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  1. I didn't know the name until about a year ago when I started collecting my data. 100+ is all the more impressive when you consider that we weren't exactly short of regular goal-scorers back then. Scored in a win at Douglas Park, which is hall-of-fame material really. Thoughts are with the family.
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  2. I see the club have announced the passing of Eddie Beaton, who signed in 1956 and scored over 100 goals in only four seasons at the club. I’m no AyrshireTon, but I’d like to think I’m pretty well briefed on the history of the club. Of course, the 50s wasn’t a terribly successful period for Morton, certainly compared to the 60s, but that’s some record, even considering goals were easier to come by back then- am I alone in saying I can’t remember ever hearing of him or his goal scoring feats? Rest in peace, of course.
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  3. Not answering this on MCT's behalf at all but that depends on conducting a sober cost-benefit analysis of running an academy system for the first time in its existence. In the heady blue skies and helicopter thinking days of the Geordie and his Trust mates, we were of course told that the club would be paying nothing at all to build and maintain the setup and this was of course utter bollocks. Our setup subsequently failed to get into the credible bracket of academies that are massively subsidised under the hugely flawed Project Brave scheme to the detriment of any independent competitor. When even the likes of Hibs are rumoured to be putting their youth setup at least on hiatus for the coming season, it's worth questioning whether it's both i) sustainable and ii) rational to keep our own system going when there won't be a pound going spare on other priorities any time soon. The youth players that break through to the first team still in time require professional wages like any other first team signing would: unless there's a queue of suitors waiting to snap them up for a transfer fee then it acheives little tangible value in itself. The MCT statement has indicated that it values the 'they'll support one of their own' argument, which won't be applicable if 'our own' are getting shoed by fucking Montrose on a regular basis. That said, there should be at least equal concern raised about the largely lazy, rent a jobber merry-go-round system that clubs of our size have been using for years. That lower-Championship standard players like Darren Jamieson (Arbroath GK), Paul Paton, Darian McKinnon etc. are instead dropping all the way down to stupid wee outfits in the fifth to seventh tiers in their droves this summer signals a major shift in preferences towards overall financial security versus playing at the appropriate level among professional footballers. As we've also seen ourselves with McHugh's utterly pathetic choice of fourth tier football with King Snake. The bottom of the established full-time footballer market in Scotland is collapsing, which was probably inevitable but has been accelerated by the impact of the pandemic. If/when MCT acquire the reins, identifying a new transfer strategy based on hard-headed reason rather than blind attachment to either of the above models has to be the top priority.
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  4. Just signed up, change is requires as we were stagnant in recent years. The Rae's have done a good job since Scott era but time to move forward and great to see so many fans following suit
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  5. Where are you getting this two season transition period from? Summer of 2021 is next season.
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  6. A really interesting read, many thanks for posting this. I have to admit that I was possibly the fiercest critic of both MCT and Graham McLennan, but I am thoroughly impressed and encouraged by what I have seen/read over the past few days. They have managed to do within the space of little over a year what the GMST were unable to do in nearly twenty years - despite the GMST having countless fundraising events throughout that period plus several representatives on the GMFC board etc. Also, with regards to the Rae Family who have came in for a fair amount of criticism over the years, but credit has to be given to them for turning down a more 'lucrative offer' in favour of MCT. The identity of those behind the 'lucrative' offer is unknown, probably due to non-disclosure clauses etc. However there have been 'local businessmen' with a dubious reputation circling the club for several years now. Their presence was most likely to be off-putting to other potential suitors however credit where it's due to Mrs Rae for preferring the supporters ahead of some local villains who were considered to be 'the only show in town' and inevitable incumbents by so many Morton supporters. I'm personally delighted it's not them who are taking over Morton. Finally, the future is ours to make. It's the start of a journey. Along the way there will be personality clashes, attention seekers, gloryhunters etc. But there will also be a lot of good, honest, well meaning Morton supporters doing the best for the club. If others can do it, why can't we? With this in mind, it's time for a giant leap of faith - I'm finally signing up. The ownership of the stadium remains an issue of concern, but I'm sure that can be overcome. It may be that public funding, grants etc. May be available to facilitate the purchase of the stadium for community purposes - one things for sure is those third sector gravy train types will know what's what in that regards.
