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That “statement” is an absolute abomination. First tip is to make things like this as brief as possible to get your point across and maintain the reader’s attention throughout. I say that as I write a massive rant. The only reason I read the whole thing was because it was so comically bad and there are so many holes to be picked in it. I’ll ignore the spelling and grammar. Straight off the bat, “It’s been brought to our attention…” Nothing’s been brought to your attention fellas, you’ve seen some other snotty nosed collection of brats with a similarly inflated sense of their own importance whining about not getting things their way on Instagram, tell it how it is. “The Scottish Ultra scene has risen significantly up and down the country and should be supported and backed instead of classed as a criminal activity.” Why? What good does it actually do? Are these folk helping pensioners across the road? Are they collecting for food banks? (I know some are, but our wee gang certainly aren’t.) Are they doing litter collections in their towns and cities? Or are they running around, hiding their identities and as a result putting fear and uncertainty in the minds of the communities they’re entering or a part of? Is throwing a pyro at a child who is being escorted from the pitch after completing their mascot duties not a criminal activity? ”We have boycotted games due to the unfair punishments on our members…” I’m afraid this requires a bit of context. We’re aware that the club banned seven fans for up to two years, but they quite rightly didn’t comment further. If this group wish to condemn the bans as unjust and garner external support, I’m afraid they have to detail what was so wrong with the club’s course of action and let those who they are trying to convince decide. I’ve seen none of that, just complaints about how this is wrong but not why it’s wrong. Partick v Morton ”The group were targeted with stop and search and hiding in concourses…” They clearly didn’t search them thoroughly enough considering there was plenty pyro lit in that old wooden stand. ”Police Scotland and Partick Thistle stewards made this an extremely unsafe surrounding not just for the group, but also for younger kids who attend matches with families.” I’m sorry but this is absolutely mental, and the worst bit of an already dreadful statement. You threw a pyro at a child! You have no moral high ground here, get off your fucking cross. The home games could all be merged into one daft wee rant in all honesty. The police were driving at high speeds when children were about. Fuck off, if they feel it’s appropriate, they’re allowed to do that. They hit members with batons, too. Any evidence of any bruising been produced? I’d say that’s quite an allegation to make of a public body without concrete evidence to support your claims. Their entrance to the train station was closed off? Their entrance, or everyone’s entrance? Again, if the police think it’s appropriate for public safety, it’s their gift to take these measures. They were outnumbered by police? That’s on you, boys. And to be honest as a tax payer, it pisses me off that you’ve gained such a reputation that the police feel the need to spend so much of our money on people who we’ve witnessed with our own eyes committing criminal acts. That’s said, I’m just not having it that there were 3-4 cops per member of their group. More alllegations of being hit with batons and police turning off body cams is incredible. I’m sure their superiors would have footage up to the point the cameras were turned off and ask questions of exactly what happened to their officers. It just didn’t happen, let’s be honest. I’d also question the timing of this statement. The bans were a few weeks ago now, and we’ve had two games since in which we got good results and were played in front of positive atmosphere’s from a Morton perspective. These guys haven’t been missed. Could it be that there was a high profile incident at the weekend of a group of similarly entitled neds not being allowed into a local derby that has attracted a lot of media attention so this lot are piggy backing onto it? I’m sure none of that wee mob even read this forum and will dismiss the ramblings of miserable old guys like us who don’t understand them, but I’d challenge them to convince us that we’re wrong, and fill in some of the glaring gaps in their account of what’s been happening to them.

Top 3 of our most convincing performances this season, the scoreline massively flattered an away outfit that scored one of their two chances in the entire game. Rudden's goal should have been a mere footnote when at least 3 goals up already, but they created nothing afterwards either. No failures today and a lot of very good performances, but I'd like to highlight the defensive unit as a whole. Boyes and Delaney have had some stick recently but both were excellent today, with Boyes even creating good chances with his distribution. While we've had some better individual defenders, I think our current back four, with Mullen as well as Wilson to come back too is the most balanced and effective defence I've seen. The credit also has to go to the overall standard of coaching. For us to be hitting the 40 point mark and being arithmetically secure from 10th with 7 fucking games to play is yet another outrageous turnaround given the losses and difficult transition we experienced in the summer. The tactical organisation of this squad is superb and three straight wins without a fit striker couldn't demonstrate that more clearly.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DGeF0oWMcvp/?igsh=ZTdrd3ZqazQ0cnFl

Hopefully everyone who was said the sky was falling because we didn't have a full squad two weeks ago feels suitably daft. People were wanting "statements" to clarify the budget.

NOPE! just not having that and disappointed that no one else has flagged this up. Maybe in your Texas hick town, but not here. I have been in and out of various hospitals in Larbert and Glasgow over the last few months and i can assure you that the nurses and indeed any hospital staff I have encountered have been absolutely superb and the treatment from the NHS in general has been outstanding.

https://gmfc.net/an-update-on-recent-supporter-behaviour-at-matches/ Good, measured statement from the club. Long story short, seven people hit with two-year banning orders, and the next Partick game is Category A, meaning we're on the hook for police costs. I am glad the club pointed out it's not just Morton at fault here but Partick and other clubs too, but our job's to keep our own house in order and the seven bans are a good start.

