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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?

Is that Richard Foster glaring at Muirhead as Robbie shows the away fans what he was doing with Amy Macdonald on Friday night?

The other spin off is that it allows the fans to identify a bit more with the players. The only positive impression I had about any of them was from a couple of pals that are also mates with Lewis Strapp. Other than that my impression a couple of months ago came from Lithgow and Muirhead cupping their ears to us. It’s not terribly important to a miserable old bastard like myself, but I think it can only be a good thing if it’s allowing younger fans to identify with their personalities and to see them having a laugh. I’ve never actually seen him name checked on the progress in terms of social media interaction, so it’s about time the lad Gareth got a well deserved pat on the back for his hard work. Also really pleasing to see Open Goal turning up at Cappielow today- again, not my favourites, but they’ve got a bloody big following, so a bit of nationwide exposure can only be a good thing.

I’m all for a bit of whataboutery myself with things like this, and interesting that your man fails to mention the Partick fans taunting Dougie with unfounded allegations about his parents, whilst besmirching Muirhead’s character for the heinous crimes of *checks notes* cupping his ears and sticking his tongue out. Hope he and his inbred little brat had a thoroughly shite weekend and the other little Tarquins at Hutcheson’s Grammar steal his lunch money, the little cunt.

Oh my days. That is the most Thistle thing I've ever read. Pure, triple-distilled Hillhead wank. Get it right fucking up him and little Tarquin as well.

We are planning to launch the Morton Disabled Supporters Association this year. If you are interested in joining please email us at: mortondsa@gmail.com. We are also looking for volunteers for the management committee, so also please register interest in that at the same address. We will be run as an independent body and aim to strengthen the links with the club and its Disabled Fans. To ensure fans have their best match day experience. Twitter- Morton_DSA

It's a bit more difficult to put the finger on than with Falkirk- there are specific incidents and behaviours I can point to with that horrible lot, but with Partick it's not quite as obvious, although they really are an odious club. I hate to use current custodians of a club when describing my feelings towards that club as in most instances they're merely passing through, be it for 10 months or 10 years, but Ian McCall really is the prick's prick. Their behaviour after their completely justified relegation in 2020 was despicable, and he continued his snide underhand digs at Murdo McLennan and the SPFL when he appeared on Off the Ball the other week. I couldn't possibly have statistics to hand, but Partick seem to have their viewpoint represented in the media (particularly BBC Scotland) more than any other club out with the big five clubs. Had we been shite enough to be in tenth place when the season was called, I can't imagine for a second we'd have received anything like the sympathy they got. The whining about "only" getting a £150,000 grant when Championship teams got half a million was another belter. If they weren't crap, they wouldn't have gone down, deal with it. And banning the SPFL from attending their poxy little title presentation on a weekday morning last summer so they could have their own wee party and play the victim right to the end was Rangerseque behaviour if ever I'd seen it. Cunts. Speaking of Rangers, this is a club who, at a time they marketed themselves as the "One Team In Glasgow" complained that the SPFL "only" gave them one pre-split home game each against Rangers and Celtic in 2016-17. If they're the "One Team In Glasgow", why would an extra fixture against one of those two clubs be so important to them? The reality is, that the whole reason for their existence is not that they are Partick Thistle, it's that they're not Rangers or Celtic. They don't really represent a community, they're merely there for weird eccentrics, and to oppose everything Rangers and Celtic stand for. What a shite reason for being. Which brings me nicely onto my next point. The one thing they're there to do, they do it dreadfully. "Hullo, Hullo; how do you do? We hate the boys in royal blue; We hate the boys in white and green; So fuck the pope and fuck the queen." We've been over this many times in the past on here, but I've made my opinion on this little ditty perfectly clear every time. Hypocrisy at it's finest, and passed off as humour by a fanbase that get's away with it as they brand themselves as "Glasgow's Great Alternative". Nah, they're fucking scum, just like the other two. I absolute despise their fanbase with a passion, and a few of the Twitter freaks in particular. That lad trying to compare them to the "Arbroath fairytale" last season stank of a toddler crying for the attention of a parent who's trying to deal with the newborn baby brother or sister. Grow up. That guy from Greenock that always seems to try to engage with Morton fans on Twitter is another tosser, and I can think of two others who I won't dignify by alluding to their nonsense. Remember partickthistlelad on here a few years ago that used to come on and try to be pals and preach respect at us? Do one. Stupid gimmicks like that with the strip, and that Kingsley character obviously work well for them and I suppose and you can't begrudge a club doing something that maximises their revenue, but it really is grating. There was a time about 10-12 years ago I was quite annoyed with a lot of Morton fans for taking up their hospitality off for a Friday night game between the clubs (we took a 0-5 doing that night), with Partick coining in a good few quid from our fans when they could've quite easily gone to Morton's hospitality on another day. A few folk weren't happy with my pointing that out, but I'd like to think most of our fans see through their minging lot nowadays, or at least the ones who I speak to. They get my gate money and that's it. No pies, not programmes, nothing. Bare minimum, and I'd urge everyone else to do the same. The only two clubs I apply that rule for are them and Falkirk. Firhill- First of all, it's an absolute shitehole, We know Cappielow, and particularly the stand, isn't great, and away fans often complain about it. But every club provides away fans with some form of seating. They get no worse than our home fans get in the stand, but with 8,000ish seats between the Jackie Husband and the stand behind the goal, deliberately choose to put all away fans in the shitiest part of the ground, in spite of the available alternatives. And let's talk about that stand- is it possible to even take a shite in there? What happens if there's a fire? How on Earth do you get onto the pitch? The place is bogging, and even worse than our main stand in my opinion. How it gets a safety certificate is beyond me. And that bloody pitch. They managed to use that as an excuse for not lasting the pace in the title race last season, having coined in money from Queen's Park, and having had their fingers burnt by letting it out to Glasgow Warriors a decade previous. And why did Morton and Hamilton Accies, for example, two teams who managed to HOUND them on that bog in the second half of last season, cope with that tattie field? Was it perhaps that Partick weren't actually very good, rather than the pitch taking them down to their opponents' level? There have of course been other thoroughly odious individuals associated with their rotten club- most recently Richard Foster got on my tits, but guys such as Derek Johnstone, Bertie Auld, Adam Strachan, Chic Charnley and Gerry Collins spring immediately to mind. Arseholes to a man. Did anyone find McCall's "dugmeat" comment funny last season? If Billy Brown or Gary Naismith said something like that, there's no way they'd get that sort of reaction from the media. It wasn't funny at all. I saw a Dundee United fan on P&B today describing them as try hards- nail firmly on the head. They're a bogging wee club, get them in the bin.

Great, isn’t it? I couldn’t have imagined when walking out of the ground that glorious day in April 2019 just how things would have gone from bad to so much worse for them to the extent that they’re realistically looking at a fourth year in that division, with another monied club coming up from League Two and ready to storm past them towards next year’s title. Even when you consider how much of a shit show we’ve been for most of those intervening years, the Falkirk soap opera’s been fantastic viewing to soften the blow. There’s always someone worse off than yourself, and I for one couldn’t have cherry picked a bigger shower of bastards for that fate to befall. Get it up them.

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?

Their capitulation as a club is nothing short of magnificent. Truly magnificent. Horrible, horrible bastards.

Very pleased to listen to Dougie’s pre-match thoughts. Good on him for playing by the rules and referring to that miserable lot as “Partick” and him addressing the pitch invasions is probably a much more sensible approach than stories in the red tops about fans being banned. Let’s be honest, the weans aren’t going to listen to any of the directors. The main thing I took from it was his point about Reece Lyon though, accepting he was over the top in his criticisms. It would’ve been very easy for him to privately apologise to Reece and move on from there, but publicly admitting he wasn’t terribly fair on his player in the heat of the moment is an admission that he himself isn’t perfect, and should strengthen the trust between him and the player/squad as a whole. If you’re going to publicly criticise folk, you’ve got to be big enough to admit when you were out of line, and to see him doing so strikes me as very good management.

Airdrie SMASH 4 (four) goals past Falkirk in the little league, Leigh Griffiths with the consolation goal. McGuffie, Nesbitt and Telfer all start at Grangemouth for the minnows but it's not enough to prevent a SWORDING at the hands of Ian Murray's dominant Diamonds.

I’m surprised to see no mention of the decision not to appoint a chairman to the board, but to take turns in who has the deciding vote at boardroom level- what an absolute farce. I’ve made it clear in the last few months that I’m concerned about the lack of accountability in the running of the club, and this policy goes no way in easing those concerns. A display of leadership and a preparation to be held individually accountable when things go to shit would go some way to easing those concerns, but am I surprised by the musical chairs policy? Nope, not in the slightest. This strikes me as the board operating a protection racket to look after themselves. The younger guys have something nice for a CV and the old guard can tell their acquaintances up the golf club/bowling club/lodge that they’re the director of a football club to impress them, whilst not actually having to face up to the rank and file- unless of course the questions are collated and vetted by the SLO, and the tricky ones filed away in the nearest bin. It is of course no surprise that the person I believe to be the main organ grinder; Mr. Ritchie, was nowhere to be seen on the video- the cynic in me would suggest a Warren Hawke-style holiday or sickie from him when the club’s AGM comes around. We’re more likely to see Lord Lucan crossing into the box for Maddie McCann to head in the winner at Hampden in May than we are to get answers off of him. There’s been a lot of hilarity about the farcical events at Falkirk’s Q&A the other week, but let’s not kid ourselves, Morton’s current board simply would not put themselves in the position to be lambasted by their support the way the Falkirk lot did. Yes, they came out of it looking foolish, but at the moment, our own board are coming across as self-serving cowards who aren’t prepared to take the rough with the smooth. I’m not sure what’s worse.

To answer Piehutt’s point about my labelling of Gordon Ritchie as arrogant, I’m not going to kid on I’m not privy to the odd wee titbit of information from mates, but it’s up to them to share it with the wider public if they feel the need to. That said, I’ve already alluded on this thread to what I believe to be his quite appalling treatment of Christopher Dodds at Montrose in May, when he apparently threatened to withdraw all his media privileges as a result of Christopher’s criticisms of Captain Calamity Sean McGinty the previous week. On a number of levels, this is just wrong. There’s been a big story about Rangers charging the media £25,000 a season for access and how this is their way of controlling negative output. I fail to see a difference here, other than scale. Do we really want to see the Tele being forced into avoiding criticism for fear of being banned? I’m sorry, but unlike the Rangers support, who seem to see criticism as a personal slight, rather than necessary on occasion, I want to see my club taken to task when things go wrong. It also begs the question as to whether Roger Graham or Jonathan Mitchell, two experienced journalists who had built up a bit of currency in their roles would have been treated in such a way. If not, I’d suggest this behaviour is tantamount to the bullying of a young boy at the early stages of his career, and is quite frankly shameful. I didn’t like a lot of things that the Raes did in their twenty years at the helm, and made my opinions known at the time. But ultimately, it was their club and if I wasn’t happy, nobody was forcing me to support the club. A fan owned club though, should in my opinion hold itself to higher standards as they are responsible to every one of their members and supporters- the people whose money has put them in the position they occupy. I was a bit late to the party when joining MCT as I initially had my misgivings, but I certainly don’t recall being asked to vote for Gordon Ritchie. Others may have been, before I joined up, but in the spirit of democracy, I’d urge everyone to ensure he’s not given another spell in office at either MCT or Morton themselves.

