port-ton

My beautiful wee freddy got injured in first cup game of the season, manager who signed him got sacked while he was injured and new manager didn't fancy him by time he was back fit and never really got going. Not convinced he has the physicality to perform at that level at his age as he seemed to have lost that burst of pace that helped him close people down but he definitely didn't get the breaks he needed to give him the best opportunity. Still though I'm sure he enjoyed a ridiculously overpriced Nottingham Forest championship wage for a year.

I could never speak badly about someone with thighs and calves that size.

Glad we've had some communication at last, although again it's reactive to complaints fans have rather than pro active information. Thought the info about the takeover was extremely vague, and also it seems to get further and further away from completion after every update. Still 10+ things left on the checklist with no word on what they are or what sort of timescale they're looking towards for them. I'm not here to shit all over them and do want them to succeed more than anything, but the lack of transparency on the takeover is truly frightening. I thank them for providing what is a detailed update in terms of length but there's some massive red flags appearing for me.

Dear members, We hope you're all well. Firstly, we know you’re all frustrated that it hasn’t worked out perfectly for us to take over officially in plenty of time ahead of the new season, but as we’ve said before and with the recent announcement of the imminent new club board, we are in the early stages of the club being operated as community owned. There have been periods where we’ve not been updating you as regularly as some fans are expecting and we admit that’s been a failure on our part, even to tell you when there isn’t much to update you on. We’ll now be providing weekly comms, either via email or our MCT social channels, to keep you updated on the latest with the takeover. The latest as of today, in the interest of being completely honest with our members, is that progress is being made. In the simplest terms, if our checklist of takeover items has 58 items, we’ve reached the late 40s in that list. Some of those remaining issues are complicated and time consuming to rectify but they are moving in the right direction and the list of items continues to reduce. We’ll continue to update on this in future updates. Additionally we want to provide an update to members on some of the recent goings on from in and around the club. Covid Cases and Match Arrangements We’re sure you will have spotted the news around the club that there was several positive Covid cases that saw us have to forfeit our match against Stranraer and that caused us to play against East Kilbride behind closed doors when we’d hoped to be able to welcome you back to Cappielow for the new season. Across both matches there were discussions back and forward between us and the relevant bodies, including the SPFL, the local council and the government. We provided timely updates to fans as soon as we could across both matches, including on the Tuesday in the run up to the East Kilbride match. At 12.30pm we were still unclear as to whether the match would go ahead but we took the decision to inform fans that if it did, it would be behind closed doors for your safety. By 3pm, it was decided the match would go ahead and we let fans know. Players and club staff members have now all completed their isolation periods and everyone is well. Cappielow has been deep cleaned and we’re looking forward to welcoming you back for the Clyde match tomorrow, and for our first league match of the season against Dunfermline next weekend. The misunderstanding with the Greenock Telegraph has now been resolved and our relationship with them is still very much a positive one. We’d like to apologise for any confusion caused over this and we appreciate the important role the Telegraph has in helping to promote MCT and the club. Season Tickets It’s been a huge positive to see so many of you purchase your MCT member priced season ticket so far. The price remains available and you can find out more info on how to purchase yours here. We’re very aware there’s been issues around season tickets too though. It’s been great to see so many of you come to Cappielow or phone the club to secure yours, but our gmfctickets site has been plagued with issues which isn’t good enough for a football club in 2021. It was already something that had been identified previously as a concern and ticketing remains a priority in the coming weeks and months to ensure the situation is much smoother going forward. We’re also very aware there’s been issues around a lack of communications fans have received since they purchased their season ticket and the confusion around when they’ll receive any new season ticket cards being issued. Again, this has been due to issues with our ticketing platform and we’ve been working this week to ensure all cards have been sent out ahead of the league season kicking off next weekend. Some of you using this option for season tickets have also experienced issues with Direct Debit payments. An issue occurred with GoCardless and that was quickly rectified. It’s been another experience for us to learn from and if you’re still having any issues at all please don’t hesitate to get in touch and we’ll swiftly resolve them for you. Kits and Sponsor We’ve seen strong sales of both new kits so far which has been great to see. We’ve been really pleased with the feedback we’ve received from fans too. You can order your kits from Smiths here. While it’s been a disappointment that we’ve not been able to let you get your hands on the new kits yet, or to have the team wearing them in the Premier Sports Cup, the hold up has been down to Covid and previous delays in the takeover being agreed. The anticipated launch dates can be found on the Smiths website. Another reminder that McGill’s have come on board as our new sponsor and they’re delighted to engage with us as a community owned club. We’re looking forward to working together in partnership in the coming seasons. We’re disappointed not to have qualified from our Premier Sports Cup group, especially after a really encouraging performance against one of the favourites for the Championship title, Kilmarnock, but we are looking forward to welcoming you back to a freshly painted Cappielow tomorrow against Clyde. A huge thanks to the volunteers who've worked on that over the past couple of weeks. Our attention then turns to league action against Dunfermline on the 31st. We’re nothing without our members so please do continue getting in touch if you have any questions or queries at any time and we’ll continue to do our best to answer them. Thanks, MCT Comms Team