Scottish referees: you (Ben Williamson) have tried to break an ankle four times in the game already, I'm finally forced to give you a yellow card through a veil of tears. Also Scottish referees: You (Ballantyne) didn't immediately take a throw in at my command - yellow card straight away. Just fuck off.

The sense of entitlement to special treatment and expectation of fawning gratitude from these ultra groups seems to be the same at every club. You're getting out your tits and hitting a drum lads, not working as volunteers for the benefit of other fans.

MCT still generates some really weird, overly negative reactions. 3 years of fan ownership has delivered 3 years of championship football and a huge financial turnaround. That already counts as success for a provincial club at this level, no matter what happens next. No ownership model will make us immune to losing players or getting relegated. It's not perfect, but it's a lot better than it was under the Raes. Its also a lot better than the alternative (which was, and still is, nothing).

I want Strapp to do well and have a good career but if I'm being asked to sympathize with the treatment of a pure gallus local lad who we let train here when he wasn't with the club, or support the best manager we've had in our lifetime, I'm picking Imrie every time and twice on Sundays.

Tedious dirge, but fair play to Dunning for not being bored into submission.

Vale of Clyde have permanently banned their young team after their “derby” with Perershill at the weekend (it’s not a derby, two teams from the opposite end of the city whose weans have manufactured a rivalry because they both like a pyro). Now, under normal circumstances, we may be questioning what could possibly be going on that forced them into such drastic action, but fear not. Step forward Scottish football’s favourite overgrown ned with a selfie stick, Mr Blair McNally… I’m reluctant to share his video and indirectly line his pockets, but think it’s necessary to illustrate what this fella’s influence on kids is. I asked Dale at one of those supporters’ meetings a couple of months ago about Morton’s stance on him and he said that there’s no way he’d get press accreditation for Cappielow. But clubs up and down the pyramid should really be putting a stop to this nonsense by banning him completely. I get the need for publicity, but what he brings to them isn’t positive in the way the other guy, Sam North’s films are. Banning kids who can’t behave is a reasonable step, but looking towards the root cause of the problem could prevent things like this before they become an issue. And he certainly shouldn’t be able to make a living off of this.

With all due respect, the maw can shut up and get in her lane. Morton aren’t responsible for the behaviour of individuals who have battles in the streets, regardless of who these individuals support. That they have the courtesy to entertain her and her wean at all should be something that she appreciates, not shouts her mouth off about. The club helping the police with their enquires is more than enough- the kid isn’t our fan so why he needs a cuddle and a goodwill gesture is beyond me. If Partick want to do that to make their fan feel a bit better about life then they can crack on, it’s good PR for them and not uncommon, but for Morton it’s a pointless exercise in trying to appease a Facebook maw that’s got no interest in giving the club the benefit of any doubt. If we gave the kid the red carpet treatment at Cappielow in March, she’d still be flying off the handle and trying to drag the club’s name through the mud further. What does she want? The wean wouldn’t be interested in a day visiting our squad, a signed Morton top or something like that, so I don't know what resolution his maw’s looking for unless it’s financial, which would be completely inappropriate. I see from the comments on the club’s tweet that the kid is apparently a member of their “Ultras” group and is 13, but as yet, no details of the alleged perpetrator. Was this person an adult, or another kid that was just as game for a scrap as their group? I’m afraid that if it was a kid then if you fly with the crows, you get shot with the crows. We don’t know the whole story, so assuming this is an adult attacking a kid instead of two equally complicit weans isn’t right at this stage. Even if it is her poor wee angel. Looking at the bigger picture, relations between the two clubs look to be at an all-time low, be it the young teams, the normal fans like ourselves or those inside the clubs. Until such times as the clubs get round the table and accept faults on both sides, whataboutery will continue, resentment will grow and we’ll continue to see similar incidents. Partick might enjoy seeing Morton take the negative publicity in this instance, but if as is likely, there are repeat incidents when their fans are at fault they may not come out it smelling of roses. Time for both parties to fess up to their or their fan bases failings and find a resolution going forward that doesn’t involve point scoring.

I'm starting to fear for big-spending Patrick's title chances.

On one hand we have a steady match-going crowd, an ever-increasing MCT membership, a positive balance sheet, 3 mid-table seasons in the Championship, no obstacles to outside investment (see - Dalrada), tempered with some short-term negatives caused by a roaster of a GM and a dud of a season on the park (following on from a reasonably exciting one). On the other hand, we have a handful of posters on here and Facebook who have been presenting the same miserable points about terminal doom and personal apathy for literally years now (see page 1 of the MCT updates thread for reference). My own point of view is that the Rae family, Hugh Scott, Alan Lithgow and a successful period in the 70s/80s aren't relevant to the future of the club. Framing every discussion on ownership around them is a waste of time.

If we somehow held out and won that'd we'd right be talking about just how important Cammy Blues is to this team. Gillespie too. Both of them together turned the tide on that match instantly. When all is said and done, we should look back on Blues fondly. He's been a terrific servant to this club.