Cadden scores hat-trick for Forest Green but best of all Bombscare McGintys' og fucks up Hopkins weekend.

(Photo-gmfc.net) 1922 And All That- Morton’s Finest Hour And A Half By Russell Gordon One hundred years to the day. A lot has happened since- we’ve had another World War, the creation of the BBC and the NHS, the reconvening of a Scottish Parliament, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, the formation of the EU and Britain’s decision to join and its decision to leave, not to mention the death of our opponents from that famous day amongst many other changes. In football, the World Cup was yet to see the light of day, and European competition hadn’t even been thought of. What isn’t terribly well known is that seven years previously in 1915, Morton had in fact won the War Shield- an equivalent knock-out tournament that was arranged as the Scottish Cup went into an abyss throughout the First World War. Stanley Seymour notched the winner against Rangers in a 2-1 victory as Morton took home the Shield. I can’t find any reports from the final itself but assume Rangers’ goal was a penalty. But it wasn’t until the 1919-20 season that the Scottish Cup was again competed for, after being shelved for five years. Successes for Kilmarnock (having trailed Morton 2-0 in the Semi Final and beaten Albion Rovers in the Final) in 1920 and for Partick Thistle in ’21 must’ve drawn envious glances from Greenock, but Morton’s day was to come in 1922. The club was enduring a stop-start season, with their home form in the league greatly contrasting their form on the road. Morton had suffered only two defeats at Cappielow- a 1-2 loss to eventual cup final victims Rangers in November and a 0-3 capitulation to Clyde in January. There were some notable league wins; 2-1 against Aberdeen, and 5-1 and 4-0 pastings of the previous two seasons’ cup winners; Kilmarnock and Partick, respectively. They failed however, to win away from home until defeating Albion Rovers 2-1 at Cliftonhill on the 3rd of January- the day after that 0-3 home defeat by Clyde! Whilst the away form was disappointing, the greatest indicator of this inconsistent form perhaps came a week after Morton’s demolition of Killie in December as, a week later they travelled to Falkirk (remember them?) and were hammered 0-7. Merry Christmas. On a more positive note, Morton got the upper hand across the two Renfrewshire derbies, winning 2-1 at Cappielow and collecting a point from a 1-1 draw at Love Street. They were to end the season 12th in a 22-team league and finished the campaign drawing with Celtic at Cappielow as the Glasgow side took the title on the final day, but their fans were to be attacked with rivets from the shipyards as the infamous Cappielow riot ensued. Morton's hero of the road to Hampden ,George French would tragically miss out on the club's biggest day. But it was on 28th January the cup campaign kicked off, with a routine 4-0 victory over non-league Vale of Leithen. Goals from Bobby McKay and a George French hat-trick saw the ‘Ton ease through against the Innerleithen side. It wasn’t quite so straight forward a fortnight later though, as a Clydebank side who would eventually be relegated from Division One would prove far more stubborn opposition, cancelling out a first half McKay opener to earn a Valentine’s Day replay on their own turf. There was to be no cup romance for the underdogs though, as Morton made no mistake second time around. It was the McKay and French double act again that were to make the difference- this time a first half double from the former, before the latter added a third in the second half. A last minute Bankies consolation took a bit of gloss off a fine result, but Morton had negotiated what could’ve been a very tricky replay with minimum fuss. Next up was the visit of Clyde to Cappielow in Round Three, which saw a resounding victory against the Bully Wee, gaining revenge for that league reverse the previous month. No prizes for guessing where the goals came from- McKay netting the first before French’s double sent Morton in 3-0 up at the break. With the clock running down, Alex McNab added a fourth before Morton keeper Davie Edwards was denied a shut-out by another last-minute consolation. There was to be a major upset on the day though as eventual champions Celtic were knocked out by Hamilton Accies, 3-1 at Douglas Park. A door had been opened for Rangers to end their 19-year hoodoo without collecting the cup. Or so they thought. Trainer William Kennedy and Manager Robert Cochrane plot the downfall of Rangers. Onward it was to Fir Park for a Quarter Final tie that would send a chill down the spines of Morton fans in modern era. Whilst our two cup defeats of the last couple of seasons there have been not only respectable, but very unfortunate, we’ve seen a 0-2 a 0-3, a couple of 0-4s and a 0-6 in both the Scottish and League Cups in my time watching Morton, just off the top of my head. But in 1922, Morton were to come out on top- the only time they have ever won at Fir Park in the Scottish Cup. In a thrilling tie, Alf Brown was to give the visitors a first half lead, and it took until the 75th minute for the Steelmen to restore parity. Any hopes they had of heading to Cappielow for a replay were dashed four minutes from time though as George French was again to prove the hero for Morton, banging home the winner for the good guys. Semi Finals, here we come! The Semi Finals saw champions Rangers play cup holders Partick Thistle and Aberdeen face Morton. With both Hampden and Celtic Park being used for league games on the day of the Rangers v Partick tie, it was agreed that Ibrox would host the tie between the two Glasgow clubs. It’s been suggested that money may have changed hands in order to soften the Jags’ stance on neutrality, but those were never proven, and I can’t imagine that two clubs with such proud moral fibres would ever indulge in the passing of brown envelopes, so we’ll move swiftly on. 58,000 saw the holders fall to the Light Blues; Rangers winning 2-0 thanks to a goal from Geordie Henderson and a Sandy Archibald penalty (of course). George French doubles Morton's lead in the Semi-Final win over Aberdeen at Dens Park. (Photo- The Courier) But it was a trip to Dens Park for Morton to face the Dons in front of 25,000 on the 1st of April. There were to be no April Fools on the Morton side though, as the Greenock’s finest produced a scintillating performance to shock the favourites and proceed to the first Scottish Cup Final in their history. Once again, George French was to prove the hero with a first half double, which was added to by Alex McNab in the 52nd minute. Again, Morton were to concede late on, but the damage was done, and we were in the cup final! There was only the small matter of Rangers in the way of Morton and glory. How Cup Final Day looked a century ago from Mount Florida. So, Hampden it was- in front of 75,000 people one hundred years ago today. Morton were undoubtedly the underdogs, and were dealt a massive blow with the absence of star striker George French on the big day through injury. That the man who had scored nine goals en route to Hampden would miss out on Morton’s big day, and against their toughest opponents of their cup campaign, was a terrible disappointment for both the player and boss Robert Cochrane. The final itself wasn’t a classic, with difficult weather conditions not helping to make a spectacle of a game that was reported to have been littered with fouls, so much so that Rangers were reduced to ten men, with captain Andy Cunningham forced to retire with a broken jaw in those days before substitutions were permitted. Oh well, never mind. Morton's hero on the big day, Jimmy Gourlay was the first player ever to score from a free kick in a Scottish Cup Final. By that point however, Morton were already a goal to the good. Rangers’ keeper Willie Robb had been penalised for overcarrying the ball from his box and Jimmy Gourlay scored from the resultant free kick to give Morton a twelfth minute lead. The ‘Ton were forced to defend for long spells to hold onto their lead as Rangers’ winger Alan Morton tormented the underdogs’ defence all afternoon and a succession of corners came to nothing before the referee’s final whistle signified the single greatest moment not only in Morton’s then 48-year history, but in the history of sport, and possibly in the history of anything, truth be told. It was the job of Provost W.B. McMillan to accept the trophy on Morton’s, and the town’s behalf, his last duty as Provost a month before his death, having acted as Morton’s President for some 27 years. Champagne was borrowed from Queen’s Park as Morton had, perhaps cautiously decided not to pack any for their big day, but the celebrations weren’t quite in full swing as the team caught a train to Hartlepool for a friendly which had been previously arranged for Monday the 17th. On their return to Greenock, 10,000 gathered at Cappielow to toast their heroes and the cup took its rightful place in the Cappielow boardroom (or pavilion, as it probably was at the time). A cartoon depicting Morton's day of glory in the Hampden rain. There were three remaining league fixtures after the final, including of course that draw that saw Celtic take the title on the final day before being sent on their way after a day of violence on East Hamilton Street as Cappielow attracted it’s biggest ever crowd, officially 23,500; but whilst that day belonged to Celtic, nothing was ever going to detract from Morton’s monumental achievement in bringing the cup to Greenock for what to date, was the only time ever. When will we see their like again? Scottish Cup Final, 15th April 1922 Greenock Morton (Gourlay, 12) 1-0 Rangers Morton: Edwards, McIntyre, R Brown, Gourlay, Wright, McGregor, McNab, McKay, Buchanan, A Brown, McMinn. Rangers: Robb, Manderson, McCandless, Meiklejohn, Dixon, Muirhead, Archibald, Cunningham, Henderson, Cairns, Morton. Referee: T Dougray (Bellshill) Attendance: 75,000. Thanks to Leon Mooney for his copies of archive match reports, the images provided and for fact checking the article. Other information taken from The Official History of the Scottish Cup: The Story of Every Season 1873-2016, by David Potter and Phil H Jones. All uncredited images are courtesy of Leon Mooney.

I know MCT have spoken about their links with other fan organisations before and how the sharing of expertise can be beneficial, FOH being one of them. I don't doubt that building and maintaining relationships like these can be useful, especially so when MCT were first starting out and advice from organisations who'd already successfully handled a fan takeover would have been invaluable, but I hope that generally they're discerning about who they should build links with and remember that ultimately these organisations are also running competitors to the club. I note that Falkirk have also got a fan subscription scheme up and running, Falkirk Supporters' Society, planning to build up to a 26% stake, and have had over 200 fans sign up. I also noted that in an online discussion around increasing membership one of their appointed spokesmen stated that "fucking Morton" have managed to have over 850 members. I'd hope that, even aside from the obvious that it's Falkirk, that kind of condescension would ensure MCT wouldn't give such an organisation the steam off their pish if they were to come looking for a working relationship.

Will MCT be tolerating discussion of a club employee whose clownshoes decision-making will get us relegated the season anytime soon? I'd like full disclosure on how the decision to offer a two year deal was arrived at, so that I know who to blacklist for all future MCT elections to the board. And we should also turn our attention to those on the GMFC board, whose track record in decision-making that affects the first team has been utterly disastrous. If fan ownership is to mean anything, it means accountability for the decisions made by representatives.

