Leaderboard

This is starting to get on my tits. Some fucking random make a stupid statement and all of a sudden it's fact. Fuck off. If Imrie leaves to go to Hamilton then so be it but until such times as he, or the club confirm it, can we please treat it as the pish it is. I see on Twitter the Morton fan's page demanding clarification on the rumours. Get fucked. If we're now insisting that every piece of shit rumour is addressed by the club we're going to need a full time shite shoveller. No rumours ever emerged that Gus McPherson was going to take over at Tinpot FC or Arse Biscuit United because he was a complete fucking charlatan. Dougie has done a good job but we finished below Hamilton so why on earth would they pay their manager 2 years compensation plus whatever Morton were entitled to?

Would you say that the sweetie women who generated those rumours should be chained to the fountain at Clyde Square and egged like a Thatcher statue?

Turns out Cappielow isn't the advertising hotbed Mr Mceleny thought it would be. Will need to bring an extra cushion to cappielow next season after getting his arse skelped so badly.

(Photo- Gary Bradley) Out With The Old And In With The New… A Review of Morton’s 2021-22 Season, Part One. By Russell Gordon. After the rollercoaster ride that was season 2020-21, most Morton fans would’ve quite happily accepted a season of mid-table mediocrity with any realistic fears of relegation being extinguished as early as possible, even if there was no real danger of us threatening the play-offs at the other end of the table. Sounds boring on the surface perhaps, but whilst that was exactly what we got, it could hardly have been described as an uneventful campaign. With fans’ group MCT getting their feet under the desk before officially announcing the purchase of the club from an increasingly unpopular Crawford Rae in September, all eyes were on which direction the club would take and what lessons had been learned from the calamitous last few years of the Golden Casket era. It didn’t start well. Having scraped to survival, manager Gus MacPherson was handed a two-year deal as a reward for his “achievement”, which raised many an eyebrow amongst sections of the support who were somewhat underwhelmed by the former Queen’s Park and Queen of the South boss’s performance in failing to avoid the relegation play-offs in the first place. MacPherson’s first signing was to cause even more concern- former Morton trialist Alan Lithgow came in from Livingston on a two-year deal. Whilst Lithgow’s injury record can’t be ignored, the main bone of contention for many was a criminal conviction he attained in his younger days for an offence that a lot of fans found unpalatable. Former Raith striker Gozie Ugwu was charged with the unenviable task of trying to provide the goals for MacPherson's struggling side. (Photo-Gary Bradley) There were of course re-signings and departures again- Robbie Muirhead was handed a new deal, owing in no small part to his play-off heroics, whilst stalwarts such as Gary Oliver, Brian McLean, Cameron Blues, Michael Ledger and club captain Kyle Jacobs came back for more. Former Hibernian and Sheffield United midfielder Stephen McGinn was lured to title favourites Kilmarnock, whilst Ayr United boss David Hopkin decided to raid his former club for some of the stars who brought him so much success in his time at Cappielow. Few tears were shed over the loss of Cameron Salkeld and in particular Sean McGinty, but the losses of Markus Fjortoft and Aidan McAdams to the Honest Men weren’t greeted with the same relief or joy down Inverclyde way. Wingers Aidan Nesbitt and Craig McGuffie departed for League One minnows Falkirk, ultimately contributing to their heroic efforts to avoid the drop to League Two, which was nice for them. Joining Lithgow at Cappielow were Raith Rovers’ forward Gozie Ugwu, who brought a much-needed physical presence to the front line, and former Dundee and Hearts goalkeeper Jack Hamilton- a signing that was perhaps unfairly mocked by many observers. Only time would tell if those calls were fair or not. Former ‘Ton full back Mark Russell would also return, having enjoyed a successful spell at Finn Harps in Ireland. It would be fair to say that in those early weeks of the season, the squad seriously lacked depth and experience, and just to exacerbate that problem, Morton were hit by a COVID outbreak on the eve of the season’s kick off. After a couple of dull