96th minute winner by Robbie Muirhead to CRUSH the title dreams of big-spending Ayr United. Terrible, wee shame that.

I really don’t want to go sticking the boot into the whole “ultras culture” because it does engage kids and gets them going to football, but for miserable old guys like myself, aye it’s getting a bit tiresome. I’d also prefer sticking to more traditional songs instead of the generic (x club away ole ole) but it shouldn’t be forgotten that in our youth, most songs were also different variations used by different clubs- there isn’t a great deal of variety among groups of football fans. The daft all-black uniforms are a bit cringeworthy too, but I suppose it’s obvious that they want to blend in instead of risking arrest. There’s obviously bad blood between our lot and Partick anyway, and it should be noted that a similar incident was said to have happened on the first day of the season when a young lad was targeted and had his Morton scarf stolen by their “ultras”. I did notice at the time that their most prominent and obnoxious Twitter troll, a lad who usually has plenty to say for himself, refused to acknowledge Morton fans digging him on the subject. That shouldn’t be brushed under the carpet when our mob are centre of attention for their poor behaviour yesterday. I’m at pains to be too critical as most on here are of a certain vintage and will remember I was a wee shite in my youth, but the pyros getting flung on the park towards mascots (didn’t notice the mascots, but have to assume that was the case) is dreadful. Carrying pyros shouldn’t be happening anyway, but fans of all clubs will do it, and maybe it’s incumbent on clubs to ensure that the risks of this are minimised. I don’t know, maybe if you have about 8000 seats across two fairly modern stands and crowds of less than 4000, it would make sense not to accommodate away fans in a pre-historic wooden fire hazard? Of course, Cappielow’s away facilities are also dreadful but fairly consistent with the rest of the ground, but Partick choosing to give us a crap section when they could offer a safer, more comfortable alternative doesn’t help matters. It should also be said that this is far from exclusive to Morton, or a select few clubs. There are obviously the high profile groups at the bigger clubs, who have far too much gravitas for the clubs’ own good, and get far too much publicity as the red tops look for clicks. Hopefully Celtic’s imminent UEFA ban clips the wings of their mob, and the fact it’s coming against Bayern Munich rather than KR Rekjavik or Kirat Almaty is particularly satisfying, while the Rangers fans turning on their mob’s walk-out was a rare positive showing from their support. We also had an incident against Livingston after the cup tie when our kids appeared to be the ones targeted, rather than the perpetrators, while two Dunfermline neds were recently convicted and received banning orders for leathering a lonesome Raith kid at a bus stop after a derby last season. I’d also note that having gone to a lot of non-league games quite regularly in recent years, I’ve seen clubs as small and insignificant as Glasgow Perthshire and Crossgates Primrose followed by wee ultra groups. The trouble doesn't seem significant because of sheer numbers, but forming these groups is what is attracting weans. One person who should be held accountable for encouraging this is the odious YouTube vlogger, Blair McNally. A disgusting cretin of a boy who travels round the country encouraging weans to carry this shite on and get into fights before, as soon as the shit hit the fan with the Raith kid, using the incident to play the good guy and get positive publicity for himself. Final point, the boy that seems to be charged with keeping all our mob in check is a decent lad, who has obviously done a lot of work with the club trying to create something positive. But every time I see him at games now, he looks to have the weight of the world on his shoulders. I wonder if he thinks it’s all worthwhile.

https://www.greenocktelegraph.co.uk/news/24887504.lamar-reynolds-hopes-goal-can-repay-newfound-morton-family/ Lamar Reynolds' brother died a few months ago, so as well as trying to settle in hundreds of miles from home he's been dealing with that, including arranging for the funeral out in Jamaica. Horrible stuff. I'm glad he's enjoying his time here, he more than earned his goal at Hampden. Here's to many more.

Everyone who doubted Dougie, please report to the sea.

Corr dislocated his shoulder at Raith a few months ago and has done it again twice since signing for Morton. You can’t legislate for every injury but you shouldn’t be coming out with nonsense like that in interviews because it will always come back to bite you. The fact he’s the general manager and spending far too much time speaking about football matters rather than almost everything else off the pitch that seems to be at a standstill makes it even worse. The only actual thing that I can think of that he’s implemented in his time so far is integrating the women’s team in to the club, which although admirable is not something I’ve seen discussed about the cost of that and if it’s sustainable for a fan owned club at our level to cover that cost? I genuinely don’t know the answer to that but I can’t imagine it’s cheap and if it’s self sustainable at this level or the level the women play at or ever will be. so much of the things he does from his middle management speak, five pillars, getting involved in football matters and almost being the front face of talking about them plastered all over internal and external media outlets as well as being the saviour of Greenock Morton Women’s team screams of someone trying to pad their CV for his next employer rather than someone who’s actually implementing any real change or progress at the club.

In other, more encouraging news, David Munro, who officiated our 3-2 defeat at Stark’s Park, awarding big-spending Raith Rovers that ludicrous penalty when Lewis Vaughan appeared to drop dead within four yards of Darragh O’Connor and booked eight Morton players but failed to send off Jack Hamilton for a second booking and Ross Millen for a flying elbow, has resigned from his position as an SFA referee. This is absolutely fantastic news for Scottish football as a whole. Genuinely the single worst referee ai’ve ever seen in all my time watching football, and I remember Brian Cassidy and Colin Hardie. Good riddance.

