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

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.

This is how the passage of time works yes, what with February and March being more recent than January.

(Photo-Russell Gordon) Greenock Morton FC AGM- 18th April 2024 By Russell Gordon This year’s AGM of Greenock Morton FC took place in the Douglas Rae Lounge at Cappielow Park supported by Dalrada Technology last night, 18th April 2024, held by Directors Graham Barr, Michael Harkins, and Sam Robinson, with Club Secretary Alistair Joyce. There were four apologies from the board, and a further one from the assembled shareholders, but one notable absentee was Chairman John Laird. The meeting started with one point of order, raised by former Director Gordon Ritchie, who voiced his concerns about the legality of the meeting, given that it was being held over ten months since the date of the audited accounts. Graham Barr quipped in retaliation to Mr. Ritchie’s concerns that this was an oversight, putting it down to the lack of legal expertise on the club board since Mr. Ritchie’s recent departure. Mr. Ritchie responded by pointing out that this is the responsibility of the current board of directors, not former ones, and that he wasn’t comfortable with the legality of the meeting. Mr. Barr accepted this wasn’t ideal, but that the meeting would carry on regardless. Graham Barr opened with the Director’s Report, addressing the club’s second surplus in a couple of years, which was owed in no small part to cup draws against Celtic at Celtic Park and Rangers at Ibrox in consecutive seasons, while also thanking Dalrada for their annual six-figure contribution to the club. Graham Barr (Photo- Greenock Telegraph) On the park, it was noted that Morton narrowly missed out on another six-figure sum in prize money, such was the tight finish at the top of the Championship last season, with only a couple of points separating Morton in fifth from second placed Ayr United. It was accepted that the team’s form has fluctuated this season, with a terrific mid-season run sandwiched between two poorer runs at the beginning and end of the campaign- this was put down to the club’s small squad proving problematic for the manager when injuries and individual loss of form hit. On a more positive note, the club have bought a flat in the local area which will be used for players arriving from further afield and will rely on MCT for the preparation of the flat. Talks are ongoing with members of the current squad about contract renewals as the manager prepares for next season. Off the park, the club’s backroom operations were discussed, with Sam Robinson regaling a discussion with Alloa Chairman and SFA President Mike Mulraney, who previously described Morton as the mirror image of his club, in that Morton are a full-time football team with a part-time operation in the background, while The Wasps were a full-time operation supporting a part-time football team. It was revealed on releasing the club’s strategy for the future in February that addressing this is a priority, and that Morton will be focussing on commercial revenue and the launch of the Business Club, with the club having the intention of being open and transparent in how they operate. It was accepted that while there has been great progress in recent years, there is still a long way to go. Moving on, Michael Harkins went into more details on the club’s finances with the Financial Report. For the financial year ended 31st May 2023, the club posted a profit in the region of £70,000, with Morton making around £200,000 from their visit to Celtic Park in January of that year. Income for the year was around £1.5 million, with outgoings of just over £1.4 million. Morton made slightly more from their visit to Ibrox than they did from the Celtic match, and expect to make a profit close to £200,000 in the current financial year, which ends on 31st May 2024. The club have received roughly £750,000 from MCT contributions, and turning over such modest profits under community ownership is a positive compared to annual losses of c. £300,000 under the previous regime. We moved onto one proposed amendment to the Articles of Association- given that MCT had worked closely with Motherwell’s Well Society, and a lot of the wording was copy and pasted from Motherwell’s articles, a reference to “The Well Society” slipped through the net and appeared on Morton’s Articles. The proposal to correct and change this to “Morton Club Together” was passed unanimously. Next on the agenda was the re-election of Graham Barr to the board of directors, which was passed without any contest. There was no further business raised so the meeting was formally closed before a less formal discussion on matters relating to the club. I’ll not name check anyone asking questions as it wouldn’t be right to do so should they not be happy. First up was a question about contract renewals, which was met with a predictable answer that discussions are ongoing with some of the squad, but many are understandably biding their time to see if other offers come along and it would be inappropriate to comment on private negotiations. Another question related to the accounts relating to a period of almost a year ago, which isn’t so relevant to the club’s current position. Michael Harkins answered this by confirming it is a legacy issue with the club’s accountants, and going forward he’s hoping for accounts to be audited in August. Michael Harkins (Photo- Greenock Morton) Regarding the flat the club had purchased, while the imminent arrival of Jordan Davies from Connah’s Quay was alluded to, the question was put about more “exotic” signings, which were brushed off as unlikely but not out of the question. We then moved onto my own favourite subject of stewarding, as I queried the treatment of a friend of mine who supports Dundee United last month by the head steward, and Morton’s approach to the complaint. Happily, with the General Manager in attendance, this was addressed this morning after the meeting. Another shareholder cited his own problems with the head steward, and the treatment of his grandson by her. The GM preferred to concentrate on the stewarding team rather than one individual, perhaps understandably, but with the individual driving the team, it was pointed out that privately looking at her actions could prove a solution to the problems. Reserved seating in the stand was also brought up, and perhaps most alarmingly, problems with disabled provisions for the Hearts cup tie last month, with part of the section required for the away club’s staff. Moving on, the question was raised about the club’s youth academy. With the academy costing in the region of £100,000 a year, a third review in four years is taking place after the SFA deemed it to be one of the poorest in the country. Michael Harkins was adamant that changes will certainly be made on the basis of the findings of the latest review. With Morton’s fortunate cup draws in recent times, it was asked what contingency plans are in place for an early exit from cup competitions that doesn’t involve a trip to one of Glasgow’s big two. Sam Robinson stated that the club budget to be knocked out of the cups at the earliest possible stage and finish eighth in the Championship, and emphasised that this is why Morton are making improving commercial revenue a priority, as well as building MCT membership, and using the value of community ownership to push the Morton brand. He also confirmed a new sleeve sponsor will be announced in the near future. The club’s player of the year event was also brought up, and in particular the pricing. While the board said that sales are going well and they expect the event to sell out, they did say it would be reviewed going forward. I could be wrong, but I took that as an acceptance that they scored a bit of an own goal with their pricing policy and will learn their lesson next year. My next query was on a similar subject to my first, this time about the away fan experience at Cappielow, and more pertinently to Morton fans, how that impacts us on our travels, given that away grounds haven’t been terribly welcoming this season and Morton are regarded in most circles as having the worst facilities in the division. This was put down to cost more than anything, but it was accepted that away fans do get a raw deal. There were no promises for improvements going forward, and the TV studio makes things difficult for TV games, but the availability of the west side of the Cowshed was noted. To wrap things up, there were questions relating to the proposed community hub, and whether the club could seek UEFA funding- an unlikely source in my personal opinion, and about whether the club look at similar sized clubs, especially given Dale Pryde-MacDonald’s links to Ross County. Graham Barr said that the club are now spreading their wings a bit wider, having previously relied on a small pool of sponsors. He also said that the club want to improve their regular crowds rather than depending on positive results bringing out bigger crowds, and are working on that. I’d normally like to finish with a conclusion, but will leave it to the reader to make their own decisions off the back of this account, as I had no real positive or negative feelings on the evening’s discussions. Over to you.