pre-season friendlies; a 0-0 draw behind closed doors at Dumbarton and a 2-0 win over Cumbernauld Colts at Broadwood (God, I miss Highland tours), the intention was to start the League Cup campaign with a trip to Stranraer, for a game for which travelling fans were officially banned from attending due to the restrictions. Those who chose not to travel didn’t miss anything- the match was called off on the morning as a result of Morton’s failure to raise a team due to the outbreak at Cappielow, and Morton were forced accept a 0-3 defeat. Incredibly though, Morton were able to field a team against East Kilbride only three days later, on a day of confusion as the club and the Telegraph told conflicting stories about whether the game would or would not go ahead, and whether anyone would be able to attend or not. In the end, the game was played behind closed doors in what was a bit of a public relations faux pas on the club’s part. With Gus MacPherson also in his sickbed, a shadow Morton team toiled to a 0-0 draw with their Lowland League counterparts, prevailing 5-4 on penalties to take the bonus point going into the game with top seeds Kilmarnock. With Morton effectively out of the tournament through very little fault of their own, the trip to Rugby Park, in front of a limited number of home fans brought room for optimism as Morton led for the vast majority of the match- young Lewis McGregor’s fine early strike was only cancelled out in injury time before the hosts went on to take the bonus point in a penalty shoot-out. The curtain came down on Morton’s brief campaign with a 2-1 victory over Clyde at Cappielow, as Robbie Muirhead took up where he left off in May with a double to crush any hopes the Bully Wee may have had of progression to the knock-out phase of the competition. With Morton’s interest in the League Cup meeting a premature end, focus moved onto the start of the league campaign, with much-fancied Dunfermline Athletic visiting relegation favourites Morton on the opening day. In front of a crowd that was again limited only to home fans, Morton could’ve considered themselves unfortunate not to collect all three points, having led through a first half Gary Oliver penalty against his favourite opponents. But in the end it took a Lewis McGrattan cross looping into the Pars’ net to salvage a draw as the Fifers claimed a rare, but memorable Cappielow point. Three points were to follow for Morton the following week at Hamilton, as Gozie Ugwu’s first half strike proved enough to separate the visitors from the newly relegated Accies, in spite of the ordering off of Cammy Blues late in the game. Four points from six, all was well in the world. But Morton being Morton, quickly dispelled any thoughts that we might have been in for a good season by losing 2-3 at home to early strugglers Queen of the South, and rounded off August with a 0-3 trousering at the hands of Partick Thistle in Glasgow. MacPherson had some major surgery to perform on the squad as the month reached its conclusion and the clock ran down on the summer transfer window. To be fair, corrective action was taken, with Mansfield striker Jimmy Knowles, Newcastle winger Tom Allen and centre back Oisin McEntee, and Brentford midfielder Jaako Oksanen (the latter two under-21 internationals for the Republic of Ireland and Finland respectively) came in the door, along with Livingston striker Gavin Reilly, all on season-long loans. Livingston loanee Gavin Reilly endured a difficult first few months of his Morton career. (Photo- Gary Bradley) The Challenge Cup, now known as the SPFL Trust Trophy, returned after a year in abeyance and Morton were handed a trip to Airdrie to face… Celtic B (?) Morton won 3-1, and that’s really all that needs said about such a farce of a fixture. We move on. September wasn’t to prove a vintage month- a respectable performance at Rugby Park saw the ‘Ton fall to a late Rory McKenzie winner for Kilmarnock before falling by the same scoreline to Raith Rovers at Cappielow the following week. Despite the beautiful sunshine that early autumn afternoon, the storm clouds were gathering over Cappielow. The month was rounded off at Somerset Park as Morton were reacquainted with a former boss in the week that we were freed from the shackles of Crawford Rae and finally became a community-owned club. That boss however, was to be Jim Duffy; successor to David Hopkin, who had already been emptied by the Ayrshire club as a result not only of