Well given that the ITK crowd originally claimed that Strapp re-signing for the club was, err, Strapp's agent/chairman going over Dougie's head*, I think we can file this nonsense in the bin where it belongs. Unless Kelly has a functioning, 4D chess explanation of how those two entirely contradictory claims about politics at work within the club tie together. We will never have a functioning and successful football club while everyone from former employees, player's maws to taxi drivers in the street think that they have licence to stick their oar in at every opportunity. I don't know *how* that issue is resolved, but it is absolutely toxic to fan ownership and far more infuriating to me than whether any player does or does not re-sign a new contract. We can't even replace a goalkeeper coach without it being treated like the next Horizon-Post Office scandal by these tiresome attention-seekers. * That was naturally going to lead to a bust-up and the manager's resignation.

Livingston have the parachute payment and Martindale has openly said they'll have a "top four budget" (whether that budget survives their impending court cases is another matter). Hamilton again have a private owner willing to subsidise losses. None of us are ever going to know exact figures of budgets at each club, but there's a point where you can take all the information in the public domain and make realistic educated guesses, and doing so allows you to see that the only possible candidates for having a smaller budget are Airdrie and at a significant push Hamilton, with any other conclusion being delusion. It's been stated publicly by Falkirk that they're going to budget 400K losses in perpetuity as long as they're outside the top flight despite being partly fan owned and having an average attendance over 4K. It's also been stated publicly by board members of The Jags Foundation (Partick's MCT equivalent) that despite reducing their budget from 22/23, they still budgeted a six-figure loss this season, despite being fan owned and having an average attendance of 3.5K. Every other club has a private owner who are, for however long, willing to support six figure losses. Dunfermline are another club with more than double our average attendance, whose owners supported a seven figure loss in 22/23 to get out of League One. Raith have had a huge influx of 'conservatory' money from the same 'businesspeople' who bankrolled Kelty to League One before deciding they'd reached their ceiling, and that was reflected in their recruitment last summer with the winning team on the park then seeing their attendances surge. Then you come to the clubs whose attendances are around the same level or smaller than ours. Livingston as mentioned have the parachute payment, and are clearly outspending us for players as proven by Muirhead going there. Ayr's private owner is wiling to plough money in and they're clearly outspending us for players as proven by Oakley going there, with journalists willing to state as fact that their offer was a 50% increase on ours. They have been outspending us for several years as per McAdams, McGinty, Fjortoft and Salkeld making that move as well. That their private owner actually has a modicum of sense unlike the Raes and is also spending on infrastructure around the stadium that could generate revenue is to his credit and could see them move ahead of us in commercial income in future, but it's clear that they were already comfortably outspending us on the first team budget regardless. Queen's Park are rolling in Lord Haughey's money and have been spending astronomical sums since they were in League Two. Even before our move to fan ownership, Bob McHugh and Peter Grant left us to drop two divisions to them because they got enough of a wage increase to make it worth their while. In the time since their budget has only grown, with them regularly beating other Championship clubs to players who are being chased by half the division like Paton and Savoury. Hamilton were taken over last summer and have spent to get out of League One, there's little reason to doubt they'll continue to do so but we at least don't have the same obvious evidence of their budget dwarfing ours that we have with everyone else. That only leaves Airdrie, which considering they were 4th and we were 5th is enough proof that the budget doesn't guarantee a relegation battle, but it's clearly the reality that we're a long way off other clubs financially and we need excellent recruitment to compete. The squads that have delivered two consecutive 5th placed finishes have contained Baird (Ayr reject), Oakley (Inverness reject), Gillespie & Quitongo (Queen's Park rejects), Crawford (Partick reject who was clubless in August), Wilson & Ambrose (Dunfermline rejects). We just need to trust Imrie to find bargains of that calibre again among players not wanted by other Championship clubs rather than the Steven Boyd level of reject.

Germany vs Scotland | Cappielow Kickoff - Greenock Morton FC (gmfc.net) Absolutely brilliant work from the club here. Great value for money with the £20 including your first beer of the night, a glass & some grub. Great to see the club working to generate some revenue by making use of facilities during the close season while taking advantage of the buzz around the Euros. I am very much looking forward to watching this match in the company of fellow ton fans!

It's the fixed starting point because it's when Muirhead lost form and the whole discussion is about his contribution from the point he lost his form. Including his unquestionable positive contribution before that date would therefore be irrelevant, because no one is questioning that he was very good earlier in the season. Moving the start date forward would make no sense because it is still when his ongoing spell of poor form started. You know this. I would avoid criticising someone for causing a tedious back and forth through a stubborn refusal to admit they're wrong with the incorrect use of statistics if the various claims I'd made in a thread included: 21 year old Michael Garrity is about to turn 24, a fact you didn't address when your error was pointed out Muirhead never plays on the right when he'd played on the right three days prior to you making that claim, a fact you responded to by moving the goalposts to claim Muirhead only starting on the right once all season is irrelvant, an argument you then dropped and failed to address when the fact of his other starts on the right was pointed out at your request None of the fringe players have shown they can make as many contributions to goals as Muirhead, then when it was demonstrated that one of the fringe players competing for a place had in fact been involved in as many goals since Muirhead's form deteriorated despite less time on the park, you pivoted to: Claiming Muirhead's 10 starts in that time period prior to Friday's game was the same thing as Garrity's 3 starts and 7 sub appearances when Muirhead had more than double the amount of time on the park, and finally now with every actual footballing argument expended you're reduced to semantics about what constitutes recent form. People get things wrong all the time, which certainly includes me being too harsh on Muirhead recently enough. You can quietly accept that you were objectively factually incorrect on any or all of these points and stop digging at any time.

