dunning1874

At least he's actually admitted he's guilty after being caught, rather than maintaining his innocence on the grounds that he was smuggling cannabis to avoid derailing our playoff challenge.

Have to say, the fact they're not even allowing these discussions because it would supposedly be a distraction - when they're all pertinent issues which directly impact how much trust we can have in any deal - does make you wonder if anyone from the GMFC board is even going to turn up. Perhaps that's unfair as I know Barr and Robinson have attended MCT AGMs in their time on the GMFC board, but the club board absolutely have to be present at this EGM to explain why they support this deal for GMFC, and in particular those MCT representatives need to explain how and why they can be trusted after their recent conduct. Even if we were to receive assurances on every single one of the red flags in this proposal that have me intending to vote No (currently we've had none) it's essential that if you're going to support a reduction in MCT representation on the GMFC board, you can trust the MCT representatives who are left. Right now it is impossible to have any trust in the two of them and the sole reason for that is their own actions. If they're going to hide from scrutiny that's only going to get worse, if they're going to front up with genuine contrition rather than the nonsensical excuses in the statement last week maybe they'll get somewhere. MCT's articles also allow the board to invite non-MCT members to attend general meetings where appropriate. Dalrada representatives and any non-MCT members on the GMFC board should also be in the room explaining why this should be supported. Far from being a distraction, if they can't even be bothered to attend such an important meeting with an opportunity for transparency, it proves they can't be trusted and will hide from scrutiny at every step.

While it's right that we should always ask questions of motivations, particularly of Dalrada and of those on the GMFC board who have provided ample evidence that they can't be trusted, I think it's also important that we don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having an architect on the club board as a stadium director, and the fact we all know that in the medium to long term some development is going to be needed with Cappielow makes that expertise invaluable. Just because GMFC don't own the stadium directly, with a separate property company holding it as an asset, doesn't mean GMFC shouldn't have an input into any future ideas for redevelopment and it's obviously their responsibility to keep up with maintenance, while having someone who is still active with other construction projects and companies could be extremely valuable when it comes to finding affordable ways to do that work. Paul Farren also only joined the board in April, so I don't think it'd be remotely fair to tar him with the same brush of those who concealed the transfer embargo, considering it was in place before he became a director. Scepticism is healthy, going straight for the jugular of people who haven't given us any reason to doubt them (when so many others have) isn't.

No one ever doubted that Imrie was likely to be a serious candidate for the job, as he should be for every job with a better budget in the division after the job he's done here. This doesn't change the fact that everyone who was saying over a month ago that it was already a done deal was talking absolute bollocks, as proven by the fact they're interviewing another 3 candidates too.

I instinctively interpreted that as circulating answers before the meeting, which I now realise may have been extreme wishful thinking/naivety.

I know these are extremely minor details next to the big question of yes or no to this proposal, but there are still little things falling through the cracks here too. The initial communication we had about the EGM said the vote would remain open for 72 hours after the EGM to allow people time to reflect, then the link to the vote came out and it closes 24 hours after the EGM. That large email confirming the EGM and summarising the proposal has a link to contact MCT with questions with that link sending responses to communications@mortonclubtogether.co.uk, then the separate email with the link to the vote asks for any questions to be sent to business@mortonclubtogether.co.uk. Neither are a big deal by themselves, I'm just sending my email to both addresses rather than one and will make sure to vote by 3 June rather than 5 June, but when we've had so many controversies in such a short space of time due to poor or non-existent communication you'd think getting some consistency in communication just now wouldn't be too much to ask.

