How did this season match with your expectations?

[TxRover]

Yes, there’s still the question of who goes where with the playoffs, but overall, how did this year go with regard to your preseason expectations?
 

Raith Rovers: Genuinely hoped to be upper half, and after the first half it looked a reasonable hope, but the second half was pretty crap with injuries and such. Real issues with the defense, especially on set pieces, but even a seventh place finish this year doesn’t feel the worst ever. Seems like Ian Murray is building toward a goal, and the season ended with the ownership issues looking at least partially sorted…so I guess I’d say 3.5 of 5, could have been better, but not as bad as it might have been.

[Tattie36]

Like the vast majority of our fans, I never expected or hoped for a season anything like last. However I thought we had enough quality and enough of our core squad left to comfortably achieve a safe mid-table finish. That would have been plenty.

It panned out to be very nearly a disastrous season - thank god for Cove shitting the bed and punting a manager who, imo, would have seen them safe.

Hopefully a huge learning experience for the management team and that next season is approached with more sensibility.

 

[Clangers]

As a Par and Scotland fan the season has been surreal, went to 36 games (4 Scotland rest Pars) and only see my team lose once and that was in Pens! Keep having to remind my son this isn’t normal don’t get used to it.

The highlights for me have to be the rearranged Falkirk game with a sold out EEP which was rocking and the Scotland v Spain game, the next day I woke up still with a adrenaline buzz.

[Richey Edwards]

I expected a long and difficult season because the League Cup campaign was horrendous. However, the league form was a very pleasant surprise and we were top of the league for part of the season.

The form took a dip during the second half of the season and performances have been inconsistent - and very poor at times. The squad and manager deserve a lot of credit for eventually pulling 2nd place out of the bag when we looked like dropping out of the play-off places altogether. 

It wasn't pretty and was not always fun to watch, but the highest league finish since 2000-2001 is not too shabby. A good season that can still potentially get even better.

Edited May 12, 2023 by Richey Edwards

[CALDERON]

Expected meh, and got meh.

[Thumper]

I had mentally prepared for fifth for months. Very very happy to have been proven wrong.

Still expect to be in a relegation scrap next season regardless of what league it is in.

[AUcal]

As others have pointed out, the highest league finish since 2001-2002. Which is mad really because in terms of actual performances overall there wasn't too much that was 'vintage' about this year.

Before a ball was kicked I expected us to be in serious relegation danger, so aye quite happy. 

[vikingTON]

We went into the League Cup group stage with 12 players, one of which was the (utterly shite) nephew of the sponsors. Not because we were waiting on the right players, but because the budget was that threadbare. After securing external sponsorship from Dalrada, we haven't looked back. 

In hindsight the eight points taken from the first eight games of the season underlined the lack of preparation and late building of our squad, but the 5-1 shoeing at Firhill in September was the turning point in the campaign. Once the likes of Grimshaw fully settled in, Imrie produced a team that was the match of anyone - to get 57 points from our starting point is an excellent haul. 

The key accompaniment is that progress has been made behind the scenes too. It's not just the Dougie Imrie management show - the board and fan ownership group are also dragging the club steadily into the 21st century. Making a six figure profit off the back of this season's performance is the best measurement of our progress across the board right now. It was unthinkable for the old Morton to generate a profit without some ridiculous windfall. 

A Scottish football club is never too far from the next disaster but the turnaround from the almost terminal nick we were in when Imrie arrived in December 2021 has been ridiculous. 

[harlowspider]

Given the relatively small playing budget, a good result. Would have been different without the self inflicted Murray shaped hole in the forward line (still I guess that £50 k will upgrade the taps in the royal box).

[Zanetti]

Better than expected - I thought that with a good run we might make a push for the top 4, but that was practically secured months ago. Would happily have taken lower but safe to mid table obscurity before a ball was kicked.

The past couple of months have been disappointing but I'm honestly over it already; it felt inevitable. There's even a small part of me that wonders if promotion might have been too soon (there's obviously a much bigger part that'd have been buzzin' had we managed it though).

I've absolutely no doubt that work is already going on in the background for next season; quite a few of these guys, for one reason or another, won't be here for much longer.

Edited May 12, 2023 by Zanetti

[spiders4ever]

At the start of the season I was hoping that we wouldn't be relegated.  After the golden period when we won 6 games in a row and got to first it has been disappointing the way we have imploded.  In retrospect it has been an exciting season with some great football played.

[harlowspider]

As I said, good result. But only took one day to turn it around - Jan 31. Took £50k from Ross County to let Murray leave immediately and decided Euan Henderson was such a good player he just had to play against ICT in the cup.

[Ro Sham Bo]

12 hours ago, TxRover said:

Yes, there’s still the question of who goes where with the playoffs, but overall, how did this year go with regard to your preseason expectations?
 

