vikingTON
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Posts posted by vikingTON
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1 hour ago, TopCat said:
The list of proven, upper-championship/bottom 6 standard players we've signed at the peak of their careers over the last 25 years is very, very small. Even when Rae was flinging his overdraft around in the 3rd tier, we couldn't attract many.
Finding rough diamonds and coaching better players out of the "dregs" has to be a huge part of how we operate as one of the smallest full-time clubs in the pyramid.
1) The number of players that we've successfully coached to achieve the potential of rough diamonds is also very, very small. For every Nicky Cadden there have been about 50 other players who either performed at par or were duds.
2) The rough diamond category could be applied to just about any signing - especially those who came through a youth setup at the likes of the Old Firm, who are ten a penny. Despite being rolled out for pearl clutching purposes when a new player signing gets criticised every summer - though you are not using it for this purpose - it doesn't justify signing any specific player, many of which are highly likely to be dung at Championship level.
3) Given the above points in addition to your otherwise accurate summary, we need to be considering the point of being one of the smallest full-time clubs in the pyramid - in budgetary terms at least. The only remaining justification I can see for persisting with a full-time model is if the Estrella group are brought on board, and can offer a totally different pool of players who desire full-time professional training in order to join the club.
The scraping the barrel exercise within Scottish football, an occasional English non league ringer and relying on key loans year in and year out is achieving nothing.
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15 hours ago, GiGi said:
O'Halloran is a coach who is handy to keep registered as a player. Past his best but if our wingers were more productive we wouldn't have needed him to play as much.
Gillespie is still a good player and I'm not that fussed he's signed.
You can make an individual case for any one or two of these players (as well as the likes of Longridge etc.) re-signing. The issue is that when these cases keep being made for all of the same players of marginal value as last season - only another year older - then you are not improving the squad by a sufficient degree to expect any significant progress next season.
Between contract renewals and offers on the table, we are committing too much of our resources too soon to a squad that simply didn't deliver in the campaign just finished. While next season is going to be yet another transition, the squad still merits greater renewal than this.
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20 hours ago, Cet Homme Charmant said:
Straw man argument alert! Can you show me where I said we were uniquely wasteful in front of goal? I'll help you out, I didn't.
I believe last season the standard of our finishing (collectively, not only the strikers) was abnormally poor, which was one of many factors that contributed to it being a shitshow. I'll will add a caveat that this is based only on our home games.
As it's not something that can be objectively quantified, it's merely an opinion. Not quite sure why you're taking so much exception to it, to be honest.
I'm taking an objection because certain posters are:
1) claiming that poor finishing of waves of great chances has been objectively quantified, as a justification to
2) re-sign useless sand dancers who contributed nowhere near enough in genuinely objective output to merit a new deal
As for the finishing being anomalously poor - that's given the lie by the players in our squad. None of the attacking players behind our lone front man had any credible track record of scoring goals - MOH's was in a completely different part of his career. The main reason why said players like Moffat, or Garrity, or Shaw have ended up near the very bottom of the full-time pecking order - despite some clear technical ability - is because they never deliver consistent returns where it counts in front of goal.
This was an obvious flaw in the squad building fully 12 months ago. We should not double down on a squad building strategy that has just failed, and just plain hope that 'luck' or a magical 30 goal a season hotshot will come along to change the outcome.
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55 minutes ago, Chicken_Soup said:
No idea, I didn’t watch St Johnstone every week - eyes shut or otherwise. Did you?
I don't watch PSG every week either, but am 100% certain that Kvaratskelia and Dembelé created more very good chances than Michael Garrity and Nathan Shaw. I don't think you understand how football works tbh.
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I fail to see how signing Lewis Strapp for the third time would be in any way a show of 'ambition'. Baffling logic.
I wish Strapp well at his new club, and am relieved that we can finally move on from this constant and bizarre fixation. As for skooshing the league below - that was Ross County's aim when building a squad 12 months ago and it didn't exactly work out for them.
