The Morton Collapse of 03/04

[Monkey Tennis]

1 hour ago, Toby said:

Of course corruption is far worse, but I maintain that sympathy isn't an emotion I feel towards them. They brought shame on themselves and left an indelible mark on the club's history to the extent that we're discussing it at length 13 years on.

There were an awful lot of fans that put a lot of time and money into saving Morton a few short years previous to that season. I'll direct my stmpathy to them, rather than the chancers and charlatans that caused that debacle.

Ok, if you want to use the fact that some of the players maybe got a bit above themselves, as justification for them being accused of cheating against their own club for personal profit, then I suppose that's up to you.  It sounds a bit unfair though - like withholding sympathy for someone wrongly convicted of murder, because they were in fact guilty of shoplifting.

I also suspect, admittedly from a distance, that you're overstating the extent to which this was some great turning point in the club's narrative.  Obviously, momentum got stalled, but had that not happened, I'd imagine that gates would have tailed way off by now anyway.

A couple of seasons before that, we won the third tier and for the crowning home match against Morton had over 6,000 fans.  When we achieved the same a decade or so later, we got a little over 2,000 for the equivalent fixture.  Hell, we barely got 3,000 of our own through the gate for a Premier play-off match against Rangers two years later.  For whatever reasons, the potential audience has shrunk markedly and it'll be something similar for Morton.

That season clearly left emotional bruising, but I doubt if it's impacted that much on where Morton has since reached.

[LargsTON]

That season clearly left emotional bruising, but I doubt if it's impacted that much on where Morton has since reached.

I disagree. I think it's entirely relevant to where we are today. Who knows what Morton would've went onto had we won successive promotion? Crowds were flocking back and I've never experienced a feelgood factor like it before or since. The divide between club and support which still exists to this day stems from that season. I doubt it'll ever be fully healed until Rae finally leaves. I'll put my cards on the table though in that I believe there WAS a speculative bet placed on Airdrie that season and due to where I heard it from ie. Days before it became public nothing will ever change my mind on that. I don't believe any players actively chucked games but money did change hands and the whole episode undermined our season as it caused unrest and distrust throughout the club and fanbase. I'm not going over the finer details of it as it was done to death years ago but suffice to say I'm delighted some of the charlatans back then are long gone. These current players have done more than any team since to build bridges which is why it's a crying shame they're not being better supported.

[Dunning1874]

12 minutes ago, LargsTON said:

 

I disagree. I think it's entirely relevant to where we are today. Who knows what Morton would've went onto had we won successive promotion? Crowds were flocking back and I've never experienced a feelgood factor like it before or since. The divide between club and support which still exists to this day stems from that season. I doubt it'll ever be fully healed until Rae finally leaves.

 

You can trace the divide back to that season in some senses. Certainly there's widespread agreement that there was a really unprofessional culture around the club as a whole (from 2004 until Duffy, really) and in some cases people felt that the lack of professionalism in the dressing room stemmed from a few bad apples, which fairly or unfairly always resulted in fingers being pointed at players who'd been there in 2004 first and foremost, Weatherson in particular.

I'd argue though that while the hangover from that season did linger for years, the real cause of the apathy and disconnect lies with Jim McInally as much as anyone else. There was the obvious cause of failing to win promotion until his third attempt which killed any hope of regaining the momentum and feelgood factor, but on top of that he actively encouraged an 'us and them' divide between the squad and fans in the name of creating a siege mentality and protecting himself, because Jim McInally is an extremely bitter and petty man who can't tolerate criticism and utterly despised the support.

It took years (again it's only Duffy who's managed to change it if we're being realistic) for that us and them divide to disappear, with Rae perpetuating it due to really holding a grudge over McInally's resignation and diving on any opportunity to take a shot at fans afterwards. At the end of that season we stayed up on goals scored thanks to two Brian Wake inspired 3-0 wins in our last two games and there was the prospect of a feelgood factor returning.  The team were touring the supporter's clubs the night we secured our survival, fans were delighted, there were some lapsed fans who'd gone along to the game who could maybe be attracted back, players and fans were actually mingling and getting along which sounds normal but considering how strained things had been was actually significant. The first thing Rae did when he got hold of a microphone, with Davie Irons standing right beside him, was start talking about McInally, how much he'd contributed to our survival and how much we should all thank him. He could not let it go.