It's the latter. A more active style of supporter as seen at many clubs. Formed the group themselves, painted etc and their own cost (with club permission) and sell merch to raise funds for displays etc. https://cowshed.bigcartel.com/

There are absolutely no small margins to be discussed here. Dundee Utd were streets ahead in every department last night. On top of not actually being good enough, the majority of our players look heavy legged and extremely low on confidence. If we did get the penalty when we were 3-0 there was still no chance of us getting back into the game, let’s be serious here.

Has the makings of them getting beat after apparently downing tools Inverness are a minging club along with Queens Park it's a shame they can't both go down.

The fact that Boyd was handed a 2 year deal so we could have been stuck with him for another year had he not chucked it easily pushes him into the worst spot.

The young lads deserve a lot of praise for their efforts. You just hope they keep it going and become hooked on the club.

Someone is certainly moving goalposts to suit an argument here. Are you genuinely failing to grasp the extremely simple point that looking at the time period in which a player has lost form is the only pertinent sequence of games to look at when discussing a player's contribution while off form, so we're talking about February as the start point because that's when Muirhead lost form? Or are you simply being so obtuse that you're pretending to because you blundered into this by using factually incorrect statements to support your argument and can't admit you were wrong on those points, which is why you've quietly discarded those arguments once the facts have been pointed out and gone down the road of arguing about what time period can be used to judge recent form? Tough call tbh.