their own slow start to the season, but also of fan mutiny against Hopkin. What we got was one of the worst football matches you’re ever likely to see, between two absolutely horrible teams to watch, which ended goalless. Gus MacPherson and his backroom staff suffer through the turgid 0-0 draw at Somerset Park like the rest of us. (Photo-Gary Bradley) It was becoming increasingly obvious that Morton were going to endure a difficult season- the football was turgid and the support was becoming increasingly impatient with the manager. But whilst the Raith and Ayr games were truly awful, it’s perhaps more concerning when you play well and don’t get your rewards. When high-flying Arbroath came calling, few would have fancied Morton to take anything from a game against the league’s surprise package. With Jack Hamilton being beaten by his brother Colin on the cusp of half-time, Morton could’ve easily retreated into their shell, but an excellent second half performance, with a goal from Gary Oliver seconds after the restart, and a fantastic Cammy Blues strike to give Morton the lead, looked to have given us the three points. Lady Luck had other ideas though, and Oisin McEntee was harshly punished for the use of an elbow late on and Michael McKenna duly converted the resultant penalty to deny Morton what could’ve been two valuable points. Our saving grace at this point was Dunfermline’s abysmal start under Peter Grant, but surely that couldn’t go on forever? At least there was a break from league duty though, as the SPFL Trust Trophy campaign continued at Links Park. Whilst the rest of the country were enthralled by Scotland’s incredible late World Cup win over Israel, a hardy band of Morton fans travelled up to Angus to see Morton scrape past Montrose on penalties to book a quarter-final tie against Queen of the South. We were to clock up a fair few miles in October, with trips to Inverness for an insipid 0-2 defeat in which Lewis Strapp, who had spent most of the campaign playing in an unfamiliar left centre back role, reportedly felt the wrath of a furious MacPherson; and another uninspiring 0-0 draw, this time at Palmerston, the only highlight of which being Robbie Muirhead’s effort which was unfortunate to hit the bar. An improved performance at home to on-form Partick garnered yet another 0-0 draw which could’ve been more but was probably seen as a point gained rather than two dropped, before Hamilton came calling. An appalling Morton performance incredibly only saw the hosts a goal down deep into injury time when a high and hopeful Jaako Oksanen free kick was headed into his own net by Accies defender Reegan Mimnaugh to prevent a Halloween horror show for the ‘Ton faithful. Gary Oliver nets a last minute penalty against his favourite opponents to give Morton a 3-1 win at East End Park (Photo- Gary Bradley) But bad news was just around the corner- Dunfermline had finally decided to wield the axe and relieve the hapless Peter Grant of his duties ahead of a relegation six-pointer against Morton at East End Park. It seemed we needn’t have worried at this point however, as Gozie Ugwu’s goal was sandwiched by two from Gary Oliver (who else?) and Morton eased to three vital points against the Pars. They were to appoint John Hughes as Grant’s successor after that Morton defeat though and immediately got a new manager bounce, with a win at Inverness and a home to Ayr, whilst Morton were losing 0-2 at home to promotion-chasing Kilmarnock and 1-2 at Raith Rovers. The defeat in Kirkcaldy was to prove especially chastening, having led early on through Michael Ledger and meekly surrendered their advantage. A bad day was rounded off by the sending off of Alan Lithgow as tensions boiled over in the away stand, with Lithgow being the target of some fans’ frustrations, and squabbles breaking out in the away end. Alan Lithgow's two yellow cards at Stark's Park were to prove one of the season's lowlights. (Photo- Gary Bradley) With Morton celebrating the 100th anniversary of their Scottish Cup win this season, a cup run would’ve been nice- so a draw away to promotion-chasing Inverness was a most unwelcome development. The manager was under pressure, the board were meeting criticisms with a wall of silence, the fans were at each others’ throats, the relationship between players and fans appeared irreparable. If the winter of 2020 was a winter of discontent, we were bracing ourselves for what the winter of 2021 was about to bring…

