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Toby

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Toby last won the day on February 9

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  1. Ross Forbes, gentlemen. What a player. https://x.com/uav360drone/status/1888308536691867758?s=46
  2. Goes without saying that I hope you’re keeping well of course, and that I was disappointed to see you had stepped down. But I’m inclined to agree with vT. Certainly in the case of Inverness, they and us is like comparing apples and pears. I’m not dead against the sizes of leagues and number of times clubs meet, as the size of country we are makes larger divisions a bit more imbalanced, but the power and distribution structure, as well as non-league promotion needs a serious overhaul. I don’t think there is a perfect solution for the structure of or leagues, every one will have its pitfalls. However, if the likes of Partick and Raith in particular happen to be among those clubs running up debt chasing a dream, hell mend them.
  3. Sounds quite ominous given the news about Dalrada on the Commercial Actiivity thread and you having just left the MCT board, Ronnie.
  4. The bit about shouting abuse back I took as the token gesture, not completely exonerating their weans, but also not putting as much focus on them as other teams’ fans. And I agree, kids shouldn’t be getting assaulted, but they and their parents should also be aware of the associated risks in hanging about with these wee gangs. And given his dad is a “lifelong” Partick fan, ignorance on his part doesn’t wash. If his parents want their kid to be kept safe at the football, they shouldn’t allow him to cut about with a mob that are just as game for trouble as the Morton mob are. And if they do, or feel powerless to prevent him, they should be aware that bad things happen now and again and accept that their kid has put himself in that position by associating with them, and treat it as a lesson learned, rather than shouting off to whoever will or won’t listen. At least the dad has provided a modicum of balance in what he’s said, but all I’ve seen from the maw is ranting and raving about how her boy was brutally attacked and nobody on the Morton side caring about him, when it isn’t their responsibility to. I get that mothers will do thing like that when their wee angels are on the wrong end of some trouble, and will have tunnel vision to an extent, but fairly dispassionate observers should be able to challenge her stance. Might re-activate my Facebook just to give me something to keep myself busy for a few days.
  5. I’ve been off Facebook for about a year now, which is probably a good thing. I’d not have been able to read her nonsense on that fans group without giving her a piece of my mind. Why the moderators on there put up with that I don’t know, just get her punted.
  6. I agree that there should be condemnation of kids acting like hooligans, but there looks to me to be glaring omissions, i.e. his own boy apparently “running” with their wee mob and the headline emphasising that he was “attacked”, rather than being involved in a fight (no use of the word alleged). We don’t know what the scenario was. While I accept that most of the background I’ve got of the incident is lifted from cat-calls and whataboutery on Twitter, this lad doesn't appear to have been a completely innocent bystander like the Raith kid that was attacked by the Dunfermline neds whilst waiting on a bus. If you’re prepared to hang about in a mob of kids, wearing the uniforms and standing on the periphery of scraps, I’m afraid you’re running the risk of getting a sore face. That’s not to say it’s acceptable, but the lad and his family need to take a look at their own roles if they’re happy to buy him the black hoodies and run around with their mob. The dad’s a “lifelong Jags* fan” according to the paper, so I don’t accept that he doesn't know that there’s a risk for his wean when hanging about with wannabe hooligans, whether he is or not. While he doesn’t leave Partick out of his criticisms, there’s no doubt he puts more emphasis on the behaviour of others: "It's now a routine when you go to a game at Firhill, a small section of away fans cause trouble. "They stand in the middle of Firhill Road, shouting abuse at a line of young Thistle* fans, who are shouting the same abuse back. It's not right. They're not there for football." There’s an attempt at balance, but it’s a mere token gesture. It looks to me like the family are enjoying their moment in the limelight, heaven help them next week when their story is wrapping up fish suppers and nobody is interested in their outbursts anymore. *Partick
  7. https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/scottish-news/24909582.worried-dad-slams-football-ultras-teen-son-attacked-glasgow/ His old man talking about it being a throwback to the 1980s is another cracker btw. I know he looks like he’s in his 60s, but the article says he’s 46. Let’s not kid on that this fella was caught up in the middle of Millwall fans chucking seats around the Kenilworth Road pitch or Liverpool fans charging the Italians at Heysel. He was in primary school. What’s probably more likely was that “Ronin’s” granda was caught in the crossfire at Hampden in May 1980 when the family’s big team lost the cup final, while the dad was barely 2 years old. Morton really have to stand their ground on this, regardless of the way this clan are trying to drag their name through the mud. Cooperate with the police by all means, but give this lot absolutely fuck all.