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  7. Questions and Answers After Community Ownership Announcement Following the announcement regarding community ownership on Wednesday 8th July, we have been asked a number of questions. We have aimed to answer as many of these as possible below. We have tried to group the hundreds of questions we have received into topics. There will inevitably be more questions, so please do continue to ask these and we will continue to provide answers. Cappielow and the Car Park Not surprisingly, many of the questions from the announcement have been around the ownership of Cappielow and, to a lesser extent, the car park. Questions like the lease fee, can we purchase Cappielow, who will be responsible for maintenance and upgrade costs, how long will the lease run, will Golden Casket raise the rent to unmanageable levels, what if Golden Casket sell the land? We will try to deal with all these issues together. The terms of the lease are still under negotiation. What has been agreed is the outline of the deal. The lease fee or annual rent will be minimal. It will NOT be a market value rent. It will be a repairing and insuring lease, which means that the club will be required to maintain the stadium to at least the same standard as it is at present. This does not preclude us from making improvements to the stadium. The lease will run for as long as MCT is the owner of Morton. The lease will preclude any significant increase in rent – it will continue to be a nominal rent for the duration. Insofar as any purchase of Cappielow is concerned, there are numerous legal options that can be pursued in the lease. For example, there could be an option to buy after a certain number of years, or there could be a clause giving MCT first option to buy should Golden Casket ever decide to sell. We are not saying that these will be included, as the fine print is still being considered, but we can assure you that the future of the club at Cappielow will be protected. We will also publish the details of the lease after it is agreed. What if Golden Casket went into liquidation, or through a change of ownership? This is one of the issues we are aware of and will be writing something into the lease to safeguard the stadium. Once the lease is finalised, we will be able to give further details. Maintenance and Upgrades of Cappielow Another popular question was about maintenance and upgrades of the stadium. Who will pay for these? Can we afford them? The current budget for the club contains a sum for annual maintenance. We anticipate that the club will be able to continue to pay this from the budget. As indicated above, the general maintenance of the ground will be the responsibility of MCT as club owners. The cost of upgrades is more difficult to explain. Depending on the nature of the upgrades, and the terms of the final lease, they may fall to be paid by the landlord, the tenant, or a combination of both. Once the lease terms are finalised, we will publish it. It will be a commercial lease which will be registered as normal, and will be available to view. If the club wishes to upgrade the stadium and the landlord does not agree to pay, the tenant can, if the landlord agrees, carry out and pay for the upgrades themselves. Finances We were also asked questions about how much we need to raise to make the club viable. There is no single answer to that question. We have identified a number of areas where savings can be made, but also recognise the need to raise income. It is not as simple as saying “we need to raise £100,000 per year”. If we raise £150,000, that means we can afford to sign more and better players than we could if we raised £75,000. There is no magic number here. The more money we raise, the better the club will be. Significantly, as MCT has no shareholders, all profits will be ploughed back into the club and not paid out as dividends. Shareholders We were asked whether members of MCT are shareholders and can you sell your shares. The answer is no. MCT has been set up as a company limited by guarantee. We do not have shareholders – we have members. As indicated in our terms and conditions, membership is not transferable. Greenock Morton Budget Are we confident that we can run Morton as a viable business – yes. We truly believe that this can be done. As indicated, we have seen the club accounts and are aware of the issues. We do not think that this is going to be easy. We will need the support, financial and otherwise, of large sections of the community. The more people who support us, the easier our jobs will be! We desperately want to see Morton succeed both on and off the pitch. The more help we get, the more likely it is that we will succeed. Will the current MCT Directors remain in place? We serve at the will of the members. Our first AGM is due, COVID permitting, in August. None of the current directors have indicated an intention to resign, and they are not required to resign this year. Some of them are required to resign next year, but can stand for re-election if they wish. We are a democratic organisation, and whether we remain in place after next year will be entirely dependent on your votes. External Investors We have been asked about external sources of revenue. We are at very advanced stages of discussions with a number of people who have expressed an interest in supporting MCT and Morton. It would be unfair to name those parties at present, but we are confident that we will secure this funding to