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A - There are plenty of other mediocre teams in this division, who could make similar and entirely selective claims. The assertion that we were uniquely wasteful in front of goal is not supported by any credible facts, and
B - If you choose to play a formation with one striker and three sand dancers behind them, then the onus is on all of them to chip in with goals, not just the striker. The proven failure to reliably contribute either assists or goals was why our squad assembly under Imrie last summer was always likely to fail. Blues was the most prolific goal threat in the entire squad outside of whatever Adeloye/Brophy/Main option played no. 9 - and rightfully excluding O'Halloran's previous stats from his late career reality.
So why is anyone surprised that a squad that had no demonstrable record of reliably converting chances failed to reliably convert chances?
This failure was fully predictable 11 months ago in large part due to the weakness of our sand dancer options, regardless of the striker position. So the revisionism about keeping those options based on chances missed is simply sticking with a losing bet and expecting a different outcome. Enough.
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3 hours ago, Cet Homme Charmant said:
I agree these 'big chances' stats are utter nonsense, but nevertheless, I can't think of a season where we were more profligate in front of goal. With even a semi-competent finisher we'd have been comfortably mid-table rather than avoiding the relegation play-offs by a gnat's bawhair.
With even a semi-competent team shape or pressing off the ball from January then we'd also have finished comfortably midtable. And had Storer not been injured then we'd also have finished comfortably midtable despite both issues - and many others too. The bar was so ridiculously low to clear for that this season, which is what makes our final league position and method of getting there so completely risible.
This reality requires a much more thorough purge of the squad that brought it about. Revisionism about our wide players being anything other than a clear and obvious net drag on the team last season is why we can't have nice things.
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18 hours ago, Chicken_Soup said:
I’ll caveat this by saying that I’m very happy for us to bin our attacking options from last season.
But - Anyone who chooses not to believe that we missed bucketloads of chances last season must have been watching with their eyes shut. Or - more likely - are indulging in their own dogmatism regarding what sort of team they’d like us to have.
Did we create at least 20 more big chances than a Saint Johnstone side, who scored fully 30 goals more than us over the league campaign?
Watching the games with eyes shut indeed.
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3 hours ago, SpoonTon said:
Quite the opposite. It's far more optimistic to suppose that we'll improve on them, rather than replace them with more of the likes of Davies, Reynolds, Shaw, McGinn, Bearne, Boyd, etc.
That's not to say that we should be driven by such pessimism, or that we should keep Garrity or Moffat, but there's always worse out there.
We could - get this - not replace sand dancers with yet more sand dancers, by shunting this completely useless function out of the squad altogether.
You pay a premium on any attacking player of quality in the market - which we cannot afford to do, which is why our options are generally crap and/or move on very quickly indeed. But unlike a centre forward that you need to have in order to score goals, you don't actually need to play two wingers or pay for 4 gubbins squad options. All to field a garbage 4-2-3-1 every week, that belongs in the bin alongside the scratched disc of 'LMA Manager 2007' that dates this approach.
To make best use of our restricted but not miniscule resources, we need a different approach to squad building. We need more players like Wilson to build the team around a dominant physical presence in the middle of the park and use full/wing backs for width.
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NB: And the first 'stat', on scrutiny, is actually even more ridiculous than the second. Morton created fully 25% more major chances last season than any other team in the division - with league champions Saint Johnstone (who created about 20 big chances in their 4 games against us alone) nowhere to be seen?
That is an objectively ridiculous claim, that takes the slightest scrap of critical thinking to verify, and confirms that 'Fotmob' can be filed in the bin where they belong.
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10 hours ago, 2bobbylinns said:
So an online scores app with zero physical footprint in the Scottish lower leagues then.
And that lack of footprint is really shown by the second 'stat'. If you think that there has been a near 2x difference between Morton's performance in converting 'big (undefined) chances' to any other side in the division, then you don't understand how statistical significance works. That is an enormous outlier across 36 points of data - which is either explained more by our breathtaking attacking football (given our actual goals scored is nowhere near 2x lower) or by the tallying of 'big chances missed' being a subjective, dud measurement.
I know which explanation best fits both the statistical outlier and the eye test of last season's performances.
