearne was signed and the latter two have played plenty, considering their ages. McGrattan has appeared in the vast majority of games this season, and Garrity (two years younger) is being carefully bedded in. They're getting an appropriate amount of football for the time in their careers and this is particularly true when you're up against, again, the third-best team in the country and a legendary Scottish goalkeeper who despite his age deserves to go to the Euros this summer. Leaving aside certain attention-seeking fuds (I do not count you as one of these) there really does seem to be this idea that Imrie's somehow throwing away wins by refusing to "trust" young players. It's absolutely idiotic. What Imrie knows, as a guy who came relatively late to the senior game, is that sometimes experience is what's needed. Just look at Queen's Park: they thought they could play a bunch of youngsters and have them play it out from the back, and that ended up with relegation form. Now they have a couple of old heads and they look fine, and the young players they have will be better for the experience. It's just not the case that you can go up against Hearts and throw the kids at them and come away with a better outcome than we had tonight, and people need to stop acting as though Imrie's sandbagging us by refusing to make Logan O'Boy captain. tl;dr: Scottish fans' fetish for putting the kids on is stupid. It's not borne out by the stats or simply by facing the right way at games. Imrie did nothing wrong. We held out own against a team that will send at the very least two players to the Euros in summer and will play in Europe next year, and we did it without our most vital player. There is absolutely zero scope to criticize Imrie for this game and everyone who does so should be hanged in real life.
    12 points
  2. Why would there be a cutoff though? If someone wants to pay full price for a ticket and rock up late - even just for the 2nd half for example, why shouldn't they be able to?
    9 points
  3. Oh, and congratulations to Imrie, Millen, and the players and other coaching staff for 16 games unbeaten, our new record in competitive football.
    8 points
  4. I see on twitter their fans aren't happy about the forums match preview, particularly about them spending big. Great work all involved. Rancid wee club who've gotten way above their station of late.
    8 points
  5. (Photo- Greenock Morton FC) The Greatest Showman- A Tribute to Andy Ritchie By Russell Gordon Being a Morton fan younger than 45 has been a hard shift- 36 years without top-flight football, Hugh Scott and administration, dropping to the Third Division, the 2004 collapse, 10-2 at Hamilton, getting knocked out the Scottish Cup by non-league Spartans and losing a League Cup Group Stage game on penalties to League One minnows Falkirk have been among the lowlights in that time. But what has emphasised Morton’s struggles in that time most has been the tales regaled to us by a generation that were only slightly older than my own about Morton’s adventures in the late seventies and early eighties. For so many barren years to follow such a fantastic period in the club’s history is galling in the extreme. And while Benny Rooney’s swashbuckling side, which enjoyed five years in the Premier Division, topping the table in late 1979, contained a litany of stars, one of those stars shone brighter than all the rest. No prizes to anyone who’s ever spent a Saturday afternoon on the steps of the Cowshed for guessing that that man was none other than the mercurial Andy Ritchie, arguably Morton’s greatest ever player, and without doubt, their most gifted. The young Andy hailed from Glasgow before moving to Bellshill at an early age, and finding himself following his fathers’ favourites, Motherwell in his youth, before joining up on the ground staff at Celtic in 1971 at the age of 15. As was often the case with Celtic’s young talents at the time, he was farmed out to the juniors, enjoying a fruitful spell at Kirkintilloch Rob Roy before signing professional terms at Celtic Park after a couple of years. But his time at Celtic had more downs than it did ups as, by his own admission, he didn’t live up to expectations in his time on Glasgow’s east end. With Jock Stein not around for a long time after a car crash, Celtic Park perhaps wasn’t what it normally was, and Andy didn’t keep his eye on the prize throughout his time there. With first team appearances limited, his relationship with Stein becoming strained on the legendary manager’s return and his frustrations reaching boiling point, Benny Rooney used his powers of persuasion to lure the 20-year-old to Cappielow, despite the offer of a four-year deal from Celtic being on the table. To make things better for Morton, Celtic were interested in goalkeeper Roy Baines, and the clubs came to an agreement that Baines would make his way to Parkhead in a