madton

Aye read the same that apparently Livvy won't let players go out unless most of their wages are covered. Believe we paid most if not all of Gavin Reillys wages when he was with us.

I'd like to think there's a decent amount of budget left if as Dougie suggested, the budget is similar to last season. Schwake- replaced by Mullen Green Strapp Carlo Ambrose- replaced by Broadfoot Grimshaw Roy. Miller- replaced by Boyd A.Crawford Obviously we have signed Waters so covering his full wage and gave Baird a new deal which presumably was some sort of increase but I doubt Mullen and Broadfoot are on high wages and Boyd is probably average for the squad.

I'm slightly surprised as well but in Dougie we trust etc etc. If its purely down to his size, why bother inviting him to train in the first place? If its down to ability, fair enough but he does look a good footballer but of course Dougie has seen him day in day out for a few weeks so much better placed than us fans. Certainly an area we need another body in for me so hopefully Dougie has someone else in mind. Gillespie and Blues are decent but I'd like someone better in there. King will certainly help with competition but still young. Finding another Tidser would be ideal. Doesn't look like we will have a second keeper or RB before League Cup starts which is a bit disappointing.

Dougie has said tonight that he will have been disappointed with the amount of game time he had at Inverness and that he will get more game time at Morton. With him being involved in 33 of their 36 league games, I wouldnt be surprised if Dougie sees him as more of a starter for us, possibly ahead of McGrattan on the left.

Aye..

Aye agreed, thought he did very well. Reminded me of Billy Gilmour, not comparing quality obviously! Hopefully gets another run out on Tuesday. A composed midfielder who can put his foot on the ball, keep it and get it moving is something I felt we needed and thought the wee man did all of that.

Should be a very good signing. Never worked out at Morton but that wasn't down to ability IMO. Seemed to have cruised League 2, wouldn't be surprised if he does similar in League 1. 1st game should be interesting with Tidser, Oware, McCluskey and now Lyon coming up against their old club.

Ah sorry, i never seen Dunnings reply.

No we never! Our season finished on Friday the 30th of April and our first semi final playoff game was the following Saturday against Montrose. You got pumped off a pish Morton team in the final because you were even more pish than us!

I think it's fair to say most full time clubs have 2 decent keepers on their books, even if one is considered stronger than the other. We've obviously been the exception to the rule in recent years probably due to budget, but now we are in an apparent decent place financially, I'm hoping we bring in a Jack Hamilton type alongside him. If we intend to have a young boy on the bench, surely we'd have just kept Green and paid him peanuts? Time will tell I guess. Slightly disappointing start to our pre-season activity, hope Dougie had some more exciting options lined up. At least we have a starting 11 who can face Alloa.

I'm thinking the opposite, he'll be our number 2 and we bring in someone more experienced as number 1. Mullen has 14 career starts, would be a big gamble to bring him in as a number 1 to play week in week out in the Championship. I'd be amazed and disappointed if we don't bring someone more experienced,/ established in.

Pretty much this. I'm sure we will have gave him a decent offer but Falkirk will be throwing their 5th kitchen sink at this to get back up. Love to know how much money they have wasted since Hartley. Be glorious if it fails once again.

I meant more budget for you boys compared to other full time teams with the part time element aimed at Arbroath.

If DU get their act together, they should win it, not comfortably, but certainly more comfortable than their neighbours this season. Expect Raith to have a good season based on their transfer activity to date. certainly seems to be a good feeling about them right now. We have kept most of our squad from last year so if we can add 3 o 4 quality players, I'd expect us to be in and around top 4. I'd expect Airdrie and Arbroath to make up the bottom 2 purely based on budget/part time status but no doubt one or both will surprise us all and have a good season. 1st. Dundee United 2nd. Raith Rovers 3rd. Partick 4th. Morton 5th. Ayr 6th. Inverness 7th. QP 8th. Dunfermline 9th. Airdrie 10th. Arbroath It is very early and squads will look very different in 2 months time so will no doubt be amending this before the first game of the season. Queens Park are an unknown quantity for example, be interesting to see their recruitment once a new manager is in place but a lot of work to do there. Should be another cracking league, bring it on.