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7 minutes ago, CM48 said:
Was there not a stat posted about our chances created being the most in the league?
If so it would simply show (what we could all see) that Adeloye, Main and Brophy weren't finishing what was put in front of them, and presumably some of those chances were from Moffat?
I've seen this stat get peddled on here - but have yet to see any provenance provided for that claim.
If you think that the story of last season was one of breathtaking creative football and wide play, only to be cruelly wasted by strikers, then I'm not sure what games you were watching. How many chances were we racking up in the final two games of the season against seaside league bound mince?
But by this seems legit version of events, then the same logic must apply to re-signing Garrity and Shaw too. As opposed to the correct option which is to rightly ditch all of this garbage and try a different approach altogether.
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8 hours ago, Mr Toon said:
As regards Moffat. He always gives 100% and of the chances missed he created many/more of them than anyone else. I would hope he is still with us next season.
More created than Nathan Shaw and Michael Garrity. The Balón d'Or is surely in the post.
It is the toleration of all these flattering to deceive sand dancers that explain precisely why our league campaign was so poor. Indeed, it was pointed out in advance by yours truly as a woeful set of options with no credible record of delivering when it counted.
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9 hours ago, GiGi said:
You don't understand. The most logical geographical move an aging player can make is actually a statement of intent by the receiving club.
MCT must condemn.
It's both though, as he's not going to be playing there for anything other than a hefty wage (one that Inverness - surprise! - won't be able to actually afford).
That a section of our fanbase still hold a candlelit vigil for An Ambitious Backer after our last white knight threw their toys out of the pram and demanded that total duds like Laird be imposed on the club indefinitely is a separate category of fail.
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17 minutes ago, 2bobbylinns said:
There always the thinking that Murray has seen enough in them to know that with a full preseason they will be able to cope with his system.
he doesn’t seem to be the kind of guy that would jump in and suffer them if he didn’t think it was possible.
Given that he was in the door in January and his system became progressively more shambolic every month until we slithered over the line, this thinking lacks any evidence.
The idea that Gillespie is capable of covering the required ground with three sand dancers in front of him - if only he gets a proper pre season - is wild too. If you want to play that system, you need different central midfielders in terms of quality and/or intensity of work rate.
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5 minutes ago, SpoonTon said:That's the problem with this weird funding deal with Dalrada. Comrie was one of those signed on an initial one year deal. If it's the case that Dalrada have obliged themselves to fund the second year, then it takes nothing out of our budget to give him a second year.
But it means we have players in the squad who really weren't good enough - scraping a draw against ten man Airdrie should be fooling nobody - and demonstrated all the resilience of a chocolate teapot in Stenhousemuir and Dingwall. What message does that send about the standards at the club?
I don't care what Dalrada do or do not pledge - there are several players either 'in talks' or already re-signed who should have been emptied on May 2nd regardless.
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I cannot believe it is 3 full weeks since that nick of an Airdrie game and there is still no actual purge list from this once proud football club.
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10 hours ago, TRVMP said:
I mean there's no real principle as to why championship team should get it if we're being honest, UEFA gives it to non-qualifiers to try to even the playing field a little versus those clubs with prize money, and that doesn't apply to us.
The playing field isn't even at all, if just over a quarter of the teams in the national league system get an annual windfall while the rest (including those promoted to compete in the top flight) do not. This is a UEFA more than a Scottish football failing - but solidarity payments like these should be pooled by both the SPFL and the SFA to distribute to their entire memberships on a sliding scale.
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Referee deciding that if you commit enough fouls in a game - on both sides - that cards no longer apply. With Naysmith leaving, the time is ripe to get a token of payback by wrenching 12 points off Stenny on their inevitable way back down. Better day out too, so happy with that.
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Partick's strategy of selling off assets/stakes in the club to pay the wages of Watt, Chalmers etc. is reaching the end of its road. Another promotion failure only weakens our direct opposition (not a rival).
St Mirren going down this season will most likely be like St Johnstone last season. I have zero interest in some extra money and four derbies, en route to their title clinching campaign.
St Mirren can go down next season in 12th, after appointing another couple of donkey managers.
