Today Morton chairman Douglas Rae posted some news on gmfc.net regarding recent goings-on at the club. I'm going to take a look at his announcements and provide my opinion on each of them.1) Rae expressed his disappointment at the 'negativity boys' who have criticised the club's lack of signings so far.
I have sympathy with the chairman in this regard. I haven't seen many transferred players who I'd like Morton to have signed and so I'm quite happy to see Morton taking their time to try and sign the right players. Also, the Tele' has revealed that we attempted to sign Hinchcliffe and Twigg.
In my opinion the problem here rests with the clubs lack of communication rather than the lack of signings. Most other clubs at our level have websites that are updated with news every day. It's very rare to find news on gmfc.net and when there is, like today's news, it's often a rambling section with everything crammed into one long message. If Morton communicated more often then I'd suspect less people would become frustrated at the lack of news.
2) We attempted to sign Simon Mensing and we are chasing a "left sided player, aged 26, who has previously played in the Premier League and in England" who we will have to pay cash for. We are also looking at a striker but our top target is on holiday.
Personally I'm very happy to hear that we at least enquired after Simon Mensing as he is a player that the vast majority of Morton fans have picked out as one for the wish-list. Although it wasn't really realistic it is still positive to hear we tried.
Rumours linking us with Alloa's Kieran McAnespie persist and he seems to fit the chairman's description. He is left sided, 27 years old (not 26), played in the Premier League with St. Johnstone and in England with Fulham. I read that he signed a new contract with Alloa so we would need to pay a fee. Personally I'd be very happy to sign McAnespie. He has been a player who has impressed me over the last season. As a versatile left sided player he would be a useful addition to the squad.
I can't say much on the striker as I don't have a clue who he is but I am pleased that we have identified a left sided player, a strong central midfielder and a striker as priority signings. My only concern is that there is no mention of a goalkeeper !?!
3) Morton are taking over part of Smiths Sports Shop's ground floor to extend the range of merchandise we sell there.
I believe this could be a good thing because as things stand the range of Morton merchandise available is not good enough and as long as by extended space it means room for more products rather than more of the same then it can only be good.
Although I'm wondering where this leaves the planned extension to the club shop at Cappielow. As I posted on here Morton applied to Inverclyde Council for planning permission to extend the shop and as I'm led to believe work had already started. Surely there's no need for an extended club shop if we have struck this deal with Smiths ?
4) Nike will no longer be making the new strips , Bukta will be taking over these duties. The new strips go on sale on the 27th of July.
I'm really disappointed with this announcement. Firstly it's a return to the days when Morton are too quick to make public announcements only for them to fail to come to fruition. Secondly I don't believe that a major company like Nike could be unable to guarantee stock orders for a club our size even if we would be on the lowest rung of their club partnerships. Finally I'd much rather our strips were made by a decent company like Nike as this would mean better quality strips by a brand name that children want to be seen wearing meaning extra sales. I remember having a Bukta strip in the 80's (Watford I think) - the quality wasn't up to much and I remember getting laughed at because the brand was Bukta (Bukshee etc). However on it's own I would be happy with Bukta making the strips especially when you compare them to Vandanel it's just a bit disappointing to go from Nike to Bukta.
It's good to get a date for the release. However as with most previous years the date is the end of July. We could maximise our profit by putting the strip out on sale at the start of the summer as people want to wear the strip in the sun and especially on their holidays.
The chairman also encouraged fans to purchase their season ticket as soon as possible.
Overall it was encouraging to get some news out of Cappielow but it would be good if we could get regular news updates - please ?
http://www.gmfc.net/chairman/news-view.asp?id=26
1 comment:
Read this on the official site and messageboard yesterday.
I delighted that we have shied awy from Nike - I had read a number of reports from various team north and south of the border in the past few season who have had Nike kits (QOS is the 1st that springs to mind - Dont think Gretna's large support had any problems)
They seems to have problems meeting demand and often the quality was inferior. Look at the Hamilton strip for this season its just the Nike catalogue kit with badge and sponsor attached with a mark-up of £25. Going with Nike would have put us in the same boat as every pub & sunday league team in the country
I'd rather have smaller more dedicated kit provider than suffer the hassle's of being just another order on the books of a 3 party supplier.
Of course a full dedicated Nike range like Celtic, United Inter etc enjoy would be fantastic but that was never likely to happen and this was only gonna be a half assed solution compared to that.
Mensing was never gonna come to us with the other offers that are on his table - Good player and im glad it appears as we are going after the right type of player. I assumed that the Arthur Boruc story was a clear indication that we were after a goalkeeper and I felt that it would probably be well into pre-season before someone was signed for this position - Unless he was known (like Hinchcliffe) then a couple of practice games under his belt would be needed to establish if he is any good or not.
Strange summer for signings - usually there are a number of players floating around that remain on the radar all summer but this year it appears to be different - There a very few players available on free's etc that i'd like to see at Cappielow.
On the club communication issue - I do agree there is a problem during the season but at the end of the season I dont expect to hear anything coming out of the club for a few weeks - Today update shows that in the last 6 weeks or so there has been very little of note going - Split that down to weekly or even daily updates and yo've got nothing to report - Groundsman moves tractor, Jim puts up a couple of pictures in the manager's office, Phone did not ring from Twigg etc.
Come Mid July lets see at least twice weekly updates from the club but let the guys have a summer holiday
Hopefully the Smiths plan and the shop expansion both happen - Good to have an increased range in the town centre for the casual fan and visitors to Inverclyde. The current club shop was a bit of joke with very little of the range on view hopefully the increased size will allow fans to browse a wider range of lesiurewear etc.
As for the season tickets issue of course I can see the benefit for the club of early sales but whats to benefit the fans (other than those in the stand who want a specific seat). What about an incentive for buying early like
* all ST's bought before June 30th go into a draw to win won of 5 new Bukta kits 1 week before they go on general sale
* Voucher for 1 free admission to cup early rounds
etc etc
Mine will be bought probably mid July when I get the chance to get in.
Sitting here in work patiently waiting on word of the fixtures - Would like Dunfermline, Dundee, Thistle or St Johnstone. Avoid Clyde, Stirling or QOS - Not fussed about Livvy or Hamilton.
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