The longer Imrie stays here the less likely it seems that he's going to get a move to the top flight, and therefore the more likely it is that he takes what we'd perceive as a sideways move to another Championship club but where he'll have a far larger budget to work with. Rightly or wrongly, bottom six Premiership clubs aren't going to sit up and take notice of a manager finishing 5th in the Championship, even when being close to it we can see that's consistently involved doing a more impressive job than managers finishing above us. If we're around our ceiling currently in competing for the top four with consistently one of the two smallest budgets in the division, it's entirely understandable that Imrie will back himself to go and win a title if he gets even a mid-table budget and so go looking for an opportunity to get that budget. You'd also hope that any manager in that scenario would be clever enough to see what way the wind is blowing with clubs. Queen's Park for example would give him a far larger budget initially, but that is clearly built on sand and it's a matter of time until that club financially implodes. Maybe in the meantime he could get them promoted anyway, but that would still be a bad choice, just as it was clear last season that even if Inverness had stayed up they were going to end up in administration sooner rather than later and any promises of more money to work with wouldn't last. If it's a club like Partick or Dunfermline, then even if they actually have the sense to cut back to a sustainable level of spending they could still provide a bigger budget, so though you'd hate seeing him go you couldn't deny he'd be doing what was best for his own career. There is absolutely no point getting fatalistic about this though. It is blatantly not true that he's been offered the Partick job already because they haven't appointed a Sporting Director yet. If he's applied for it then whatever, he'll continue to do his job in the meantime. We have people having these sort of panics every single season: he's going to walk because of a fallout over the budget (repeated annually), he's got the Inverness job, he's got the Ayr job. He wasn't even a year in the job when we had fans demanding club statements about Imrie's future because tabloids were reporting rumours of Hamilton sacking Stuart Taylor, as if that would be remotely appropriate for Morton to comment on. It'll happen one day, in the meantime enjoy having a manager who's actually doing a good enough job that a move to other clubs is even credible after 25 years of repeated duds.

The main conclusion I'm drawing is that our fanbase - reflective of the wider Greater Greenock catchment area - have an unhealthy fixation with rumour mongering and 'ITK' pish. It might not be the main reason why we can't have nice things but it does make those lean times seem inevitable.

Ross Forbes, gentlemen. What a player. https://x.com/uav360drone/status/1888308536691867758?s=46

Compo face found. As far as I know he had some stuff nicked, which is awful, but wasn't actually hurt, so not exactly 80s style hooliganism. As for Morton, there was no length of time the maw was going to be happy about either. Morton spoke to the parent first, then spoke to the boy for a couple of minutes to get his side of the story which is fair enough IMO. Morton aren't actually responsible for what happened and have no boxes to tick. Haven't read that article but the worst behaviour of 'ultras' I've seen in person this season was from that lot at Cappielow on Hogmanay.

To be fair, the onus has to be on MCT to keep making the case for investing in them, and not doing so shouldn't deny fans a voice to criticise. Progress has definitely stalled in some areas over the past year or two. The model still needs to iron out the practical issues of being a relatively hands-off owner of a football club while acting as a collective voice of the fanbase - I think the working groups scheme is a step forward towards doing that. But the bigger picture is undoubtedly one of tremendous success compared to the nick we were in previously. Where I feel that people do not have the right to be taken seriously is when they're still braying on about Alan fucking Lithgow, while being conspicuous by their absence while the club was circling the drain during the 2020-22 period. Nobody at MCT, GMFC or anyone else should be giving time to that line of complaint any more.