Why? Why is it such a stretch to simply believe a lower half, fan owned Championship Club can't stretch it's budget to up an employees wage during a cost of living crisis and said employee rightly just exercises his right to go somewhere else for a better wage. Seeing as the Imrie rumours turned out to absolute pish and the club has actually made half decent improvements in a lot of areas of the last year I can't understand why we continue to have the incessant knicker soaking from the fan base. Good luck to Chris in all his future endeavours, he did a good job while he was here!

We'll still get Motherwell.

The commercial confidentiality point makes it a no vote for me. If you want to buy shares from MCT then the membership of MCT need to know who's buying them. The decision whether to sell to any investor should be for the membership as a whole, not the board of either MCT or GMFC, and therefore the membership need to have the facts about the investors to make an informed choice. No disclosure, no sale.

Probably the match thread for the 1922 Scottish Cup Final.

Yes- as moves go, Chris going from the SNP to Alba was about as successful as David Goodwillie’s from Clyde to Raith Rovers. Never mind.

Coming just a few days after Friday, where the club decided they had no interest in trying to earn an extra £12000 (which they would have got had they won the game against a weakened Arbroath team) by effectively chucking the game by fielding the kids. That's 100 members for the next 12 months worth of income.

I largely agree with the rest of your post but do not understand this premise. Why should we need to raise money to 'put a decent team on the park'? That's what season tickets, gate reciepts, league prize money, hospitality, sponsorship and cheap tat merchandise are all for. That's how other professional football clubs generate revenue and if you convert 60% of that into a first team wage budget then that's you sorted in lower league Scottish football. MCT should not just be boosting the wage budget through capital investment and outside investors shouldn't be doing it either. If that's their pitch, then they shouldn't be darkening the door of the club because that's the Dundee route to yet another admin event right there. If outside investors want to partner with MCT to run the club professionally and use their investment to develop the revenue generating capacity of the club, then that's another thing entirely. There's clearly scope for developing the stadium and the area around it in a way that suits the club and private Investors, and we absolutely need a revenue stream that is not dependent on match days. So long as the plans are transparent and the terms reasonable, then we should IMO be open to that because I don't see (and never have) 100% fan ownership being the most effective model to drag us into the 21st century.

I can't say where it ranks globally but it's an amazing piece of work: The trophy's not bad either.

I'm sure his 2 goals in 2 seasons made all the difference.

We watched the Rae's run our club to the point of irrelevance with barely a word being spoken by half the fan base. Now because there are questions about how tough things are we are hearing that the Rae model might have been a better idea. This is going to be hard and anyone who thought it was going to be a stroll and that mistakes and missteps would never happen need to adjust their expectations.

What is questionable about the viability of the ownership model? It is owned by a fans' organisation and there are no debts beholden to anyone. There are certainly valid questions about the viability of full-time football and about the viability of a club business model that so heavily relies on matchday revenue, but those are club issues, not ownership issues. They were there when GC was busy writing indefinite and near club-killing IOUs to itself (which curiously received a fraction of the concern from the fanbase in any given season than the current regime), and they'll still be there if the mythical, dreamboat outside investor rocks up at Cappielow tomorrow as well.

I had the same issue. The shitshow of a website is something MCT inherited rather than being a mess of their making (cheers Warren) but now we're this far into their tenure anything Morton are getting wrong has to be a reflection on the current owners. This needs fixed; if you have people willing to put £295 into the club you can't end up losing out on that because your website doesn't work and they can't or won't travel to Cappielow or Smiths for it. Mugs like me and most others posting on this forum are going to buy one anyway, but you have to make it as easy as possible for people. If someone's swithering about it and has a moment of 'fuck it, why not?' after a bit of good news or being talked into it by a mate you can't throw an obstacle in their path that makes them decide not to bother.

If the club wants a long-term commitment from Imrie then we have to make the first move. Slap down a four year extension on the table and - here's the important part - we then stick to that five year plan no matter what. No TTG for the management team at least; even if we drop down a level, we back Imrie to build the club up again. We've been through more managers since 2000 then any SPFL club apart from Livingston. Some of them should of course have gone a hell of a lot sooner (see McInally, J.). But it didn't bring overall success to the club under GC and it certainly won't at the moment. If we believe that Imrie is the best candidate we can expect - and I think that we should take that bet - then we should back that up. Any inexperienced manager will make mistakes and there will be bumps along the road - but we should give that security that he's not going to be following so many others out the door. Giving Imrie that security will also give the players that he's targeting the choice of engaging in a genuine long-term project; rather than being the temporary choice for some spare prick who'll be out of the door by Christmas (see McPherson, G.).

