The Greenock Morton Thread - It's Better Than Yours

[vikingTON]

9 hours ago, Tonfan1974 said:

Looks like it's time to build a new team as will be surprised if there's not a significant exodus. On their day this group were as good as any in the Championship and pretty much all of the guys could do a job for any of the better supported rivals. Last 3 games have put a real dampener on what was otherwise a competitive season.

Try the last eight or nine games under the reign of the tombola system. 

Quote

Jim Duffy took us back to respectability after the disastrous relegation. 

He did, but he also had a midtable Championship budget at his disposal for much of his spell - and a probably lower, but much better budget in relative terms when we were in the seaside leagues. Some managers would have fucked that up of course (see McInally, J.) but let's not pretend that Duffy pulled up too many trees. He achieved what was broadly expected of him in the league in three seasons and then flopped badly in this campaign. If Raith Rovers are looking for a manager to replace their current, useless bottle merchant Barry Smith then Duffy would be an excellent choice for them; they wouldn't get any more from him than Morton have done though. 

Edited May 1, 2018 by vikingTON

[The Moonster]

13 hours ago, Branch Ton said:

If promotion is a serious target then some explanation of why we failed to spend seriously and strengthen in January is required.

The references to Development Squad and Community’are all very well but everything still has the smell of the sustainability business model being in play going forward. We will need someone who takes a firm line with the Board.

Are you seriously complaining that your board are looking at a sustainable business model rather than throwing money they don't have at potential success?

[dardo]

1 hour ago, The Moonster said:

Are you seriously complaining that your board are looking at a sustainable business model rather than throwing money they don't have at potential success?

"We Deserve Better" 

 

[Rajamaki's Ponytail]

Another  dreadful end to the season.  Wish it was ending today but we unfortunately have 1 more game to go which could see us ending up in 7th spot. 
As the season of failure draws to a close, I'm reminded of reading a programme a few weeks back which Douglas Rae states he still wants to see Morton play in the top flight.
It's something we all want to see, but here we are one game away of possibly ending up in 7th place. That's the reality of where Morton is at the moment.
Now Dougie it's fair to say is in his twilight years. What are the chances of him seeing Morton play in the top flight?
If he really wants to see us progress to the top tier of Scottish football then he really has to face reality and make a big decision. Put major investment into the Club to achieve that aim or seek out new buyers who can progress the Club to a higher level. 
If Dougie wants to end his days as Morton chairman no matter what or where we are as a Club, then that's one hell of an ego trip he's on. And something that could sour his relationship with the fans. I for one, am grateful for what he did when he saved the Club.  But, don't ruin it all by holding the Club back just because you want to remain as chairman as long as you remain on this Earth.
If say the Easdales are truly interested in the Club and can take us forward, then you have to let go Mr Rae. It's not easy letting go of something you love, but sometimes you have to be brave and do just that.

[btb]

Managers have a shelf-life and while this season was poor rather than disastrous for Morton it was time to go for Duffy. 

[Toby]

3 hours ago, The Moonster said:

Are you seriously complaining that your board are looking at a sustainable business model rather than throwing money they don't have at potential success?

He’s got an agenda against one member of the board in particular. I wouldn’t read too much into his musings.

[Branch Ton]

5 hours ago, The Moonster said:

Are you seriously complaining that your board are looking at a sustainable business model rather than throwing money they don't have at potential success?

Sustainability simply means maintaining something at a certain rate or level. Morton are not at the level their fans want them to be. The Board don’t want to make losses though they certainly will when GC start charging interest on their £2m 

As a consequence of this season’s muck up, with static support at best and a huge drop in prize money the next step on the sustainability ladder is actually part time. On the other hand the new chairman is now stating the target is promotion.  If that had been the aim all along then we should have spent money in January, when finishing in the top four looked on, bringing in quality. Whereas  we went on to sign two guys who couldn’t get into teams below us in the Championship. So I think we made football based decisions by keeping spending down without proper regard to prize money and promotion. 

So unless the board provide some evidence of how and when they plan to get to the next level whilst sticking with the sustainability mantra and what the plans are regarding repayment of the £2m  then I remain sceptical. Their references to Development Squad and Community are laudable but they aren’t going to get us up there anytime soon either. 

[The Moonster]

1 minute ago, Branch Ton said:

Sustainability simply means maintaining something at a certain rate or level. Morton are not at the level their fans want them to be. The Board don’t want to make losses though they certainly will when GC start charging interest on their £2m 

As a consequence of this season’s muck up, with static support at best and a huge drop in prize money the next step on the sustainability ladder is actually part time. On the other hand the new chairman is now stating the target is promotion.  If that had been the aim all along then we should have spent money in January, when finishing in the top four looked on, bringing in quality. Whereas  we went on to sign two guys who couldn’t get into teams below us in the Championship. So I think we made football based decisions by keeping spending down without proper regard to prize money and promotion. 

So unless the board provide some evidence of how and when they plan to get to the next level whilst sticking with the sustainability mantra and what the plans are regarding repayment of the £2m  then I remain sceptical. Their references to Development Squad and Community are laudable but they aren’t going to get us up there anytime soon either. 

A simple "Yes" would've done.