Obviously you can trace those problems back to 03/04 because if we'd just seen promotion through that season we'd never have been landed with McInally in the first place, but I'd say in the long-term McInally's influence on the club was far more damaging than any antics during the 03/04 collapse. A good manager could have came in, got the dressing room in order with some professionalism and put the club back on track; instead we had McInally being more concerned with being best mates with the players, bringing in charlatans and shitebags like Scott McLaughlin and Jamie Stevenson then letting them piss about playing naked table tennis. The unprofessional culture was allowed to take root and that was down to McInally, not McCormack or the likes of Weatherson & Millar.

[HoBNob]

I disagree. I think it's entirely relevant to where we are today. Who knows what Morton would've went onto had we won successive promotion?

Mid table mediocrity the next season with crowds tailing off?

As the Qots alludes to, go back a certain time frame with any club and they'd be able to tell you about the time the club they support had a real "feel good factor" they're never, ever permanent though and they tail off.

[AyrshireTon]

I've often looked at two seasons 02-03 and 03-04. That last minute win over Alloa in 2004 and the euphoria which greeted it, followed by the collapse of the four games which followed was in stark contrast to the previous season where, with five games to go, many of us believed we were in for another season in the bottom tier. Whilst we started the season well in the 2nd Division and collapsed badly, in the previous season 3rd we generally made a dog's breakfast of getting promoted.

I remember being in York in 2003 and getting a text from my mate at Cliftonhill reading "2-1 Rovers. Yardley Winner. Shite" and having to stop myself from swearing in front of the school kids I was with. Another season in the 3rd looked inevitable. It later transpired that Davie MacGregor (who was being nicknamed "bombscare" at the time, but later became a very settled LB) got a hairline fracture in his ankle and would miss the last five games. We would not concede any more goals in the run-in.

We picked ourselves up with a 2-0 win at home to Elgin. The following week in Methil was the game which in the eyes of many fans won us promotion. The crowd was 1 person below capacity but the home end had loads of spaces. Contrast the jumping away end with us all crammed in and fans being asked to sit on stairs or stand and watch at the exit. Warren Hawke came off the bench to score the only goal of the game with one of the most memorable #scenes I've been among. Rowan Alexander's Gretna were pumped 5-0 at Cappielow and the penultimate game was away to Stirling. Another memorable day with overspill away fans put behind the goal. A comfortable 3-0 win and results elsewhere meant we were top all of a sudden - a scenario which looked unlikely a month previously. On the final day ourselves, Peterhead, East Fife and Albion Rovers were all in with a shout of promotion, with only Rovers not having their fate in their own hands. The only sure thing was a win would see us up as Champions. A crowd of just under 8500 (with many flying in from around the globe and having a flag display) saw us edge Peterhead in a very nervy 1-0 win, courtesy of Scott Bannerman after Alex Williams (for once) opted not to be greedy and set it up for him. 

Here's the goal - in the days of inferior phone cameras.

 

Fast forward a year and we'd follow a 2-1 win over Alloa with four defeats, one goal scored and 11 conceded.

[Mr.Blue]

3 minutes ago, AyrshireTon said:

I've often looked at two seasons 02-03 and 03-04. That last minute win over Alloa in 2004 and the euphoria which greeted it, followed by the collapse of the four games which followed was in stark contrast to the previous season where, with five games to go, many of us believed we were in for another season in the bottom tier. Whilst we started the season well in the 2nd Division and collapsed badly, in the previous season 3rd we generally made a dog's breakfast of getting promoted.

I remember being in York in 2003 and getting a text from my mate at Cliftonhill reading "2-1 Rovers. Yardley Winner. Shite" and having to stop myself from swearing in front of the school kids I was with. Another season in the 3rd looked inevitable. It later transpired that Davie MacGregor (who was being nicknamed "bombscare" at the time, but later became a very settled LB) got a hairline fracture in his ankle and would miss the last five games. We would not concede any more goals in the run-in.

