Greenock Morton F.C.
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| Morton F.C. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Greenock Morton Football Club Limited | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname(s) | The Ton | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Founded | 1874 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Cappielow, Greenock | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Capacity | 11,612 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chairman |  Douglas Rae |
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| Manager | Jim McInally |
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| League | Scottish Second Division | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2005-06 | 2nd (lost in play-offs semi final) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Greenock Morton Football Club is a football club, who currently play in the Bell's Scottish Football League Second Division. The club was founded in 1874, making it one of the oldest senior Scottish clubs.
Greenock Morton Football Club are popularly known as 'The Pride of the Clyde' - a tradition which predates the club's renaming in 1994 to celebrate the links with its home town of Greenock. The club has a traditional local rivalry with St. Mirren, from Paisley (see Rivalry section.) Morton F.C. are popularly known as 'The Ton'
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[edit] History
Morton's greatest success came in April 1922 when they defeated Rangers 1-0 in the Scottish Cup Final. Jimmy Gourlay scored the winning goal, direct from a free kick in the 11th minute. Strangely the Greenock public were denied the chance to celebrate with their triumphant heroes as straight after the match Morton boarded a train for Hartlepool to play the local side in a pre-arranged friendly match. The celebrations were delayed until the Wednesday when 10,000 locals turned out at Cappielow Park to celebrate.
Morton have made two other major cup final appearances. On Saturday 17 April 1948 Morton drew 1-1 with Rangers in the Scottish Cup Final. Morton's goal was a free kick scored by Jimmy White. The match was replayed on Wednesday 21 April 1948. This time Rangers won 1-0 after extra time. The goal was said to be highly controversial because it was claimed that Morton goalkeeper Jimmy Cowan was blinded by the flash of a camera. These matches were significant because of the huge crowds they attracted. The first match was played in front of 131,629; the replay in front of 133,629 ( At the time a British record attendance for a midweek match). It has been said that Greenock was empty on these two days. Morton's third and final major cup final to date was in the Scottish League Cup and this was played on Saturday 26 October 1963 when Rangers (who Morton have faced in all three final appearances) won by 5 goals to nil (HT: 0-0) in front of 103,000 supporters. However this was no disgrace as Morton were then a Second Division Club (The predecessor to todays Scottish First Division).
During the Second World War 'guest' players were common at clubs throughout Great Britain. Morton were particularly fortunate in this respect in that two of English football's greatest ever players turned out at Cappielow. Sir Stanley Matthews and Tommy Lawton made several guest appearances for Morton. When Morton reached the 1948 Scottish Cup Final both players sent telegrams wishing goodluck to their former club. Matthews simply said 'I am delighted to see Morton reach the final of the Scottish Cup'. Lawton's was more expressive, he said 'Memories of happy days during the war at Cappielow compel me to wish the Morton manager & the boys all the best of luck in their cup final at Hampden'.
To date Morton have only played in a European Club Competition once. After finishing 6th in Scotland's top division in 1967/68 Morton qualified for the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (now the UEFA Cup). They were drawn to play Chelsea F.C. but were eliminated at the first hurdle after a 5-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge and a 4-3 defeat at Cappielow.
In 1992-93 (13 December 1992) Morton lost 3-2 to Hamilton Academicals in the B & Q Cup Final (now the Challenge Cup) in front of 7391 fans. This cup final appearance is not as prestigious as the aforementioned Cup final appearances because this competition is only competed for by clubs outwith the Scottish Premier Division / Scottish Premier League. The final was played at Love Street, the home of Morton's arch rivals St. Mirren.
The club hit a terrible period of financial distress in 2001. This culminated in the team being relegated from the First Division at the end of the 2000/01 season after a 6-year stay. Furthermore, the club slid into administration. The club's financial problems continued to affect its progress on-the-field, as the team struggled to adapt to life in the Second Division. A 4-0 defeat at Queen of the South on April 27, 2002 confirmed back-to-back relegations for Morton.
In season 2002-03, the team found themselves playing in the Third Division for the first time ever. The club's financial situation was resolved by the takeover by current chairman Douglas Rae, and the team discovered some success at this level. A season-long challenge for promotion culminated in a 1-0 victory over Peterhead securing the Third Division championship at the first opportunity, in front of a Third Division record crowd of 8497 fans.