[Jamie_M]

Sustainability simply means maintaining something at a certain rate or level. Morton are not at the level their fans want them to be. The Board don’t want to make losses though they certainly will when GC start charging interest on their £2m 
As a consequence of this season’s muck up, with static support at best and a huge drop in prize money the next step on the sustainability ladder is actually part time. On the other hand the new chairman is now stating the target is promotion.  If that had been the aim all along then we should have spent money in January, when finishing in the top four looked on, bringing in quality. Whereas  we went on to sign two guys who couldn’t get into teams below us in the Championship. So I think we made football based decisions by keeping spending down without proper regard to prize money and promotion. 
So unless the board provide some evidence of how and when they plan to get to the next level whilst sticking with the sustainability mantra and what the plans are regarding repayment of the £2m  then I remain sceptical. Their references to Development Squad and Community are laudable but they aren’t going to get us up there anytime soon either. 

We signed 5.

[niketon]

[TonMan]

Good news, talented young player and had a couple of very good performances.

[#Gary]

 Happy with that... but is our new manager? 

[Piehutt]

I have a real problem with the Iredale announcement. 

Aside from the fact we don’t have a manager, why are we signing potentially good young players on short term deals?

This is so half baked and players who may command a fee have such a short term deal, we are only ever going to get statutory compensation for them. 

Similar thing happened with Quitongo, albeit he has probably gone backwards this season.

[IainMorton]

5 minutes ago, Piehutt said:

I have a real problem with the Iredale announcement. 

Aside from the fact we don’t have a manager, why are we signing potentially good young players on short term deals?

This is so half baked and players who may command a fee have such a short term deal, we are only ever going to get statutory compensation for them. 

Similar thing happened with Quitongo, albeit he has probably gone backwards this season.

Yeah don’t see how we can have players signing new contracts when we don’t even have a manager. How do we know that the new guy coming in will have Jack in his plans and not want to bring in someone else?

We need to sign Jai again. Get him on a two year deal and if it works out for both parties next season then cash in after a year. We do not want him leaving for nothing.

Edited May 1, 2018 by IainMorton

[Jamie_M]

Similar thing happened with Quitongo, albeit he has probably gone backwards this season.

Jai, with advice from his dad and his agent, would have been unlikely to have signed anything longer. The only reason he stayed at all was because he got injured.

While I agree that we should be signing players on longer deals, how do you know Jack or Jai were not offered longer but would only take a year?

[Jamie_M]

Yeah don’t see how we can have players signing new contracts when we don’t even have a manager. How do we know that the new guy coming in will have Jack in his plans and not want to bring in someone else?
We need to sign Jai again. Get him on a two year deal and if it works out for both parties next season then cash in after a year. We do not want him leaving for nothing.

Bit contradictory starting with 'how can we be signing new contracts' to then saying we should with Jai.

[Piehutt]

I agree about Jai & the club made this clear that he was delaying over a deal. 

Also that he would have left had he got an offer elsewhere. But it just seems to be a continued trend that it seems to be short term deals.

appreciate its a risk to hand out a 3 or 4 year contracts to guys who might end up being completely unproductive and likewise some will not will not want to be tied down, but plenty of other clubs manage it (Hamilton being the obvious gold standard).

But surely get creative with the deals in terms of incentives to play x no. of games and with buy out clauses if players do have the opportunity to get a move for reasonable money.

we now have a pretty decent youth system and we will hopefully  see some top players coming through this in the next few seasons, and so we have to do the final piece of the puzzle and make sure the club can benefit if we do finally produce a top pro that’s in demand.

its been a very long time since a product from Morton went on to play international football.

[Dunning1874]

It would be interesting to know the exact circumstances, but frankly if a prospective manager doesn't want Iredale then we don't want that manager because he's an idiot. We don't want someone signing up half a squad and giving the manager less of an ability to build the squad he wants - if we were to give contracts to the likes of Gasparotto, Doyle or Baird before making an appointment alarm bells would definitely be ringing and you'd risk putting managers off - but I'm happy with making an exception for a promising young player we don't want to lose who has been a stand out in his appearances.

It's possible that the contract was already on the table before the season ended and he's only committed to it now, or perhaps due to his age the club were happy for Anderson to make the decision in this case.

Edited May 1, 2018 by Dunning1874

[Jamie_M]

I agree about Jai & the club made this clear that he was delaying over a deal. 
Also that he would have left had he got an offer elsewhere. But it just seems to be a continued trend that it seems to be short term deals.
appreciate its a risk to hand out a 3 or 4 year contracts to guys who might end up being completely unproductive and likewise some will not will not want to be tied down, but plenty of other clubs manage it (Hamilton being the obvious gold standard).
But surely get creative with the deals in terms of incentives to play x no. of games and with buy out clauses if players do have the opportunity to get a move for reasonable money.
we now have a pretty decent youth system and we will hopefully  see some top players coming through this in the next few seasons, and so we have to do the final piece of the puzzle and make sure the club can benefit if we do finally produce a top pro that’s in demand.
its been a very long time since a product from Morton went on to play international football.

The flip side of longer contracts, we started dishing out longer contracts last summer, and we are now saddled with Thompson and McHugh for another year.

[TonMan]

25 minutes ago, Piehutt said:

I have a real problem with the Iredale announcement. 

Aside from the fact we don’t have a manager, why are we signing potentially good young players on short term deals?

This is so half baked and players who may command a fee have such a short term deal, we are only ever going to get statutory compensation for them. 

Similar thing happened with Quitongo, albeit he has probably gone backwards this season.

Ultimately I'd imagine it's too big a risk to be signing players on long-term deals when we're still uncertain as to how good they are. Especially when players of all ages can end up with serious injuries, leaving with potentially earning a wage even if we know there's going to be a whole season when they're not playing at all.

We'll be on a fairly tight budget, and if we're handing a player a deal that's longer than a year then we need to be close to certain they're worthy of it. Otherwise there's a risk you're using up a place in the squad on someone who's either not as good as you thought they'd be, or who's a permanent crock.