deal that saw Andy and £10,000 head west. While those of us of a slightly younger vintage like to allude to the swap deal between Morton and Dunfermline in 2015 that saw Jim Duffy bring in Ross Forbes in exchange for the hapless Andy Barrowman as one of the greatest swap deals in history, even that doesn’t come close when we consider that Baines returned to Morton on a free in 1979. Andy debuted in a goalless draw against Clydebank at Cappielow in October 1976, and after scoring in a 1-5 derby defeat at Love Street, scored his first two home goals against Montrose ten days later, including a terrific free kick that was to prove a hallmark of his spell in Greenock. Unfortunately though, while Morton enjoyed a strong season in the First Division, the title went to Paisley, as a St. Mirren side led by a young(ish) Alex Ferguson took the division by storm, claiming the title in style, with a 6-3 win at Cappielow in the ne’er day derby proving a real highlight for the Buddies. Morton however, gained a modicum of revenge in the final derby of the season, beating the Saints 3-0 towards the end of the campaign thanks in no small part to a strike from Morton’s star man. But while many Morton fans’ eyes may have been looking towards their local rivals with envy, they didn’t have to wait too long to enjoy success of their own. With Hearts and Dundee slumming it in the First Division, the two big city clubs were installed as favourites for the two promotion berths, but Morton had other ideas, with the ‘Ton’s 5-3 victory over the Edinburgh side (a scoreline we’d all happily see a repeat of next month) proving a real highlight. Although Andy didn’t score on the day, his performance in putting the Jambos to the sword was, by all accounts, imperious. The title was eventually secured on a memorable evening in Greenock when Airdrie were dispatched 3-1 and Morton took their place in Scotland’s Premier Division for the first time. Morton raised the First Division Champions’ flag with the visit on Celtic in August 1978, a match which ended in a 1-2 defeat, but should be remembered for what I believe was Andy Ritchie’s greatest goal for Morton. I’ll caveat by saying that it was before I was born, and that I’ve not seen all of his goals as many weren’t caught on camera, but while there were more celebrated goals, this is a hill I’m prepared to die on. Just some of Andy's collection of goals for Morton, including his wonderful goal against celtic on the opening day of the 1978-79 season. (Video- Leon Mooney) Morton would finish seventh in that first season, comfortably clear of relegated Hearts and Motherwell, and boasting Scotland’s top goal scorer and the Scottish Football Writers’ Player of the Year in Andy Ritchie, with 29 goals from 45 appearances. Andy collects yet another accolade from Morton boss Benny Rooney. (Photo- SNS) Under normal circumstances, a Scotland call up should have been on the horizon. But alas, international honours were to elude Morton’s talisman. Whether the stigma of being a part-time player, the fact that he represented an unfashionable club, or his supposed tempestuous relationship with the Scotland manager, his former boss at Celtic, Jock Stein, were valid reasons for his omission from the international squad at a time when Scotland were not short of quality in forward positions, what isn’t in doubt is that he should at least have been given his opportunity. How frustrated he must’ve felt seeing some of the players who represented Scotland some twenty years or so later under Berti Vogts in particular, who didn’t have an ounce of his talent. It can’t be much of a consolation to be regarded as Scotland’s greatest ever uncapped player. Morton’s peak came the following season however, as, with Roy Baines back at the club, they reached the top of the Premier League in November 1979, before two controversial defeats over the Christmas period saw them unjustly beaten by two Glasgow clubs who, if you believe their supporters, aren’t often the on the right side of refereeing decisions. The words “Sandy Jardine” are still words best not spoken in front of a certain generation of ‘Ton fans. And, I suspect, Andy’s teammate, Bobby Thomson. While Morton fell down the table on the back of those two defeats, it was small consolation that Aberdeen, led by former St. Mirren boss Alex Ferguson, denied the two beneficiaries of Morton’s festive misfortune, the flag. But Aberdeen, arguably one of the best teams in Europe at the time, had an Achilles heel. To quote the great man: “We won three Scottish Premier Division titles. We won three Scottish Cups in a row. We won the European Cup Winners’ Cup and the European Super Cup. We played three up, four up and two out wide but we couldn’t beat f*****g Morton.” While the Dons did enjoy some success over Morton, ten wins for the good guys over that golden era took quite some doing. And none were more