capitanus Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 31 minutes ago, MCT Team said: Dear Member, Thank you to those of you who are currently attending our webinar. For all our members, please find below the historic press release outlining tonight's announcement: Morton Club Together (MCT) have tonight announced to their members that an agreement in principle has been reached with Golden Casket, the current owners of Greenock Morton, to take over majority shareholding of the club with effect from the summer of 2021. The agreement reached with Golden Casket, headed up by current club Chairman Crawford Rae, will see the club sold to MCT for a nominal sum. As part of the deal, Golden Casket will also write off the club’s debt in its entirety while retaining ownership of Cappielow to rent it to Morton at a nominal fee. This will mean that MCT will own approximately 90% of the shareholding in the club and in time for the 2021/22 season, Morton will join the growing list of community-owned clubs in Scotland. Speaking about the announcement, MCT Founder and Director, Graham McLennan said, “Our goal has been clear from the outset – we want to move Morton forward. “We want a better team on the pitch. We want a better match day experience for everyone attending Cappielow. We want to listen to the fans and to communicate effectively with all fans, stakeholders, and partners. “We are all Morton supporters; we all want what is best for the club and now is our chance to be that best for the club through community ownership. “In April 2019, MCT was just an idea. Now, with 440 members, we have achieved so much and have an exciting future ahead of us. We would like to thank every single one of our members who has supported us so far. “As we have always said, we encourage Morton fans from everywhere to join us on this journey, and we hope this announcement will encourage many more to come on board.” Over the coming nine months or so, MCT will be working closely with the existing board members and key club personnel to better learn the business of the club and fully understand its operations. MCT Director Stewart Farmer added, “This is a magnificent achievement in a very short period. MCT was formed in April 2019 and has already made significant contributions, both financially and increasingly on an administrative basis, into Morton. “Over the last 14 months, we have had a team of dedicated, hard-working and extremely capable volunteers working around the clock to get us to where we are now.” The agreement is also conditional on both parties, MCT and Golden Casket, agreeing in March 2021 that MCT are in a financial position to run the club in a viable manner. In recent months, negotiations had been ongoing between a third party and Golden Casket, with involvement from MCT, around a purchase of the football club. Despite the terms of that deal being much more financially beneficial to Golden Casket and the Rae family, an offer from the third party was rejected in favour of facilitating community ownership through MCT. Current Greenock Morton Chairman, Crawford Rae, said, “The Rae family’s final act of devotion to the club is to hand it over to the fans, marking their last involvement in the financial responsibility and stewardship at GMFC.” MCT Director Gordon Ritchie also added, “The faith that Golden Casket and the Rae family have shown in all of us cannot be underestimated and we thank them for that. 20 years ago the Rae family saved the club, and now their legacy will be a club at the heart of Inverclyde, owned by the people who love it most, the fans.” To all our members, thank you for all your continued support, without you, none of this would be possible. Should you wish to ask any questions, or provide feedback, please email us at mortonclubtogether@gmail.com. Thanks, MCT Team The bit in bold, am I the only one who doesn't think that this is a good deal? The supporters get the benefit of the club and it's liabilities without retaining it's key assets? This is similar to a deal which led Leeds United being shafted for many years, when they lost the freehold of Elland Road. What about ground improvements? Who will take responsibility over these? I've got a feeling this is the road to the Airdrie-isation of our once proud club. *insert signature here* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post TheGoon Posted July 8, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted July 8, 2020 Folk on that Fans Facebook group will now have a say in how we’re run. We’re doomed. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lordyton Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 Hoppy & Davie McKinnon wanted the Youth academy closed down to save money... But its now being run separate from the club... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TorontoTon Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 11 minutes ago, TRVMP said: If and when they start supporting non-UK bank accounts, I'll be joining. I'm not opening a UK bank account for this. You don't have to, I am in Canada and support via Paypal. Just write to MCT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post vikingTON Posted July 8, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted July 8, 2020 8 minutes ago, TorontoTon said: The only sustainable way is community ownership. Then there is no repeat of past debacles. For those who missed the webinar, there are commercial plans to improve revenues / cut costs by £100k annually. Also, community businesses are signing up to be patrons /sponsors - 3 signed so far at £25k annually each, with 3 more in process. There is significant credibility for me here. Also a democratic governance structure. This is something