EanieMeany

Things are going fuckin nowhere as it stands, so nothing should be off the table. Leaving aside issues with the players signed, which is separate but not exclusive issue, Imrie has been saying for a while that he was having to be careful with what was left and that there wasn't much there. It's certainly possible he's being quite dishonest in that (all managers will try to drop hints to get a few extra bob, but there's that and saying there's nothing left...) but I don't really see much to suggest that is the case. People seem to have got a wee bit fixated on the radio thing, but it wasn't really anything new, it didn't come out the blue - you can debate whether it was right or wrong, but again, either way it wasn't really a shock revelation. We've got very, very few players who could reasonably be called "senior ones", and a significant number of youngish boys that it appears the club want to be passing off as bona-fide first team players. As has been said many times, even with rising costs, there's many very favourable improvements on the last few seasons, and the MCT money which should surely be representing an advantage over the other clubs around us. If we're seriously being told that what's on the books now is as far the funds stretch (and again, there's big questions about some of the individuals brought in, but they're not going to be on big wages...surely), then it really doesn't add up. We finished last season with a real sense of optimism for the first time in years, obviously somewhat tempered by the last few games although the prospect of a clear-out mitigated any concerns there and then a couple of months later we find that there's barely enough money there to employee a dozen "senior" players? That's extremely alarming, and I find it quite baffling that people are resistant to the idea that the club should be providing clarity on what's going on. This is nothing to do with any misconceptions that the club is "fan-run" and everything to do with the owners of the club being extremely concerned at what's going on and being owed an explanation. What exactly is the point of fan ownership if it isn't to ensure stringent accountability to the people paying way, way over the odds for what they're getting in return? It's very possible that if we're deep in the mire come the winter months that MCT subscriptions begin to be sacrificed as people's household budgets tighten, and that attendances drop below what they normally would for the same reason. MCT needs to justify the money it wants, and it isn't doing it if this is what it's returning.

Oh, I wasn't aware of that. I'm not familiar with the structure below the senior squad so can't really comment on what scrapping it means, but it does seem to suggest that the "reserve" players we have are indeed intended to be regular members of the first team squad if there's not any kind of development team below it. It also makes you wonder what exactly the flurry of contract extensions earlier in the year were all about as presumably the decision wasn't taken overnight.

Don't we have a youth team with a goalkeeper who can make up the numbers...? Genuine question as I'd have thought there'd be somebody there who can sit on the bench rather than having to bring in a wee guy from elsewhere.

I think this gets to the core of why the the one sub thing was a problem: it wasn't so much that there was only one sub (which was dodgy enough in itself), so much as it laid bare what we have. We really shouldn't be considering the young boys first team players, they should be extra, but instead they're a huge part of what's being passed off as a squad. Dougie has said the club want "more youth players" in the squad this season, which is perhaps the most troubling element in all of this and which suggests this is actually what we're going to be left with. Even if more players do appear, there's still a lot of questions about how things have unfolded. One of the biggest questions is what Dougie was told he was getting. No matter what the circumstances were or are he's made some really poor choices (offering Blues and Oliver new deals) and a couple of very suspect ones (Gillespie and Quitongo); even with Baird, I felt at the time that it was a signing that meant the other defender would need to be somebody of a higher calibre. Between the renewals and most of the signings, there's been that sense with all of them, that each one was meaning the next one would need to be better if we want a higher standard of team than last season. Having a low budget isn't an excuse for any of that imo: in fact, it makes it look like extremely dubious decision-making. Even if there was more money available and there is going to be 3/4 high quality additions, I still wouldn't find much of the above convincing even as squad players, so it's hard to really know what's going on. Having said all this, I trust Dougie the manager implicitly, but at the same time...it's his team now, it's no longer the case he's having to make the best of what he's inherited and that represents a different type of challenge and it appears he's not made it any easier for himself. Has Dougie been told one thing then another? Had the goalposts shifted on him? Even leaving aside reservations with the players he's chosen, it seems unlikely he's stumbled into spending all his money without realising so something changing seems a plausible explanation, but who knows. On the bit in bold, I think we all know why Easdale continues to lumber around but I'd like to see McGrattan getting more of an opportunity and was a bit surprised he didn't really get many as last season went on. There were plenty of times we were toiling badly in midfield, largely due to only have one proper Championship player in there in the form of Wilson, and we were crying out for something else so even if Lyon was persona non grata, surely McGrattan could have been given a chance? Any time he's been involved he's looked decent including the win over Partick in particular, yet we never really saw much of him. If he's not going to be getting used, he shouldn't have been signed up again as 21 isn't really "young boy" territory any longer (not that it's old).