We picked ourselves up with a 2-0 win at home to Elgin. The following week in Methil was the game which in the eyes of many fans won us promotion. The crowd was 1 person below capacity but the home end had loads of spaces. Contrast the jumping away end with us all crammed in and fans being asked to sit on stairs or stand and watch at the exit. Warren Hawke came off the bench to score the only goal of the game with one of the most memorable #scenes I've been among. Rowan Alexander's Gretna were pumped 5-0 at Cappielow and the penultimate game was away to Stirling. Another memorable day with overspill away fans put behind the goal. A comfortable 3-0 win and results elsewhere meant we were top all of a sudden - a scenario which looked unlikely a month previously. On the final day ourselves, Peterhead, East Fife and Albion Rovers were all in with a shout of promotion, with only Rovers not having their fate in their own hands. The only sure thing was a win would see us up as Champions. A crowd of just under 8500 (with many flying in from around the globe and having a flag display) saw us edge Peterhead in a very nervy 1-0 win, courtesy of Scott Bannerman after Alex Williams (for once) opted not to be greedy and set it up for him. 

Here's the goal - in the days of inferior phone cameras.

 

Fast forward a year and we'd follow a 2-1 win over Alloa with four defeats, one goal scored and 11 conceded.

What a day that was. Total contrast to the stenny defeat at the end of the next season. 

[snapper55]

20 hours ago, M0rtonfc said:

The linesman that came on from the Cowshed was none other than legandary Sunday league whistle blower Chic Kavanah, what a moment haha!

Remember it well. Here's Chic on that day.

[DA Baracus]

What's with the Oldco fans in that middle picture?

[Toby]

1 hour ago, DA Baracus said:

What's with the Oldco fans in that middle picture?

I've got a funny feeling I know who that is actually. I had an argument with that bellend on the Morton board about his family turning up kitted out in Rangers gear at that game the other week. Pretty sure it's him with orange fedora and the Morton top, his wife in the navy tee shirt and two of their inbred clan with them.

[coyletonfan]

Full kit as well!

And an orange fedora....

 

 

 

[madton]

If only that team had the mentality, attitude and team spirit that our current squad has!

[Rudolph Hucker]

26 minutes ago, madton said:

If only that team had the mentality, attitude and team spirit that our current squad has!

And the ability.

And the manager.

[Poet of the Macabre]

On 17/03/2017 at 09:53, Toby said:

What a season that was, absolutely bizarre from start to finish. I'd argue that the club still hasn't properly recovered from it.

After winning the title in May, it felt like the longest close season ever, such was the feeling of euphoria around the club. We started off with a three game midweek tour of the Highlands, and there must've been about 250 of us enjoying the delights of Buckie, Keith and Deveronvale. Keith especially was one of the fondest remembered awaydays for any Morton fan that was there. IIRC there was only one home friendly, against SPL Partick, which we drew 1-1 and acquitted ourselves quite well.

We then started with a Challenge Cup game at home to Arbroath which was a good indicator for what was ahead. With Alex Williams suspended (Queens fans will remember his red card in the shame game in the previous year's Challenge Cup tie at Palmerston), everyone and his granny lumped on Weatherson FGS. He scored after two minutes, we threw away a 3-2 lead in injury time, then went straight up the park and won it 4-3. The bookies downstairs from the Norseman ran out of cash to pay folk out after the game as there were queues down the street looking for their winnings.

The first league game was a cracker- a 3-1 win against Airdrie, who most saw as the biggest threat to any title ambitions. The main controversy about that game was the injury to the referee, resulting in a Morton fan coming from the Cowshed, in his Morton shirt and running across the park to get changed into a referee's kit and run the line, with the game delicately poised. Think we were 2-1 up at the time, but it could've been 1-1. We played Airdrie again three days later and lost 2-1 in the Challenge Cup, and their fortunes would be worth following for the rest of the season.

Our home form wasn't exactly amazing- we drew with Dumbarton and Hamilton before our first defeat, 3-1 to Berwick at Cappielow. But more often than not they were rattling goals in. We came from 2 down at Station Park to beat Forfar 3-2 and then beat Stenhousemuir 5-2 after a few scary moments before reaching our peak. In November we went to Airdrie and thumped them 6-1. Possibly one of the best exhibitions I've ever seen from a Morton team, we absolutely destroyed them.

It was downhill from then on though. We had a couple of turgid draws against Forfar and East Fife, and got out of jail at Hamilton in a midweek game. They hammered us that night, but Williams headed a last minute goal and we got away with a 2-1 win that we scarcely deserved. The cracks started to really show in a 6-4 win against Arbroath at Cappielow just before Christmas. Our defence was abysmal, but as we were scoring for fun we got away with it.

As well as the defence, I always felt the squad lacked maturity. There were too many gallus we guys that loved being local celebrities, but weren't prepared to accept the responsibility that went with it. Not living in Greenock, there were too many nights that I'd get picture messages from mates of players crashed out steaming on someone's couch after nights out.