to get behind. While this is true, we need also to take stock of the SPFL's first fan-owned club - Stirling Albion - who have spent the entire decade since as a basketcase irrelevance even by their club's modest history before that. And that's at a level where if the worst came to the worst (at least before the pyramid opened up a bit) you could just run as a glorified social club for years until you sorted things out off the park. A club of this size operating in a stadium like Cappielow simply cannot afford a similar drop down a level for a decade as a new ownership model finds its feet. There are definite pitfalls to community ownership when done badly and I don't think that some of them can even be anticipated yet: some mistakes will be discovered when mistakes are made in the job. Even if done well it's going to require a degree of patience that does not come easily to the fanbase of any football team along the way, as well as serious oversight. 12 minutes ago, irnbru said: They've said they'll have faqs and answer anything from members on that. I asked 5 or 6 questions on the webinar that they didn't get to so hopefully a lot more detail comes out. Initial impressions were some of the board were clued up on what's needed for their part and others liked using buzzwords but didn't really have an answer so just talked for a while instead. If you managed to write that while keeping a straight face then you deserve an Academy Award. 5 The site is supposed to be a place for the extended 'family' of Morton supporters - having an affinity with people that you don't know, because you share a love of your local football club. It's not supposed to be about point scoring and showing how 'clever' or 'funny' you are, or just being downright rude and offensive to people you don't know, because you can get away with it. Unfortunately, it seems the classic case of people who have little standing/presence in real life, use this forum as a way of making themselves feel as if they are something. It's sad, and I've said that before.. So, having been on Morton forums for about 15 years I guess, I've had enough... well done t*ssers, another Morton supporter driven away. You can all feel happy at how 'clever' you are Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irnbru Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 There's clearly been a lot of work and thought put into this and fair play to Rae for being true to his work and writing off the debt and handing over shares. Having thought about it a bit more though, my 4 biggest concerns are: 1. MCT stated that the current board are responsible for any losses in the coming season (and the following one if MCT aren't in a position to take over by March). This means we're likely to go with the lowest budget possible for up to two seasons since GC shareholders presumably won't support covering anything more than that. The focus will only really be to keep the lights on during the transition and the current board won't have much interest in increasing revenue so what kind of position will we be in when/ if MCT take over (or worse - if they can't/ don't)? 2. Can large, yearly individual contributions really be considered part of a sustainable business model? The current smaller, monthly contributions are likely to be more steady since they are for lower amounts so a drop in these are less of a risk although these need to be considered too. 3. It's been well known that the stadium maintenance costs are high so there's a big challenge to make sure any investment in it gives value since it will have a third party owner. What are the plans for this? 4. What happens if Golden Casket go under or there's a change of ownership? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevie Aitken's Love Child Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 On further thought, I had concerns about how MCT bridges the gap in funding, but when they came on board, Golden Casket had already cut their contributions are were not going to put any more of their own money into the club, or so they said at that meeting at the Gamble Halls. To me, and I know it's simplistic in the extreme to say, that would mean that any increase in the current contributions to MCT would only put us in a stronger position than we are currently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post GiGi Posted July 8, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted July 8, 2020 Just now, Stevie Aitken's Love Child said: On further thought, I had concerns about how MCT bridges the gap in funding, but when they came on board, Golden Casket had already cut their contributions are were not going to put any more of their own money into the club, or so they said at that meeting at the Gamble Halls. To me, and I know it's simplistic in the extreme to say, that would mean that any increase in the current contributions to MCT would only put us in a stronger position than we are currently. And I see no reason why more people shouldn't get involved, finances allowing. As Matt said earlier it's in no one's interest for MCT ownership to fail. 1 2 Peter Weatherson is the greatest player since Ritchie, and should be assigned 'chairman for life' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGoon Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 4 minutes ago, GiGi said: And I see no reason why more people shouldn't get involved, finances allowing. As Matt said earlier it's in no one's interest for MCT ownership to fail. Oh I’m sure a few people will find reasons to boycott it don’t worry. Only other thing on my mind at the minute is. If we ever moved stadium, a large part of that would be funded by the sale of Cappielow’s land. Would we see none of that under the current situation? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irnbru Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 3 minutes ago, GiGi said: And I see no reason why more people shouldn't get involved, finances allowing. As Matt said earlier it's in no one's interest for MCT ownership to fail. Aye this is the main thing. There was a good point made that community owned doesn't necessarily mean community run so if they get the structure right, good staff recruited and can answer the questions asked at this stage so fans are on board then it could work well. Early days though and the more I think about it the more I want to know about the transition year(s) as that could set us back quite a bit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GiGi Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 1 minute ago, TheGoon said: Oh I’m sure a few people will find reasons to boycott it don’t worry. Only other thing on my mind at the minute is. If we ever moved stadium, a large part of that would be funded by the sale of Cappielow’s land. Would we see none of that under the current situation? They did say Morton will play at Cappielow as long as MCT own the club. 1 Peter Weatherson is the greatest player since Ritchie, and should be assigned 'chairman for life' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irnbru Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 Just now, TheGoon said: Oh I’m sure a few people will find reasons to boycott it don’t worry. Only other thing on my mind at the minute is. If we ever moved stadium, a large part of that would be funded by the sale of Cappielow’s land. Would we see none of that under the current situation? Probably wouldn't have before either. Any profit from a sale would have went to the GC debt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irnbru Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 2 minutes ago, GiGi said: They did say Morton will play at Cappielow as long as MCT own the club. That goes back to one of my concerns as well though. If some of the patron members choose to withdraw funding and were forced into administration, what happens? We're left as a club with no stadium and no assets relying on whoever owns GC at the time to come to an agreement over Cappielow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRVMP Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 I wouldn't get too hung up on the patron thing. We've needed to diversify our sponsorship for decades now. Yes, it's better than it used to be, but there's a long way to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bewilderedbeast Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 35 minutes ago, irnbru said: 3. It's been well known that the stadium maintenance costs are high so there's a big challenge to make sure any investment in it gives value since it will have a third party owner. What are the plans for this? Did they not say that they were looking for people with "certain skills" to volunteer and help out around the ground, no matter how small the contribution. I know that's going back to the same pot that they are looking to get money from, but it's a start. Only problem with that is, if a jobs not done right or to a poor standard, it's difficult to go back to the volunteer and complain. That's why Dougie stopped fans helping out when he took over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irnbru Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 2 minutes ago, TRVMP said: I wouldn't get too hung up on the patron thing. We've needed to diversify our sponsorship for decades now. Yes, it's better than it used to be, but there's a long way to go. To be fair they mentioned sponsorship and marketing so revenue could be made up in other ways. My point was really just based on what they said as it was mentioned a few times they'd be looking at 2 or 3 people like this with a figure of 25k being mentioned so it would be a big part of the budget. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irnbru Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 1 minute ago, The Bewilderedbeast said: Did they not say that they were looking for people with "certain skills" to volunteer and help out around the ground, no matter how small the contribution. I know that's going back to the same pot that they are looking to get money from, but it's a start. Only problem with that is, if a jobs not done right or to a poor standard, it's difficult to go back to the volunteer and complain. That's why Dougie stopped fans helping out when he took over. General maintenance is only really a small part of it though - the stadium needs investment so it can bring in revenue as well which won't be cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bewilderedbeast Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 Yeah I get that, but, as I said, it's a start. Not something I'd like to see, but given the level of the Golden Casket cooperation I don't think they'd be adverse to sponsorship of the stadium and it's renaming. Arnold Clark arena? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 Was there any talk of the third party that were rejected? Had been hearing for ages from a decent source that the Easdale’s were a stick on and was a matter of when not if. Seems a surprise for all they’ve invested in the club that we’ve gone the opposite way from them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bewilderedbeast Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 Said that the third party had no connection to Inverclyde or previous or current involvement in the club. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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