I disagree with him, and find his posts and stance on the subject of fan ownership tiresome. I like the principle of fan ownership, though I’m not convinced about how well it’s implemented at Morton. There are positives to be taken- for all it’s easy to say that we only turned over profits off the back of cup ties at Celtic Park and Ibrox, it shouldn’t be forgotten that even without those, massive annual losses were stemmed in a relatively short period of time. I’m pleased with how they managed to source sponsorship from Dalrada, when it was getting to the stage we looked far too reliant on the Easdales. Rightly or wrongly I’m more comfortable with Dalrada. And we may well be flirting with relegation to League One for the foreseeable future. So what? It might have escaped many folks’ attention but save from seasons 2012-13 and 2016-17 under the Raes, League One was a distinct possibility just about every year. It’s hardly as if we’ve massively regressed from the halcyon days of a rich local businessman sweeping all before him. We’re one of the 22 biggest clubs in the country, so in theory are the archetypal Championship club- our longevity in the division supports that belief, we’ve spent 17 of the last 18 years in this league. But rather than just fan ownership, we’re also affected by external issues. The state of Cappielow, in terms of the costs to maintain it, and the small capacity to make money outwith football from it, aren’t the current regime’s fault. And as one of the few clubs in the division making ends meet, we’re going to be susceptible to relegation when other clubs spend outwith their means. At present, clubs of a similar or smaller stature to us that are spending more than they bring in are (so far as I can make out, I could be wrong) Ross County, Hamilton, Ayr, Raith and Queen’s Park. Livingston are the beneficiaries of massive prize money that will be greatly reduced this season if they don’t go up, and Inverness have now hit the skids, having achieved more than us, having built everything on sand. I don’t want to be one of those clubs that pisses money against a wall again, and if it means we have go down, then so be it. We’re not talking about Bordeaux playing on a public park, we’re talking about Morton playing at Stenhousemuir and Montrose. Also, the way football is structured now doesn’t allow for clubs like Morton to succeed. Prize money is heavily weighted to the top end, making it harder for a club like us to progress without pissing money against a wall. Since the formation of the SPFL in 2013, only four clubs outwith the current Premiership have played in the top flight, with only Falkirk looking like changing that. It’s not too different to how the Champions League is the exclusive right of the few, but in a smaller scale. Calling for fresh investment is one thing, but what happens when these investors that were waiting to wave money at us want their money back? We got lucky with the Raes. They knew the history with their predecessor, respected their old man’s wishes for Morton not to wither and die, and were prepared to cut their losses. We wouldn’t be that lucky again. I’ve been quite critical of a few things under fan ownership- I called out the appointment of the current General Manager very early, and my opinion hasn’t changed. And I’m getting less and less patient with John Laird. I’ve not seen any evidence of anything he’s achieved in his time as Chairman, and the only time I’ve seen him appear was for a puff piece with Hugh MacDonald in the Daily Mail last month. Those things don’t mean I’m prepared to write off fan ownership completely though. It could certainly be improved, but is an improvement on what we had under the Raes. And I suspect that the position of Raith Rovers in five years time should be more concerning to their fans than the position of Morton should be to us.

Imrie made an arse of his recruitment in the summer and therefore the whole season, exacerbated by stubbornly clinging to the idea that some of his signings aren't mince, making some of them undroppable when everyone can see the likes of Lyall and Moffat aren't good enough. For me that's not enough to write off all his previous good work, when you have a manager who's gotten you out of a hole before I'm willing to trust he can do it again, keep us up and hopefully learn from his mistakes this season so we're not in the same place in 12 months time, but I can understand being sick of it, particularly when he doubles down on the stubbornness and insists we're playing well and it's all just down to bad luck rather than a glaring lack of quality. What I don't understand at all is the (already tedious in the space of three years) insistence accompanying every bad run of form that fan ownership is the root of the problem and we need to tear the whole ownership model of the club apart. This didn't happen with every bad run under the Raes, despite them actually doing 20 years of harm, piling literal millions of debt onto the club's books through their own gross incompetence and megalomania. If you want to abandon fan ownership because the break even model can't possibly work and we can only put a competitive team on the park if we get bankrolled by a private owner, then you're saying we have no alternative but to pile the debt right back on again exactly the way the Raes did. Maybe we'd have a private owner doing it competently next time, actually investing in infrastructure that improves the club's income long term and not giving huge first team budgets to the likes of Jim McInally to waste, but the likelihood is we'll end up right back where we were three years ago. Even if we managed to escape going down the road of Inverness from that position (which is where we'd have ended up then without MCT), we're not going to get away with a debt free club owning the stadium again.

The squad rebuild has barely begun and folk are losing their collective minds. If you’re overwhelmed by rumours, departures and uncertainty, this portion of football fandom might not be for you. Take a holiday and return in August. The rest of us will fill you in on what you missed.

Brian Graham skies a gilt edged chance for a last minute winner for Partick. His side go on to lose the tie on penalties.

All the plaudits to young Sam Murdoch in goal today. Young kid has a had great season on loan at Port Juniors, probably a contender for their PotY. I know 4th division junior level and Championship level football is worlds apart but clean sheet and an assist and by all accounts an excellent save in the dying embers of the game. Well done young man!

FTFY Can't say I have a shred of sympathy for anyone caught up in this tale. Terrible, wee-est of shames all round.