glorious than in a spectacular double header in February 1981. Having already beaten the champions 1-0 at Cappielow a couple of months earlier, Morton travelled to Pittodrie on February 7th and returned with another 1-0 win thanks to a terrific Drew Busby header to shock their hosts. But it was the following week, on Valentine’s Day that Andy scored his most fondly remembered goal for Morton, as Cappielow enjoyed perhaps its greatest ever day. With the Dons visiting for a fourth round Scottish Cup tie, it was he who stole the show twenty minutes in, as he collected a driven John Marr pass on his chest, turned Iain Considine and left him on his backside before being faced up with the imposing sight of Willie Miller, Alex McLeish and Jim Leighton, who he managed to curl the ball beyond, and into the bottom corner with the outside of his right foot. Morton would record a third successive 1-0 victory over Ferguson’s side, emptying them from the cup in the process. Andy's magnificent goal against Aberdeen in the 1981 Scottish Cup fourth round is fondly remembered by Morton fans of his era. (Video- Leon Mooney) Morton would reach the semi-finals that year, where they would fall to a 1-2 defeat to Rangers in controversial circumstances. Andy had been left out of the starting XI, much to the regret of Benny Rooney, but his late penalty, following Jim Holmes ordering off for an innocuous tackle that had reduced Morton to ten men reduced the arrears to 1-2. To top off a bad day, Bobby Thomson was again ordered off, admittedly for a scything tackle for which a red card was referee Brian McGinlay’s only option. Thomson reportedly apologised to his teammates at full time, telling them he “had to do it”. After that season, Morton’s team began to break-up, but Andy was to stick around until their relegation in 1982-83. He was very much a victim of football’s policy on players’ contracts in his era, with the clubs holding all the power and able to command a fee for players even if they were out of contract, which restricted his opportunities. Celtic had tried to buy him back early in his time at Morton, while Hearts and Sheffield Wednesday also had offers rebuffed, and when he eventually moved on it was to Motherwell. His time at Fir Park was brief though, as were subsequent spells at Clydebank, East Stirling and Albion Rovers, the latter as a player coach. Another goal is notched, this time against Kilmarnock at Cappielow. (Photo- SNS) Sadly though, his playing career was over by the age of 28. Other jobs in the game followed, at Hamilton, St. Mirren and Celtic, with what must’ve been an attractive gig scouring the continent for talent as the Bhoys emerged from the doldrums in the mid-nineties. Life wasn’t plain sailing though, as Andy had his vices. Bookmakers weren’t his friends, and at his lowest point he would find himself asking old pals for a couch for the night as he tried to get himself back on his feet. But latterly, his working life took him back to Cappielow in an ambassadorial role, although he was often a familiar figure on Sinclair Street before taking up employment from the club again. The COVID pandemic unleashed Andy to the world as an unexpectedly magnificent co-commentator. Who can forget the line about a drunk man chasing a balloon??? Since then, he’s been a regular host in hospitality, always quick to entertain and introduce his fellow ex-Morton heroes to the hospitality guests, enhancing the experience for all. I’ve only ever been fortunate enough to meet him on a couple of occasions, and despite never having seen him play, I’ve always felt that I gave off the impression of being like a schoolboy in awe of his hero, such is his legend around these parts. Everyone at The Morton Forum wishes Andy Ritchie a long and enjoyable retirement and would like to thank him for everything he contributed to our club and to Scottish football, on and off the park. I hope and trust that he won’t be a stranger in the years to come. Bibliography Greenock Morton 1874-1999, Vincent P Gillen, 1998 Morton Greats, Graeme Ross, 2004 The Price of Vice, Andy Ritchie, 2012 The battle of Celtic Park: Rangers, Morton, Andy Ritchie and a hideous crime count, Graeme Ross, The Scotsman, 11th April 2021 Sir Alex Ferguson: We won league titles, three cups in a row and dumped Real to gain European trophy.. but we still couldn’t beat f*****g Morton, Anthony Haggerty, Daily Record, 12th December 2015 Thanks to Leon Mooney for his help in fact checking.
    8 points
  6. Need to make it count. No point laughing about it if we make a cunt of it tomorrow.
    8 points
  7. Haha. Aye, I was quite please with that. The boy calling me bitter and unprofessional was a belter- I write for a fans’ website because my pal runs it, not for FourFourTwo. Perhaps the Raith fans could look a bit closer to home when seeking examples of unprofessional content being published online.