Also in the 2002-03 season, chairman Douglas Rae appointed John "Cowboy" McCormack, previously manager of Queen's Park F.C.. McCormack oversaw the winning of the Third Division Championship and a dominant start to the 2003-04 season, only for the team to fall away after the turn of the year, and finish in 4th place, well outside the promotion places. This came after being 12 points ahead in the Championship race at the half way stage. This led to unfounded allegations that some players had placed large bets on nearest rivals Airdrie United to win the league, which they eventually did.
Jim McInally was announced as McCormack's successor, and in his first season as manager the club failed to gain promotion to the Scottish First Division by a single point, finishing behind Stranraer in 3rd place. Morton failed to gain promotion to the First Division during the 2005-06 season. Finishing 2nd was not enough, as the SFL playoffs meant that only the championship-winning team would be promoted automatically. Gretna won the division, so Morton entered play-offs alongside Peterhead (3rd), Partick Thistle (4th), and Stranraer (9th in Division One.) Morton's first playoff match was against Peterhead, and the Greenock side were defeated 1-0 over two legs, the only goal a penalty in the second match at Balmoor.
[edit] Colours
The team's home strip is traditionally a blue and white hooped shirt with white shorts and white socks, though season 2006-07 sees the team playing a blue and white striped shirt with white shorts and blue socks. Short-lived yet distinctive designs have been used over the years, including sky blue and white stripes in the style of the Argentine national team and even a blue Morton tartan. The away strip tends to vary much more; for the 2003/04 season it was an all yellow outfit, changing in 2004/05 to all white, which in turn became the 3rd team strip in 2005/2006, with the special re-issue of the blue Morton tartan strip. The sponsor's logo on the strip is that of Millions, a Scottish candy produced by the club chairman's confectionery concern, Golden Casket Ltd.
[edit] Stadium
Their stadium is Cappielow Park in Greenock. Cappielow's etymology is allegedly of Scandinavian origin, although details of this are sketchy. It has been home to the club since the early part of the 20th century. Refurbishment has recently been completed, and presently the capacity is around 11,000, with 5,741 of these being seated. The area behind the western goal is known as the Wee Dublin end, which contains non-backed bench seating, converted from the old terracing that once stood there. The main stand contains plastic bucket seating to replace the old wooden benches that were a fixture of the ground until the late 1990s. The "Cowshed" lies to the north of the pitch; formerly a fully terraced arena for both home and away supporters (complete with segregation fence down the middle), it is now for home supporters only, with much of the frontal terracing removed, and plastic bucket seats occupying its place. Behind the eastern goal is the "Sinclair Street" end, with uncovered terracing.
[edit] Rivalry
The club has a fierce local rivalry with St. Mirren, from Paisley, although St Mirren's original derby rivals were fellow Paisley senior side Abercorn FC, who went bankrupt in the 1920s, while Morton's were Port Glasgow Athletic F.C., who ceased running a senior team in the Scottish League in 1912. Port Glasgow Athletic even shared Morton's Cappielow ground from 1917 until 1921 when the needs of World War One saw their ground compulsorily purchased for housing for the local shipyards.
[edit] Trivia
Coincidently, Millwall was founded by the workers of J.T. Morton in Millwall in the East End of London on the Isle of Dogs in 1885. James Morton was himself from Greenock and created Millwall 'Rovers' in a similar guise to Morton F.C. Furthermore, both locations share a once proud history of being great dockyards.
[edit] Honours
- Scottish Cup winners: 1922
- First Division champions: 1949-50¹, 1963-64¹, 1966-67¹, 1977-78, 1983-84, 1986-87
- Second Division champions: 1994-95
- Third Division champions: 2002-03
¹ Known as Division II at that time
[edit] Current squad
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[edit] Notable players
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[edit] Managers
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[edit] Non-playing staff
- Chairman: "Douglas Rae"
- Chief Executive: Gillian Donaldson
- Directors: Iain D. Brown CA, Jim McColl, Arthur Montford, Crawford Rae
- Commercial Manager: Susan Gregory
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[edit] External links
- Official Website
- Greenock Morton Supporters Trust
- TonTastic Media Archive
- Greenock Morton Fans Site
- Morton-MAD
- Halftimebovril.com - A Tour of the 42 professional Scottish Football Grounds
