The Ghost of B A R P

Woosh…

Strapp for the long throws, surely?

Who's upset? And it most definitely is hysteria. I've seen a number of opposition players actually damage a Morton player... but I don't recall a single occasion where a Morton player has injured an opponent (haven't seen highlights, so won't comment on Baird). Football's a competitive sport. If we were over the top, fair enough; but we're not, hence the question as to why so many have decided to get their knickers in a twist over it.

We were running with five defenders before Strapp came back, one of whom is 39 (and another is Tyler French). And we have no credible alternative to Oakley as an out-and-out central striker. Beyond that, we look well stacked for wide players, but Imrie clearly doesn't trust too many of them. I'd agree that 20/21 would be fine, if it was made up of players the manager would use without hesitation, i.e. if someone gets injured or suspended in a particular position, someone automatically comes in to replace him... very tough to do that on our budget. My take on Imrie's remark is that he's decided to stop giving guys he's not sure about the benefit of the doubt. Most (good) managers get to that point sooner or later. Have a feeling there will be more out the door in the summer than we might have expected.

We were certainly shite on Friday night (although not so much the last time we played you)... but that doesn't begin to explain the ongoing hysteria about imaginary thuggery etc etc...

Never realised so many opposition supporters disliked us so much. Kinda flattering. Makes you wonder, though, what the response would be if any of our players actually did something heinous, which, as far as I can recall, hasn't actually happened this season. Not even once.

Imrie's post-match comments after Friday night suggest he'll take a different aproach in the summer; will be interesting to see if that means running with a bigger squad... or just being more ruthless about which of the current squad get contracts.

If we're spending wages on MacDonald, French, and Broadfoot next season, we are undoubtedly doing it wrong. Arguments can be made for and against many of the others, but those three, for different reasons, should be immediately 'surplus to requirements'.

Can I be the first to thank Ayr for the 10 (TEN) points they’ve kindly tipped up this season? More or less kept us in the division. Thanks lads.

To me it screams a majestic strike from outside the box against Peterhead to seal the League One title in 2015-2016. Everything else the boy did - or didn’t do - in a Morton shirt has blurred to nothing.

Come again?

Jesus wept... She's walking in behind him, says something, he responds (as far as I can make out) with 'What's that? Whit you saying? You've got too much tae fkn say for yerself'. And the Twitter account it's on appears to have been set up specifically for this purpose. Grow the f**k up.

We still need another win to make sure we don't get sucked in the wrong direction; would be nice to get it here, but I'm not holding my breath. Imrie picked the team most people would have gone with on Saturday (deciding which of Broadfoot or French not to drop is one for King Solomon), and we were woeful by all accounts. No idea what the right answer is here, but he surely can't keep picking the same guys in the same positions regardless of results and performances... O'Connor, Gillespie, and Quitongo, at least, must be worth a start. It's been a massively frustrating season and watching Ayr go above us would just about top it off... for now, at least.

Bearne to start, Quitongo from the bench. Muirhead to start, Garrity from the bench. 2-0 to the Ton.

We need to win here and up at Arbroath if the play-offs are to remain within touching distance. Beyond that, another win at either Ayr or home to DU (or even two draws) would mean we go into the last two games needing one more win to clinch it... and potentially with room for manouevre if others fall short.

Shame the absolute charlatans who run your club don't... they're at it and everybody can see they're at it. We're well aware that no one at QP knows how we do it... which is why you've managed the quite unbelievable feat of failing to score against us in four matches over the course of this season. That's the true measure of how not very good we are...

We’re bust, lads. Could just about see us grinding out a dull draw (which is near par for the fixture anyway), but we don’t look like beating anybody at the moment. Chances might increase if we drop French, Blues, and Muirhead to the bench and start with Garrity and Quitongo very high and very wide.

Strangest thing was that we started quite brightly, but you could see the confidence slowly drain out of them, even at 0-0. Decision-making soon followed and we just got worse as the game wore on. Benedictus must absolutely love us. Goal was criminal. And yet we should still have got a point. We look bust, to be honest… but you never quite know in this daft league/season. Side-note to say I hope French’s injury isn’t too bad, but also that I hope I never see him play for Morton again. Necessity means Broadfoot will play most or all weeks until the end of the season, but he can then get to f**k n’all.

Oakley to get minutes (ideally from the start), Crawford and Muirhead to get the goals.

Financial situation is a bit of a mixed picture: on one hand, two consecutive years turning a profit at the beginning of supporter ownership is excellent; on the other, we know we can’t rely on pulling one of the sisters in the cup every year. So the club are going to have to work very hard just to maintain the modest momentum we currently have. He also mentions the probable need for ‘significant investment’ in the ground at some point: wherever that comes from - if it comes at all - it’ll need to be spent not just on meeting safety requirements, but in ways that generate new income. Kinda feel there’s a tipping point, which, if we can get past it, will open up the possibility of real forward motion, as opposed to running hard just to stay where we are. Next three games are absolutely massive, in both short and long term; finishing fourth pushes us towards that tipping point, whereas slipping back to seventh or eighth means we’ve stalled, in financial as much as football terms.

‘Entertainment’… Jesus actually wept… Bye, sweetheart… missing you already.

And yet here you are...

Just move to Russia…

Bin VAR, ban plastic, and let clubs who are (or want to be) in the top flight spend the savings from the former on the consequences of the latter. Oh, and move to a 16-team top league while we’re at it. Anything else?

Ha ha.