    7 points
  8. Just wanted to re-share this. We filmed the interview on what turned out to be the day Gus got the sack. We were rock bottom of the league and there was a real nasty divide between the fans and the club. It says so much about what kind of man Andy is that he was prepared to agree to this at that time. Speaking honestly as always, but also trying to give a positive message when everything was so bleak at the time. Every minute that I had working alongside and getting to know him since the start of Covid was an absolute thrill and a real pleasure. Like so many others on here, he's probably the main reason I was taken to Cappielow by my dad when I was just old enough to go to games in the late 70s, and he will always be my biggest footballing hero. https://www.facebook.com/759890983/videos/1145499513478734/
    7 points
  9. No complaints with 8500 capacity, much more like it and kudos to Dale and whoever else has been able to sort that out.
    7 points
  10. He was a wee cunt with a stinking attitude and still is. Fuck him.
    6 points
  11. It’s a bit of a nuisance to quote and reply to everyone on this, but I just can’t accept the point about reporting the ground at a certain percentage of capacity at a certain point after kick off. We’re well past the stage of folk turning up on the day and handing over £20 and walking through now. Every purchased ticket is recorded and the club know how many people at a maximum will be in the ground at kick off time going by those sales, with stewarding numbers arranged in advance. I remember Dave MacKinnon telling me of similar instances of people who were knocked back, if turning up late from work, when he made his grovelling apology over his (alleged) drunken blocking me from the club’s Twitter, and telling me they were working on fixing it, yet four years down the line, and under a more efficient management structure, we’re at the same place with the same security firm. Ronnie’s point about picking on easy targets strikes a chord here, for me. Like they’re happy to pick on a grandfather and his grandson instead of getting right in the middle of the shed at its most wild, they’ve found an away fan that they think will eventually forget about the issue and move on, not knowing that his mate is in fact a Morton fan who will cling onto this like a dug with a bone. I’d expect if questioned, the first defence to be that he was drunk. He wasn’t, I met him outside the Norseman at full time, by which point he’d had plenty of unexpected time in the boozer and was completely sober. Ironically, reading Paul’s post- the guy is a medical professional, who has before found himself in situations similar to what Paul’s painted at games elsewhere, forcing him to turn up later, and been admitted. You wouldn’t know to look at him, though. Not that the head steward did, of course. She denied him admission from the other end of a walkie-talkie, leaving her subordinate to confront him, like the coward she is. With my pal included in my email trail, we received a reply from Alistair, who asked for his details to process the refund and advising that it had been forwarded to Dale. Given that I addressed the original mail to Dale and asked for his thoughts on the matter, I’m a bit disappointed that having sent it on Wednesday night, I’ve not heard a thing from him. While I feel that addressing the treatment of wronged customers should be a matter that’s treated with the utmost priority, I’m prepared to give the benefit of the doubt for now, given how busy a week this is with the Hearts game coming up, but Morton have got two extremely unhappy paying customers, here. And one of them is a very regular one. The tail is wagging the dog with this security firm, and Morton really have to be letting them know that their behaviour, and that of certain individual employees, can’t go on as it is.
    5 points
  12. Although we definitely did not deserve to win the game I certainly don’t think we deserved to lose it. They had one clear chance and a quality striker has taken it. What is extremely concerning is how much we are reliant on Oakley. Completely incapable of creating any threat in the final third without him. Record Without Oakley in the league this season: P10 W0 D4 L6 Goals scored 5. (0 in the last 5 without him 0-0 ICT (a), 0-0 airdrie (a), 0-0 Raith (a), 0-2 ICT (h), 0-1 Dundee Utd (h). Monday night could be an interesting one…
    5 points
  13. I hope if today is the day the run goes the fans don't turn on the team. If anything they deserve acknowledgement for a tremendous effort. This wasn't going to last forever. Fingers crossed we can turn it around though.
    5 points
  14. That pre-Oakley unbeaten run last season we were very reliant on natural width with Quitongo on the right and McGrattan or Kabia on the left, with the long balls primarily aimed at finding the feet of wingers rather than going for Muirhead's head and trying to play off flick ons. I can understand why Imrie has stuck with things like Blues on the right when he was in fantastic form there until a few games ago, but in Oakley's absence we need that natural width back to give us an outball. Having naturally central players there is fine when we're scrapping for second balls in a congested middle of the park and you want whoever's playing out wide to be comfortable stepping inside, but with no target man to aim at we need players who are comfortable opening up space by hugging the touchline, linking up with Strapp and French and carrying us up the park by running at full backs. Garrity has to start next week.