I don't think this really addresses the problems most people have (which the update seems to partially attempt to do). MCT is the conduit to the club for its members. The people running things at the club need to be visible and accountable to these members as they wouldn't be there without them. It doesn't really matter if they are on both boards or not so I don't think there's any confusion as the update suggests. The fact there is a crossover actually makes it a bit worse for me though. Most members haven't heard a word from the people who've been on both boards (apart from a few snippets from Graham Barr) so there should 100% be more transparency here as there is (or was) a direct link from MCT member to these MCT board members through the MCT channels. The obvious example is that Gordon seems to be the main decision maker and is running things at the club (which is a privilege he only has because of the members) but has been totally anonymous and the impression most have (rightly or wrongly) is he doesn't take on any accountability. This is a direct result of a lack of transparency and might not actually be the case. Like it or not, the main thing for members is how the club is run and not how MCT itself is. The relationship between the two separate bodies and how fans get involved and updated needs to be the focus, not who's on the MCT board doing marketing, etc. Even if over time it is the case that the club is more at arms length from MCT, when the mood amongst the fans isn't good there's no excuse for MCT not being proactive in addressing concerns with the club and relaying these back to fans asap. There's clearly some unrest now with significant concerns being raised over a few months (using here and Twitter as a guage). An SLO led Q&A wouldn't have been needed as much if MCT were proactively updating on what's happening at the club and there was more transparency across the board. As it stands, the impression most people have is that the board members have free reign with no accountability and there's no acknowledgement that they're in that position because of the MCT membership. Edit to add - the updates are appreciated and the last paragraph might be a frustration the MCT board share so are essentially caught in the crossfire and taking the flak (I obviously wouldn't expect an answer on that from an individual!).

(Photo- www.tellhimhespele.com) The Flying Finns by Russell Gordon Tuesday's deadline day drama certainly had us all glued to our phones, in what was perhaps the most exciting day of positive movement in and out of Cappielow since the inception of the windows, around a generation ago. Even when Douglas Rae opened the purse strings in the January of 2015 to bolster our promotion charge with the signings of Peter MacDonald, Ross Forbes and the re-signing of Declan McManus, our enthusiasm was tempered by the farcical nature of Michael Tidser's arrival in spite of his ineligibility to actually play until the following season. But with the arrival of Finland Under 21 international Jaako Oksanen on loan from Brentford, it was only natural that those of us of a certain vintage looked back fondly to Nordic influxes of days gone by. I wouldn't be doing them justice to attempt to write about the Great Danes of the 1960s, such as Kai Johansen, Carl Bertlesen, Borge Thorup, Jorn Sorenson, Preben Arentoft and the man in black, Erik Sorenson; but my memory does stretch back to the arrival of Finland internationals Janne Lindberg and Marko Rajamaki in the autumn of 1994. We were first exposed to Janne a month before his arrival at Cappielow when he played for Finland in their opening Euro '96 qualifier against Scotland, inadvertently assisting John Collins' goal as his clearing header fell nicely on the Scotland midfielder's left foot, for him volley the national team into a 2-0 lead in Helsinki, a result Scotland would hold onto as they started what would become a successful qualifying campaign. One of world football's most iconic figures of the 1990s... tussles with French midfielder Didier Deschamps. (Photo-Getty Images) The autumn of 1994 wasn't a happy time at Cappielow. The club had been relegated to the Second Division for the first time in their history, amidst a season-long injury crisis the previous year, and league reconstruction that saw Morton being amongst five clubs relegated from the First Division. A stuttering start to the campaign in '94 did little to suggest that Morton would be pushing for a speedy return to the First Division though, only for them to turn up at Shielfield Park in Berwick with two trialists from Finnish club MyPa47 in the ranks. The result on the day wasn't to be a positive one, as Morton fell to their third league defeat in a row, 1-2 to the hosts having previously fallen 0-1 to Clyde at Cappielow, and suffered a 0-3 hosing at Palmerston Park. But it didn't take Allan McGraw and the board long to decide to take the plunge on Janne and Marko, and a fee of £250,000 found its way to Kouvola, unthinkable for Morton in these times. The signings of the Finns were by no means a quick fix, as results remained inconsistent towards the festive period. Whilst over a quarter of a century has passed, and my memory could be playing tricks on me, the Scottish Cup tie against Kilmarnock in my mind proved to be the turning point of the season, against what was a very good Premier Division team at the time. My standout memories from the 0-0 draw at Rugby Park in late January were Stephen McCahill's header narrowly clearing Dragoje Lekovic's crossbar to deny us a shock win, and the imperious performance on Janne on the day. Alas, Morton were to suffer a narrow extra time replay defeat by the Ayrshire men at a bouncing Cappielow, but kicked on from there, with three wins in February, including an absolutely crucial 1-0 win over Stenhousemuir, only a week after their incredible Scottish Cup slaying of Aberdeen; courtesy of a goal and fantastic performance from Marko. But Morton being Morton, it was never going to be that easy, and a sticky patch in March kept things interesting in what was to be a four-way battle for promotion between ourselves, Dumbarton, Stirling and Stenny. Things were to come good the following month though with crucial wins against East Fife and Clyde, before a memorable 4-3 win on their return trip over the border set up what was effectively a title decider against Dumbarton. Of course, it was all to end joyously, as Marko's incredible goal put the icing on the most delicious of cakes, and we retook our place in the second tier at the first time of asking, bagging a nice little silver pot in the process. Derek McInnes was to win the Player of the Year award, but it would be foolish not to acknowledge the contribution of our two imports. Whether Morton would've been in the promotion race without them is seriously doubtful. A couple of awestruck admirers watch on as Janne launches a Morton attack at Ibrox in 1995. (Photo- Chris McNulty) What wasn't in doubt though, was that Morton with their two Finnish stars were a force to be reckoned with, as they took the following season by storm, with Janne, Derek McInnes and Alan Mahood pulling the strings in midfield and Marko providing a flair on the wing that is still spoken about in glowing terms even now. Whilst there were a number of great performances and results that season, particularly early on, it was on Morton's visit to St. Mirren in late September that Marko perhaps produced his finest performance in a Morton shirt, as he absolutely tormented the Saints defence in a 4-1 win, cementing his place not only in the hearts of the Morton support, but as a hate-figure amongst the Buddies faithful. What a man. Of course, that incredibly exciting team was to come up just short, owing in no small part to the departure of Derek McInnes to Rangers and the season-ending injuries to Janne and Alan Mahood. Marko was to continue to do his bit to drag us through, with vital goals in the run in against Hamilton, both home and away and an admittedly howling miss in the vital 1-0 win at home to fellow promotion hopefuls St. Johnstone. He was of course to equalise in the final day showdown against Dundee United, but Morton were left to rue their misfortune and look forward to the following season. Marko leads the charge in a 3-0 win against Clydebank at Cappielow, on the opening day of the 1996-97 season. (Photo- Chris McNulty) The 1996-97 campaign was to prove both players' final season at the club, and was an anti-climax for us all, as a much-fancied Morton failed to live up to expectations, finishing the season in eighth place, comfortably clear of relegation, but miles away from a promotion play off place, never mind runaway champions St. Johnstone. There were to be highlights, however- Marko's early season winner against Falkirk was delightful, as winners against Falkirk tend to be, and there was the incredible League Cup tie against Aberdeen which ended in a 3-7 defeat, with Morton coming from 0-2 down with 15 minutes of normal time remaining to lead 3-2 going into the last minute, only to suffer another hard-luck story. In truth, with promotion becoming a more remote prospect as the season progressed, McGraw put all his eggs into the Scottish Cup basket, with a fine replay win against Dundee setting up a quarter final with Kilmarnock at a near capacity Cappielow. There was to be no hard-luck story to this cup defeat though, as Morton were resoundingly trounced 2-5 by Killie, in spite of a brief second half fightback. As the season petered out, and the players' contacts ran down, their departures became inevitable and a really thrilling, but oh so brief chapter in Morton's history was to reach its conclusion, to be succeeded by the Scott era, which I'm sure is an article or two for another day. Janne was to go onto pastures new in Germany with FC Saarbrucken before finishing his career back at MyPa47 and embarking on a career in coaching in his homeland, whist Marko was to enjoy brief stints at Hamilton and Livingston, even playing against Morton for the Accies, also finishing his career in his native Finland, with TPS Turku and enjoying a successful coaching career. Both have returned in the intervening years to visit, Marko turning out in a testimonial in 2006 as well as attending a game against Hamilton in 2012 and receiving a rapturous reception. To my knowledge, Janne hasn't made a match on his return, but his daughter Nanne has been a vocal supporter of the club through her social media accounts, so it would be rude not to give her devotion to the cause a mention! Since their departure, we've seen Jani Uotinen flying the flag and collecting a Third Division winners' medal in 2002-03 for his troubles and Jonatan Johansson's fast flowing, easy on the eye (or something like that) brand of football help us secure safety in the rollercoaster 2018-19 season. Let's be honest though, Morton fans love a signing from that part of the world, and will surely take to Jaako. No pressure, but there are some pretty big shoes needing filled, young man! Thanks to Jonathan Mitchell for his contribution into the research for this piece and to Chris McNulty for his help with archive photographs.

Ordered an Uber today and my driver was none other than Andy McLaren. Good to see him looking happy and healthy.

I see the weekly Tuesday epistle to the Telegraph called for MCT to seek 'outside investment' in the club, based on that risible sweetie wummin tale doing the rounds after Saturday's game. That letter to the Tele was of course far from alone in voicing those sentiments. We're not even twelve months rid of the Raes and yet fans have already been clambering to cancel their subscriptions and have some 'investor' take over the club based on absolutely nothing of substance whatsoever. This is why we can't have nice things. Regardless of how long the current manager stays at the club, it is bewildering to see how easily some rumour spread like wildfire among the support, and how few people even waited for evidence never mind the MCT side of a *non-existent story* before declaring who was in the wrong and ushering in a change of ownership as a result.

Proof if needed why fan owned isn't fan run. If you want Morton to make money off their facilties then you can't have a caveat that it's only fine as long as it's not people you don't like. The club aren't going to run a survey before every booking. People are actively generating bad publicity for the club to pursue personal agendas.

That was the most I've enjoyed an away game since the 4-0 at Queen of the South, what a tremendous day out. That atmosphere was something else. In general this is probably the most positive I've felt about Morton since those back to back wins over Partick and Dunfermline in 2012. Obviously we've had some individual great games and good seasons since, but even in 16/17 we didn't have such a maintained feeling of a club moving in the right direction. That optimism is pretty much all down to Imrie. It's early days and everything, we have a summer ahead where we're going to lose some of our best players and we need to see how he does with a summer transfer window, but what he's done in the space of 15 games is absolutely incredible. There's a togetherness and positivity among the support that we probably haven't had since 2004. He's not just transformed the careers of players like Muirhead, he's transformed the whole mentality of the club in less than five months. Now that survival is realistically secured, the board should be putting a two or three year deal in front of him tomorrow. If he maintains a PPG record like this into next season he'll be turning heads at bigger clubs before long, but let's give ourselves the best shot at keeping him and protecting ourselves financially if he is going to move on.

10th (TENTH) league defeat for the hapless 'Bairns' today - turned over effortlessly by crack outfit 'Montrose'. 22 (TWENTY TWO) points off top spot after the same number of games played. Bottom half of the table beneath 'Clyde', with a negative goal difference. The gift that just keeps on giving.