Tell me Stuart Duncan isn't on and off the MCT board like a yoyo to satisfy his own ego. Tell me we have someone waiting in the wings to replace Dalrada as our major sponsor if the MCT membership say no to the deal. Tell me we are not handing proxy control of the club to a third party with no oversight or safeguards for eternity. Tell me the GMFC board who oversaw gross incompetence, of both the transfer embargo and far more importantly having no sponsorship & therefore no budget for next season lined up weeks after the season ended, aren't willing to destroy the club to save their own skins. Tell me the MCT board will release the full text of the proposed agreement with Dalrada so the MCT membership can have the slightest clue what's going on and make an informed vote. Tell me when the MCT board will explain and justify their continued confidence in Sam Robinson and Graham Barr. Tell me if Stuart Duncan will resign if there's no Plan B, or if Plan A itself jeopardises the club?

Also we have far bigger fish to fry than who's in the dugout, we have to think long-term here and if doing the right thing for Morton's long-term future here tanks one season and essentially guarantees relegation then so be it, but this playing out at this time of year is deeply regrettable (and incidentally is another reason not to trust Dalrada and the GMFC Board for manufacturing this mess of high pressure timing when it could have been proposed months ago). As per the email the vote is going to close on 5 June. Even if things go so swimmingly that this allows the manager to be given his budget and crack on with finally building his squad on 6 June, that is over a month after the season has ended. It's outrageous to put a manager in this position, and even if he's not going to get an offer of another job and move to a more stable club I don't think anyone could blame Imrie if he decides to chuck it rather than being tainted by association with this clusterfuck.

This is an entirely valid point, but also how many of the MCT reps who've chucked it have done so because they feel they can't achieve anything as they're bashing their heads against a brick wall in having to deal with people who have no interest in making MCT work and try to undermine it with every breath, such as Sam Robinson, Graham Barr and Stuart Duncan? Those existing representatives who they want to keep are the barrier to efficient governance, looking at them and saying we need to reduce MCT's influence because MCT reps have been incompetent with too high a turnover is a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Regardless of the content, I don't think it's good enough that we're just getting an overview of what Dalrada propose. Considering that they've in reality proven they can't be trusted in the last few weeks (and that's even discounting the previous failure to keep up with payments) we all need to see the small print and go line by line through the actual document which commits them to investing this money. The default position here is no and they need to convince us otherwise, without providing the actual text of the agreement they're not even trying. Just one obvious concern with this is that we'd be rewriting the articles of association of the club to remove the requirement for an MCT majority on GMFC board; are there provisions being made for Dalrada's representation to be dependent on maintaining investment, or does 12 months of funding allow them permanent representation? They make this one off investment, remove MCT's majority on the board and that's them got control in perpetuity, still running the board with 2 directors (in reality 4 with Robinson and Barr which turns into handpicking all 7) in 2026 even when they turn the taps off, not putting a penny in but giving themselves free advertising and claiming this as an act of benevolence like Golden Casket did? That change needs to be based on continued investment or we revert to MCT control of the board, the small print is everything here.

I'm on the way home from Bonnyrigg v East Kilbride (worst pyramid playoff ever btw) so in no position to digest the finer points, but my initial gut reaction is that I don't in principle necessarily object to MCT reps not having a majority on the GMFC board. I absolutely object to MCT's control of the board being diluted and the MCT reps continuing to be Sam Robinson and Graham Barr. Events have proven that they are in reality Dalrada reps; if we allow a situation where we have 2 Dalrada reps, 2 MCT reps and 3 reps appointed by those 4, then if Robinson and Barr are the supposed MCT board members what we'll actually have is 7 Dalrada representatives. At the very minimum this needs to involve real MCT reps rather than those two, who have proven they can't be trusted.

Surely we're getting something today? There's no way they can drag this out until Monday.

Increasingly concerned about the detail of this if it's taking them this long to send out the information to members, when every day is another delay to Imrie's planning for next season.

Yeah no issue with them putting them on sale, at least that gets some money coming in and it would still take a lot of doomsday scenarios from here for things to spill into full on boycott mode. Huge issues with them putting "your club" among the marketing slogans when they appear to be doing everything in their power to ensure it isn't our club though.

Christ, even by my standards that post was far too long. Put me out my misery and announce something.