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17 hours ago, dunning1874 said:
When Luke Donnelly returned to the Championship he continued to be shit, which confirmed that League One is level. Maybe that will be the case with Lyon too, it's up for debate and we'll find out next season whether that's as a Morton player or another Championship club, but I also don't think it's obviously a terrible signing in the same way that signing Darren Hynes just because he's an ex-youth player would be.
I competely agree with the gist of your point 1 and especially point 2, but don't agree that either of those points being fundamentally correct necessarily make Reece Lyon a bad signing in 2026. There is no evidence that Lewis McGregor or Alex King are better players than they were when we released them, and even suggesting signing either of them could only be put down to being desperate for a Morton academy product to make it at Morton. There is evidence that Reece Lyon or to take another example Josh Cooper are better players now than when they were punted.
No, there's no evidence for Reece Lyon to be anything other than at his appropriate level. Just as Luke Donnelly was.
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11 hours ago, dunning1874 said:
This reads a bit like cutting your nose off to spite your face; either a player who once didn't cut it in the Championship has improved in their time playing at a lower level and is now considered good enough for another crack at it or they aren't. If they are good enough (which remains to be seen with Lyon) then not bothering with a worthwhile signing just because they played for you already and left 4 years ago would be an odd approach to recruitment.
In the last 3 years alone that would have ruled us out of signing Ali Crawford and Lewis Strapp for second spells, who were both very worthwhile signings with the former being massively improved on his return after being piss poor in his first spell.
Nice try, but Strapp and Morton failed to agree terms when he left the first time. Lyon was released like countless other players deemed surplus to requirements by the end of their spell here.
It is absolutely not spiting anything to base your transfer policy on proven evidence of performance at this football club over conjecture and bluster. Luke Donnelly 'performed' at a lower level and indeed later returned to Championship football: we shouldn't and thankfully didn't move to re-sign him at any point. What braying Arbroath fans said about his breathtaking talent for their club was irrelevant. Any move to re-sign Sean McGinty - who has played far more games at this level - would result in you having an aneurysm. So two issues:
1) The reason why people are placing Lyon in a different category is not down to objective achievement: it is subjective bias because he's a 'Morton product' and 'local boy'. This is double standards, but more importantly would be a piss-poor influence on the rational judgment of a professional football club.
2) The constant revisionism about how and why such starlets get cruelly jettisoned by the club is also one of the 527 reasons why we can Never Have Nice Things. That Imrie was having to field regular complaints about this two years ago in Q and As was not a good look; that the proposed investors had to handle similar old men yelling at clouds nonsense about guid youth products in the Cappielow meeting a few months ago was fucking wild.
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Didn't see much of that experience showing, when the squad spent the last 6 weeks of the season shitting the bed in spectacular fashion though. He did have an impact against Airdrie, but we wouldn't have been in that situation had more effective leadership been in place - in the dugout, and in the squad too.
A purge should have started nearly two full weeks ago and there should have been no such discussions with the vast majority of that squad.
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On 5/12/2026 at 7:12 PM, dunning1874 said:
Among others, Gillespie, Quitongo, Muirhead and Blues had blotted copy books at this level (or lower) and were still part of our best season in the last 13 years. There are players who've had poor Championship seasons in the past without being Ally Roy, Steven Boyd or Gregor Buchanan levels of obvious dud signings.
You failed to comprehend the point. None of the above 4 players had blotted their copy book at this club, only to return because a bunch of seaside league diddy fans reckon that they're God's gift to football. On the other hand, we would not touch Gregor Buchanan with a bargepole again - whether he was 26 or 36 years old. Sean McGinty falls into the same category too. Your list precisely demonstrates the difference.
To make this fully straightforward, let's use the 'professional football is a job' analogy - used every summer to justify utter mercenaries signing up for East Kilbride etc. If you were punted from an employer for piss-poor performance, then while you may find an alternative employer in the same field, you are not going to be brought back to do the same job again by the same organisation. That door has closed permanently.
Pre-Season 2026/27
in General Morton Chatter
Posted
Hawd me back from buying a dozen for this titanic occasion.