(Photo- Source Unknown) Five of the Best- Scottish Cup Upsets by Russell Gordon The Scottish Cup. Quite simply the greatest competition in sport, never mind football. And with Morton's involvement in this season's competition starting (and most probably ending) this weekend, we can still at least dream of Kyle Jacobs leading the lads up the stairs at Hampden on the 21st of May to repeat the feat of their predecessors from a century previous. Whilst the greatest upset in Morton's history took place on 15th of April 1922 on Glasgow's southside, that's a topic for the anniversary, so we'll first wander back a mere 74 years to the 1947/48 season; Celtic 0-1 Morton, 27th March 1948. Semi Final. Most Morton fans will be aware that our only "other" appearance in the Scottish Cup Final was against Rangers in 1948, when we eventually succumbed to a replay defeat in fading light at Hampden in front of a record aggregate crowd for a final. But how did we get there? Morton's run to the semi final was relatively straight forward, with routine routs of minnows Ayr United, Falkirk, Queen's Park and Airdrieonians before being drawn to face Celtic at Ibrox in the last four. Admittedly, this was a Celtic team who finished 12th in a 16-team league that season, only a point and two places above Morton, who just avoided the drop. The class of '47/48 who disposed of Celtic on the way to the club's second Scottish Cup Final. (Photo- Greenock Morton 1874-1999, Vincent P Gillen) But Morton headed into the tie minus two key players, with Johnny Divers and the legendary Tommy Orr missing out. According to Vincent Gillen's Greenock Morton 1874-1999, the critics were said to believe Morton had "no chance". They were replaced by young Eddie Murphy and Tom McGarrity, and it was Murphy who proved to be the hero. After a stalemate in ninety minutes against overwhelming favourites, he was to net a dramatic winner from 14 yards past the despairing Celtic keeper Willie Miller in the first period of extra time to empty the Glasgow side from the tournament. A story with some striking parallels to a League Cup tie some 65 years later, come to think of it. Quite how many corners Celtic made a complete hash of in that semi final is something I can't confirm, unfortunately. Morton 1-0 Aberdeen, 14th February 1981. Fourth Round. As with the tie against Celtic in 1948, there wasn't as much between the two clubs as there is in the modern era. Unlike that semi final, this was a clash of two extremely good football teams. Aberdeen were the champions of Scotland at the time, and although Morton were to finish just above the drop zone, we'd bite the hand off anyone offering us eighth in Scotland's top flight now. Dons' Manager Alex Ferguson's hoodoo against the 'Ton was well publicised at the time, and Morton had in fact gone to Pittodrie a week previous and recorded a 1-0 win. But Cappielow perhaps saw its greatest day on Valentine's Day 1981 as Andy Ritchie's incredible 20th minute goal, which saw him plant the despairing Ian Considine on his backside before delicately placing the ball beyond Scotland keeper Jim Leighton as his international teammates Willie Miller and Alex McLeish could only look on in awe at the sheer brilliance of the control and finish. McLeish was involved at the other end as he nodded down for Andy Harrow to fire a low volley which was brilliantly turned round the post by Roy Baines. And Baines was also to deny former Morton striker Mark McGhee on a couple of occasions, with McGhee's complaints earning him a place in the book as he claimed Baines had fouled him. As someone who was too young to enjoy this particular match, I can only hope that the Cowshed were as sympathetic to McGhee's protests as our own generation would likely be. The final whistle was met with rapturous applause from the home support as Morton progressed to a quarter final with Clydebank, winning 6-0 at Kilbowie after a 0-0 draw at Cappielow, before falling to Rangers in a controversial Celtic Park semi final for which the mercurial Ritchie was dropped from the starting eleven, but still managed to convert a penalty in the 1-2 defeat. Aberdeen on the other hand, would win the next three Scottish Cups and put paid to Real Madrid in the Cup Winners Cup Final of 1983, which goes a way to show the magnitude of Morton's achievements in regularly troubling Scotland's best side of that era. Probably Cappielow's finest ever goal, on perhaps Cappielow's finest day, from Morton's finest ever player. There were however to be other great Cappielow strikes as Morton disposed of supposedly more illustrious opposition in years to come. (Video- Leon Mooney) Morton 2-1 Dundee, 23rd January 1999. Third Round. Morton had dispatched of the Dees only two seasons previous en route to a quarter final showdown with Kilmarnock, but this time around were a division below their big spending opponents, who had been promoted to the newly formed land of milk and honey of the SPL as champions in 1998. But with the introduction of a winter break in Scotland's top flight, the Dens men were caught cold by a Morton side who came out the traps with two first half goals to seal the tie. The game had, however been in doubt, as a power failure at Cappielow led to a 35-minute delay to kick off. But the wait was to prove worthwhile, as Owen Archdeacon's rasping 30-yard strike had future Scotland keeper Rab Douglas grasping at thin air on the half hour, before Ross Matheson's close-range finish doubled Morton's advantage. Eddie Annand reduced the arrears, but it was to no avail as the Ton progressed to a fourth round tie with Clyde. A 6-1 rout of the Bully Wee ensued before Morton fell to Celtic in a live TV quarter final at Cappielow, Henrik Larsson and co. managing to do what the Bhoys of '48, and indeed '13, couldn't. (Video- Leon Mooney) Ross County 1-2 Morton, 25th January 2003. Third Round. With Ross County in the First Division back in 2003, this result may not be one that would immediately raise too many eyebrows, but this was a massive boost for a Morton side struggling for consistency as they tried to negotiate their way out of Scotland's bottom tier after Hugh Scott's disgraceful neglect and the subsequent administration had seen Morton relegated in consecutive seasons. Having already disposed of eventual Highland League winners Deveronvale 4-3 at Cappielow in a second round tie that wasn't without it's scares, around 600 Morton fans travelled up the A9 and found themselves singing in the rain as the 'Ton felled County by two "Super" Alex Williams strikes to a David Winters counter. Williams also found time to miss a second half penalty, but it wasn't to dampen the spirits of the sodden Morton faithful who had plenty to celebrate as they descended to their buses and to the Mallard to toast what really felt like the club's first real positive step on the road to recovery. We would of course win the league that season, but the cup campaign was to go no further than a disappointing 0-2 home defeat by Stranraer. However, in spite of how sadly it all ended for Williams, we've never seen an out and out goal scorer like him since. Often folk think what might have been, but what memories he did give us. (Video- Leon Mooney) Morton 3-1 Kilmarnock, 7th January 2007. Third Round. What is it about Cappielow, cup shocks and absolutely incredible goals? Move over Andy Ritchie, get out the way Owen Archdeacon, and step forward Chris Templeman. Jim Jeffries' Killie side rocked up at Cappielow for a tie that brought back memories of a number of cup disappointments against the Ayrshire side in the 90s, with Morton exiting the '94, '95 and '97 tournaments at home to Kilmarnock. But with two divisions separating the sides, this was to be Morton's turn. Morton had led the Second Division from the first day to the last, and taken care of East of Scotland League Annan Athletic in the previous round to set up a mouth-watering tie in front of a raucous crowd which created a crackling Cappielow atmosphere. After a first half stalemate, it was Kilmarnock who took the lead- Colin Nish netting a beautiful volley from Garry Hay's cross on the left two minutes after the break. From there on, it was all Morton though, with Templeman at the centre of everything. He was to find himself unfortunate not to score on a couple of occasions before finding himself on the end of a sweeping move that his own good defensive work had started. His deflected effort found a way past Graeme Smith in the Killie goal to level the affair just after the hour. The game was turned on its head 7 minutes later as Templeman took Chris Millar's cross on his right foot before acrobatically volleying Morton into the lead with his left. Cue utter bedlam. The often clumsy and awkward journeyman, who Morton had paid an eye-watering fee for two years previous, turned in the performance of his life and should've had a penalty after being scythed down by Gordon Greer. Fortunately referee McCurry waved play on and within seconds, Jim McAlister laid the ball on a plate for Paul McGowan to extend Morton's lead and send us through to a fourth round tie at Fir Park. Morton would lose that tie 0-2 to the Steelmen in front of a massive travelling support, but it's amazing how many people in their twenties you hear describing the Kilmarnock game as their first Morton match. There can't have been too many times the club have got folk hooked in the last generation or so, but that was certainly one of those days. And for a guy who would become a school janitor in later life, I'd like to think that Chris Templeman has a story or two to tell some wide-eyed school kids about the day he turned into Pele. (Video- KillieFC TV) There won't be too many expecting a glorious cup run this term, but let's not kid ourselves, the thrills the Scottish Cup provide are exactly why we love football. Be it a day out at an unfamiliar non-league club like Turriff or Beith, a brilliant shock like Kilmarnock and Aberdeen at Cappielow, or even the shame of defeats at places like Peterhead and Spartans, the possibilities the tournament provides are endless, even for a club of our size. Hopefully one day...

I just want to buy the fucking hat!

Where this season went wrong was that on maintaining our championship status almost by fluking it - thanks to that McGuffie goal - we should have started from the fact that Gus failed rather than succeeded. He should have been told he wasn’t getting a new contract. The Muiheads, Blues etc. should have been released when their contracts expired, and a new manager sought. The 2 year contract for Gus led to the 2 year contract for Lithgow which still hangs round our neck like an albatross. The people who actually made these decisions should not be sitting on the board just because nepotism or cronyism. A board of directors should take responsibility and in our current plight should each consider their position. Are they there to make sensible decisions or are they there for personal self-aggrandisement, a wee dram at half time and a free pie? I maintain that no sensible person would have made a financially disastrous decision to award two year contracts to Gus or Lithgow (who is utterly hopeless now). Hold your hands up and if you think you have made calamitous decisions, admit it and do the decent thing. Few will hold it against you as these decisions were not easy or simple. They will however be slow to forget if you don’t try to mitigate the damage.

Noticed that earlier, it's not even on the fixture page. Nor, for that matter, is the result of the original fixture from six days ago in Inverness. Is there one guy at all at the club, just one, who actually knows what Morton is? A professional football club, which plays football matches that people like to watch because they like football and the Morton football team that plays it?

The Easdales who are our major sponsors and the former chairman who allowed the transfer to fan ownership being guests at a game really shouldn't be major news. If the board start having to publically comment on nonsense like that then we might as well shut the club down. So many more pressing matters of concern than that.