I'm not for starting a new topic for it but we need to talk about Rangers* totally bottling a European cup final. It was really good.

Before “David Vize” passes it off as his own news on Twitter, I’m hearing from my Accies mate that they’re about to appoint John Rankin as their new manager.

Can GMFC not just have a fit for purpose website to deal with one of their largest sources of income with minimum fuss - what with it not being 1995 anymore? One that would also make better use of Brendan's time than having to duplicate the paperwork and sort out every single nick made by the club's process in the first place?

Any updates on this one?

Oooft, 126 votes, with the SNP candidate in the same district getting more than 10 times that *snigger*, is a right boot in the haw-maws for him right enough. Hopefully this will keep his daily 'arms folded with smug coupon next to bike lane' pic out of the Tele for a while

Agreed. If we're depending on a decent return from Muirhead and Ugwu we will be disappointed. Reilly while he looks a better bet is hardly prolific and there is sfa coming from midfield. We need to get the majority of the youngsters out on loan to learn their trade in the lower leagues if they are to become anything other than 15 minute bit players Midfield needs a complete overhaul and wasting time arguing the merits of Blues or Lyons is really missing the point. We are a long way from being competitive for the play offs next season and we need radical change rather than some tinkering.

The KKK Bin Pub Review #28 After two years of sanitised drivel that ruined the great bin pub industry of Scotland, its time to get back on the horse and finish the only reputable guide to Greenocks pub scene. We are down to the remaining handful of establishments, before the prestigious KK Kelbie krown is handed out to a worthy winner. And where better a place to pick up where we left off than with a famous contender. Serving the residents of Braeside ever since some daft cunt at the council had the idea to build a scheme to nowhere on the side of a hill, the Burns Lounge has evaded previous KKK reviews by refusing to open at a reasonable hour. No more. The interior plays up to its tribute to the longest lived man to come from Ayrshire, with the added luxury of a ceiling (see KKK Review #27 - The Norseman). Good - The Burns Lounge has a fine selection of spirits. A big boy measure of your finest OVD cooking rum will set you back £1.90. Not outstanding in its category but a bit cheaper than city centre prices. - The Burns offers a carryout service for anyone unfortunate enough to be trapped in Braeside after dark - though its a bring your own shotgun policy. - The toilets provide some worthwhile period features. The cubicle has a bucket to contain the water that has clearly caved the hole in the ceiling above, but that bucket has since been used like those bogging shite paper buckets that you get in Third World countries like Greece. Sadly the Burns' lounge did not get a bonus point for having a shite festering in the bucket, as has been the case with The Norseman. Bad - The selection of pints on offer is basic even by bin pub standards - Tennents, Strongbow and John Smiths. This would not cost the Burns Lounge if the prices matched the offering. Instead, they are charging £3.40 a pint, in fucking Braeside. - Ambience: As likely explained by the pricing policy for pints, the place is as dead as Rangers on a weekend afternoon. A selection of STV banger programmes are all that are put on offer, with no pool table or any other way of distracting you from the Burns' Lounge experience. - Despite being the classic bin pub located in the middle of nowhere, the Burns Lounge did not have the correct range of tonic wines on visible display. Verdict - 1 K/3 A disappointing performance from a front runner on paper. Despite boasting the ideal location for bin pub greatness, The Burns Lounge fails to deliver on most fronts. It is an acceptable place to get in and out for a quick one, but otherwise does nothing to recommend itself. Failing to get the Burns Lounge right is why Ciano Rebecchis party lost all their seats in the council election.

Over the next week or so, we will be combining the Forum and the podcast to bring you our season review coverage. Click below to read part one of Russell Gordon's season review. Just One Cornetto's part one will be live tomorrow.