    4 points
  15. Those doing the chant about "Hope you die in your sleep" can GTF too. We are not the Glasgow cheeks.
    4 points
  16. I don’t doubt what you’ve said is true, and fair enough if that’s how the contract with the security company works. But that doesn’t justify their staff being rude and obstructive to paying customers, and their performance as a subcontractor, and the performance of their staff has to come under some form of regular review, even if things are going well. And given the amount of complaints from various different people, the performance of their staff simply isn’t up to scratch. My mate had bought ten tickets for him and all his pals, so couldn’t be refunded for his individual ticket immediately, but after I emailed the club and included him in the email, they’ve taken his details and will process his refund this week, although he and I are still waiting to hear the thoughts of the General Manager about the issues I raised. Good enough of the club to refund him for his ticket, but we now have this woman costing the club his £22 because of her attitude. How often do things like this happen? Can Morton afford to just throw money away because someone who is working on the club’s behalf has an attitude problem? As a club for whom it’s common knowledge that every penny is prisoner, it is negligent in the extreme not to thoroughly investigate the behaviour of someone who is working on their behalf actively driving paying customers away.
    4 points
  17. A pal of mine who supports Dundee United was denied entry last night because he was late in turning up at the ground. Not that it should need explaining, but when in the Norseman he had to deal with a phone call that was a bit of a family emergency, and by the time he got round to leaving to go to the ground, the gates were all locked. He approached a steward to see if he could gain entry to the ground and the steward radioed his supervisor, who said under no circumstances would he be allowed in, despite having no idea of the circumstances surrounding his late arrival, and the fact that he had bought a valid match ticket. It will come as no surprise that he described the supervisor on the other end of the radio as female and “very aggressive” in her tone. Said supervisor did not, of course, attend the scene in person to explain why my pal wouldn’t be getting in. I understand there may be a cut off point to get entry to a game, but to be told that “under no circumstances” will he be permitted entry, is completely unacceptable imho. People encounter issues in their day-to-day lives, being treated like that be someone whose job role is customer service shouldn't happen, and was an embarrassment to me when he told me how my club were treating him. I doubt it’ll take much joining up of dots to establish who the female supervisor is, and I’m 99.99% sure that it was the same woman who we constantly complain about on here. It’s about time she lost her job.
    4 points
  18. Hopefully it’s the SPFL clamping down on tadgers like that Blair McNally cashing in on their product without permission.
    4 points
  19. That interview with Imrie is class you can tell he wants to rattle those clowns. Toughest fixture we have had in a while but the way we are playing no reason we can't get something, however if you offered me a point now I would take it.
    4 points
  20. A massive win. The tone for Airdrie’s performance was set by Taylor-Sinclair's hideous challenge on Crawford inside the first 5 minutes. The elbow only came up after the ball was already gone, it was an obviously deliberate attempt to elbow an opponent in the head in midair, it was as dangerous a challenge as you'll see on a football pitch and it was utterly negligent refereeing to only book him. They knew then they would get away with murder and carried on attempting it for the rest of the game. You could see how fired up we were to overcome their thuggery and it was a tremendous delivery from Quitongo for the first. With the laughter at how far offside Garrity looked to be for the second at the time (turns out he wasn't) there wasn't enough focus on how good a finish it was, an exceptional strike. When you've raced into a two goal lead that early you want the sting taken out the game rather than continuing to go at a million miles an hour and leaving huge gaps yourselves that can let the opposition back into the game, we did that well but as the half wore on I thought we got a bit too flat and were allowing them a bit too much room in midfield, for all that we still didn't look in much danger from open play. Second half we looked right back in control early on and should have had it buried between Quitongo's header off the bar and the one cleared off the line from a corner, but we went noticeably downhill after the subs. That's not to say the subs were the wrong decision, with the way the referee had lost control of the game getting players on bookings off was definitely the right thing to do, but both Waters and Broadfoot had a pretty terrible time of it and they started getting some joy down that side. Where they really took control of the game was in us losing Oakley as an outball, once again Taylor-Sinclair should have been off for the way he deliberately went after him and elbowed him off the park. He knew he was getting away with it and kept at it until he inevitably injured him. Garrity did what he could moved through the middle but he was breathing out his arse himself by that point with the running he'd done and it left them knowing they could pin us back. A poor goal to lose, not sure who it was that lost their man, but we saw it out without another clear cut chance coming their way despite the additional 90 minutes of injury time. Would have been robbery if we'd dropped points there. Cammy Blues by the way, what a performance. A lot of people praising Power and rightly so, he was excellent in possession, but the ground Blues covered defensively was ridiculous. Feels like every week lately you come away thinking that might have been his best game in a Morton shirt, he's in fantastic form and it's a real testament to his performance that the midfield still looked so good despite missing Wilson.