  8. With all due respect, the maw can shut up and get in her lane. Morton aren’t responsible for the behaviour of individuals who have battles in the streets, regardless of who these individuals support. That they have the courtesy to entertain her and her wean at all should be something that she appreciates, not shouts her mouth off about. The club helping the police with their enquires is more than enough- the kid isn’t our fan so why he needs a cuddle and a goodwill gesture is beyond me. If Partick want to do that to make their fan feel a bit better about life then they can crack on, it’s good PR for them and not uncommon, but for Morton it’s a pointless exercise in trying to appease a Facebook maw that’s got no interest in giving the club the benefit of any doubt. If we gave the kid the red carpet treatment at Cappielow in March, she’d still be flying off the handle and trying to drag the club’s name through the mud further. What does she want? The wean wouldn’t be interested in a day visiting our squad, a signed Morton top or something like that, so I don't know what resolution his maw’s looking for unless it’s financial, which would be completely inappropriate. I see from the comments on the club’s tweet that the kid is apparently a member of their “Ultras” group and is 13, but as yet, no details of the alleged perpetrator. Was this person an adult, or another kid that was just as game for a scrap as their group? I’m afraid that if it was a kid then if you fly with the crows, you get shot with the crows. We don’t know the whole story, so assuming this is an adult attacking a kid instead of two equally complicit weans isn’t right at this stage. Even if it is her poor wee angel. Looking at the bigger picture, relations between the two clubs look to be at an all-time low, be it the young teams, the normal fans like ourselves or those inside the clubs. Until such times as the clubs get round the table and accept faults on both sides, whataboutery will continue, resentment will grow and we’ll continue to see similar incidents. Partick might enjoy seeing Morton take the negative publicity in this instance, but if as is likely, there are repeat incidents when their fans are at fault they may not come out it smelling of roses. Time for both parties to fess up to their or their fan bases failings and find a resolution going forward that doesn’t involve point scoring.
  9. Not convinced it’s a good statement at all tbh, and that’s overlooking the use of “upmost”. At this stage, whatever the club have been told is merely an allegation- there’s no acknowledgement of this. The statement is overly emotional, goes into far too much detail and leans on “true Morton fans” (the football equivalent of birthday caird pish) to identify the alleged perpetrators, all this while nothing was said when a young Morton fan was allegedly attacked on the first day of the season. I don’t believe the club aren’t aware of that incident, and whether it’s whataboutery or not, to address the issue of a Partick fan allegedly being attacked by Morton fans having previously done nothing publicly about a similar incident when one of our fans was the apparent victim six months ago doesn’t show me that the club have got their priorities in order. I’d suggest that Partick are furious about whatever happened on Saturday and told Morton they want something done about it, while Morton weren’t interested enough to take the matter further in August. I understand Partick’s concern for their own fans, but we shouldn’t be letting them away with it when the shoe is on the other foot, as appears to have been the case on a number of occasions. I’d suggest today is Gareth’s day off, hence the poorly written statement. Whoever did write it should have had it proof read and taken a step back, altered it, re-written it or, the ideal solution, binned it completely.
  10. I get the noble sentiment, but by taking that approach, you’re only punishing yourself. Do you think Brian Graham gave a shiny shite about our feelings when he was crashing his elbows into Lewis Strapp and Efe Ambrose and screaming in the face of Alan Muir and his officials to dictate which players were punished and which weren’t, or Aaron Muirhead thought twice about manhandling Darragh O’Connor in the last minute? Did Lewis Vaughan consider that it wasn’t really fair that he’d taken an embarrassing dive and won and converted a penalty when shushing us? We don't owe anyone anything, and if they want to do what they can to beat us, I’ve got no issue with us doing likewise. Boyes should have taken one for the team and worried about it later.
  11. They’re not “an embarrassment to the club” any more than the Livingston weans were to their club, the Partick fans who attacked the Morton kids are, the Celtic fans who throw the pyros on the park (Villa wasn’t an isolated incident or they’d not be looking at a ban) or the Dunfermline fans who went for the Raith kid are. They are part of a growing culture of young football fans that are yet to grow up and are doing stupid things along the way. I’ve owned previous misdemeanours, I’m sure there are others on here that would accept they’ve not been angels when they were young. Without wanting to dismiss the issue completely, boys will be boys. On a weekend that what looks to be a middle aged fuckwit who supports Falkirk posted online that Livingston’s Michael Nottingham is a “coon” and to “put the cunt back on the boat”, let’s not pretend that a few young guys who support Morton and behaved like wee dicks are the talk of Scottish football, it just isn’t the case. Why does a ban have to be the preferred course of action, and not engagement? On the whole, I’d actually say our lot aren’t as bad as some others for the most part. Grating at times, yes. But these boys aren’t there for the entertainment of you or I, and banning them helps nobody. Who are the next generation of kids who’ll be supporting Morton long after we’re gone? Do we pick and choose the well behaved kids and hand the baton over to them? I’ve got news for you, picking out teenagers who don’t do daft things is like finding a needle in a haystack. How long do you suggest banning them for? A couple of weeks and then we carry on as usual? A year, so they’re out the habit of going to games having found new hobbies and started chasing their hole, so are lost to the club? Forever, just because you want your pound of flesh? For all we’ve hammered Dale for, his engagement with this group has been a positive, although I hark back to them getting Queen’s Park tickets ahead of folk like myself as a fuck up. You can’t build a support without catering for the needs and wishes of the young, and the club are doing a much better job at that. Your complaints are going beyond a couple of fairly isolated incidents yesterday, and stretching towards them irritating you with an “inconsistent” atmosphere and getting behind the team when it suits them. Let’s be honest, they’re not alone in that. The club have already condemned the pyros online, and I hope and expect that they will investigate what allegedly happened outside the ground yesterday (I didn’t see it, so am in no position to really comment), but I trust they’ll go down the route of weighing up the pros and cons of what happened and who was responsible before taking proportionate action. Not fulfilling your bloodthirsty lust for teenagers to face severe punishment because you don’t like them.
