COMMUNITY Ownership Plan Agreed For Morton
MORTON is set to become a community-owned club from the summer of 2021.
Fans’ group Morton Club Together (MCT) said an agreement in principle has been reached with club owners Golden Casket, to take over majority shareholding — around 90 per cent — in time for the 2021/22 season.
The club will be sold to MCT for a nominal sum, with Golden Casket also writing off the club’s debt, while retaining ownership of the Cappielow stadium, renting it to Morton for small fee.
The agreement is conditional on both parties agreeing in March 2021 that MCT is in a financial position to run the club in a viable manner.
MCT revealed that in recent months talks had been ongoing between a third party and Golden Casket, with involvement from MCT, around purchase of the club.
Despite the terms of that deal being “much more financially beneficial” to Golden Casket and the Rae family, an offer from the third party was rejected in favour of facilitating community ownership.
Current Greenock Morton chairman, Crawford Rae, said: “The Rae family’s final act of devotion to the club is to hand it over to the fans, marking their last involvement in the financial responsibility and stewardship at GMFC.”
MCT founder and director Graham McLennan said: “Our goal has been clear from the outset -– we want to move Morton forward.
“We want a better team on the pitch. We want a better matchday experience for everyone attending Cappielow. We want to listen to the fans and to communicate effectively with all fans, stakeholders, and partners.
“We are all Morton supporters; we all want what is best for the club and now is our chance to be that best-for-the-club through community ownership.”
He continued: “In April 2019, MCT was just an idea. Now, with 440 members, we have achieved so much and have an exciting future ahead of us. We would like to thank every single one of our members who has supported us so far.
“As we have always said, we encourage Morton fans from everywhere to join us on this journey, and we hope this announcement will encourage many more to come on board.”
MCT director Stewart Farmer said: “This is a magnificent achievement in a very short period. MCT was formed in April 2019 and has already made significant contributions, both financially and increasingly on an administrative basis, into Morton.
“Over the last 14 months, we have had a team of dedicated, hard-working and extremely capable volunteers working around the clock to get us to where we are now.”
MCT director Gordon Ritchie said: “The faith that Golden Casket and the Rae family have shown in all of us cannot be underestimated and we thank them for that. Twenty years ago, the Rae family saved the club, and now their legacy will be a club at the heart of Inverclyde, owned by the people who love it most, the fans.”