It started to go wrong at new year, with a pretty timid 1-0 defeat at Dumbarton, and a hounding from Partick in the cup at Cappielow. Thereafter, form was patchy, but not abysmal. The goals were still going in, but not at the rate to negate our defensive difficulties, and the wins were turning into draws. McCormack signed Chris McLeod from Rangers to shore up the defence and he sold a goal 30 seconds into his debut, a 2-2 draw at home to Hamilton. His Morton career didn't get any better.

By the time Airdrie came to Cappielow in March, the tide was well and truly turning and they got away with a 1-1 draw. I'd have fancied us to have gone on and won it if we'd have got the three points that night. The next month was an inconsistent mix of results before going to Hamilton who were motoring right up behind us by that point. Pumped 6-1, and our goal was an injury time consolation. New Douglas Park doesn't hold too many happy memories, surely we'd never have to experience a worse result there in the future though.

The following week we beat Alloa 2-1, with a last minute winner from Paul Walker. You'd have thought we'd won the league that day, such were the celebrations. I can't remember much of the 2-0 defeat at Berwick the following week, other than sitting in the sunshine at the Ducket side half cut.

Dumbarton away a week later was the real shame game though. The stories had gathered pace that week and the atmosphere was really, really nasty that day. Of course there was a bigger Morton support at Dumbarton than at Berwick too. We got hammered 3-0, Derek Collins got sent off, there were fans fighting amongst themselves in the crowd and the players took a torrent of abuse on their way off. After the game, as they were getting on the bus, a mate of mine sarcastically said to Marco Maisnao "Is that you off to collect yer winnings, Marco?" Maisano lost the plot and went for him, resulting in players and fans trying to drag him off my mate on the car park in front of the press, who were loving it. Pretty sure that was the day Airdrie were confirmed as Champions.

It then became ridiculous when already relegated Stenhousemuir came to Cappielow and scudded us 4-1. Again, not a game I remember a lot about. We could've been promoted that day if results had gone our way, but the feeling of shock is my main memory of the day. Nobody could quite believe what was unfolding in front of them. Hamilton got a result that day, and all of a sudden, with one game to go, away to Champions Airdrie, on the day they collect the trophy, promotion was out of our hands for the first time all season.

We went to Airdrie, were soundly beaten 2-0 whilst Hamilton won 4-0 at Forfar and that was it. To rub salt into the wound we even dropped another place to fourth below Dumbarton. The comical moment of the season came at the final whistle when the Airdrie fans ran towards us celebrating and one guy ran out of the Morton end, booted one and tried his luck with his mates before getting lifted. Bizarrely though, the team got an applause from the fans and there were plenty of tears from some of the players at least. I stayed to watch Airdrie lift the trophy before getting a train back into Glasgow and getting ridiculously drunk.

We'll never know what actually happened, and I don't doubt they liked a punt, but I'd say what they were most guilty of was being a collection of wee fannies. Williams is still looked fondly upon by our support, if only he wasn't batsh!t crazy. The Maisanos were likeable lads. If you met them in a pub they'd be quick to say hello and get the beers in, but that wasn't what they were here for. Two of the players who were wee fannies were the only ones to actually go on and do something with their careers. Weatherson had a reasonable ten years at Morton, but openly admitted that if he was more professional he could've been more successful. Chris Millar screwed the nut and has had a good career. As for the rest of them? Who cares? Some stayed for a while, some were away quite sharp. Can't say I give any of them a second thought.

A mental time to support the club, and that for a club that has had more than it's share of ups and downs, but we probably fitted about 20 years worth of drama for some clubs into one season. It's little wonder we think so highly of the current squad when you think about some of the nutjobs that played for Morton.

 

On 17/03/2017 at 11:31, Dunning1874 said:

I've now read the Nutmeg article which inspired the thread. Chris Millar summed it up nicely at the end of the article with "perhaps, ultimately, we just weren't as good as we thought we were." While that about covers it, I'm doing a post that's going to turn into an essay anyway.

Obviously none of us were thinking it in December 2003, but with the benefit of hindsight the warning signs were always there. It was a mediocre squad being carried by a few talented individuals, with the attack consistently bailing out a defence that lost too many goals, and when those talented individuals lost form or got injured the weaknesses were exposed to an embarrassing extent.