  12. I really don’t want to go sticking the boot into the whole “ultras culture” because it does engage kids and gets them going to football, but for miserable old guys like myself, aye it’s getting a bit tiresome. I’d also prefer sticking to more traditional songs instead of the generic (x club away ole ole) but it shouldn’t be forgotten that in our youth, most songs were also different variations used by different clubs- there isn’t a great deal of variety among groups of football fans. The daft all-black uniforms are a bit cringeworthy too, but I suppose it’s obvious that they want to blend in instead of risking arrest. There’s obviously bad blood between our lot and Partick anyway, and it should be noted that a similar incident was said to have happened on the first day of the season when a young lad was targeted and had his Morton scarf stolen by their “ultras”. I did notice at the time that their most prominent and obnoxious Twitter troll, a lad who usually has plenty to say for himself, refused to acknowledge Morton fans digging him on the subject. That shouldn’t be brushed under the carpet when our mob are centre of attention for their poor behaviour yesterday. I’m at pains to be too critical as most on here are of a certain vintage and will remember I was a wee shite in my youth, but the pyros getting flung on the park towards mascots (didn’t notice the mascots, but have to assume that was the case) is dreadful. Carrying pyros shouldn’t be happening anyway, but fans of all clubs will do it, and maybe it’s incumbent on clubs to ensure that the risks of this are minimised. I don’t know, maybe if you have about 8000 seats across two fairly modern stands and crowds of less than 4000, it would make sense not to accommodate away fans in a pre-historic wooden fire hazard? Of course, Cappielow’s away facilities are also dreadful but fairly consistent with the rest of the ground, but Partick choosing to give us a crap section when they could offer a safer, more comfortable alternative doesn’t help matters. It should also be said that this is far from exclusive to Morton, or a select few clubs. There are obviously the high profile groups at the bigger clubs, who have far too much gravitas for the clubs’ own good, and get far too much publicity as the red tops look for clicks. Hopefully Celtic’s imminent UEFA ban clips the wings of their mob, and the fact it’s coming against Bayern Munich rather than KR Rekjavik or Kirat Almaty is particularly satisfying, while the Rangers fans turning on their mob’s walk-out was a rare positive showing from their support. We also had an incident against Livingston after the cup tie when our kids appeared to be the ones targeted, rather than the perpetrators, while two Dunfermline neds were recently convicted and received banning orders for leathering a lonesome Raith kid at a bus stop after a derby last season. I’d also note that having gone to a lot of non-league games quite regularly in recent years, I’ve seen clubs as small and insignificant as Glasgow Perthshire and Crossgates Primrose followed by wee ultra groups. The trouble doesn't seem significant because of sheer numbers, but forming these groups is what is attracting weans. One person who should be held accountable for encouraging this is the odious YouTube vlogger, Blair McNally. A disgusting cretin of a boy who travels round the country encouraging weans to carry this shite on and get into fights before, as soon as the shit hit the fan with the Raith kid, using the incident to play the good guy and get positive publicity for himself. Final point, the boy that seems to be charged with keeping all our mob in check is a decent lad, who has obviously done a lot of work with the club trying to create something positive. But every time I see him at games now, he looks to have the weight of the world on his shoulders. I wonder if he thinks it’s all worthwhile.
  13. Sam Ramsbottom’s signed for Bo’ness Athletic. Not the Lowland League team we beat in the cup last season, the financially doped East of Scotland First Division (tier 7) team.
  14. At this stage, while we’re not out the woods yet at the bottom end of the table, rather than short-term re-enforcements, I’d be more keen to see what plan the club have to tie up those out of contract players for next season, notably Wilson and Mullen. After the disaster of last summer, hopefully moves are being made to prevent anything like that happening again.
  15. Bit of a dilemma for Dougie this weekend. Where does he find space on his mantlepiece for eight Manager of the Month awards and Raith Rovers?
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