The Greenock Morton Thread - It's Better Than Yours

[tamthebam]

In the week that one of the great Morton figures passed away one of the best forgotten figures also did - Bill Hunter

Hugh Scott brought Blobby on to the Morton board after he had killed Meadowbank (whose last League game was at Cappielow), made an arse of running the West Lothian franchise and moving East Fife closer to the North Sea as "ground consultant". Scott started banning protesting fans at the time and, as this is what Hunter did at Meadowbank, I wonder if he had encouraged Scott to take that action 

There will be a minute's raspberry at his passing 

[Dunning1874]

Another manager of the month award for Imrie.

I'm sure @Lex will be along shortly to tell us how we were wrong to sack Gus MacPherson.

[Jamie_M]

What a month. What a guy.

 

[GiGi]

On 28/01/2023 at 18:49, Lex said:

Morton

Closer to 9th than top

The Dougie Imrie experiment

 

[Jamie_M]

Racking them up.

 

[Rudolph Hucker]

8 hours ago, Jamie_M said:

Racking them up.

 

 

What a guy.

Let’s hope he gets the next two as well…….  

Edited March 6, 2023 by Rudolph Hucker

[The Ghost of B A R P]

Gonnae need a bigger mantelpiece… (need to make sure there’s still room for Dundee and Queen’s Park).

[#Gary]

Turnstiles and stewards are needing binned for next season (or now, if it is were possible).

[Mr Toon]

Is Darragh O'Connor injured ?

[TONTROOPER]

1 hour ago, Mr Toon said:

Is Darragh O'Connor injured ?

Yes.

[Mr Toon]

25 minutes ago, TONTROOPER said:

Yes.

Do we know how long he is out for? I think we are missing him. 

[TONTROOPER]

4 hours ago, Mr Toon said:

Do we know how long he is out for? I think we are missing him. 

I know as much as you do mate.

[Rudolph Hucker]

On 07/03/2023 at 22:41, #Gary said:

Turnstiles and stewards are needing binned for next season (or now, if it is were possible).

Personally I’ve had no issues with the stewards, but yet again there was at least one stand turnstile out of action on Tuesday.  It’s obviously a programming/software issue, rather than mechanical - high time it was sorted out.

 

[#Gary]

3 hours ago, Rudolph Hucker said:

Personally I’ve had no issues with the stewards, but yet again there was at least one stand turnstile out of action on Tuesday.  It’s obviously a programming/software issue, rather than mechanical - high time it was sorted out.

 

The quickest the queue moved the other night was when the stewards shut up (eventually) during the silence. 

[Chippyminton]

On 08/03/2023 at 14:23, Mr Toon said:

Do we know how long he is out for? I think we are missing him. 

Fit and available this week according to Dougie's pre-match interview. Jai sadly still out for awhile by the sounds of it.

[Paisley Ton]

Football today is now more scientific and analysis of sports data is done to the Nth degree.

So let's look at the start or not start McGrattan argument. 

22/23 Championship games McGrattan has started 15, we have picked up 69 % of the points.

22/23 Championship games McGrattan not started or has been on the bench 14, we have picked up 26 % of the points.

While games starting may not be the full picture and maybe he has still to develop a greater understanding of what he can add defensively it is clear to me this boy offers a lot going forward.

If we are to get in the playoff spots we need him in the team.

[The Ghost of B A R P]

McGrattan would be in my starting eleven, but I think it’s misleading to focus just on him. There’s a problem with balance in the team, which has been exacerbated by the addition of different options in January; McGrattan’s part of that issue, but you can’t just ignore the other variables.

For me, if Quitongo is fit, we go back to 4-3-3, with a midfield of Gillespie-Blues-R. Crawford, and McGrattan on the left.

Having Miller, A. Crawford, and Muirhead on the bench isn’t a problem, it’s a huge advantage (compare earlier in the season).

If Quitongo isn’t fit, there’s more of a case for going 4-2-3-1 with a more obvious ‘number 10’ as a way of carrying a different threat. In that scenario, the midfield is Gillespie-R. Crawford-A. Crawford, McGrattan comes over to the right, and you pick from Miller or Muirhead (probably Muirhead) on the left.

Either way: never play Blues deepest in midfield (shuffle Grimshaw in there if Gillespie isn’t fit); and never play Muirhead wide right.