At the turn of the year we were 16 league games into the season. In those 16 games we'd conceded 21 goals, (with 4 clean sheets) a rate of 1.3 goals conceded a game. That's not a terrible defensive record, but you'd expect better from most title challenging sides - for comparison, Hibs this season have conceded 0.6 per game, Livingston 1.03. We'd won 3-2 twice, we'd won 5-2 and 6-4. Throw cups in there and we'd also had a 4-3. Basically, the defence just wasn't dependable at all and we were only getting away with it because Weatherson and Williams were in utterly ridiculous form to help us outscore the opposition.

So, we got to January 12 points clear despite the defensive weakness. McCormack publicly volunteers the information that Rae has given him a budget to add to the squad if he wants to, but he's happy with what he's got and is confident the squad we have can get us the title - we're comfortably clear after all.

We start January with the 1-0 defeat at Dumbarton where their goal comes from Robbie Henderson clean air swiping a simple clearance after 5 minutes to give Iain Russell a tap in. We follow that up with a 3-0 pumping from Partick in the cup and McCormack decides he will sign another defender after all - enter Rangers loanee Chris McLeod (Raith fans should remember him too) who goes straight into the team v Hamilton. He starts his Morton career by misjudging a simple header, leaving his man unmarked and giving away a goal inside the first two minutes - he only got worse from there and was binned after five games.

That Dumbarton game was the start of six games without a win. By the time we won again (1-0 at Stenhousemuir, John McVeigh was sent to the stand and was seething) Weatherson had picked up his mysterious injury. John Maisano had a few knocks and missed a few games, but was mostly playing while he clearly wasn't fit. With Maisano off form, there was no one capable of playing a through ball which meant no one in the midfield could give Williams service - he was hopeless with his back to goal. The goals dried up and the defence continued to concede at the same rate.

The complete lack of depth in the squad was exposed. With Weatherson out along with 33 year old Warren Hawke, we were left with Phil Cannie starting up front. He tried hard but he was miles out of his depth; signed from the juniors and returned there as soon as he left us. As desperation set in when it became clear that not just the title but promotion was disappearing, we saw McCormack not only changing the team but the formation every week, chucking youngsters into big pressure games - 18 year old Jim McAlister at centre forward was a good one.

Junior bound non-entities like John Adam and Paul McGlinchey featured wherever McCormack could fit them. Just about the only constant through all the formation changes was Paul Walker, who was the epitome of a gubbins seaside league sand-dancer with no end product, being given a free role up front to buzz around the corner flags doing bugger all. This was the clearest example ever of a manager having no idea how to stop a poor run of form escalating and losing the plot.

Weatherson returned from injury in late March, his return coinciding with Williams getting injured. We went three games without defeat but the damage was done already and the capitulation was confirmed as we lost 6-1 at Hamilton. At that point we were still 5 points clear of them but everyone knew there was no chance a team in that kind of form could salvage promotion and we were going to collapse. We followed that with a 2-1 win over Alloa before losing our last four games, scoring 1 and conceding 11.

Now, the idea that collapse was caused by the players betting against the team. There's a point no one considers here: if they were going to make a concerted attempt to blow the league in favour of another team, why would they have placed a bet on Airdrie? At the time our collapse started Airdrie were fourth, 17 points behind us. They weren't in good form at all. Betting on second placed Berwick or third place Hamilton would have made more sense. You can point to signings they made - Paul Lovering, Willie McLaren, Owen Coyle - and say it was obvious players of that calibre would turn them round, but that doesn't stand up either. McLaren was brilliant in the second half of that season, but when he signed he was an unknown youngster getting his first senior contract, who'd failed to get contracts on trial elsewhere in the bottom two tiers previously. Owen Coyle had a great pedigree but he'd been there since November and had made little difference at first. Paul Lovering? Good player, but one left back isn't going to turn a season around. It makes no sense.

It's now a matter of public record that Alex Williams has received treatment for gambling addiction. Would it surprise me if a gambling addict was to place a bet against their own team? Of course not, Dean Brett's only just been sacked for it. I'm not saying Williams did bet against Morton by the way, and I was interested to see in the article that Weatherson now knows where the rumour started from (to me that further confirms my belief that it didn't happen) but if we ignore that and say for argument's sake that a player did place that bet - it would be an utter disgrace and unquestionably a sackable offence, but it still doesn't add up to the whole team deliberately throwing games.