Aye, I'm always a wee bit uncomfortable with that kind of thing, as you say it doesn't help anybody. It'd be no surprise if Jacobs has been told he's not wanted or is unhappy about his lack of playing time but if its the former he's perfectly entitled to want to stay and try to force himself into the team (which, tbh, shouldn't be too hard as it stands) and/or see out his contract; if its the latter, he needs to knuckle down and get on with it for as long as he's with us. I wouldn't hold it against him if it's the former scenario , you can't really expect somebody to walk away from a year's wages especially when he might not get another full-time deal, but at the same time that's predicated on the player remaining committed and professional. I see no reason to think Jacobs isn't either, but when you start getting stuff like that on Twitter there's the danger it can start to fuel a bit of resentment towards the player. Ditto if it's stemming from not being happy about his lack of minutes. That said, there's not really much to see here or to take issue with aside from it being a bit cringeworthy, but its a thing everybody could do without in general.

Baird, O’Connor and Muirhead will all play regularly, but I really don’t see that being the case with Lithgow with Imrie wanting to play with a back 4. If the 6 players named in the scenario I was replying to all started, then we’d once again have a very deep back 3 with Gillespie and Jacobs taking 2 of the 3 midfield places and that is not a remotely inspiring core of a team. Again, I very much doubt we’ll ever see those 6 starting together and it’s something I really wouldn’t fancy at all. If it turns out that is going to be the way we go, it will be a very long season indeed. As I said, Baird and O’Connor along with Muirhead are all going to be regulars; the two defenders will presumably be the first choice and if either is missing I wouldn’t be surprised if Imrie opted to move Strapp in and playing King at left-back rather than the straight swap for Lithgow. It’s getting into a different argument from just the size of the squad here, admittedly, but Jacobs couldn’t get near the team last year and just hasn’t really done much to suggest he’s very good, whilst Lithgow isn’t likely to play very much at all and who’s presence would probably necessitate a shift in formation (I don’t think anyone would really be fancying him in a back 4 given his lack of mobility) or at least approach (which could maybe be an option in certain games) and Gillespie is not, you would think from how his last few seasons have went, likely to be a star turn….although that said, Imrie knows him well and he may well turn out to be an ideal fit. Time will tell there, ditto Jacobs tbf with it being a different formation but at face value neither is likely to be the equal of Wilson, leaving us worse off than last season although the return of Lyon balances that up a bit. Overall, it’s just not a very good squad no matter how you shake it.

You could, but they wouldn’t have and I’d be surprised if we ever see all of them in the pitch at the same time at any point. I certainly hope we don’t anyway because it sound pretty terrible tbh.

Aye, was being a wee bit flippant but it’s still a pretty concerning situation if this is it. Let’s face it as well, it was a big list of absentees but apart from the two defenders and Muirhead, we weren’t missing anything particularly great and if the three of them were starting the squad list still wouldn’t have been great. I’ve said this multiple times on here, but we’re going to be the most expensive team in the league to watch except Dundee (if the prices thread on P&B is accurate), with the MCT money and the end of Covid restrictions and the return of hospitality etc, and commercial activity has significantly increased. Whilst costs going up across the board is going to have an impact on clubs and isn’t a minor thing, there’s also a whole host of other things that have improved over the last year or so, so to be in a position where we appear to be even worse of than the last couple of years isn’t something that should just be quietly accepted. It’s a very valid question to be asking why it’s this way and what the plan is for moving forward. We’ve only added one player, Baird, whose been a Championship regular over the last couple of seasons, and a mid-table League 1 teams cast-offs and young boys unproven at this level (which is absolutely fine, to be clear - getting players like that is good business and Imrie has done well with the ones he’s got). Again, it’s entirely valid to be wondering why that’s the case - I don’t at all expect us to be assembling a really top-end squad but bloody hell…surely we should be allowed to expect at least a couple of good, solid players that have been playing in our league recently.

Substitutes, apparently.

That tit is the epitome of the smug, self-righteous Partick wank, even before getting to his attempts at condescending, patronising pish about Morton. Speaking of their fans though, remember this doolally meltdown? "Robbie Muirhead undermined my teachings". Good grief. Whatever else Robbie does in his career, there should be a mural of that picture of him celebrating with that quote somewhere in Cappielow.

All of the above are valid, but it's really just their general existence that does it for me. Every time we play them I just find myself really fuckin annoyed and irritated by them even being there - everything about them is just fuckin inherently annoying.

I see you can add the fixture list to your phone calendar via a link in the latest newsletter. Cool wee feature, it’s quite encouraging seeing relatively wee things like that being introduced - aside from being useful, it reinforces the impression there’s people there that actually know what they’re doing when even the smaller details are being attended to. It’s night and day compared to what we’ve been used to, even compared to 6 months or so ago.