Excuse my ignorance again but why would an investor want to invest their money for 14% or whatever of Greenock Morton Football Club? We are at best a break even entity and at worst a money leaking liability. What's the incentive to being a minority owner in something you have little power over and aren't ever likely to make a return on your investment? The fact Gordon Ritchie has came out from his cave to interview in the tele regarding this is even more of a red flag for me. Ive had no interactions with him but from the outside he sits in the background pulling the strings while keeping quiet. Not 100% convinced from anything I've seen of him that he has mortons best interests at heart.

Tonight i am mostly laughing at Hamburg.

Two signings, a new strip launch and it’s not even June! How refreshing to have a manager and board that get to work pronto and don’t wait to scrape together the remaining dregs of the transfer market in August! Long may it continue!

Perhaps I'm thick today but I don't understand the correlation between the amount MCT members contribute and the percentage ownership of the club. The example given is this: MCT shareholding drops to 50.1% MCT annual contribution *remains* 180k (same as now - *remains* is the key word, and used in the example) 38.9% was for sale (this being the balance of the 89% currently owned by MCT) To buy those in tranches of 5% - seven such tranches in total - incurs a cost of 18k annually. It is not clear how this 18k is calculated, given that it's 10% of the total of MCT's contribution, for 5% of the club's shares. But this is the example MCT have given so that is the one that I'm going to use. This doesn't track for me because as MCT shares become scarcer - that is, as MCT becomes less of an owner - if that 180k remains in place then the contribution has actually *increased* on a per-share basis. That is, if we're paying 180k for the benefit of owning 89% of the club, that's cheaper on a per-share basis than paying 180k for the benefit of owning 50.1% of the club. As such, the cost of buying these tranches of shares should *increase* as more of them are sold: By the time we're down to 55.1% of club ownership, if the 180k contribution *remains* (as it did in the example), the buyer should instead be asked to contribute significantly more. If 180k contribution at 89% ownership maps to a charge of 18k for 5%, then let's simplify it slightly and call that 200k annually for the full 100% Then our *remaining* 180k contribution at 55.1% ownership maps to a charge of around 325k for the full amount of 100% of the club shares. According to the 18k calculation - 5% of the club's equity mapping to 10% of the MCT contribution, prorated by ownership, the buyer of the final 5% would in fact be on the hook for 32.5k. The alternative is that MCT is not prorating its ownership in this calculation, and that it's being treated as a static figure, and MCT's valulation and the worth of its membership is considered the same whether it owns 100% of the club or 1%, which is a complete absurdity and counter to the articles of association.

The problem with expanding the business through success on the park and league prize money is that you can't actually budget for this unless you are already in the top flight. Otherwise you're taking a wild stab at a certain league position in this division each year. If a combination of dung signings and/or dung manager make you underperform then a shortfall in the finances appears that someone has to fill. It didn't work under GC and it's certainly not going to work without someone writing IOUs to his own family who then get the car park land in return. Next time, it will be the ground itself that gets taken away. We need to focus on building the fundamentals - earning more on matchdays by having a club bar/social club rather than the nick at the corner of Sinclair Street. Having function space and/or office space to generate some revenue outside of matchdays as well. Until we have made a decent attempt at maximising those revenue streams then our first team budget should be a 60% cap on the minimum possible turnover of league and cup prize money, no questions asked. If that means no new contract to Gary Oliver or no longer paying so-called professionals to watch Judge Judy in the afternoons then so be it.

I think this idea may have some merit in that it brings in investment. However there have to be watertight rules to stop an individual or group from building up a shareholding above a certain level, in particular to a level where they can force through a takeover. I have a feeling (may be wrong here) that if someone gets 30% of the shares in a public limited company, they have to make an offer for the rest of the shares. I think there's some other significance to the 75% as well - is it that if someone has 75%, they can compel everyone to sell their shares to them? I'd like a lot more detail on how this plan will work. Will additional shares be issued or will MCT sell some existing shares? We really could so with some explanation of all the possible implications - my initial thought would be not to let the MCT shareholding drop so close to 50% to give a margin for error. Maybe go to 60%. At the end of the day, if we need to raise money to put a decent team on the park, we either have to provide the capital ourselves, or we have to get external funding (I'm ignoring the extra money we would make from a higher league position if either strategy works). I also think that MCT members should be given a power of veto to allow them to vote to block any particular investor if deemed unsuitable or potentially hostile. Investment from friendly sources is probably fine but a degree of caution is needed. Do the MCT board have the knowledge or experience to handle this proposal properly?

