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I got a speeding ticket once in 2006 but I'd just like to say how much I respect Lewis Hamilton for his work in the community.

It’s about Callum. It’s always about Callum. He doesn’t have to be relevant to a story to make it all about himself.

The most common word in that tweet is "I".

If you're sceptical then why not write down your concerns and ask MCT to address them? Its in none of our interests to sit back and watch this fail

A really interesting read, many thanks for posting this. I have to admit that I was possibly the fiercest critic of both MCT and Graham McLennan, but I am thoroughly impressed and encouraged by what I have seen/read over the past few days. They have managed to do within the space of little over a year what the GMST were unable to do in nearly twenty years - despite the GMST having countless fundraising events throughout that period plus several representatives on the GMFC board etc. Also, with regards to the Rae Family who have came in for a fair amount of criticism over the years, but credit has to be given to them for turning down a more 'lucrative offer' in favour of MCT. The identity of those behind the 'lucrative' offer is unknown, probably due to non-disclosure clauses etc. However there have been 'local businessmen' with a dubious reputation circling the club for several years now. Their presence was most likely to be off-putting to other potential suitors however credit where it's due to Mrs Rae for preferring the supporters ahead of some local villains who were considered to be 'the only show in town' and inevitable incumbents by so many Morton supporters. I'm personally delighted it's not them who are taking over Morton. Finally, the future is ours to make. It's the start of a journey. Along the way there will be personality clashes, attention seekers, gloryhunters etc. But there will also be a lot of good, honest, well meaning Morton supporters doing the best for the club. If others can do it, why can't we? With this in mind, it's time for a giant leap of faith - I'm finally signing up. The ownership of the stadium remains an issue of concern, but I'm sure that can be overcome. It may be that public funding, grants etc. May be available to facilitate the purchase of the stadium for community purposes - one things for sure is those third sector gravy train types will know what's what in that regards.

Except on the club's official channels where the result of a whisky raffle takes top billing.

While this is true, we need also to take stock of the SPFL's first fan-owned club - Stirling Albion - who have spent the entire decade since as a basketcase irrelevance even by their club's modest history before that. And that's at a level where if the worst came to the worst (at least before the pyramid opened up a bit) you could just run as a glorified social club for years until you sorted things out off the park. A club of this size operating in a stadium like Cappielow simply cannot afford a similar drop down a level for a decade as a new ownership model finds its feet. There are definite pitfalls to community ownership when done badly and I don't think that some of them can even be anticipated yet: some mistakes will be discovered when mistakes are made in the job. Even if done well it's going to require a degree of patience that does not come easily to the fanbase of any football team along the way, as well as serious oversight. If you managed to write that while keeping a straight face then you deserve an Academy Award.

Sustainability under community ownership might mean we end up at the same level as Airdrie, Clyde or Falkirk. However other clubs around us are going to need to wake up to the same reality. Inverness, Dundee, QoS etc will fare no better. MCT are going to have to find significant income sources for this to work in the long term. But since we know who will own the club from here I will be happy to increase my contributions to give it the best shot. Hopefully other people who are able will do so as well, and others who were skeptical of joining will now see a better reason to get involved.

It's genuinely a shame to see how social media affects some people. He's getting these wee dopamine hits from watching the like and retweet numbers go up, and that's leading to him contriving endless new ways to chase virtual ambulances.

Stonewaller Magazine (never read it, but they seem to be quite reputable) have been offering help with a number of clubs on their marketing, Ayr included for their hideous away kit. Whilst they've been restricted by COVID and social distancing, they've used the approach of fans modelling the kit in everyday environments, instead of the traditional couple of players out on the pitch. The computer generated image posted on Twitter on a Monday morning, the launch day that was only advertised by going into the Smiths website rather than in the original tweet, the late change of date (from a Wednesday to a Monday) are all pretty poor. I could probably go back a few weeks on this thread to point at a few more failings that have escaped me. Don't know where I said it, but the whole thing struck me as the club having the approach of realeasing the kit so now they can get on with paining the crash barriers on the Cowshed. I don't think it's too harsh at all to say the marketing has been lazy. Whether it's because of the pandemic and furlough or whether it's because the club in general don't really give a fuck about marketing even under normal circumstances is up for debate, but there's a good case for both arguments.

Fuck. Wish I had known that when the Mrs asked if I fancied pizza last night, my 'no' meant the option would never be an option again.

Do we even want to change a football club that does stuff like this? The predictable incompetence is almost half the fun by now.

Every taxi driving gossip in the town will certainly be fuming that they can no longer offer the inside scoop on what's really going on at Cappielow within 0.3 yards of pulling away from The Norseman.

Folk on that Fans Facebook group will now have a say in how we’re run. We’re doomed.

It might help it obtain some of the begging bowl grants that Warren and his big mates were after from the government. There are many worse ways that this spell of rudderless uncertainty could have gone for the club in the past couple of years - not least given the way this season ended - so it is to the Rae's genuine credit that they're willing to see things out on honourable terms. The devil will of course be in the detail. Personally, I think that MCT should welcome some external investment in the club in exchange for shares, if there were some sort of gradual buyback option available; hopefully talk of never selling the club doesn't rule out any sort of similar option, as otherwise you're limiting your options straight off the bat. The ground is not so much a concern in terms of ongoing payment as to what our balance sheet is going to look like for the foreseeable future. 'Morton fans trying to run a football club' sounds like the tagline for a head in hands mockumentary on Netflix but hopefully they'll be able to prove me wrong in having those doubts.

