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The Greenock Morton Thread - It's Better Than Yours


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I actually think this is a decent appointment for you. But then again, I thought Hopkin was too so I clearly know fucking nothing. Conflicted, though: I have a huge soft spot for Gus and now I wouldn't find it as funny if you went down.
On the plus side, the guy is well connected and can spot a player (though that may be a moot point if he's out the door before the window opens). He knows your league. He plays, erm, 'effective' football. If you keep him beyond the end of the season you can look forward to a squad absolutely riddled with hard-working central midfielders.
I am 100% sure that he'll keep you up now, and comfortably. It's an eminently sensible appointment.


I question the "Can spot a player" point given he thought one of our mainstay CM Stephen fucking Simmons should have been playing in the premiership.

We needed the effective football we were promised from him but it never materialised. Morton's biggest fear should be that in his stint with us he was all about not losing and we were rarely a threat at the other end. If Morton are low on strikers it'll be interesting to see how he sets you up to attack. Mind you, having no strikers is probably that arsehole's wet dream.
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10 hours ago, madton said:

On the timing, not really that surprised. After Sat, there was many calls to change it, to bring a proper manager in to give us a chance of saving our season and the board/MCT clearly agreed.

Glad to see they have acted swiftly.

On the growling, you seen Andy Millen?

I think it's a decent appointment and hopefully they can see us through. Presumably if they keep us up, the job is theirs next season.

Yeah, but Saturday wasn’t the first time we’ve looked clueless since Hopkin left.

Still can’t believe they’ve waited so long... but still done it.

Also makes the various stories around Hopkin’s departure look like a pile of nonsense.

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16 minutes ago, 19QOS19 said:


 

 


I question the "Can spot a player" point given he thought one of our mainstay CM Stephen fucking Simmons should have been playing in the premiership.

We needed the effective football we were promised from him but it never materialised. Morton's biggest fear should be that in his stint with us he was all about not losing and we were rarely a threat at the other end. If Morton are low on strikers it'll be interesting to see how he sets you up to attack. Mind you, having no strikers is probably that arsehole's wet dream.

 

We're already a defensive and generally well organised team that doesn't score goals. Bad spell with Queens granted, McPherson is still a better manager overall than Jim Duffy, who he schooled regularly at Queen's Park yet did an okay job steadying the ship for us.

The main concern I have in terms of results/performances is the added instability behind the scenes. If McElhone is away then it's not great for Sterling who was supposedly won to the move by that Spurs link. That's football of course, but the new management team will have to win over the squad and avoid any rifts with the old management team - including McLean and Millar as senior players - or this could end badly. The squad is nowhere near good enough to survive on natural ability alone, so if they're no longer pulling in the same direction then results will tank. Next season with the potential of fans back would be another story. There's going to be zero leeway given for this management team, unless we're all too busy fighting with the board instead. Weekly shame games ahoy!

After Saturday we had to push the panic button but Morton being Morton, we make an arse of the timing alongside the contentious pick. 

Edited by vikingTON
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25 minutes ago, 19QOS19 said:

I question the "Can spot a player" point given he thought one of our mainstay CM Stephen fucking Simmons should have been playing in the premiership.

OK, there are always going to be exceptions. Our recruitment policy was a utter shitshow - at club level it was basically non-existent (by which I mean it came and went with different managers and there was no consistency). It took a marked improvement when Gus came in as DoF. There will always be fans who question Gus' impact at Saints during that period, and it became clear Goodwin didn't want/need him.

14 minutes ago, virginton said:

The contentious pick. 

He utterly divides Saints support, despite his inarguable achievements for us, so I'd imagine Ton fans' patience with him would be relatively thin. I happen to be in the pro-Gus camp, even though his downsides are fairly clear to see. I guess the key question is, having been a DoF with us (always seems a cushy gig), and 15 years on since he got us promoted, whether or not he still has the energy. If he is hungry for it, I don't see why he couldn't be a success for you, perhaps even beyond this season.

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Gus took over from John Coughlin at St Mirren in December 2003. We were in a relegation battle in the first division at that point and he kept us up.
The next year we finished second, the next next year we won the league, and he then established us as a top flight side.
Was surprised it didn’t work out for him at QOTS (I think there were off field issues there at the time) but he did a good job at QP by all accounts.
I think he will do a good job at Morton. If he turns them into anything that isn’t a consistent basket case then he will certainly have improved the situation.