Don’t know where you heard the story about the capacity being reduced in the away end of the stand, but I don’t doubt you’re right, tbh. Can’t remember the last time I saw anyone occupy the section directly beside hospitality, it was even left empty for the Hearts game last season. Your point about reducing their allocation to 500 fans- I’d go down a different route. Morton took corrective action after the game at Firhill in February, after pressure from the police, Partick, that wee boy’s maw and the media. Now, after welcoming these people to our home, we’ve been treated with contempt by them, and at considerable cost to us as a club. Partick aren’t now in the position of saying “we’ve got a big support, you should be grateful we’re lining your pockets”. Given the outlay on security on Saturday, Morton probably do better out of a game against Ayr or Airdrie. And what return was there on that outlay? There was clearly unlawful behaviour from the Partick fans, but I’ve heard nothing about any arrests. Should Morton be paying for the police’s services without seeing something tangible? If you restrict the amount of tickets, I don’t see the problem being resolved. In all likelihood, their neds will gobble these up and leave those who behaved without tickets, which is unfair on the well behaved Partick fans. I’m certainly not in the camp of the “Cowshed Youth” in demanding we stick up for our own, rather than punishing them. But I do think we’re in the position that we can ask questions of other parties. We’ve tried to do our bit to prevent or minimise trouble at our end, what is everyone else doing? Did the police make any arrests? If not, why not? Will Partick be taking action against any of their fans? If not, why not? If Morton don’t get satisfactory answers, having taken action against our own neds, it’s about time we did likewise against Partick’s. The guy in the photo above is clearly identifiable given his prominent social media presence. Both he and his brother are seen in the video breaking the ground regulations. He was previously ejected from Cappielow for having a half bottle of Buckie and denied entry on his next visit, both in their relegation year. If Morton have lost patience with their own fans, I see no reason they should extend any further invitations to him to come back to Cappielow, and they should let Partick pass on the good news to him. As for their young team, let them turn up at Cappielow and deny entry to people with black hoodies and/or balaclavas at the away end. If they don’t like it then tough. They can email the club and ask for refunds, and get them if their tickets are unscanned. I wouldn’t let anyone into a football ground with a balaclava on anyway, there’s no reason to wear one if you have nothing to hide. I get that I’m looking at it through blue and white tinted glasses, but since the February game, it strikes me that Morton have been portrayed as the bad guys despite trying to do the right thing (and credit where it’s due to Dale for that). It’s time the narrative is changed and we start taking action and making demands of others.

As I only attended in part and never took notes I was hoping someone more organised would respond but alas no. In the hope it helps some brief comments from my recollection of the AGM as follows: - We will make a loss this year but it is manageable (for now anyway) largely due to the backing of our main sponsors in particular Dalrada. MCT got a notable mention as the funds generated are invaluable to the club in particular supporting transfer activity. - The recent media comment on Dalrada was noted but was viewed as being overly dramatic and discussions are ongoing between the parties. The individuals in Dalrada assured the Club they remain supportive and are looking to extend the deal. The only concern I had was a lack of clarity on exactly how long the support would continue. - The Board were extremely grateful to all sponsors, old and new, especially given the challenging economic backdrop - every pound makes a difference to the Club. - While a materially improved budget is in place this season it was confirmed it is dwarfed by the increased spending of others in the Championship. Our budget is thought to be in line with Airdrie. In the circumstances, we continue to punch above our weight. - The background to Derek Anderson leaving the youth set-up was he was operating as a contractor and the Club were looking to make him an employee - he declined. There was no ill feeling and the parties agreed to part ways. This provided the opportunity to review operations and the youth players are now fully integrated into the set-up under the direct supervision of the manager. The hope is this will result in more young lads progressing into the squads and ultimately the first-team. - The Club are very keen to see a progression for youth but acknowledge the difficulties working in this part of the world with limited resources. In the past when the youth has been part of training they have not taken the opportunity often preferring their mobiles to working out in the gym. The manager has not been convinced the younger players have grasped the nettle but is willing to be convinced. - Th youth players are on standard contracts which offer compensation if they are picked up by other clubs. The Club maintain there is not a lot more they can do as all the lads have agents who are constantly whispering in their ears - in summary the agents are whoring the boys out to all and sundry. The Club maintain they will not stand in the way of any player progressing on to better things but confirmed no approach had been made for anyone despite the rumours. - The Club has encouraged the players to be more open to being visible in the community and in engaging with fans but there has been a marked reluctance to get involved. In contrast the manager has always been willing to embrace this opportunity but it has not really moved on. - The Club constantly applauded the manager and his team for the work they put in to make Morton successful on the park. So much of what is done is not visible to the fans, other than on match day, but as most of us know while the manager may not always get it right it is not for a lack of effort on his part. - The Board acknowledged and apologised for a lack of comms, at times. They asked though people recognise how small a staff there is at Cappielow with huge amounts of work down to volunteers. They held their hands up saying things could be better, encouraging anyone who wants to get involved to get in touch. It was also mentioned how much time has been taken up this season with unexpected events - the Jet saga, the storm damage to the stadium, the lack of home games after Christmas and the effect on cashflow, the 'ultras'... As I have commented elsewhere on other individual issues including the 'ultras' I will leave it at that. If I have misinterpreted anything apologies it was not intended.