Power is a release for me. Obviously a class player, full of vision, can spray a lovely pass, you can see his movement makes a hell of a lot of sense. But we're shipping goals due to his lack of mobility, which is an inevitable aspect of his age. We can't count on a preseason to turn back the clock; it's just too much of a risk. So with all well wishes and admiration, and the hope that he won't be a stranger and that he'll remember his time here fondly, it's time to have an amicable parting of ways.

The main issue with the current squad is as soon as one of the starting XI is out of form/injured our fringe players are not doing enough. Garrity, Bearne and McGrattan are all decent on the ball but apart from that look lost in most games especially against better sides like last night. 3 of them have either made a decent impact off the bench or started a game well then died off, then when given another opportunity the following week have failed to take it. I don't think any of them are up to scratch at this level as of yet, or will ever be. I would look to move on all 3 players, or at least get them out to get more 1st team experience at a league 1 team. Blues and Crawford especially have been well off it for a few months now and contributed absolutely nothing. Power is in the same boat over the last few weeks as has Muirhead. The 4 of them are out of form and really need to be taken out the team for the 3 mentioned above, who haven't taken their chance. Id keep all 4 next year and hopefully they get back into form. I don't think we can question muirheads goal return over the course of the season. Gillespie hasn't impressed much all season wether it be starting or a few calamitous performances off the bench and his time is up at the club. I have just about ran out of patience with Quitongo, but willing to give him another 6m deal to prove his fitness and hopefully get back to his best. When on his game there aren't many better wingers in the championship. O'Connor has been a bit unfairly treated this season taken out of the team for Broadfoot who is finished. Him and Baird are still are best CB pairing and id keep the both of them. Watters isn't good enough at this level and I hope we are doing our best to keep Strapp at the club beyond the summer. Would love to keep Oakley but think there will be a few teams chasing his signature. Keep: Mullen, Baird, O'Connor, Strapp, Wilson, Blues, Power, Crawford, Muirhead, Oakley, Quitongo and incoming Jordan Davies. Get rid: MacDonald, French, Watters, Broadfoot, Gillespie, McGrattan, Bearne, Garrity, King

Wee shame Inverness beat 1-0 Ferguson absolutely seething. Very pleasing. Some wonder saves from Dabrowksi.

Great summary as ever Russell, many thanks for that! I was a bit surprised however that upgrading Cappielow wasn't one of the main agenda items, as this will require significant investment in the near future. Would have been interesting to know what the plans are for this, and perhaps more importantly, how it will be financed.

Hope Raith pump them tonight

RB signed on loan from the Govan girners. Has never played, apparently got injured during a pre game (v Airdrie in September, I think) warm up and has never been seen since. Think he went back up the road on January.

Despite being a disappointment, French is safely out of the running for worst signing having at least contributed consistently to our winning run. Steven Boyd has that honour wrapped up and Jamie McDonald would be easily ahead of French too, he’s suffered from a combination of bad form, lack of sustained fitness and possibly just an overall lack of remaining ability for this level. Giving Harkness a free pass on the assumption we haven’t paid his wages since the injury, which is a total guess. Honourable mentions for goal of the season are Garrity’s volley against Airdrie, Muirhead’s second against Ayr and Muirhead’s tap in against QP at cappielow.

POTY: Mullen. Its nice to know we've a relatively safe pair of hands in the goal, although Oakley and Wilson are a close second. Mentallest decision of the year: Sending Alex King on loan again.

Totally forgot about that. Bullet dodged. I assume he got some kind of payoff but nothing close to the entirety of his contract.

Wilson POTY, difference between him in the team and out of it is striking. Mullen, Oakley, Strapp, Muirhead making up the rest. If we have a young player of the year (23 and under) it's Mullen (22 years old) by a mile. McGrattan and Garrity are the only other real contenders and neither comes close. Goal of the season the obvious Goatley strike. Best signing, Wilson but only because he's been here all season. Strapp otherwise. I could see the case for both. Boyd worst signing by a country mile. French has been a disappointment and should not be retained (if he's even available) but he's not even the player most directly responsible for sloppy goals conceded. Boyd on the other hand didn't fit in from day one and was a waste of a wage completely.