I wouldn't say there haven't been concerns before now over various issues, but that Q&A has certainly left me more worried than I've ever been about the direction the club is going in. Essay incoming. I've said all along since MCT was founded that I don't see fan ownership as necessarily condemning us to becoming Airdrie, Clyde or worse. In fact I see it as the only way we could realistically avoid that fate as circling the drain under the Raes with a giant debt mountain shows that a sugar daddy was going to end that way anyway. However it's absolutely essential that for fan ownership to work, fan owned does not mean fan run. They've been running the club for months and are now officially confirmed as owners, but the whole operation still reeks of well meaning amateurism held up by volunteers rather than any kind of professional competence: pretty much every single answer there made that feeling worse. You have to acknowledge they've inherited a binfire of a football club with a legacy of literal decades of incompetence hanging over it: there's not much that can be fixed overnight and turning us into a slick operation with the professional reputation of a club like Motherwell is something that would take several years. Also, while there have been many issues where I've thought they've done the wrong thing, in most of those cases I could at least see the logic in their thinking. However, none of these caveats justify some of illogical stuff they're coming out with here. So to take one of the issues I disagreed on and was covered in the Q&A, I would never have kept Gus MacPherson on as manager for this season; he failed and failed miserably at the job he was brought in to do last season, which was to keep us out of the bottom two. However you can see the logic of keeping him on; experienced manager at a time of upheaval off the park etc. What there is no logic to justify and sets alarm bells off is trotting out the completely ridiculous justifications for a two year deal given in this video, which suggest that no one on the board has the slightest clue what they're doing. Paraphrasing, but 'we gave him two years because we need stability.' Handing someone a two year deal that (the subtext suggests) you can't afford to end isn't creating stability, it's creating absolutely needless instability. We should aspire to have a managerial team in place for several years whenever we make an appointment and hope the continuity as a result brings success - going through 17 managers in 21 years is clowncar stuff - but the fact is it's very possible that a manager's performance will make it necessary to replace them. You have to consider that possibility and plan for it. You can't just say "we want to keep a manager in place for a while, so we're going to keep this one in place to the end of his contract no matter how he performs in the job and therefore we don't need to consider any contingency for needing to remove him." That's utterly reckless nonsense which creates massive instability, and is especially naive when the manager we're talking about finished bottom of the league in his last job at this level 10 years ago and was factually the worst performer of the three managers we had last season, one of whom was a fitness coach. If you're saddled with a manager who has you hurtling towards relegation and you're powerless to remove him from his job, then you are in a far less stable position than if you have the power to make a change which could avert that relegation. We have much the same problem with the financial answer regarding the two year deal question. Paraphrasing again: 'We have to remember we don't have a big money backer to rely on.' Well yes, not being reliant on the whims of one individual was literally the whole point of the exercise of fan ownership. That's not an excuse for any inaction by the board; if you've failed to take this into account in your financial planning for the season then it can only be described as negligence and you clearly aren't fit to have any role in financial planning at a football club. Sacking a manager is an entirely foreseeable expense for literally every professional football club on the planet. If - and it remains just an if but the tone is hugely concerning - it has somehow become a financial impossibility to do so there are really three scenarios here. 1. It is because of the two year deal and you signed off on a two year deal anyway: your position is untenable and you must resign. 2. The two year deal isn't the deciding factor and it would be the same whatever the contract length, but regardless you have signed off on a budget which leaves absolutely no contingency for this entirely foreseeable expense: your position is untenable and you must resign. 3. The model of ownership which MCT have advocated, talked up to the support and got over 800 fans to sign up to somehow makes this a financial impossibility under any circumstance: then the position of literally everyone who was in a leadership role pre-takeover is untenable and they must resign. There are no reasons for fans to give anyone leeway there, if there's any truth in it is a massive indictment on every single person involved in decision making that leaves each and every one of them with no credibility. I'll go into less detail from here as the post is long enough already, but there are similar concerns with other answers. I felt strongly that they needed someone with football expertise involved from the start - it might have avoided the above clusterfuck they've created over the manager - but you could just about accept the logic of only looking to address this once the takeover was complete. Now, the line is basically, 'Yeah if someone comes up who'd be willing to give us their time for free at any time over the next few years we'll consider it, but it's not a priority.' Sorry, that's simply unacceptable to the point of negligence. The absolute catastrophe of a season we're having is enough evidence of how damaging this oversight is: learn from your mistakes, avoid making them again and make fixing this with a proper football decision making process the top priority. As an aside I do think it's worth pointing out that no one involved here is any less qualified than Douglas or Crawford Rae were to make such decisions, but again, the whole point of this exercise is supposed to be improving things, not continuing to blunder on with the shambolic amateurism of the last 20 years. Same problem again with the commercial answers. There's at least acknowledgement there that they need to do better, but why are we still only at the point of "we're looking at developing a strategy?" We're months past the point where a strategy should have begun to be implemented, they shouldn't just be thinking about what it is. It's also worth saying here that not only has nothing improved yet in this area, it's actually gotten worse. Even look at the website - again you could perhaps see the logic in saying there are better uses of people's time than typing up match previews and reports, but having stopped doing those there is absolutely fuck all on it other than 'please play the lottery and please buy up hospitality places'. How are these entirely worthwhile attempts to generate revenue actually going to be seen by anyone if there is never any football content on the website to get fans looking at it in the first place? It's been taking them weeks to even update the fixtures page with results. That's no reflection on the employees of the club who had no issues doing this in a timely fashion under previous regimes, but it's another thing that's extremely easy to fix and should be immediately.

(Photo- Gary Bradley) Never In Doubt. A Review of Morton's 2020-21 season, Part Three. By Russell Gordon. Montrose away it was then, after it had looked like Morton were going to be forced into renewing hostilities with old pals, Falkirk. On paper an easier tie, but given Falkirk's spectacular (not to mention hilarious) collapse, that possibly wasn't the case. Morton made their second trip in just over a week up to Angus and could have been forgiven for having a bit of trepidation about what lay ahead. With Cove Rangers playing Airdrieonians in the other tie about 40 miles up the road, Morton were seen by the bookies as the favourites to come through the play-offs. You'd have been doing a well to find a Morton fan who shared their optimism, but how often do you see a poor bookmaker? Things couldn't have got off to a better start- within five minutes of the kick off, Aidan Nesbitt won the ball in the middle of midfield and prodded it forward to Kalvin Orsi, who squared for Gary Oliver to finish at keeper Allan Fleming's near post to give us a lead and settle the nerves. All this panic was much ado about nothing, then. Not a bit of it. Morton, as had happened so often this season, retreated into their shell and allowed their hosts to impose themselves on the game to such an extent that the half time whistle was a relief when the referee blew. But the relief was to prove short lived, as 12 minutes into the second half, the hosts' pressure finally paid off- and from a defensive point of view it was a howler. Markus Fjortoft's slip allowed Gable Endies' striker Russell McLean in and the Norwegian was also slow off the mark to close down the big forward after his initial effort was blocked by Brian McLean. The second attempt was curled into the far post past a diving Aidan McAdams to level the scores. And 20 minutes later, Montrose completed the turnaround, as Graham Webster got onto the end of a fine move to give them a lead at the halfway point in the tie. Whilst the performance was atrocious, Morton could take comfort in the narrow deficit going into the second leg at Cappielow three days later. To say that Gus McPherson shuffled the pack for the second leg would be the understatement of the season, with Chris Millar and the two Cammys- Blues and Salkeld, coming in from the cold for Morton's biggest match of the campaign. The changes were to prove pivotal, with Millar's magnificent performance in an unfamiliar right back position proving a real highlight on a nervy night at Cappielow. But for a while it didn't look like Morton would be in too much bother as they came flying out the traps immediately- again it was a fifth minute strike from Oliver that started us off, levelling the tie and handing Morton the momentum. Salkeld made it two from close range in the twentieth minute and by this point, the Ton could've been forgiven for thinking they were on easy street- but again, Mclean levelled the tie 10 minutes before the break, his strike eventually taking the tie to extra time. But as the game wore on, and into extra time, Morton's superior fitness began to tell as the part timers visibly tired. The introduction of Luca Colville, Nesbitt and Craig McGuffie gave us a greater attacking impetus as we began to pin Montrose further and further back, with penalties appearing to be their best option. Morton were spared a sixth shoot-out of the season in the nick of time though, and it was due to a piece of luck genius from substitute McGuffie. The ex-Ayr winger nutmegged Montrose forward Craig Johnston on the left-hand side and advanced towards goal, but with everyone inside the box expecting a cross, he clipped the ball over 'keeper Fleming's head and into the net at his far post. Oh, to have been in the Cowshed for that moment. Morton were through to the final after a hell of a scare, but there was to be plenty of drama in the other semi-final, too. Craig McGuffie's wonder strike sent Morton into the Play-Off Final in the most dramatic of fashions. (Photo- Gary Bradley) After a 1-1 stalemate in Aberdeen, Cove looked to have advanced to the final when Rory McAllister put the visitors 2-1 up at New Broomfield in the second minute of stoppage time. But Jack McKay took them to extra time a couple of minutes later (more of 94th minute goals in deepest, darkest Monklands to come) to change the course of the tie. Callum Gallagher settled it in the second period of extra time to take the Diamonds into a winner-takes-all double header with Morton. There's always a bit of needle attached to a game with Airdrie of course, but to add to the excitement, after 14 months locked out, both clubs were allowed 500 fans into their home legs. The scramble began- with around 460 season ticket holders, briefs were to be at a premium for the second leg, with no away fans allowed. Even with so few tickets left on sale though, Morton still managed to throw a couple of administrative errors into the mix, because, well, they're Morton, so where's the fun in doing things properly? The original batch were sold to season ticket holders in spite of not having been printed, and when it came to the public sale of the few leftovers, the advertised time of sale was put back before reverting again to the original time slot after folk who had swapped shifts rightly kicked up a stink. On a positive note though, the club did manage to get permission for another 100 to be seated in the Wee Dublin End. There was to be the return of some well-kent faces as 600 fans were allowed to attend the second leg of the Play-Off Final. (Photo- Gary Bradley) But the ticket sales were the least of Morton's worries. After not missing a minute of the season, Aidan McAdams finally succumbed to a hamstring injury, ruling him out of both legs of the final. With no fit senior keeper on the books, McPherson turned to Motherwell's Scott Fox, who came in on an emergency loan. To add to those woes, Kyle Jacobs' season came to an end in the first half when he fell awkwardly and had to be replaced by Reece Lyon. Even with these blows though, Airdrie weren't causing any real concerns to Morton, with the best chance of the half falling to Cammy Salkeld, who headed wide from close range. The Diamonds had one chance of note in the second half, McKay volleying wide from a corner. But as the game wore on, Morton began to turn the screw, and again the introduction of Nesbitt saw an added impetus to their play. Lyon was unlucky to strike the inside of Max Currie's post a few minutes from time, but it was deep into injury time that the breakthrough finally arrived. From a needlessly conceded corner, Blues played the ball short to Brain McLean. The captain clipped the ball into the box where Robbie Muirhead took advantage of a lapse in concentration in the home side's camp to give Morton a priceless winner. All of a sudden, after a season from hell, we were ninety minutes away from survival. Lyon might even have made it two before the final whistle were it not for a fine stop from the Airdrie custodian. Robbie Muirhead's late winner at Airdire secured a vital lead going into the second leg of the fianl at Cappielow. (Photo- Gary Bradley) Scottish football's biggest crowd of the season rolled up at Cappielow for the second leg, and whilst that might not quite be as big a boast as it would appear under normal circumstances, the excitement and anticipation was palpable. And what a treat Morton served up. Without having to chase the game, they played with a freedom that had been missing all season, and the tie was effectively over in the twelfth minute. Muirhead added to his first leg goal with a volley that will go down in the memory of a generation of fans the way Ritchie's goal against Aberdeen in 1981 and Templeman's against Kilmarnock in 2007 have. The crowd were in raptures and Morton sought to turn the screw, narrowly failing to increase their lead on a number of occasions before Oliver converted from close range after McGinn's effort had struck Currie's crossbar. There was to be no hiding place for Airdrie as their hopes of a return to the second tier after an eight-year sabbatical were to prove just too much of an ask. Nesbitt should've made it three from close range in the second half before Muirhead did put the cherry on the cake. As the final whistle went, the 600 inside the ground and the boisterous crowd on the car park celebrated like we'd actually won something. For a first trip back to the football in over a year, it couldn't have gone better- Morton were safe, and after a season of catastrophe, shooting themselves in the foot and being treated by our peers as a joke club, we'd come out it at the other end. Gary Oliver leads the celebrations after making it 2-0 on the night and 3-0 on aggregate to assure Morton of Championship football for another season. (Photo- Gary Bradley) But how do we conclude reviewing season 2020-21? Who were the heroes and the villains? Where do we go from here? For such a terrible season to end so spectacularly, we should of course be careful not to think that all is rosy in the world. This was a poorly assembled squad which did just enough to preserve their Championship status, and is already being dismantled by the man who assembled it, as he looks to get the gang back together down the coast. Gus McPherson staying on for another two years hasn't exactly got the juices flowing for everyone, but looking at the list of his most recent predecessors, I wouldn't be too upset about his appointment. There can surely be no complaints about the re-signing of Kyle Jacobs, who all the rumour-mongers had going to slum it in League One with Nesbitt at Falkirk; and McLean, who, in spite of his advancing years, had a good season for Morton last term. Credit has to go to the players for pulling Morton through what was an extremely difficult season though- a squad that was hamstrung every step of the way by a disinterested chairman, self-absorbed manager who made an absolute mess of his recruitment and a Chief Executive who couldn't organise a menage. Many of them were extremely limited, shouldn't have and won't ever play at such a high level again. Some of course, deserve more credit than others- when losing your captain for the play-offs is seen as a boost it tells you all you need to know about said captain. Not appointing a manager for three months and allowing McAlister to leave mid-contract were scandalous decisions, and indicative of just how little regard the chairman had for the club as we started to circle the drain. A more cynical man than myself might suggest that they were acts that looked to sabotage the club's Championship status. I'd prefer to consider them as mere a stupidity, based on a complacency in the boardroom as the arrivals of Messrs McPherson, Millen and McGinn sought to redress that initital folly, and eventually saved our bacon. A special mention has to go to Anton McElhone, who in spite of not being a qualified manager, and having no interest in being one, took the reins through that very difficult period and actually had the best record across regular league games of the three who took charge. Lang may yer lum reek, Anton! What is absolutely certain is that money is sure to be tight this year as well, so the same mistakes as last term cannot be made this time around. MCT have had a couple of directors in the inner sanctum of Cappielow for a while now- here's hoping they've taken onboard how not to run a football club.