supplement the monthly contributions from members. How many members do we need? There is no magic number. Our membership has increased significantly over the last few days, and we are grateful to all members for their support. The more people who join, and the more money that they contribute, the more money that we can spend on players, ground repairs and upgrades, and other projects that we would like to develop. Is this a done deal? Effectively it is, although both parties have a “get out” arrangement in March. Nobody wants to see MCT fail in their stewardship of the club. If it becomes apparent that we are not ready by March, the deal may be delayed. None of us, including Golden Casket, want to rush into this and then fail. How far can we go under community ownership? That’s an impossible question to answer. We guess that the only answer would be “as far as the supporters are willing to take us”. The traditional football model in UK has been ownership by a wealthy benefactor. Unless you are playing in the English Premiership, there are few of these. When looking further afield, there are numerous clubs in continental Europe (many of them being very successful) who operate under a fan ownership scheme. There are also a number of successful community owned clubs closer to home in Scotland who we can learn from. What if COVID is an issue for longer than anticipated? That is one of the reasons for the option to defer the takeover for 12 months. We live in uncertain times Morton in the Community This is a separate company, but it runs with close ties to the club. The future links with the Community program will be part of our agreement. We will be a community owned club, and we wish to maintain strong links to the community. We do not envisage any huge changes to the relationship with this program and if anything, we will look to strengthen this. Should we look at a business club to generate income? This is a good idea – thanks to the member who asked – and is something we will consider. Will David MacKinnon remain as CEO? We hope to be sitting down with all key employees of Morton in the near future to discuss their roles going forward. As we said in the webinar, we will be fan owned but not necessarily fan run. We will need the assistance of an experienced chief executive to manage the day-to-day business of the club. Is relying on large personal donations sustainable? We believe it can be. Those who are interested are Morton supporters. It is a better financial model, we believe, to ask 6 people to pay £25k each, plus individual member contributions, rather than one person to pay £250k. If you rely on one person to pay £250k, and they fail or decide not to pay, the club is in serious trouble. We will also be planning to take advantage of efficiencies that can be implemented at the club, as well as looking to generate more income commercially. What about the Youth Academy? We see the academy as both another strong tie to the community, and a great resource for producing talent for the first team. There is no doubt that good young players who are acedamy graduates get stronger support from the fans as “he’s one of our own”. We would like to see the academy continue to thrive, but again this will depend on the post-COVID financial position. If a lottery winner wants to buy the club, what happens? MCT would require to hold a general meeting to discuss this offer before accepting it. The money would then be distributed to members on an equitable basis, as decided by that meeting Who makes the decision on viability in March? That decision will be taken by Golden Casket and MCT together. What have we learned from other clubs? I’m not sure that we have enough space on our website to answer that question, we have had an incredible amount of support and advice from so many other clubs that are either wholly or partly fan owned. Say it quietly, but one of the most helpful groups has been the St Mirren Independent Supporters Association. From the launch of MCT, these groups have offered their advice about funding, structure, liaison with the club, marketing, supporter liaison etc. We genuinely could fill a book with the advice given, and everyone at MCT is very grateful for that help. Supporters Trust Members We have been asked why supporters trust shares have to be transferred to MCT. This is not what we said at the webinar. If former trust members, or indeed any existing shareholder in Morton, wish to donate their shares to MCT they can do this by contacting Morton. There is no obligation for them to do so. We will be seeking to contact individual shareholders in Morton after the takeover is completed. Is there a planning restriction on Cappielow? We understand that Cappielow is zoned by the council as a sports facility. Any change of use would require re-zoning. We are not aware of any request or desire to re-zone the land. Will the Rae family still be involved in Morton? We have not made any decisions about the future board membership, and have not spoken to current board members about their interest in remaining with the club. The Rae family has 20 years of experience of running Morton and that experience would be invaluable to us. The same applies to other board members. There will certainly be changes, but we cannot say, at this stage, what those will be. The other side to this question, of course, is “Do the Rae family still want to be involved with Morton?” We will be asking that question soon.
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