Those last two points are ‘broken record’ territory, but I don’t care: they’re right… and more important than whether McGrattan starts or not (although, as above, he should).

[DreamOakTree1]

1 hour ago, The Ghost of B A R P said:

McGrattan would be in my starting eleven, but I think it’s misleading to focus just on him. There’s a problem with balance in the team, which has been exacerbated by the addition of different options in January; McGrattan’s part of that issue, but you can’t just ignore the other variables.

For me, if Quitongo is fit, we go back to 4-3-3, with a midfield of Gillespie-Blues-R. Crawford, and McGrattan on the left.

Having Miller, A. Crawford, and Muirhead on the bench isn’t a problem, it’s a huge advantage (compare earlier in the season).

If Quitongo isn’t fit, there’s more of a case for going 4-2-3-1 with a more obvious ‘number 10’ as a way of carrying a different threat. In that scenario, the midfield is Gillespie-R. Crawford-A. Crawford, McGrattan comes over to the right, and you pick from Miller or Muirhead (probably Muirhead) on the left.

Either way: never play Blues deepest in midfield (shuffle Grimshaw in there if Gillespie isn’t fit); and never play Muirhead wide right.

Those last two points are ‘broken record’ territory, but I don’t care: they’re right… and more important than whether McGrattan starts or not (although, as above, he should).

I find myself agreeing with all you’ve said there. Only thing I’d add is how is Dougie not seeing that if it’s so obvious? It’s always amazed me that Scottish managers don’t look at statistics. Going back a few years I always looked at player stats, especially for strikers as that’s their raisin d’etre. Without naming names we had strikers with ratios of 1 or 3 every two games being replaced by players with 1 every 5 games or worse. Now we should be looking at games won, assists etc. with players like McGrattan starting the match. Like yourself I don’t see the likes of Miller comparing favourably with McGrattan or Quitongo, statistically or even just watching them play. Same goes for Grimshaw v A.Crawford in centre mid. Both cases look like absolute no-brainers to me, but what do we know? It’s okay to keep saying we trust Dougie as he knows best, but even if it costs us a chance of promotion?

[DreamOakTree1]

1 minute ago, DreamOakTree1 said:

I find myself agreeing with all you’ve said there. Only thing I’d add is how is Dougie not seeing that if it’s so obvious? It’s always amazed me that Scottish managers don’t look at statistics. Going back a few years I always looked at player stats, especially for strikers as that’s their raisin d’etre. Without naming names we had strikers with ratios of 1 or 3 every two games being replaced by players with 1 every 5 games or worse. Now we should be looking at games won, assists etc. with players like McGrattan starting the match. Like yourself I don’t see the likes of Miller comparing favourably with McGrattan or Quitongo, statistically or even just watching them play. Same goes for Grimshaw v A.Crawford in centre mid. Both cases look like absolute no-brainers to me, but what do we know? It’s okay to keep saying we trust Dougie as he knows best, but even if it costs us a chance of promotion?

Raison D’etre!

[The Ghost of B A R P]

1 hour ago, DreamOakTree1 said:

I find myself agreeing with all you’ve said there. Only thing I’d add is how is Dougie not seeing that if it’s so obvious? It’s always amazed me that Scottish managers don’t look at statistics. Going back a few years I always looked at player stats, especially for strikers as that’s their raisin d’etre. Without naming names we had strikers with ratios of 1 or 3 every two games being replaced by players with 1 every 5 games or worse. Now we should be looking at games won, assists etc. with players like McGrattan starting the match. Like yourself I don’t see the likes of Miller comparing favourably with McGrattan or Quitongo, statistically or even just watching them play. Same goes for Grimshaw v A.Crawford in centre mid. Both cases look like absolute no-brainers to me, but what do we know? It’s okay to keep saying we trust Dougie as he knows best, but even if it costs us a chance of promotion?

I’m sure we are looking at statistics, but one of the points I’m making is that there’s a whole range of things you can look at, so just reducing to one aspect (e.g. McGrattan) is problematic (although I agree that the exception to that is the goals/games ratio for strikers, which just does not lie).

I think Imrie’s issue at the moment — and it’s something even the great managers have suffered from — is his minor obsessions, either with certain individual players or wee tactical issues.

Up-side is that we have decent options, so we need to back him to get it right… and the killing fields of Gayfield would be a brilliant place to do it.