I think the kids need to realise that the 'spend lots of money' line is a terrible one to go down. The ones under 16 pay £5 entry and come clad in their own merchandise, meanwhile increasing costs for Morton to police games. The message should be abundantly clear - as long as they are causing trouble, Morton are subsidising their hobby, not the other way round. When I arrived at the game against Hamilton a couple of weeks ago, there were a bunch of them trying to start a fight with Hamilton fans and others kicking up a fuss about being searched on the way in. They then enter the ground and start singing their wee 'Morton Hooligan' song and then singing about supporting their club not being a crime. There are plenty among them causing trouble and then immediately playing the victim card. They say things about being the future of the support, but for the first time ever I was glad my wee girl didn't come along with me to a Morton match - some of these boys have no idea where to draw the line. It's not pleasant. The problem is that it has become a fad among pretty much all clubs, and they're all wee copies of each other. They sing the same songs, throw flares about the place, and do stupid stuff like trying to steal each others scarves. For many of them the football is a pretence to play the hooligan - it's not about Morton, per se, and there's no long term benefit for Morton in this, because once the fad wears out, they'll be away. I'd say that when some of these lads started following Morton the whole thing was welcome, but it has turned sour over the last year or so. There's definitely a group in there that should be encouraged, welcomed, and made to feel like an important part of the club but as long as they're so closely attached to those creating trouble that's very difficult to do. Don't try to start fights. Don't try to steal scarves. Don't throw flares (and other objects) about the place - especially when there is no consideration over who is going to get hit. Drop the song about being hooligans. And don't try to play the victim card when this behaviour is called out. None of this is about supporting the club. (I'd also say drop the black hoodies and balaclavas/scarves over face - but mostly cause it's cringey and just makes every club's set of supporters look identical).

This was another subject that cropped up at the AGM. Some shareholders had first hand experience of the negative actions of the Cowshed Youth and together with other fans made representations to the Club. The Board was very clear they supported the young supporters especially the lads who started out the group but believed recent behaviour especially after the games was unacceptable. Rather than rush to judgement the Board confirmed they had spoken to people and collected all available information before deciding on the appropriate response. I am not sure the club had much choice in this matter. On the plus side the much derided minerals man provided further background on the Firhill mum who ran to the papers about big bad Morton - she was rightly called out as an attention seeker who was never going to accept the apology from the Club.

I get the noble sentiment, but by taking that approach, you’re only punishing yourself. Do you think Brian Graham gave a shiny shite about our feelings when he was crashing his elbows into Lewis Strapp and Efe Ambrose and screaming in the face of Alan Muir and his officials to dictate which players were punished and which weren’t, or Aaron Muirhead thought twice about manhandling Darragh O’Connor in the last minute? Did Lewis Vaughan consider that it wasn’t really fair that he’d taken an embarrassing dive and won and converted a penalty when shushing us? We don't owe anyone anything, and if they want to do what they can to beat us, I’ve got no issue with us doing likewise. Boyes should have taken one for the team and worried about it later.

What was the actual negative consequence to the club in the long term? While he was here there were some casual fans who wouldn't attend, and as an aside he was also a rubbish footballer prior to Imrie taking over, but anyone who was staying away because of him is now attending games again. It seems the only person actually bothered by it in 2025 is you, who was already averaging about one game every three seasons anyway, so there's no actual impact on the club to give them cause to regret it.

What an end to the game and the year Glorious sticking it up those bastards with a last minute winner. Fantastic ball in for Blues too, good to see Garrity back in amongst it and contributing the way we know he can. If we can just slightly tweak the personnel in this window we will actually be decent.

Lack of communication from Morton really is dreadful. It doesn’t make much difference as we know anyway, but they continue to fail with things like this. When a game is called off, the club hosting it should be first off the mark to announce it. It really is the absolute minimum.

Fair play to them. Very easy to stick the boot into them, but I wish Morton had acted on the guy who twice shouted that Todorov was a “fucking refugee” at New Broomfield in April, rather than saying and doing nothing, and hoping the whole tawdry affair would be forgotten about- which it duly was, sadly.

I think the change of style will very much change that dynamic if this momentum can continue. Which is quite possibly part of the plan from the manager's perspective - although I've no doubt the loss of an Ugwu/Oakley figure was a greater factor (3rd place being a larger budget that seems to be running to, erm, an 'unusual' number of attacking options) for the change in approach. I have been sceptical about the ability of *any* manager to deliver a possession and skill based game with our relative budget at this level - because if you can do both you're likely earning far more than we can pay - but it looks like he may have pulled up a few gems yet again. I have been checking last season's record and we didn't actually get our finger out really until the second week of December - with long awaited wins at Arbroath and home to Inverness. We merely stopped the rot this time 12 months ago, but other than some squad depth issues like left back we might actually be in a better place to kick on. I think we'll still need either very good luck with injuries or extra quality (possibly Samuels) to sustain a run, but we're significantly better than that doped-up, £25 a head viewing nonsense outfit we played tonight. They'll be in deep trouble for either footballing or business reasons before the season's out IMO.

There's an element of just having to put up the cash monthly and trusting the process (if you're in a position to do so). On the whole, it's been extremely successful thus far. The folk that sit and wait to criticise at every turn, but don't actively invest in fan ownership are dangerous to our chances of every being long term sustainable. Seems to me we've a fair few of them within our support who just can't wait to say "i told you so"

Given we offered better deals to those 'best players' then there's no reason to suggest that we won't. Not that it'll be guaranteed or easy to do, but that's the job of Imrie and the board every single summer. if we were in the same tentative financial position as 12 months ago and losing these players then the knicker-wetting hysteria would be justified. We aren't though and so it's not.