Raith Rovers: Genuinely hoped to be upper half, and after the first half it looked a reasonable hope, but the second half was pretty crap with injuries and such. Real issues with the defense, especially on set pieces, but even a seventh place finish this year doesn’t feel the worst ever. Seems like Ian Murray is building toward a goal, and the season ended with the ownership issues looking at least partially sorted…so I guess I’d say 3.5 of 5, could have been better, but not as bad as it might have been.

We win the cup final and it would have been classed as a good season. Unfortunately we didn't so average is the best you can call it. I feared we would be in big trouble at the start of the season so to steer clear of that battle all season was a reasonable result in itself. 

In amongst all the mediocrity, that week in February where we won at Arbroath and then won the two cup matches against Dundee and Motherwell was as good a week following Rovers as I've had for quite some time. 

[hk blues]

Mixed feelings - We were favourites pre-season and finished the season as champions so on the face of it we met expectations but digging below the headline we made it hard for ourselves all season long, up to and including our final few games. 

[I Clavdivs]

Going as expected,not over yet .

[Chippyminton]

10 hours ago, virginton said:

We went into the League Cup group stage with 12 players, one of which was the (utterly shite) nephew of the sponsors. Not because we were waiting on the right players, but because the budget was that threadbare. After securing external sponsorship from Dalrada, we haven't looked back. 

In hindsight the eight points taken from the first eight games of the season underlined the lack of preparation and late building of our squad, but the 5-1 shoeing at Firhill in September was the turning point in the campaign. Once the likes of Grimshaw fully settled in, Imrie produced a team that was the match of anyone - to get 57 points from our starting point is an excellent haul. 

The key accompaniment is that progress has been made behind the scenes too. It's not just the Dougie Imrie management show - the board and fan ownership group are also dragging the club steadily into the 21st century. Making a six figure profit off the back of this season's performance is the best measurement of our progress across the board right now. It was unthinkable for the old Morton to generate a profit without some ridiculous windfall. 

A Scottish football club is never too far from the next disaster but the turnaround from the almost terminal nick we were in when Imrie arrived in December 2021 has been ridiculous. 

Well put. I’d also add that we missed the playoffs by an absolute whisker, we’ve secured a solid group of players already signed for next season, and that home attendances are gradually increasing. Our commercial activity has kicked on, and the overall level of communication between the club and its fan base has improved significantly. Plus - the club’s finances are being very well managed. We’re profitable as you say - and we’re also debt-free. 

[port-ton]

Miles ahead of where I expected. 

From a pre season where we were already tipped for relegation to then one where the managers budget was drastically cut to the point he almost left the club at one point because of it and with a real looming financial crisis on the cards and the potential failure of fan ownership that lead to us naming one sub and the son of our main sponsor starting the season as our only striker to receiving transformative investment from Dalrada without giving up any control of the club that allowed us to improve all aspects of the club, purchase land outside the ground to transform in to some sort of fan experience pre match next season, and build a competitive squad of decent and hard working players in the image of what Morton fans desire most from their players that were enjoyable to watch most weeks, the majority of which are all signed up for next season. 

It's been one of the most enjoyable seasons for us in a while, and a lot of that is to do with how for the first time in a lot of the fans lifetimes, the club feels closer to the community and heading in the right direction off the pitch as much as on it, which is why although missing the playoffs on goal difference was disappointing, I've yet to speak to a Morton fan who wasn't over it almost instantly and looking forward to next season. 

[Nightmare]

I expected playoffs, and we got them, but not in the most conventional way.

The Ian McCall experience was almost exactly what many of us predicted. He put together a pretty strong squad for this level, which then spluttered through the season with a mixture of great performances and disappointing letdowns.

What was unexpected was the decision to punt McCall when we did. I thought at the time we’d have probably slithered into the playoffs if we’d kept him until the end of the season, but considering we nearly didn’t make them even with the strong form following Doolan’s appointment, I think more likely we’d have finished 6th - so it likely turned out to be an even better decision than many of us thought at the time.

Kris Doolan has been great so far. He seems to have a better tactical awareness than McCall and the defence in particular has looked much more composed since he took over (even with some key injuries impacting it). He’s also just generally a pretty likeable guy unlike his predecessor. I still don’t expect us to get promoted, but it’s hard to argue with the job Doolan has done so far and long may it continue.

[San Starko Rover]

Pretty much what I expected, finished 7th, at the start I thought we’d be in the 5-8th spots. Didn’t expect too much after changing manager and the financial fallout from the DGW saga. My only expectation was stay clear of the relegation scrap and we did that. Bonus was a couple of decent cup runs, shame about the Diddy final but meh it’s the Diddy Cup and nothing more than a day out. 

[Shadow Play]

I said at the start of the season Dundee would win the league and we did.  I have to admit though I didn’t think we could possibly win the league playing as badly as we did for large spells of the season.  A number of teams wasted a real opportunity to win this league.  I’m just grateful it wasn’t Dundee.