(Photo- The Scotsman) MorTEN- Whatever Happened To the Likely Lads? by Russell Gordon Saturday sees Morton return to New Douglas Park, Hamilton on league duty for the first time in over seven years, with only a surprise, Ross Forbes-inspired Betfred Cup victory en route to a Hampden semi-final in 2016 since that previous visit. Never a happy hunting ground since it opened in 2001, with only a late Alex Williams winner in the 2003-04 collapse season, a victory on Valentine's Day 2012 that was somewhat overshadowed by other events in Scottish football that day, and a couple of draws to show for our troubles in South Lanarkshire. Added to that, our return visit in 2003-04 resulted in a 6-1 hammering as Hamilton hacked away at our lead before pipping us to the post for promotion on the final day. Another unhappy memory was the injustice of Chris Templeman's last minute equaliser in 2007 being overturned as the players lined up to restart the game when hapless linesman Ross Haswell convinced referee Craig Thompson to overturn the award of the goal under pressure from the Accies players, a decision that still rankles to this day with some (me, at least). Scene Setter But, for all those horror stories, nothing would compare to the abject misery, shame and embarrassment that befell Morton on the 3rd of May 2014, a day that would leave an indelible scar on the by then 140 year history of Morton. With Accies pushing for the title against their already relegated visitors, surprisingly enough, the travelling fans looked forward to the match with a degree of optimism. A victory against Hamilton's main challengers Dundee, and a draw with play-offs bound Falkirk, both at Cappielow on the previous two Saturdays, suggested that whilst the season from hell could not just be laughed off, there was reason to believe that Kenny Shiels was capable of turning Morton around in League One the following season. Whilst Accies needed to win by eight clear goals, they also required a favour from their conquerors of the penultimate weekend, Dumbarton. Having been on the wrong end of a 4-1 trouncing at The Rock, they'd given up pole position to the Dens Park side- who, the previous week thought they'd blown their chance in losing at Cappielow. All these circumstances combined to create the perfect storm, as a team that was already looking forward to their holidays and going through the motions faced up to a team that simply couldn't afford to take the foot off the gas. 2-0 down after 8 minutes, we were fighting a losing battle from the off, as Tony Andreu bagged a first half hat trick, with the only moment of respite being a stunning Dougie Imrie strike which reduced the arrears as Morton headed in facing a 5-1 deficit at the break. What was said in the away dressing room in that period is up for debate, but there have been a number of stories since that day of some very harsh words being spoken and perhaps a few fists flying. A brief point in the afternoon that the ball wasn't nestling in Nicolas Caraux's net. (Photo- Russell Gordon) The second half of course wasn't to get any better as the goals kept coming. Before taking up where they left off, Hamilton conceded a penalty as former 'Ton custodian Kevin Cuthbert felled Hamilton-bound Imrie in the box. Incredibly, the only Morton player to come out of the game with any sort of credit wasn't entrusted with the responsibility of taking the spot kick, and Rowan Vine's pathetic effort was comfortably stopped by Cuthbert. Sixth and seventh goals duly arrived before Imrie again got himself on the scoresheet, but the last 15 minutes were to really put Morton's name in the history books for all the wrong reasons, as Mikael Antoine-Curier added his final couple of strikes to help himself to a second half hat trick and a total of four for the day either side of an own goal from Stuart Findlay. It was to be a bittersweet afternoon for Hamilton however, as Dundee did enough to get over the line, but it was only to delay their joy, as they disposed of Falkirk before their dramatic victory that took them up at the expense of Hibs, only suffering relegation this summer. Of course though, such an unprecedented result in a match between two clubs of such similar stature was to result in conspiracy theories, allegations of corruption and finger pointing, particularly from Tayside. As we all know too well, this isn't the first time such allegations have been thrown at Morton, and Dundonians were quick to point to Morton's very good performance in beating the Dees only a fortnight previous. I'm more inclined to believe it was a concoction of circumstances that all came together, and would argue that had Dundee United needed to do similar when they took six off Morton in 2019, they would've done so without thinking twice. They didn't need to, whilst Hamilton did, hence you don't often see results such as this in games that don't involve Fort William. What was particularly galling to see was Morton players suited and booted, and enjoying themselves less than half a mile away from the scene of the crime at Hamilton Racecourse the following day on their various social media accounts. Footballers of course deserve their social lives, but having watched such an inept performance that we're still reminded about to this day, and will be continue to be reminded about for years to come, wasn't pleasant. So, what happened to the players from that day? Kenny Shiels (Manager) Shiels actually attended a meeting with supporters the evening before that defeat, outlining his plans for an immediate return to the Championship. Those plans were in tatters 24 hours later, as he brushed off the result, saying he was on the way to a funeral the next day, and some things were more important. He was of course correct, but there are times that saying nothing is better than opening your mouth. That wasn't advice that Shiels would often heed. He would go on to manage League of Ireland side Derry City before taking charge of the Northern Ireland Womens' team, who he led to the European Championship Finals, which are delayed until next summer. Nicolas Caraux A hero of Morton's victory at Celtic Park earlier that season, Caraux extended his deal by another year off the back of that momentous result. What a waste of money. He was to play only one more league match, a 3-1 defeat against Brechin at Glebe Park and a handful of cup appearances the following season. The Frenchman did manage to get himself into the celebration photos as Morton took the title in 2015, so fair play to him for the brass neck. Bizarrely, he wound up in the USA at Atlanta United's B Team, who play in the USL Championship. Now aged 30, he was last seen at his local team, FC Versailles 78, in the fourth tier of the French pyramid. Darren Cole Probably the worst player in a truly dreadful side- Cole was picked up after being freed by Rangers on disciplinary grounds, and had a bit of pedigree about himself. Capped at various age levels by Scotland, and with a Champions League appearance under his belt for the Ibrox side's previous incarnation, he was to prove an absolute disaster of a signing, of the sort that wakes you up in the middle of the night with a cold sweat from your nightmares. He was to go onto Livingston, who he captained to relegation in 2016, before joining Shiels at Derry City in 2017, scoring in their League Cup Final win in 2018. Never let anyone tell you the League of Ireland is remotely comparable to our Championship if that guy can continue to get a game over there after four years. Mark Russell Then only an 18-year-old rookie, it was difficult not to feel sorry for Russell to be thrown to the lions in such a rancid team. He was to go on to enjoy a successful season the following year, winning Young Player of the Year with most of the supporters' clubs as Morton came back up, then enjoyed a couple more fruitful years before regressing somewhat and deciding to move to Falkirk, a move which didn't work out too well, like many moves from Inverclyde to Grangemouth around that time. He would then cross the Irish Sea to sign for Finn Harps where he resurrected his career, playing further forward in midfield before returning to Cappielow this summer. Thomas O'Ware The man so many Morton fans love to hate nowadays, O'Ware was to stick around a few years, bagging a League One medal and establishing himself as a goalscoring centre back, thanks in no small part to Ross Forbes' wand of a left foot. There was a point that O'Ware stood beside Sergio Ramos as one of Europe's top scoring defenders, in 2016-17 season. Like Russell, things were to go stale and he got ideas above his station- moving onto supposedly bigger and better things at Partick Thistle- except, he was to suffer injury problems at Firhill as they narrowly avoided relegation at the expense of Falkirk. The following season was to provide Morton fans with yet more schadenfreude, as O'Ware's winning goal and rauchous celebrations at Cappielow were to prove irrelevant, with Partick not winning a league game for the rest of the season and going down with their usual class, decorum and dignity. They won last season's abridged League One, but he was released to pursue his career at League Two new boys Kelty Hearts, where I'm sure we all wish him well. Stuart Findlay Like Cole, a defender signed from one of Glasgow's big two, although only on loan. Unlike Cole, a guy who most look back on fondly. He was unfortunate to bag the ninth for Hamilton that day, but it was clear to see there was a good lad in there. Findlay impressed in a way that older Morton fans raved about Jim Duffy in our relegation year of 1985, and left with our best wishes. Loan spells at Dumbarton and Kilmarnock were to follow before he signed for Newcastle. He was to make only one FA Cup appearance for the Magpies before making a permanent move to Rugby Park, where he excelled under Steve Clarke, eventually being capped by Scotland and scoring on his international debut, a 6-0 Hampden win over San Marino. Now playing in the MLS with Philadelphia Union. Scott Taggart Taggart's Cappielow career fell off a cliff somewhat- after a fantastic first season at right back, he operated more as a sitting midfielder under Shiels, much to the fans' frustration. He would go onto Dumbarton and subsequently Alloa, where he's enjoyed a relatively successful career in the Championship and League One. One wonders what might've been for Scott had it not been for that horrendous season he and Morton endured. David Robertson Less said the better. Substituted just after half time after a completely inept performance, it was the last the Morton fans were to see of this chancer. He was to go onto Livingston, Ayr and Cowdenbeath, although his career was to come to an abrupt end after being cleared by a criminal court alongside former Dundee United teammate David Goodwillie but then being forced by the Court of Session in Edinburgh to pay £100,000 of damages to a woman that Judge Lord Armstrong ruled the pair had raped in 2011. Not heard of in a football context since, and unlikely to be. Barrie McKay Another Rangers loan signing who didn't set the heather alight- he was never as bad as many seem to remember him, but you could be forgiven for thinking that we got the crap twin brother of the guy the Daily Record talked up for multi-million pound transfers as Rangers reached the conclusion of "the journey". McKay would head to Raith Rovers on loan the following season, before playing an integral part in Rangers' promotion a year later, scoring a screamer in a Scottish Cup semi-final win over Celtic before they hilariously fell to Hibs in the final. A brief cameo for Scotland in a 3-0 friendly defeat to France in Metz would follow that summer, and he would eventually re-join former boss Mark Warburton at Nottingham Forest for £500,000 in 2017- a mere tenth of the Scottish media's valuation of him a couple of years before his move, if my memory serves me correctly. A year later he moved onto Swansea and subsequently Fleetwood on loan last season. Faoud Bachirou A fans' favourite in his time at Cappielow, this was to prove Bachirou's last appearance in a Morton jersey. He was one of the only two players to receive a rating higher than 1/10 in Jonathan Mitchell's match report in the Greenock Telegraph (he was rated 4/10 and Imrie rated 6/10), but was to leave under a cloud, amidst rumours that he went on strike in order to engineer a move whilst he still had a year remaining on his Cappielow contract. He was to eventually move onto Swedish side Östersunds, lifting the Swedish Cup and enjoying an excellent run in the Europa League, although he missed some of that run having moved on to Malmö during that season, bagging Morton a six figure sell on fee in the process. He would also feature for Malmö in Europe before moving onto Nottingham Forest in 2020. After a frustrating time at the City Ground, he has been told he's free to go, with Cypriot club Omonia Nicosia apparently chasing his signature. I think it would be fair to say he divides opinions amongst Morton fans, with many hero worshipping him, and others left with a sour taste in the mouth over his alleged conduct in negotiating his move. Rowan Vine Another loan signing, and that he couldn't get a game for Hibs that year tells you all you need to know. They were the only team that came close to us for comedy value in 2013-14. A man of many clubs, his league career was over after that day, with brief spells at clubs like Gosport Borough, Hartley Wintney and Southall becoming commonplace. He was last seen at Hemel Hempstead Town as a player coach. It's terrifying to think what Morton actually paid Vine (and fellow highly paid charlatans such as the long since departed by that point Nacho Novo, and Garry O'Connor, an unused sub on the day), such was the desperation to survive with the prospect of Rangers, Hearts and eventually Hibs bringing big crowds to the Championship the following season. Vine conceded a penalty a minute before the break that day as well as missing one a minute after. Very few tears were shed when he walked out the door never to return. Thankfully, he didn't let the door hit his arse. Dougie Imrie A pantomime villain to so many Scottish football fans, and the man who stood to gain the most from Morton's hammering that day, but no accusations could be thrown at Imrie for his performance. To be honest, the game was a microcosm of Imrie's season, with him charged with the thankless task of dragging his teammates through, but ultimately to no avail. Although he went onto sign for the Accies a few weeks later and became a legend there, his teammates could've taken a leaf from his book. He will of course go down in history for his role in a much happier occasion that season, but it was a sad consequence of Morton's relegation that he was to leave. He received a great reception the only time he would go on to play against Morton in that 2016 cup tie, in spite of giving Accies the lead from the spot in our 2-1 win. He's since retired and is now coaching at Livingston. Archie Campbell Campbell replaced Robertson in the second half, having little impact as Hamilton continued to plunder the Morton goal. Like Taggart, he had enjoyed a fruitful 2012-13 season before going off the rails to an extent. He would return to the Championship at Dumbarton before establishing himself in the juniors in his native Fife with the likes of Kelty Hearts (prior to their move to the seniors) and Dundonald Bluebell. The departures of Peter Weatherson and Peter MacDonald in the summer of 2013 as Morton sought to cut costs did little to help Campbell's development. The moment the most brutal of seasons reached the most brutal of climaxes. (Photo- Russell Gordon) What Happened Next? So, what of the fallout from that day? Morton had only lost ten goals twice previously, to Port Glasgow Athletic in 1894 and St. Bernard's in 1933, both games ending 10-1. It had never happened in the modern era. Only one Scottish League club have suffered a similar result in the league since- Hearts beat Cowdenbeath 10-0 in a league match the following season, but when you consider those two clubs' relative resources, it's far easier for the Fife club and their fans to mitigate for that result. MorTEN is a running joke that'll never go away, and nor will the allegations of corruption from Dundee fans, but it could be argued that it did move the board into action. There's absolutely no doubt in my mind that Kenny Shiels wouldn't have taken Morton back up at all, never mind so quickly, and go on to re-establish them again as a Championship club the way Jim Duffy did. It would be remiss of us to suggest that a result like that will never happen again but I suspect the prospect of that is remote in our lifetimes, although Hopkin's charges of a year or two back might've threatened that assertion. I recall walking to the train station in Hamilton at full time that day, meeting a few mates, getting a train into Glasgow and sitting in complete silence, such was the shock at what had happened. Nobody could quite put their feelings to words. As the dust settled, it's a day I'd say I'm not glad happened, but one that I'm glad I witnessed. No Morton team or game before or since can ever be considered as "the worst ever". For all there are some we'll look back on more fondly than others, I certainly hope we never see their likes again. Thanks very much to Jonathan Mitchell for providing access to his match report, reaction and player ratings for research purposes, and for answering my questions as I tried to jog my memory on the events of that day and season.