The reality is that we had a squad lacking in depth being carried by a few individuals, got away with it for half a season then our luck ran out. Even in the third tier, you can't expect to maintain a title challenge with players like Phil Cannie, Robbie Henderson and Emilio Bottiglieri playing regularly. John McCormack didn't appreciate this, didn't strengthen when he had the chance and didn't win the league as a result.

Ever a fan of a costly mistake, Dougie Rae rewarded McCormack for only winning 5 games of the last 20 with a new contract, only to then sack him five games into the next season. For many years some Morton fans argued that this was a terrible mistake, that he should have sacked the entire squad instead, losing McCormack and the squad having too much power was what led to us taking another three years to get out of the second tier. Personally, I felt the mistake was not sacking him quickly enough: had McCormack gone in March, another manager could have had a chance of dragging that squad, bad as it was, over the line. As it happened, he was allowed to build another sub-standard squad and ensure we failed once again.

These two excellent posts are what I was hoping for when I started this thread.

Thanks to you both for sharing your memories.

[tonnitus]

STILL seething despite winning the league. Jesus wept 

I wonder if it occurs to any of the Dundee seethers that their team losing to an already-relegated Morton side with basically nothing about it is far more suspicious than an atrocious team getting pumped by a team bound for the top tier... 

[C B]

Another slur on Jim McInally was refusing to sign McInnes when he came back to Scotland knowing his presence would undermine him as McInnes was a real fan favourite and bound for success in coaching/management.

St Johnstone welcomed him for a year as a player and got the full benefit of his management for 4 years while we had McInally, Irons, Grady and Moore in that spell !

[irvine_buddie]

Interesting read this, I was only about 12 or 13 at the time so only vaguely remember Mortons collapse and the rumours about a betting scandal but didn't know the details. Sounds like there was alot of similarities with the St Mirren team who won the 1st division in 99/00.. a team of relatively average players punching above their weight and getting carried with momentum and team spirit. Only difference maybe is that we had a few more experienced heads in the team to keep the younger guy's feet on the ground and we managed to keep it going till the end of the season.

[Coventry Saint]

3 minutes ago, irvine_buddie said:

Only difference maybe is... we managed to keep it going till the end of the season.

 Just a tiny difference, then. 

[Buddie Holly]

On Saturday, March 18, 2017 at 10:50, snapper55 said:

Remember it well. Here's Chic on that day.

have a close look at the middle photo and you'll see 2 fans in rangers tops. (they were still rangers in those days)crappielow is the only ground I can recall seeing fans with ugly sister strips in the home end.not a one off,seen it loads of times.

the 1st game of the season after the betting scandal was the renfrewshire cup final. saints fans released a box of bookies slips (6000 slips in the box)and they blew gracefully across the pitch causing much anger in the cowshed.

anyway the betting story is true.a guy in the royal mail greenock told me so.

the same royal mail guy also tells the story of the soap dodging postman who was off work on the sick.the dodgers were playing gretna away in what i think was gretnas 1st league game.the photographer's were out in force and the postie ended up in the sun on the mon morning in a full page photo.the postie got the sack.

a big thank you to the dodgers,alex williams in particular,for one of the funniest moments in scottish football history.

[irvine_buddie]

13 minutes ago, Coventry Saint said:

 Just a tiny difference, then. 

Quite an important one

[niketon]

have a close look at the middle photo and you'll see 2 fans in rangers tops. (they were still rangers in those days)crappielow is the only ground I can recall seeing fans with ugly sister strips in the home end.not a one off,seen it loads of times.
the 1st game of the season after the betting scandal was the renfrewshire cup final. saints fans released a box of bookies slips (6000 slips in the box)and they blew gracefully across the pitch causing much anger in the cowshed.
anyway the betting story is true.a guy in the royal mail greenock told me so.
the same royal mail guy also tells the story of the soap dodging postman who was off work on the sick.the dodgers were playing gretna away in what i think was gretnas 1st league game.the photographer's were out in force and the postie ended up in the sun on the mon morning in a full page photo.the postie got the sack.
a big thank you to the dodgers,alex williams in particular,for one of the funniest moments in scottish football history.

https://www.thefreelibrary.com/ST+MIRREN+STAR+FLEES+SCOTLAND+AFTER+FLEECING+HIS+TEAMMATES%3B+GERMAN...-a075417817

The poor guy was only trying to fit in to the paisley way of life