No, GMFC should not be putting out an official statement every single time a rumour does the rounds. If people don't want to buy a season ticket then that's fine: they'll just have to pay more when the early bird offer expires. If you want greater clarity then you're free to pay for it.

Another team that won't be back in the SPFL anytime soon, if ever. Shame n'at but if we'd had a pyramid years ago we wouldn't be giving the likes of Cowden a second thought. He returned to them last January in a last-ditch attempt to keep them up. That went well.

Bobby Barr and Andy Barrowman relegated to the lowland league with Cowden.

Very Perfect News.

But wages weren't the issue suggested by you or the poster you quoted. The club being "a shambles" is what you feared the issue was. So I ask again why? Why do you think, currently as things stand, Chris left because he thinks the club is a shambles? Besides the well documented issues with the ticketing website (which is pretty much out of the clubs control) what has occurred recently that points to a shambles within Morton. I disagree slightly on the wages issue too. If we managed to get Chris in on those wages then the salary must be in some way appealing. I'm pretty certain a club like Morton with no big financial backer will constantly be reviewing finances but if there's simply no room to manoeuvre in terms of offering an increase then of course there's an issue with skill retention. Sadly, football is by far not the only industry facing these challenges. My own industry, the railway, is currently struggling with this just now thanks to the pandemic.

Aye because we were such a model club when he applied for the post and accepted the role last summer.

As Dunning says, we're lucky football is the industry it is because in most places, a broken sales funnel is instant failure. But there's only so long we can rely on "ach, they're going to buy it anyway." Even people who have every intention of purchasing might have a change of circumstance in the next week, the next two weeks, and then that's their money gone from Morton. Really have to get a handle on this that doesn't require a lengthy trip to Smith's or Cappielow.

I'll take a 5% commission. Anyway, whilst I get that this is a moot point, upwards of £300 to watch a football club for which even a top-half finish in the second tier of Scottish football is a rarity will never not seem excessively expensive, especially when it's in a stadium which, as much as I love it, doesn't even have hot water taps in the toilets. Ticket prices are what they are, but nonetheless Morton fans are paying premium pricing for a sub-par product - the club's expenditure may well be going up, but so is everybody else's and if that continues then the sheer, blind loyalty that allows that situation to persist ad nauseam might begin to falter. The demise of the streaming option and the signs of what the squad might look like are not huge selling points as it stands, so whilst surviving relegation and the arrival of Imrie have brought a bit of optimism, the club can't just sit back and expect punters to just part with their money without showing there's going to be something in return. As for MCT, I think there really needs to be a serious bit of reflecting on what it actually is. I've had my reservations about the overall project from the off and whilst there has been some progress, I'm not convinced that it's doing the job it could or should be doing. I was particularly struck by the Tele referring to MCT as a "fan investment group" recently. Now obviously that's what it was initially, for good or ill and it's not a new term, but seeing it described as that at this stage of the game was a wee bit jarring, not least because its probably the blunt truth. Is that really what the ownership of a club should be? I really don't think so, but it's hard to avoid the feeling sometimes that it's no more than source of funding and the conduit for a wee clique to entrench themselves in the boardroom with no accountability. I'm not sure exactly what the perfect version would look like, but I think a socio-type model would be the most appealing, whereby there's some kind of rewards/entitlements based on contributions. For example, £10 a month would get you £x amount off strips, %y discount of hospitality, access to a couple of events throughout the year etc - the SSC membership is probably a good comparison for a basic package, with increasing benefits for higher contributions, edging towards the Business Club thingy. All of this as part of a revamped organisational structure that had clear aims, hierarchies, targets etc etc, and the clear understanding that MCT representatives on the board were there on behalf of members and accountable directly to them and not just there on a free-lunch ticket.