At this point the fan backlash against MCT is wholly self-inflicted. As discussed after the Tele story with Crawford Rae, their communication with both their own members and the support continues to be reactive and only happens after people start asking questions of them, rather than appearing to have any kind of strategy to either keep people updated or more cynically to control the story. As we said then, it's entirely feasible that delays to the takeover are entirely outwith their control and can't be helped at their end. Considering that we're now less than two weeks from the league season starting and approaching two months overdue that would still set alarm bells ringing regardless, but what can be helped is communicating about it properly. They're not even attempting to do this. I saw on twitter that Graham Barr has a newborn baby (congratulations to him!) so understandably he's probably stepped away for at least a few days and no one could question not devoting much time to MCT as a result, but surely this is why you have a whole leadership team and a group of directors, so others can take over the communications side of things for however long he's away. At this point with such a massive delay and the impending start of the league season, we should be getting an absolute minimum of two updates a week on the takeover. If there are no new developments then fine, tell us there are no new developments. That might lead to negative comments and concern every time an update goes out, but it's better than having total silence until you're forced into saying something by a story in the Tele or so many fans complaining about being left in the dark, with resentment and cynicism building up in the vacuum of being told nothing. Tell us what you are doing aside from the ownership situation, because the continuous silence only creates an impression that absolutely nothing is going on or being done. I'm sure that's not the case and they are all working hard on various matters, but if none of us are told what's going on then thinking nothing is happening or that the silence is the product of arrogance or disinterest isn't only going to be widespread, it becomes the only rational conclusion with the information we have available. The silence until pressured to speak doesn't only apply to the takeover, answers about season tickets and direct debits only came after people kicking up a fuss on twitter as well. Perhaps these issues could have been addressed if they'd had someone ready to step into the General Manager role immediately from June 1st to manage things properly, but that level of planning just wasn't there. I said before that even if you want to give the benefit of doubt they're making it extremely difficult. I really do want to give them the benefit of the doubt; I don't want to naturally feel cynical about everything Morton's owners do having been forced into that attitude by 20 years of Golden Casket's mismanagement, I want this to be a great success, I've been a member and put my money in ever since the debt cancellation was announced because I do believe this simply has to succeed. However there's just nothing to cling to to give the benefit of the doubt. They're not running a primary school tuck shop where we can say they'll learn as they go and it doesn't matter if they spill the juice all over the floor at first because they'll get better at it, it's a professional football club and volunteers or not we need some sign of competence. There aren't any. It's simply not good enough and every single day of silence drains their credibility further in the weeks where MCT as an organisation can least afford to get things wrong. It's hard to imagine how this summer could possibly have been more shambolic or done more damage to confidence in their ability to run the club short of announcing that the takeover is cancelled. The first impression created this summer is critical to their success and getting more people on board, but there's nothing good to say about it.