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25 minutes ago, Coventry Saint said:

Our recruitment policy was a utter shitshow - at club level it was basically non-existent (by which I mean it came and went with different managers and there was no consistency). It took a marked improvement when Gus came in as DoF. There will always be fans who question Gus' impact at Saints during that period, and it became clear Goodwin didn't want/need him.

Which is why I wonder if there's actually a thought of MacPherson moving into a similar role with us in the summer, assuming the takeover goes ahead. There is no recruitment policy at all, which is why we ended up with David Hopkin building a squad with 10 forwards (yet somehow no natural centre forward), one goalkeeper and five defenders, with the freedom to sign joke figures like Sam Ramsbottom and Henk Van Schaik despite apparently never watching them.

I hope that rectifying this and putting some kind of professional structure in place is going to be a priority for MCT, so if he was already being lined up for that role by the MCT directors already working in the club anyway and we urgently needed a manager to step in to see us through to the end of the season then it would actually make sense. Maybe that's too neat an explanation though and it genuinely is just such a shitshow of a club right now that no manager with a better pedigree is willing to go near it.

Edited by Dunning1874
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1 hour ago, virginton said:

What do you mean by this exactly?

Eh, Rae's fairy-tale that the great gentleman Davie Hopkin sacrificed himself to save Morton from impending administration... that the best of all possible worlds was to go with the *fitness coach* and a couple of senior players, because the one position a full-time professional club couldn't afford -- and didn't really need! -- was an *actual manager*...

[I won't even bother with the crack-pot garbage mobilised to justify that about Sir Davie allegedly 'paying players' wages...']

That madness somehow survived confirmation, a week later, that Christmas had come early in the form of a £500k grant... but the daft wee story Rae told the week before had to be true, right? So Rae couldn't just do what any half-competent Chairman would do and replace Hopkin with the new cash...

It's almost as if he reserves the right to make things up as he goes along and feed bullshit to the support to, eh, 'justify' whatever changing version of the truth suits him...

Spoiler

Could be, of course, that the bold Crawford is an unacknowledged genius, completely stiffed Hopkin for any compensation... and is only now able to replace him, formally, as Hopkin takes another job...

 

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35 minutes ago, JessieField said:

So are Morton fans happy that a St Mirren legend has been appointed to save them?

Am I happy that Morton finally have a manager rather than a fitness coach on an extended episode of faking it? Yes, yes I am.

Am I happy with the choice, quality wise and given their previous connections? No, not particularly.

Do I think we would have been able to get much better on effectively a 9 week contract with no guarantees beyond that with a potential takeover looming? No, probably not.

Do I think we now have a better fighting chance of avoiding relegation than had we not made the change and carried on with the status quo like planned or had we just re-appointed Ayr's new manager? Absofuckinglutely.

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1 hour ago, JessieField said:

So are Morton fans happy that a St Mirren legend has been appointed to save them?

Couldn't care less where he worked before mate.

I'm only interested in what he does in the next couple of months. 

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1 hour ago, Rudolph Hucker said:

Couldn't care less where he worked before mate.

I'm only interested in what he does in the next couple of months. 

Agreed. I look at the job he did at St Mirren,if he can replicate that,he can have hero status at both clubs. 

I'm glad he has seen us play, both in the flesh and on stream 4/5 times this season. He will have a basic understanding of player strengths etc so not completely in the dark like I initially expected.  He said he's also watched other Championship games so seems like he has good knowledge to hopefully see us over the line. 

The fact he's been scouting all season will stand us in good stead recruitment wise if he does keep the job next season.

 

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He didn't get a run of games starting in the team, but if you're not barging Kalvin Orsi, Cameron Salkeld and the other goalless wonders out of the worst attack in the Championship by some distance, the answer is probably no anyway. 

Edited by vikingTON
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Might have to make Morton my wee team with all these Saints legends at the club.
McGinn certainly not up to the Premiership anymore, but he will do a job in the Championship.

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Agreed. I look at the job he did at St Mirren,if he can replicate that,he can have hero status at both clubs. 
I'm glad he has seen us play, both in the flesh and on stream 4/5 times this season. He will have a basic understanding of player strengths etc so not completely in the dark like I initially expected.  He said he's also watched other Championship games so seems like he has good knowledge to hopefully see us over the line. 
The fact he's been scouting all season will stand us in good stead recruitment wise if he does keep the job next season.
 
Gus definitely doesn't have hero status at our club unfortunately. In my opinion what he achieved with us is criminally under rated by our support, folk just didn't take to him, mainly because he wouldn't blow smoke up our backsides.

McGinn signing now, ooft. Looked finished at our level then bizarrely JR signed him for Hibs in the summer. Should do well in the Championship.
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