DreamOakTree1

After posting I read an article by Kris Doolan saying he’s also exercising patience in the transfer market, and that he has a low budget. You’ve lost some effective players but made a good signing in Robinson. I also placed Morton quite low for similar reasons and will revise my predictions before the league campaign begins.

Difficult to predict as far as Morton are concerned with some Dougie Imrie playing a game of patience with some hopefully decent signings to come. We’ve lost arguably the best two fullbacks in the division, in Strapp and Grimshaw, and downgraded to Waters and Broadfoot. Hopefully that trend won’t continue. Raith appear to have a strong squad supplemented by some good signings. QP also seem to be showing ambitions of greater things. I don’t think DU will find it so easy as people seem to think to get out of this division. Going with current squads I would go with the following placings, to be reviewed before the season starts: 1. Raith Rovers 2. Queens Park 3. Dundee United 4. Dunfermline 5. Ayr United 6. Morton 7. ICT 8. Partick 9. Airdrie 10. Arbroath

As that was Airdrie we were playing that day you may find it was opposition fans who were wearing Sevco shirts, as they also carry union jack flags to matches.

Don't go near him, terrible player.

I think Morton and Thistle developed a bit of a rivalry when our traditional derby rivals St Mirren and Clyde were in different divisions. We've also had at least three promotion battles when we were both contenders, which tends to develop a rivarly plus resentment. I'm not sure exactly when (or if) the resentment crossed into hatred though, as I don't think that many fans actually "hate" Thistle. They do seem to have the media on their side though which can cause some resentment, which is probably not Thistle's doing, but they can milk it a bit and can be a bit unsufferable, therefore difficult to like, when they do come out on top. That's where the gloating comes from when they lose.

Not sure but after the first leg they were celebrating as if the tie was over. Aiden Fitzpatrick high fived every fan he passed after being subbed late on. That seemed very premature after being 2-0 up against 10 men for around 70 minutes without being able to add a third goal.

3-1 County then extra time!

Because you picked the wrong bar?

But Robinson is more of a goal threat, no?

Jai Quitongo signs back on for The Ton!

Apparently he's training with them now. One of the reason's cited was that his passing/kick-outs have a 75% success rate which suits Brighton's style.

Looks like we’re in pretty good shape going into the close season, as Dougie has pretty much kept his trusted contracted players and offered the right four players new terms, whilst releasing the “maybe” players. He’s left the path open for signing new additions to hopefully make the difference between play-off hopefuls and genuine title challengers.

Mr Blue’s posted a better update anyway!

I cut and pasted it in on my laptop and the font was black on a black background so I changed it to white!

Almost entirely stolen from dunning1874, and slightly updated: Under contract: Baird, O'Connor, Gillespie, Blues, Robbie Crawford, King, McGrattan, Garrity, Muirhead, Oakley Out of contract: Green, Grimshaw, Ambrose, Quitongo, Miller Loans expired: Schwake, Waters, Ali Crawford, Roy Confirmed departures: Strapp, Lyon, Pignatiello Offered new contracts: Grimshaw, Miller, Quitongo and Waters

For some reason I just don't see Dougie Imrie and Gordon Strachan working togther, or Dougie and Nelms for that matter. It looks to me they want someone who'll toe the party line and won't rock the boat too much. In that regard I don't see Dougie being less prone to speaking his mind than Bowyer.

I hope you're correct as I found it unacceptable when I read the article. The only mitigating factor I could think of was that Darragh O'Connor may have been the nervous type who needed a different approach from Dougie. Then I read the subsequent posts saying all the players were told this. I only read Darragh's article and I'm hoping perhaps he was misquoted, as I didn't read the further article(s) extending it to the full squad. As I said it would seem out of character for Dougie.

Gordon's second choice to Callum was Gavin!

Have you only signed up one player from the 20 or so out of contract?

To be fair I walked past the upgraded Lesser Hampden the other day and the parts that are complete look as good as such a small stadium could. looked like a lot of work still to do though.

Make up your mind! You were unhappy with the "taxi driver" theories, and now it checks out they were unfounded, you're saying the board member, now you're saying he just fobbed me off by saying what I wanted to hear?

Darragh gave the impression in the article that Dougie just said that to him rather than the full squad, even so I was surprised as it doesn't seem like his style of management. On the subject of being ready for promotion, I contacted the board via MCT as I thought it was important to get clarification. I'm happy to say the reply was that, had we been promoted this season, the club would have been able to do any necessary work over summer to play in the top flight. In addition they said we would all love to see Morton in the Premiership and that is very much what the club are striving towards.

It was the same for me. I could sum it up as "The Brian Graham Love-in", produced and directed by Brian Graham.

Check the Morton Forum thread "Dundee vs Morton (15th April)" page 6, EanieMeanie's replies to SassenachTon and TRVMP. I read this from a Darragh O’Connor article, then the above posts confirm it was said to all the players, though you'll need to get off your arse and research a bit more to find the articles. As it happens I disagree with Dougie telling the players this, but still posted what I read in the article. As for the Club not being ready for promotion, I called a theory because, unlike the above, I saw no confirmation of this, I just heard it from a lot of sources, excluding taxi drivers. Again, although I've posted this, I disagree with it and don't understand it. I think if we find ourselves with a chance of promotion we should take it and get ready for the step up on and off the pitch, regardless of whether it's unexpected or not.

Great performance from Thistle. Brian Graham had a great match but I couldn't believe he avoided a red card for two blatant kicks in succession on the same player, with no attempt to go for the ball. With VAR either one of those challenges would've likely been a red card. There have been several recent red cards from similar challenges but with the player going for the ball. It was also quite mystifying what Graham could have whispered to the ref before he pulled out the yellow card, then he whispered something to a QP player who'd ran up to him in anger, the QP player then patted Graham on the back and gave him a smile. Big Brian must have some sort of hypnotic charm, as he then told James McFadden to give him the MOM award as he was subbed off. Faddy said in commentary thet he couldn't give him MOM as he wasn't on the field long enough and also as Graham had tried to coerce him. Faddy then changed his mind and duly awarded MOM to big Brian, who waltzed up to the BBC presenters to accept the award.