Three years ago today Wagner posted this gem. https://fb.watch/cRZYf0QfNL/

Surely we can't take Dougie at his word about his future until a taxi driver's sprog who was at hospitality gives us their latest scoop on what's really going on at the club. Whoever gets a kick out of peddling these nonsense stories needs to take a look at themselves, and the large section of the support/community that obligingly pass on unfounded nonsense without scrutiny need to learn a lesson from this incident as well. This is why we can't have nice things.

The SFA hearing made clear his character. Nonetheless, he's a man with a family. Hopefully for their sake he makes a swift recovery.

I'm fine with the occasional donation drive. Reminding people where the money's going and why is important, otherwise it's just another direct debit to go with streaming services etc., one that people will cut when money's tight or when they start looking at their monthly expenditure. Pointing out that they're still actively getting new memberships and working on the commercial aspect shows that it's not *just* about milking money from existing members, too. I agree the part about the budget is a bit concerning but overall MCT wouldn't be doing their job if they weren't trying to maximize their income from members and trying to get new members. If they own the club, and want the club to progress, then investment is going to be required, and we are the investors. They do, however, need to make it easier to make a one-time donation and to have that tied to your account somehow (so you can see how much you've donated over time.) Right now it's just GoCardless for recurring payments. In the grand scheme of things this is a low priority but a user portal showing how much someone's donated over time, their membership status etc. would be a nice feature as well.

Plucky Falkirk narrowly miss out on a top half finish.

Eredivisie probably a step too far for him at this stage.

Re-posting from the other thread: Owning >50% of a company is of course majority ownership but >75% - as GC had, and MCT now has - is effectively free rein to run the business without recourse to votes. That is, with 75% of shareholding you can (for example) undertake a share issue without a vote. Plenty of other stuff besides. I totally understand why an investor on the sidelines wanting to put money into Morton would want equity of their own. I also understand why preventing the outcome above - preventing MCT from being able to (for example) dilute the investor's shareholding by undertaking a share issue, or materially altering how the club is run - would be important to such an investor. But what I'd like to get out of this meeting is: 1) How does assauging that investor's valid concerns help the club in the long term? That is, if control of the club by MCT - community ownership - is seen as a valuable exercise in and of itself, how does reducing the community owner's ability to act autonomously square with our long term future? In short: if any special resolution is now able to be effectively vetoed by a minority shareholder or group thereof, what good is the 50.1% ownership? 1.1) To that point, the email example says someone might own 5% of the club. Do MCT envision this being so neatly parceled out (they state they'll sell "groups of shares") and, if so, how will this be achieved? In short: what under this model prevents 49.9% of shares ending up in one individual's hands? Or is that not something we want to prevent? 2) One of MCT's aims was to become a 'hub' for larger-scale investors or patrons. Is this tacit admission that this hasn't panned out? Or are these investors simply much bigger than patrons? 3) And for me, the biggest one - how is this enforceable: "In an example of this proposal, if an individual or company purchased 5% of the available shares, we would require them to match your MCT contributions." I will fully and freely admit to not being a UK company law mastermind, but how can such a requirement survive a resale? That is, if GMFC Ltd. and Joe Bloggs make this agreement, and GMFC transfers 5% of the overall shares to Joe Bloggs, then Joe Bloggs immediately sells those shares to Tom Smith, how is Tom Smith liable for anything towards GMFC?

Kabba Cham in 50 years will still be telling the grandkids about that glorious sunny day in Paisley.

Good to have a few more players who's careers have moved upwards after leaving us rather than Cappielow being the career graveyard it normally is.

He was out of contract anyway and they'd put negotiating a new deal off, possibly with a clean break post Goodwillie saga in mind, possibly just because managing only one win in 16 games is going to put any manager's job in doubt regardless of how high their stock was before that run. As it is it looks like whatever Raith's reason for delaying was, they've waited until the end of the season to open negotiations and Falkirk have already came in with a higher wage offer than Raith can match.