    4 points
  21. Can remember him giving it to the Cowshed in the last game thinking he was the big man. First time I’ve ever paid any attention to him, so that probably tells us how good he is. Beautiful meltdowns on twitter last night from Partick fans talking about how they should officially complain about the decisions and some couldn’t even face going to the pub after that Hopefully all still greeting into their oat milk latte’s and vegan rolls and sausage this morning.
    4 points
  22. At least the news has made someone happy. Cretin that he is - Gordon must have taken away his and daddy’s privileges. For what it’s worth I think he’ll be a loss to the club.
    3 points
  23. Aside from the goal, we were superb everywhere. Held the formation well and tried to create chances when we could. Power, Mullen and Strapp were awesome but everyone was exceptional tonight. Gave a good account for being the only Championship team in the Cup and we made a couple of bob out of it at the same time. All winners tonight. Well done Morton.
    3 points
  24. If someone has a ticket, there is no reason not to admit them. To suggest that letting someone in after kick off might overcrowd the ground is daft as they could have turned up before kick off and got in without question. It's a daft rule and probably they're doing it to avoid having someone on the turnstile for any longer than needed. Every game I'm at, one of my friends invariably arrives about 5 minutes or more into the game - never been a problem at the Sinclair St turnstiles in as long as I can remember. This sounds like a situation where the general manager should just tell the stewarding company to facilitate late entry, even if it means letting someone in via the main stand entrance and telling them to walk through to the away section. The stewarding company are employed by the club, not the other way round.
    3 points
  25. When I complained about said female steward telling me to take my grandson off the barrier with 89 and a half minutes gone, a club employee told me that the ground was "signed over" to the stewarding company until approximately an hour after the game was completed, and that therefore the stewarding were responsible for the stadium and that GMFC were not. He further stated that this was one of the most frequent scenarios he encountered, people (including ST holders) turning up late, for whatever reason, and being refused entry by stewards. He said he often got phone calls from folk in this situation asking to get in, but given that the stewards were "in charge of the stadium" there was nothing he could do. TBH I didn't believe him at the time, but this adds a bit of truth to that now. It's something that I'll be raising at the QandA session with the board later in the month.
    3 points
  26. That's pish poor. There can be a multitude of perfectly valid reasons for arriving late, especially if travelling a distance, so to have a blanket rule like that with no exceptions irrespective of the circumstances, is shite in the extreme.
    3 points
  27. Completely agree. I know Alex Samuel is a religious boy, but he took the Lazarus act too far today.
    3 points
  28. Some laugh going back to July and seeing the usual suspects absolutely ending themselves over our failure to sign "Frankie Deane."
    3 points
  29. Don't make adult tickets cheap - just hand out free child ticket vouchers like sweeties at every school in the area and get them to guilt-trip their guardians to take them along at full price. We should be making greater allowances for low income/unemployed/concessions given both economic reality and the community ownership aspect. We could also make a pitch to 'new Scots' being settled in the area in droves, instead of having them latch on to that piggery in the East end of Glasgow which seems to be the default option. That should be reflected in season ticket options though (discount and installment packages) rather than a walk-up price IMO. That won't suit every person's situation of course, but we're still running a business here and not a charity. The best way to secure a growing and sustainable fanbase is to incentivise the habit of getting a season ticket. We've made good progress on that since the takeover but are still years behind most other clubs at this level.
    3 points
  30. FFS you really are hard work. I would like to see contract extensions announced for several players, principally Oakley and Crawford but not necessarily limited to them. I don't actually know when some of the players' current contracts expire, but those that expire this summer obviously would take priority over those who are already signed up until 2025. What I don't want to see is the end of the season arriving and we have to start building a squad from scratch again. It's called forward planning. At the very worst, we will be in the championship next season, and there is a chance we could be in the top tier. We know enough at this stage to plan ahead even if there is a degree of uncertainty.
