SassenachTon

Another win. Another clean sheet. Good times.

Really, really made up with this. He's a quality player.

Absolutely. Dancing in the streets of Raith tonight. Lovely to see the Duncan Disorderly bubble bursting so soon.

Just temporarily. Word is that he was kidnapped from the caravan by a vigilante group of local farmers who’ve got him locked away in a shed full of huge chickens, smoking pigs and big-eared farm boys.

I heard that the wi-fi at the Linton Travel Tavern was rubbish.

How much unluckier can we possibly get with injuries? It must be a nightmare for Dougie.

Can't disagree with any of that. But to me - situations like this are just another by-product of the modern digital age. Anyone and everyone can type any knee-jerk reaction they like into a phone and broadcast it for the world to see - hungry for the likes and comments to come flooding in to satisy the narcissism this toxic culture has induced into us through FB and the rest of them. The very fact that we're on here discussing it shows what a powerful weapon it has come to be. It's exactly the reason why I closed all of my (anti)social media accounts years ago. I can honestly say that my life has been a whole lot richer without them.

I noticed it immediately. Haven't slept for three days. Fucking traumatised. On the upside though - I wonder if these 'rookie grammatical mistake' shirts etc. will become Antiques Roadshow megabucks collectors items, just like the priceless stamps with the image printed upside-down, or the super-rare coins with the Queen's head stamped back to front? I think we should all be encouraged to buy these highly prized collectors items as a solid investment.

Could be worse. They could have written 150 year’s ….

This comment has been deleted. Personal abuse of individuals on the Forum will not be tolerated. Dean.

Article 100% written by a Partick hipster. I lost the will to live about a quarter of the way in, after vomiting over words like 'arrondissements', 'patisserie', 'labradoodle', 'perjink', and 'insouciance'

That’s a great signing - and the stunned reaction from Dees fans says it all. Well done Dougie. Very positive interview with Tyler here, too:

The best right back on the planet isn't going to stop our forwards from missing sitters, or our midfield not turning up. We had 14 corners against Arbroath and didn't trouble them with a single one. Unless the boy's a miracle-worker, he's also not going to cure our injured players with a flash of his magic wand. I don't get the obsessive focus on one player in one position. As I said before, Lewis McGrattan did a fine job at RB in the Ayr game. Put him there in the starting XI and get Broadfoot to fuck. Dougie has nothing to lose and possibly everything to gain.

Understandable post. But we have ZERO idea what's going on behind the scenes and what funds are earmarked for. The development across the road? Massive energy cost increases? Increased backroom staff costs? The recent investment in pitch drainage? The new website to replace the recently-broken one? The commission being paid to our new ticketing partner? The list is practically endless, and the outstanding (and much-appreciated) Dalrada contribution isn't a bottomless money pit. As supporters, we sometimes need to put our on-the-grass no-RB-yet frustrations to one side, bite the bullet, and shift our focus away from everything but the big picture - GMFC is a business which needs to remain sustainable. The astute and cautious financial management of this club is second to none, as a glance through the accounts of our rivals will quickly reveal. Dougie and his players are a cog in bigger machine. You don't have to like it - but you do have to deal with it.

@vikingTON All fair points, and well made. The only thing I'd take issue with is that I didn't say that revenue from gate receipts alone was sustainable - I made the point that if they continue rising to a level where folks can't afford to go, then they won't. Morton (along with all other clubs either at our level or lower) have to find an alternative method of staying afloat, whatever that method is. Me? I've no idea what.