Motherwell are a bigger club than us without a doubt but they are fan owned and their social media output is brilliant and their communication with fans seems great too. They might be bigger than us but they're Motherwell not Man Utd. If you're going to get new younger fans to be interested and excited to come to Morton games in this day and age then ideally the best way you're able to maintain that is through engaging social media channels. Can't just shove a billboard up outside cappielow and hope people see it and come along anymore. I'd love to see us become one of the leaders in Scotland in terms of social media and fun and engaging youtube content, but that's never going to happen by having one of the staff members tweet when they get a moment between jobs or uploading one player interview a fortnight that's almost identical to the last one. I wouldn't be against a dedicated social media staff member under Gerry who's sole job is to provide content across multiple social media platforms. Not a fan of a club at our level having volunteers but if we can't afford it then I'm sure there are college students out there who would like the opportunity to gain experience and exposure running verified social media accounts for a season.

This is as bad a pre season in terms of running the club as I can remember. Even Crawford Rae managed to get fans praising him and excited for new seasons on occasion. Literally nothing has changed from the previous regime to this one. If we don't have signings to make, strips to sell, managers to interview then at least have some content on the YouTube channel. How hard is it to get two players and Gerry together (covid outbreak withstanding) and have them play silly games or asked funny questions about their teammates etc or even a crossbar challenge at training. Simple things that keep fans engaged and feeling like they know more about the personality of the players they're supporting this season and much more interesting for us and the players than a bog standard clichéd interview.

Don't really think shouts of ulterior motives etc are fair at this point, I see it that there's a real noticeable lack of leadership and organisation and with that comes the lack of transparency. They've basically been running the club for most of the year by all accounts so there's really no excuse for it. MCT leadership clearly read this forum as they've reacted to posts multiple times by finally communicating a response to the issues laid out, and we on this forum can be known to treat every issue we complain about in equal outrage no matter how big or small it is which was fine before when we were just a rag on the Internet, but in my opinion we all have a part to play in making it more clear between things that annoy us and things that we will not stand for, because I'm sure there are other people like me who have all the best wishes for community ownership and were more than willing to give the benefit of the doubt who are already questioning whether to give MCT my money or not, months sooner than I ever thought I would be willing to consider it, such has been the shambolic leadership and communication. We were promised better communication and transparency under this regime but if anything there was more communication during pre seasons in the Rae era as this was the time of year when they needed our money the most.

Finally got an email from MCT advising who was on the board etc. Better late than never and hopefully a lesson for them that transparency is so important.

I'm glad that the pre season schedule has been announced but I really hope that the new era will stop us being such a reactionary club. We've suffered decades of fans having to moan about simple stuff before someone at the club notices and next thing you know we've got an update on it. There's a lot of nonsense to filter out if your strategy is constantly to look at Morton fans opinions online and give them the information they deserve based on that rather than proactively having a transparent and healthy relationship between board and fans where the decision makers naturally understand how fans feel and are providing information before it gets to the point of just to appease disgruntled fans. Maybe I am naive but I figured the one major benefit of fan ownership is that the people running the club would be on the same wavelength as fans and right now it feels like there is a disconnect between the two key stakeholders that can only be sorted with clear and regular proactive communication.

Hopefully strips will be announced soon. The way theyve been speaking about them being excited it I Imagine it could have something to do with the 1922 100 year anniversary.

Ross McLean as well. Signing just ad many ex morton players even without Duffy in charge.

Allan Creer was who I was thinking of! Loved going to games where he was playing

Didn't play for us but I'm sure Alloa (or a team like them) had a fucking ridiculously bad keeper in the lower leagues when we were there. Had never seen a professional keeper make the mistakes he would make against us. Ramsbottom is the closest to him I've seen since.

Maybe I misunderstood but I thought with option 2 that the debt wouldn't be recalled and is only there to allow GC to be the preferred creditor for the stadium if we are facing liquidation? If so then it's certainly not the ideal scenario but as long as the agreement is legally watertight that the rug can't be pulled from under our feet then I see it as acceptable. Happy for more intelligent posters to change my mind though.

Ewan is slowly turning more and more in to Slaney every episode and I for one approve.

Really enjoying it guys keep it up. Some really good insight in to the games and the team. It being on Spotify has made it a lot more accessible now and I don't have to remember to listen anymore.

Listened to first 5 minutes just to get a feel and sounds like it is going to be a good listen. Will listen to the rest when I have time. Was worried that with so many people on at once that everyone would be talking over each other but was pleasantly surprised. Great work guys.

Aye I saw someone say they don't need him because they had Jack Colback ffs

About time Nottingham Forest returned to the summit of the European game so good signing for them.

We taught him everything he knows.

Andy Murdoch out for the season after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament.

Kiltie signs for Dunfermline.

Judging by Tuesday night his teammates will think he's the second coming of Ronaldinho.

Tidser doesn't seem to have impressed Falkirk fans much yet this season, and it looks like he's not playing in the same position McKinnon had him flourishing in at Morton. Wee shame.