    3 points
  31. We now have a team where there are no passengers. Every player is contributing. The reason PotY is so competitive this season is because we have a team, not 11 players with a couple of them better than the others. We’re in a position where we generally don’t have subs who weaken the team when they come on. What a job Imrie has done. Next thing is to get extended contracts for next season, and really go for the title.
    3 points
  32. Aye, Blues was absolutely outstanding yesterday, although I’d say we’re now well beyond the stage of him being a target of any boo boys, unless I’m just fortunate with where I stand at Cappielow. On another note, probably the last time I can remember Morton’s administrative side being described as incompetent and “typical Morton” was around the time they apparently made an arse of Nadir Çiftçi’s work permit application. Looking back, if we’d been successful with that, we’d probably never have seen George Oakley at Morton. That’s some silver lining.
    3 points
  33. MODS! Wrong. They're called Partick. Always have been, always will be.
    2 points
  34. Hardly surprising given that Oakley was born in 1995, while Tam Cowan lives permanently trapped in 1974.
    2 points
  35. Head Steward will have a field day then
    2 points
  36. Hope there’s a bit of trouble tomorrow night and these stewards have to do a bit of work to earn their money for a change.
    2 points
  37. Yeah, and by the same token, do you remember Frankie Dean who had some on here blinded by their own tears and snotters when Dougie didn't offer him a contract last summer? Same story with Reece Lyon who also had some bumping their gums when he was released. Both decisions have, thus far at least, been fully vindicated. Logan is a great prospect for sure, and he did take his goal very nicely. If he works hard and realises his full potential, I'm sure he'll have a decent career in the game. But it was against an already demoralised and knackered Lowland League side who were too fucked to be able to put in even half a challenge. It's unlikely he'd get that amount of time and space inside the box in the Championship. So that goal is not indication in itself that he's ready yet for the Championship (if that's indeed what you're suggesting). I think that based on his long career as a professional footballer and now over 2 years managerial experience, we can safely assume that Dougie has accumulated far more football knowledge than any of us (except of course for Eredevisie superstar DOT). And he works with these guys every day on the training pitch and therefore knows their individual strengths and weakness in detail. So based on that, and the fact that his calls on players he's released have been pretty much 100% correct, I'm more than happy to trust his team selection judgements. He'll not get every decision right of course, but the evidence is clear that he gets far more of them right than wrong.
    2 points
  38. 2 points
  39. Don't come on here much most of the regulars usually sum up things pretty well but when you see blatant cheating like that you have to point it out. As everyone seems to agree it wasn't the reason for the result. The game finished at 5.00 because of their antics but we could've played until Dundee United turn up on Tuesday and still never scored.
    2 points
  40. Bad day at the office, without Oakley we have no threat, back to the drawing board. No point in tears and snotters, we just had a record-breaking run and now we're back down to earth, it'll happen. Got to stay right behind Dougie and the team.
    2 points
  41. Aye, it was me. But Boogs corrected me. Three bookings for a suspension.
    2 points
  42. Stewards too busy telling 6 year old they can't sit on a barrier
    2 points
  43. 2 points
  44. I think money and people struggling has a lot to do with. Prices these days are crazy for everything and £22 most Saturdays without factoring in the cost of fuel or food a pint etc is a lot to ask people to shell out. However if we can't attract more people when we are now 16 games unbeaten and the most positive atmosphere around cappielow in probably about twenty years then its only going to get worse just over 2000 at a home game is about the standard and unless there is a good away support I can't see that changing.
    2 points
  45. Inverclyde is an area struggling in many ways and encouraging new fans along is a major challenge. I have always believed success on the park is the most important factor. I am not sure how much more the Club can do but that does not mean it should not try. At least, at the moment, there appears to be momentum to ensure GMFC is central in the community and hopefully this will slowly result in improved attendances.
    2 points
  46. I’m sorry to hear this, but at the same time am happy for the big man if he is in a position to step back and enjoy his retirement. Andy’s presence will really be missed about the club - his co-commentary was brilliant during the lockdown broadcasts and I’ve always enjoyed has company on hospitality days etc. He was also kind enough to record a really nice message for my friend on his wedding day which I played during my best man speech. I know that it’s usually done when retiring from playing as opposed to 40 years later, but I would like to see a testimonial game organised for him in recognition of his service to the club over the years
    2 points
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