I don't think that the music business is a particularly valid comparison, although I understand why it has been made. The whole music-industry business model has been forced into this situation because of the digital age - it's changed everything. Here's how; 1 Once upon a time, bands would spend tens of thousands on upmarket studio rentals, and spend fortunes producing an album. Those recording costs (along with the band's livelihood) were then recouped using vast numbers of physical sales (CD's, vinyl) of that album. Touring was done pretty much on a break-even basis as a marketing tool to sell more physical product. I'm sure that we all have our nerdy sides, but I still have my ticket stub from 1980 when I saw Judas Priest (supported by a new young London band called Iron Maiden) at the De Montfort Hall in Leicester. The ticket price was £2.25. I'd never heard any Iron Maiden - but I went out and bought the album the next day. QED. 2 Enter the digital age where those same albums now exist as high-quality digital files on the internet - and everyone downloads the album for free, completely obliterating the band's principal source of revenue = their music. Sure - the streaming platforms charge their subscribers to download legitimately, but they're vast corporates, and the royalties they pay are pitiful - like fractions of a penny for the download of a single. 3 Faced with the above, bands had no alternative but to reverse the model through a complete 180-degree shift, effectively giving away their music for free, and relying on live performing as their principal income stream. Cue extortionate ticket prices, extortionate merch prices, extortionate food & drink prices etc. etc. etc. It's the only way bands can earn a living. The smaller festivals are starting to struggle because there are a) too many of them, b) because they can't afford to put big-name acts on the bill to attract decent numbers (see point 2 for why), and 3) folks would rather pay £100 to see their favourite band than pay the same to see a dozen unknown ones. 4 The digital age has also dramatically changed how albums are recorded. Gone are almost all of the swanky studios with vast SSL mixing consoles , racks of outboard equipment and megabucks analogue 24-track machines, and enter the computer loaded with recording software. It's improved, developed and price-dropped to the extent that a clued-up kid can now record a broadcast-quality album on a laptop in his bedroom. And they do. Lots of them. I could go on - but you get the point. Fitba, however, is (and always has been, and always will be) a live spectator event. It's my opinion that if ticket prices do eventually reach a stage where attendances drop specifically though the inability of individuals to afford to go to games, then a viable streaming service is the next-best way of maintaining the club's income. We can beat our chests as much as we like, but the facts are plain for all to see. Just my opinion.

I know mate, I was just messing around. I also like the look of Lawson.

What about this Lewis Strapp laddie? I hear his long throws are also pretty good.

This probably applies to every professional club in the UK - especially one featuring a young, hungry first-team manager, determined to make his mark in his first senior position. Like everything else in life, fitba's not an ideal world. It's a series of compromises aimed at getting the best overall result - that of making some of the stakeholders happy for some of the time.

I've said in another post that I think it's hugely commendable that Morton are exercising financial caution and prudence. A healthy balance sheet means nothing if it's being squittered away as fast as it's coming in. We need to remember that player budget is just one cog in a much bigger machine - a machine which also has to deal with backroom staff wages, ground maintenance, horrific energy costs and so on. And remember there's a potential development on the cards which is going to have to be funded. I for one have 100% faith in Dougie's multiple-times-proven ability to extract the very best from seemingly ordinary players, and I completely trust his judgement. Sure - it hasn't always worked out, but just remember the state Liam Grimshaw and Robbie Muirhead were in when he took them on. Keep the faith, boys.

Dougie stated that the reason for Strapp’s departure was that he didn’t fit into his plans. We’ll probably never know what was meant by that, but there’s been speculation about an off-the-field clash of personalities - which again is restricted to behind closed doors. On this basis, I think that it’s highly unlikely. I have no idea if he’s fully fit again.

Countless teams in Scottish fitba are on their financial arses, clinging on for dear life. The fact that Morton are exercising caution and financial responsibility is to be totally commended. We're in profit for exactly the above reason.

VT and Toby hang about together? I must have missed their joint post proclaiming themselves BFF's.

Fair point, but there can't be many players who were more injury-prone than Jai. And look how that turned out

I like it, too, and I've just preordered. The white/blue McGraw-era pinstripe is one of my favourite-ever Morton strips, bettered only by the 1922 repro for me. The most significant things to me, though, are that the club are really pushing out the boat with a variety of strip releases, just like Iron Maiden release half a dozen new shirts every time they tour. Diehard fans will buy them all - but regular fans will find at least one out of the six they really like. Morton's commercial activity and general marketing is really coming on song, and will reap significant financial rewards for the club. Huge props once again to Dalrada for their support in enabling the club to have charitable sponsors on their shirts. Very community-spirited of them.