(Photo- Gary Bradley) Chris Millar- A Tribute by Russell Gordon With another new season approaching, and the League Cup group stages taking on the role of the season's curtain raiser in recent years, Morton will welcome some unfamiliar guests next week in Lowland League "runners-up" East Kilbride. However, as we're well aware, their newly signed club captain certainly doesn't fit into such a category amongst the Cappielow faithful. This conveniently gives me a tenuous link to write a long overdue tribute to Chris Millar, which has been delayed due to certain unforeseen circumstances (Well, me spending most of my time watching Scotland competing in the Euros and everything that went along with that). Links Park, Montrose. A Third Division match on a cold Tuesday night in February 2003 in front of 343 hardy souls, which ended in an uneventful 0-0 draw. One of those games that I remember attending, but remember next to nothing of, such was the complete absence of any noteworthy events. I do however recall that Morton debuted a young Port Glasgow based midfielder who had been signed from Celtic. But not being local myself, I had no idea who the boy was and my pal telling me about Chris Millar as he took a corner in front of me and that sparse crowd watching Morton toil to a point that ultimately helped us over the line was about my only recollection of the evening. Within two and a half months, the now 20-year-old had made thirteen appearances, was ever present for the remainder of that season and picked up a Third Division Championship winner's medal as Morton embarked on that sensational run to the title. Not a bad way to get your career off and running. And the following season was to get off to an incredible start as that team of gallus young guys took the league by storm. Chris, along with John and Marco Maisano, Peter Weatherson and Alex Williams were having the time of their lives as John McCormack's Morton side took the approach of "if you score three, we'll score four". There's no point in delving too much into what happened as that season progressed, most of a certain vintage will have seen it with their own eyes and those younger will have had the story relayed to them as one of the less celebrated episodes in Morton's history. A young Chris Millar during his first spell at Cappielow. (Photo- www.tellhimhespele.com) For Chris himself, a return of three goals in 27 league games was perhaps disappointing, although two crucial goals against Stenhousemuir and Dumbarton in March helped keep Morton hang on into the race for promotion far longer than they deserved to. But he wasn't immune to the criticism that his teammates had to endure as the events of that season unfolded. As a local lad who was often seen in and around the town enjoying the team's early season success, he became a target for disgruntled fans along with his aforementioned mates. Around the time of turning the tender age of 21, it would've been no surprise to see some players' careers ruined by a season such as that. One could argue that's exactly what happened to Williams and the Maisano brothers, who went on a downward spiral from there on. That he and Peter Weatherson went on to have such stellar careers was a testament to both. The following season was a funny campaign. Under normal circumstances, Morton should've been clear favourites for the title, but the hangover from the trials and tribulations of the previous campaign just wouldn't clear. In the last season of two clubs automatically being promoted, Morton just about hung onto the coat-tails of eventual champions Brechin and runners-up Stranraer, before coming up just short in the end. Chris himself enjoyed a prolific season- starting 34 league games and scoring 11 goals. The only games he missed being the dead rubber win against Berwick on the final day and a harmful 0-0 draw at home to Dumbarton before our penultimate day visit to Stranraer that the final nail was put in Morton's coffin for another year. But there were two brilliant highlights of that season that I specifically recall- an incredible volley at Berwick over the festive period and a late, late header at Gayfield to sneak a 1-0 win, and the subsequent joyous pitch invasion. Of course, that late winner was to prove in vain, and Morton would have to face another season trying to get out of the third tier. Chris's fantastic strike against Berwick at Shielfield Park on Boxing Day 2004. (Video- Morton FC) However, there were a couple of caveats to deal with that third season- most notably the supposedly monied Gretna bludgeoning their way through the divisions with scant regard for their creditors, but also the rule change that meant that second place didn't now guarantee promotion, with the introduction of the play-offs. Of course, Gretna continued on their merry way, and won the league comfortably, qualified for the UEFA Cup and were only a penalty shoot-out defeat by Hearts away from lifting the Scottish Cup. Missing only one league game, and scoring five goals, the highlight was a double in a thoroughly satisfying 2-1 win against the champions-elect towards the end of the season as Morton cemented their place as the best-of-the-rest that season. There were however disappointments too- hitting the post in a penalty shoot-out defeat by St. Mirren in the Challenge Cup semi-final was gut-wrenching enough, but when we got to the play-offs, it was Chris's foul that was to prove pivotal as Morton fell at Balmoor to a Dougie Cameron penalty which saw third-placed Peterhead progress to the final where they lost to fourth placed Partick Thistle. Both clubs had finished the regular season 13 points behind Morton, who were left to lick their wounds as "Let's all laugh at Morton" reverberated around Balmoor following Partick's completely unmerited success. If it wasn't for bad luck back then, we'd have had no luck at all. But there were to be no mistakes the following season, as Morton came out the traps immediately and led the league from the first day to the last, claiming a Scottish Cup scalp of SPL Kilmarnock along the way. Chris returned five league goals from 30 games, including crucial goals against Forfar and Peterhead, and one of the nine in the late season rout of the Angus club as we returned to the second tier after a six-year hiatus. His first season of First Division football wasn't to be particularly enjoyable, owing mainly to the folly of Morton's hapless manager, Jim McInally at the time. Having signed a pre-contract agreement with promotion chasing St. Johnstone, and with Morton circling the drain at the bottom end of the table, McInally decided to throw the baby out with the bathwater and declared that Chris would never play for Morton again. It's funny how getting hammered 1-6 at Livingston without one of your best players can change a manager's stance on such things. Happily though, in spite of his imminent departure, he did outstay McInally, and played his part as new manager Davie Irons led Morton to safety by the skin of their teeth in that final day nail biter at Firhill. It was onto pastures new and McDiarmid Park then, and the full set of lower league title medals was completed within twelve months, Saints wrapping up the title with a 3-1 win over Morton on the penultimate day of the season. The next few years were to prove fruitful for the Perth Saints and for Chris, with European football becoming a regular occurrence, and notable scalps of Norwegian powerhouses Rosenborg and Swiss side FC Lucerne standing out. However, the crowning glory of Chris's career was to come a mere fortnight after the worst single match in Morton's history. As we were coming to terms with relegation and that 10-2 mauling at Hamilton, he was an integral part of the St. Johnstone team that took care of a Dundee United team that included the likes of Andy Robertson and Stuart Armstrong to lift the Scottish Cup- the first major trophy in their entire history. The Millar clan enjoy St. Johnstone's Scottish Cup success in 2014. (Photo- @MidgeyMillar, Twitter) But after ten years in the small farming community of Perth and a testimonial against Aberdeen, a return to the bright lights was too good an opportunity to resist, and Chris returned to Morton in 2018, signed as part of Raymond McKinnon's revolution. Two goals in a 2-0 win at Alloa were a good starter for ten, but as the season took a turn for the worse, he found himself helping John Sutton with coaching as McKinnon's successor was sourced, and joining Jim McAlister in picking the team for the final day win against Dundee United as Morton signed off a turbulent season as in a manner befitting of the campaign- having a bit of drama and a good laugh at Falkirk's expense. In truth, the curtailed 2019-20 season, and last season's difficult campaign were not to prove the most glorious of swansongs for Chris, as first team opportunities were to prove limited. That didn't however stop him from stepping up when he was needed most. After starting his Morton career in that away draw at Montrose over eighteen years previously, it was against the same opponents that he finished it. I doubt I've ever missed a game that Chris Millar played for Morton (before COVID hit, at least), but can't remember ever seeing him play at right back. Trailing 1-2 from the first leg, he put in a magnificent performance in his unfamiliar role as Morton scraped through to the final and ultimately survival for another year. A fine performance at right back in the play-off semi final second leg against Montrose was a fitting send off for Chris. (Photo- Gary Bradley) There's something that's quite disappointing about Morton that a player has to depart for another provincial club for ten years to enjoy success that they couldn't realistically expect with ourselves, but there was also a sense of satisfaction to be taken on how Chris closed the book on his Morton career. After 278 games, 39 goals, 5 yellow cards and two league titles, to see him come in from the cold in our hour of need and make such a telling contribution to our survival was great to see. It's now onwards to East Kilbride- my own local team, where he'll be looking to add a Lowland League title medal and pyramid play-off success to his glittering CV. Given their stance on the colt teams' introduction to the pyramid system, I struggle to wish "Kilby" well in anything they do, but with players of Chris's calibre in their squad, I expect that we'll be congratulating him on yet another piece of silverware sometime soon. Cheers Chris, it's been a privilege!

Bit cheesy but stuff like this is good.

Not a new thing by now, but Gareth the social media guy (unsure of his surname, sorry) has been doing really spectacular work since he took over. The graphics for the Cup stuff in particular are excellent, really well done. That it’s taken until 2022 for the club to fully embrace the internet is quite an indictment of the previous regime but even at that, the standard now is remarkable by any measure and both Gareth and Chris Ross deserve a lot of credit for the improvement.

Iain Wilson makes SPFL team of the week, well deserved.

Fantastic stuff, what a great picture. I'll maybe post some thoughts tomorrow on what I thought was a bit of a funny game which I'm not sure necessarily answered the questions about the players individually, but which at the same showed the quite remarkable wee "x factor" if you will that's been seen time and again since Imrie came in. Anyway, for now I just want to say on a wee personal note that it's been a pretty rough couple of weeks and I am absolutely buzzing in the aftermath of the game. You just cannot whack football sometimes, there's nothing like it: no matter what else is going on, it can still raise your spirits no end. Mon the fuckin Ton.

We've watched fans do it to us at Cappielow for too long. This has been coming while fans in the Dublin end have had free reign to get it up us for as long as I can remember with no consequences. Not only that, the stewards had also obviously identified a few kids out of the dozens who were on the park and tried to physically detain them after full time. Thankfully there was enough adults around to take the stewards hands off them and get them out of the ground. Again not impressed with these cunts picking on a couple of easy targets when they did nothing to stop fans invading the park in the first place. Do you think there was anyone waiting on their fans at full time to forcibly hold them in the ground? Shower of power hungry bastards and the club needs to get a grip of their behaviour before that of some kids.

See tbh though, I did find it pretty funny after our second just because all their wee fannies done it after theirs, but yes, agreed. Those peasants should be grateful to even be able to be near Morton though, never mind thinking they can come and give it big licks like that. Get it right up them. Muirhead’s celebration was class too, regardless of anything else you might say about him there’s just something about the way he carries himself that just made him look cool as fuck doing that. Some laugh overall though, that Partick team is horrible and entirely befitting of their shitey wee club.

They’ve apologised to Sir Douglas for having the temerity to drag his name through the mud and he’s graciously decided that he’ll be taking no action.

SLO has said on twitter he has collected complaints from fans about the club only allowing MCT members to vote on the away kit vote. Don't see why this is a problem? These are exactly the sort of small inducements they should be making to encourage membership.

I'd add that 5 minutes odd highlights of a game - even one as hilarious as yesterday's scoreline - is for me at least pretty much the sweet spot for that package. The 13 minutes Dunfermline have apparently churned out is overkill and I don't see why so many clubs do the same. The only exception to this in recent history is of course the 2013 cup swording at Celtic Park, which should have the full two hours played to the background of Tom Boyd's tear-drenched gurning.

There needs to be elective leadership but above all there needs to be accountability. Members as owners of the club have the right to scrutinise both the informal decision-making of their representatives, as well as any formal voting record on the GMFC board. Without this information, you cannot have effective scrutiny nor a meaningful choice between incumbent office-holders and replacements. As a leadership group festooned with lawyers already, I'm sure that they can establish a means of protecting sensitive commercial information, while also making clear how the club's custodians have decided to run the club during their time in office. This accountability issue is the fatal flaw in the current setup, regardless of any individual. The MCT/GMFC deflection exercise also needs to be swept away as part of that.

This sleight of hand nonsense needs to get so far to fuck already.

Was in smiths there to see if the quality of tops was any better than last time, unfortunately only medium had 4 pulls on it, so they’ll not be getting my money for that. I then overheard 4 wee guys in the queue who were talking about how good it was winning on pens the other night, and how they were looking forward to tomorrows game. They went to buy tickets, when the shop assistant told them with glee that under 12’s needed an adult to buy tickets. So I done what any decent person would do and got the tickets for them. What sort of way is that for Morton to treat the next generation of supporters?

Either that or the club and security staff suck it up, accept kids will be kids and let them enjoy themselves without being treated like they’re trouble when all they really are is boisterous and excitable, which is exactly what you’d expect kids of that age to be.

They'd have no need to answer questions if they'd pre-empted them with some kind of acknowledgement or statement. Of course, people may still disagree and may still want to ask questions, but then the club could say "we've spoken on that already, see our initial statement, no further comment." It wouldn't please everyone, but it would be something. Clyde published this four days after they signed David Goodwillie in 2017: Club Statement - David Goodwillie | 3 Apr 2017 | News | Clyde Football Club (clydefc.co.uk) Again, you can agree with it or you can disagree with it, but it's there, it's clear, it spells out exactly what the club's thinking was and why they made the decision they did. What Morton have done is utterly shite it. And I say that as someone who's absolutely fine with Lithgow playing for us.

Nope, it's really not reasonable any more tbh. They have gone from an idea to having the majority holding in the club within 18 months. The original deal that Golden Casket was terrible: MCT responded to that and changed it. Given the circumstances, we've come out of the Rae era cul de sax relatively unscathed and that's an undoubted success. That of course doesn't mean that MCT directors get carte blanche to run the club as they want. But the deal is done, they - we - now own the club and so it's absolutely time to be inside that tent in whatever capacity suits you, rather than just carping on the sidelines as before.