If professional footballers are so delicate that they can't cope with being criticised for not being very good, they simply shouldn't read online forums. Tough shite. As far as things that happen at games goes, there's definitely been situations with some players over the years were things do go tooo far and it's never particularly pleasant, but nonetheless I doubt that's restricted to Morton fans only. It's a thing that happens at games, but it's just flat-out nonsense to suggest any of those players left the club for any reason other than they weren't wanted or got a better deal elsewhere. Very few of them were missed either. James McPake was on fuckin loan, for a start. Did Sean McGinty ever even play in front of fans for us? Are we meant to be sad such a colossally bad player left? How is it the fans fault that Gary Oliver is not a Championship footballer? It's just an absurd claim all round, but some of the "examples" given are just preposterous.

Haha, sorry. That wasn't meant to be a dig

I'm already preparing a Portuguese theme day in Jai's honour, don't worry.

I found that pretty remarkable tbh. Whilst striking options aren't particularly easy to come by in January, wanting a guy who was yet to make an appearance for a middling third tier side on loan seems a pretty fuckin weird choice in any circumstances. It's true we could have done with another forward, but still...that seems a Kezia Sterling-esque signing. Imrie says in the paper today that Quitongo has back-to-back league championships (I'd assume that's a misquote given Queen's Park finished a very distant 4th place) and that he "took them up the leagues which shows he's a winner". I find that pretty odd too, in all honesty. Quitongo started one single game last season, and only a minority of games for QP in the bottom tier before, before being released in the summer. With all due respect to Dougie, that doesn't really scream "winner" or "key player" to me, but I guess we shall see.

It would probably be quite good if we signed a couple of Championship level players, I reckon.

There's a player in there somewhere, maybe Dougie is the manager to make it happen.

We should bring Jamie McCluskey back, there was a player in there somewhere. It’s very debatable whether we’re better off than last season. Schwake and Pignatellio are unknown quantities at this level, Baird isn’t really a huge upgrade on McEntee and Quitongo is a significant downgrade on Ugwu (who wasn’t exactly the greatest in the first place) and we’ve lost Wilson who was the only genuinely useful midfielder we had. Its one thing having faith in Imrie as a manager, but as it stands this is not a squad remotely equipped to compete for promotion and there’s going to need to be a bit of quality added before the season starts. Once again, the club are asking people for an awful lot of money and aren’t doing anything that’s justifying it in the slightest as it stands.

Aye, suppose so when it’s the last day of the window but still, it wasn’t an offer that was likely to come around again. The idea that there’s a manager who can “get the best out of” Quitongo is wishful thinking in the extreme. Extraordinary turnarounds can sometimes happen in careers, but there’s absolutely nothing in this case to suggest it’s likely to happen. We’re not talking somebody who’s offering a passable return whilst just been going through the motions and who might be revitalised in the right circumstances, we’re talking somebody who scored a few good goals about 6 years ago and who has done absolutely fuck all since. It’s nowhere near the kind of player a club that asks for a minimum of £400-odd quid a year from fans should be signing, frankly, nor any club that wants to play in the Championship again next season. Nobody at all would be giving this the time of day if he hadn’t been here before.

Easdale is only 3 league goals off Quitongo over the last couple of seasons, and he's been at a higher level. Anyway, to be quite frank I think the way Quitongo's career has turned out was roughly always the most likely outcome; if Dougie Rae actually did turn down a sizeable bid for him, it ranks right up with the stupidest things he ever done at Cappielow. If somebody's daft enough to want to throw money at you for a player like that, you take it and laugh all the way to the bank with it. For all Imrie's earned our trust, it would be an absolutely bizarre decision if he has indeed chosen to sign up this character.

Couple of spectacular goals aside, Jai Quitongo is a pretty rotten footballer and a total fanny to boot. I’d hope this isn’t true, we’d be downgrading on an already mediocre option in Ugwu.

Aye, right enough when it's a loan signing, although we did have Ross Doohan on loan for a while without him ever making an appearance...which, admittedly, is not quite a direct comparison. I've no idea what he's like but again, I think we can trust Dougie's judgement on it. If Hamilton is moving on, I'd imagine we'll get confirmation of that soon now that Schwake is signed up. I hope we sign Alex Schwilliams next.

We need another keeper even if Hamilton does stay, this guy seems the right profile for a solid back-up so wouldn’t take it as meaning Hamilton is off. It’s somebody else Imrie will be familiar with too, which is a real boon following previous debacles such as that character that played a few games for the Dog & Duck pub before signing last January and never even making the bench.