Over 100 of the "COWSHED" silk scarfs sold, some world wide.

This is precisely where you are wrong, because those two records are exactly the same thing to the manager of a professional football club. Players who make substitute appearances are expected to contribute just like starters. They're not thrown on to the park as a sympathy act. It doesn't matter whether you have 90 minutes or 25 minutes to deliver - the bottom line to Imrie or any other manager is the sum of a player's total contribution on the park to the team. The explanation for why your beloved squad players are not starting is entirely straightforward then: they haven't actually contributed enough to dislodge Muirhead or indeed any other starters in the pecking order. Being a standout in one game against Queens' Park and then being a bag of turds against Airdrie the next week merely confirms the existing pecking order. You believe that this is unfair and want their contribution to be weighted based on minutes off the bench, cherry-picked 'recent form' 'analysis', and a host of other mitigating circumstances, but the reality is that professional football isn't 'fair' in those terms and these excuses shouldn't and largely don't apply.

True, but the main issue with that is that he's too slow and stiff to get close enough to do it a lot of the time.

I’d have been happier with Power leaving the studs in a bit more often and committing professional fouls to stop attacks, rather than letting opponents run past him so easily when he’s our deepest midfielder.

We've had a hard time from other managers, pundits and (to some extent) referees this season and the 'big bad Morton' line has been an easy excuse for folk to justify performances when we were steamrollering the whole league in the middle of the season. However, some of our players discipline has been terrible in recent weeks. Baird made an arse of himself last night, Broadfoot has had a few moments of losing the plot and Power has been leaving the studs in a few times too often. The overall number of fouls we're giving away and bookings we're picking up isn't constructive at all - it's one thing to play with physicality and aggression and another to lash out when things aren't going your way. That needs reigned in for next season.

Because he was still playing well three months ago. He had not lost form in January, hence his form in January is irrelevant to a discussion about his contribution since he lost his form. I reckon it's five: Kelty and Rangers in the League Cup, Airdrie and Kelty at home in October, Ayr on Tuesday, without mentioning all the times we started with him on the left and switched wings during the game.

The 'last two months' is quite clearly arbitrary. Why not the last three months? Who decreed that two months was the definition of recent form - other than it suiting the purpose of your cherry-picking exercise? And in any case even by your own goalpost fixing exercise, we seem to have 'player on a terrible run of form who should definitely be dropped' on level pegging with 'guid young player - start him instead and/or award new contract too'. I for one think that we should accept neither benchmark of performance as acceptable next season, which means upgrading on our existing options by providing serious competition instead. He has played on the right several times throughout the season. Fooling absolutely no-one: how many times has Muirhead started on the right hand side of our forward line this season? Be extremely specific.

Power's error at the first goal is such a basic one for a player of his experience. He tries to hand his player off to someone who already had someone to mark, and that second delay allowed Doherty to get away from him and score the goal. So frustrating to have experienced players making errors like that. Broadfoot at the 3rd and Baird at the 4th as well. Such avoidable goals from individual errors. We look spent, though. We have to remember that when fully fit we went on such a long unbeaten run. We've gone from Strapp at left back to French trying to cover at left back (and he's not even very good at right back), and some of our better players look out on their feet trying to carry the load recently. Poor ends to the season isn't down to some sort of curse, it's a reality of what can happen with small squads and a lack of quality depth.

What because he scored a goal, he doesn't work in this system without Oakley as evidenced by 1 win in 10 games since he got injured and the 1 game we won Oakley was back. Scoring a goal from a break in the box doesn't make you motm infact picking out any morton player as our MOTM tonight is the real terrible take.

Horrendous. Hard to single out anyone for being the most shite, but Blues and Crawford were anonymous again, just like they have been for months now yet seem absolutely immune from being dropped. Overhaul needed in the summer - we are utterly brutal to watch.

I never want to see Broadfoot, Power or French in a Morton shirt again after tonight. Absolute wage thieves

I'm told Jais making the decision if he's fit or not..

recent posts from VT on this thread have been total dug shite.

Seems a fair comment from Ferguson, frankly. When you're already relegated your mental state simply will change, you can't help it. "Downed tools" is maybe a little harsh because these guys are still professionals and will want a contract at Arbroath or elsewhere, but they're not going to have the fire that they would if survival was still possible.