Reading between the lines, i think its pretty obvious Strapp and Imrie didnt see eye to eye. I think Lewis was keen to move last year but naturally the club wanted to maximise the development fee due and no one was willing to pay that, albeit he had interest from other clubs. ( DU and Inverness to name a few apparently) Therefore Lewis was in a way "forced" to sign on again instead of sitting on the sidelines doing nothing for 6 months until he turned 23. The fact he only signed a 1 year deal last year when he had longer options tells its his story i think. Either way, he's moved on, I'm sure he will get a good club and have a good career. Waters is a very able replacement and improved as the season went on. I'm more than happy with him being our new LB, actually slightly disappointed it wasn't a longer deal. On the squad in general, its shaping up nicely. I thought we might have had 1 or 2 more signings good to go as the season ended like we did last year but obviously not to be. I'm guessing he knew he wasn't wanting/keeping Schwake for next season so hopefully he's been speaking to a new number 1 for some time. Assuming the Miller deal will be announced soon. As long as we bring in a number 1 and RB for the start of July, i think we will be in a very good place and the last remaining few signings can drop in whenever.

We are actually in a decent place financially. We have a major partnership with Dalrada who are sponsoring the stadium, our strips etc for significant sums as well as 120-150k every year from MCT( Morton Club Together). Weve also pretty much matched our season tickets from last season with 2 months to go. Add in unexpected prize money from top 5 finish( think we budget for 9th), celtic gate money, increased crowds etc and we are sitting ok. Dougie had a relegation budget 12 months ago, I'm sure it will be a lot more attractive this season. Wouldn't say we will be a challenger( not yet anyway) but id expect us to be in and around top 4 as we have kept most of the squad from last year, potentially only losing Grimshaw and our keeper, who is easily replaceable. We had the best home record in the league last year and second best defence. If we can do similar again, we should have a good season.

Perhaps Efe didn't want to stay knowing the limited game time available and agreed with Dougie he'd move on to find first team football.

Decent draw for us. Should be aiming for at least 9 points and hopefully we can go up to County and cause them a few problems. In previous years, we have went into the League Cup in a bit of a state. This year we will go into the first game with most of the same starting 11 as last season, missing only a keeper and presumably a RB, should Grimshaw move on. I expect us to do well and with some difficult looking groups elsewhere, we should be looking to progress. i'd like Kelty away as not been there. Think we play 3rd and 5th seeds at home so good chance we go to Kelty.

Morton. Goalkeepers Ryan Mullen (22) (2025) Jamie McDonald (37) ( 2024) Defenders Jack Baird ( 27) (2025) Darragh O' Connor (23) (2024) Kirk Broadfoot (38) (2024) Calum Waters (27) (2024) Tyler French (24) (season long loan from Dundee. Lewis Strapp (24) (Jan 24) Midfielders Grant Gillespie (31) (2024) Cameron Blues (25) ( 2024) Robbie Crawford (28) (2024) Alan Power (35) (2024) Iain Wilson (24) (2025) Alexander King (18) ( 2025) On loan to Clyde until end of season. Forwards Jai Quitongo (25) (2024) Lewis McGrattan (22) (2024) Robbie Muirhead (27) (2024) George Oakley (27) (2024) Stephen Boyd (26) (2025) Jack Bearne (21) (2025) Michael Garrity (20) ( 2024) Manager- Dougie Imrie (39) (2026)

What's the situation with your playing squad, mostly part time? Think I remember you boys going for a hybrid model a few seasons ago.

Decent apparently. Ever present for Airdrie and made league 1 team of the season the last two seasons. Greenock boy too.

Can add Adam Frizzell to the rumour list.

Suggest you listen to the recent BBC sounds podcast with Dougie which confirms the target was absolutely the playoffs inside the dressing room. Dougie admits he down played that target with the media to keep the pressure off but top 4 was the aim which makes complete sense with where we were at Xmas.

King is only 18 and still very raw so could argue it would be 4 established midfielders and that's assuming Low actually signs. We got a tad lucky this season that Gillespie, Crawford and Blues never picked up any real injuries and played pretty much every week. I'd personally get King out on loan to a league 1 team( QOTS maybe) and bring 2 new midfielders in.

On Low, heard from few different people that there's a good chance of it happening this summer, time will tell I guess. Decent competition if we do sign him, would give us Gillespie, Crawford, Blues, Low and King for those middle 3 positions with maybe space for 1 more. I'd love us to bring in a Tidser type, hard to find I know but he could put his foot on the ball, spray it about and control games with ease. Maybe Low can do that..