Dear Member, Thank you to those of you who are currently attending our webinar. For all our members, please find below the historic press release outlining tonight's announcement: Morton Club Together (MCT) have tonight announced to their members that an agreement in principle has been reached with Golden Casket, the current owners of Greenock Morton, to take over majority shareholding of the club with effect from the summer of 2021. The agreement reached with Golden Casket, headed up by current club Chairman Crawford Rae, will see the club sold to MCT for a nominal sum. As part of the deal, Golden Casket will also write off the club’s debt in its entirety while retaining ownership of Cappielow to rent it to Morton at a nominal fee. This will mean that MCT will own approximately 90% of the shareholding in the club and in time for the 2021/22 season, Morton will join the growing list of community-owned clubs in Scotland. Speaking about the announcement, MCT Founder and Director, Graham McLennan said, “Our goal has been clear from the outset – we want to move Morton forward. “We want a better team on the pitch. We want a better match day experience for everyone attending Cappielow. We want to listen to the fans and to communicate effectively with all fans, stakeholders, and partners. “We are all Morton supporters; we all want what is best for the club and now is our chance to be that best for the club through community ownership. “In April 2019, MCT was just an idea. Now, with 440 members, we have achieved so much and have an exciting future ahead of us. We would like to thank every single one of our members who has supported us so far. “As we have always said, we encourage Morton fans from everywhere to join us on this journey, and we hope this announcement will encourage many more to come on board.” Over the coming nine months or so, MCT will be working closely with the existing board members and key club personnel to better learn the business of the club and fully understand its operations. MCT Director Stewart Farmer added, “This is a magnificent achievement in a very short period. MCT was formed in April 2019 and has already made significant contributions, both financially and increasingly on an administrative basis, into Morton. “Over the last 14 months, we have had a team of dedicated, hard-working and extremely capable volunteers working around the clock to get us to where we are now.” The agreement is also conditional on both parties, MCT and Golden Casket, agreeing in March 2021 that MCT are in a financial position to run the club in a viable manner. In recent months, negotiations had been ongoing between a third party and Golden Casket, with involvement from MCT, around a purchase of the football club. Despite the terms of that deal being much more financially beneficial to Golden Casket and the Rae family, an offer from the third party was rejected in favour of facilitating community ownership through MCT. Current Greenock Morton Chairman, Crawford Rae, said, “The Rae family’s final act of devotion to the club is to hand it over to the fans, marking their last involvement in the financial responsibility and stewardship at GMFC.” MCT Director Gordon Ritchie also added, “The faith that Golden Casket and the Rae family have shown in all of us cannot be underestimated and we thank them for that. 20 years ago the Rae family saved the club, and now their legacy will be a club at the heart of Inverclyde, owned by the people who love it most, the fans.” To all our members, thank you for all your continued support, without you, none of this would be possible. Should you wish to ask any questions, or provide feedback, please email us at mortonclubtogether@gmail.com. Thanks, MCT Team

Moans about getting his content lifted by the big papers... Does same to Stenhousemuir 🙄

Every Morton fan's best pal has been getting a wee skelping on Twitter this morning again

Bring him home.

My point was about the marketing overall, but as GIGI says even the mannequin effort itself is shoddy at best. It looks tacky, lazy and all a bit of an after thought. I spoke before about training kits not matching etc - and was criticised on twitter for it and probably on here (i can't really remember), but for me it's these small details that really let us down. It just doesn't look all that professional IMO. Lower league teams (see Falkirk) and even Junior teams are capable of producing better quality images for things like kit launches than we seem capable of COVID or no COVID. I suspect that comes down to not really giving much of a fuck on the whole, rather than this isolated incident.

The stadium is the big downside of this. I'm not at all comfortable with Cappielow passing out of the hands of the club, but if the lease agreement ensures Golden Casket can't either raise the rent to an exorbitant amount or sell it from under the club's feet then those are good safeguards to have in place. Questions about the costs of any future redevelopment do need an answer. Frankly I'd still prefer to wait a few more years to get to the position of community ownership and have to raise a significant sum to buy GC out with the stadium remaining in the hands of the club than have MCT getting the club for £1 or whatever the tiny nominal fee is without ownership of Cappielow. However I also don't think those valid concerns are a reason not to support this. We've known for years that the club is effectively in a managed decline with the Raes in charge and ownership had to change. Now we've got that opportunity. This is a chance to build a more sustainable club and possibly a more successful one - fan owned doesn't mean fan run and overhauling the culture of the club from top down with new and above all else competent faces could be exactly what we need for the club to progress.

And I see no reason why more people shouldn't get involved, finances allowing. As Matt said earlier it's in no one's interest for MCT ownership to fail.

The only sustainable way is community ownership. Then there is no repeat of past debacles. For those who missed the webinar, there are commercial plans to improve revenues / cut costs by £100k annually. Also, community businesses are signing up to be patrons /sponsors - 3 signed so far at £25k annually each, with 3 more in process. There is significant credibility for me here. Also a democratic governance structure. This is something to get behind.

Absolutely, and good on fans who have donated cash to Morton/MCT during the pandemic, but that doesn't give the club an out for doing nothing. The club should have been pulling out all the stops to maximise revenue during this period, in the knowledge that other clubs in our division were doing exactly that.

Helicopter saturday 14/15.

Sad news that Jack Charlton passed away peacefully last night aged 85. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/53373542 What a great guy he was.

The news is certainly getting well covered.

Whose interest is it in exactly for 'Dunfermline thinking about a potential contract offer mebbe' to be splashed across the Tele as 'an audacious move'? I sense a ham-fisted agent at work here.

credit tontastic