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I am pretty fortunate at work. I have Thommo's brother one side and Allan jnr McGraw the other, so I can get a pretty open view of what happens at Saints and Ton, (as Shulls memoirs are not published till 2017)

So I asked, why is Cappielow such a dump. They have our old stands in bits, the away shed end still sh"gged. They have money and a Chairman who can spend. They got 6000 against Peterhead and no doubt 3-4000 Saints would travel to watch us beat them up, plus Newco plus Hibs.

So why not sort out that tip?

More of us can watch it

They make money that will easily pay for any restorations.

Am I missing something, cause seriously it has to be the worst ground in Europe .

To relate this to us,Be nice to have more of us there

Edited by DougJamie
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The state of their ground must be a bit embarrassing for their fans. It was ridiculously out of date in the 90's, now it's simply a public health hazard.

Similarly sized teams like East Fife, Dumbarton and Falkirk have got themselves a new modern ground in recent times.

Not Morton though, theirs is still 19th century standard.

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I am pretty fortunate at work. I have Thommo's brother one side and Allan jnr McGraw the other, so I can get a pretty open view of what happens at Saints and Ton, (as Shulls memoirs are not published till 2017)

So I asked, why is Cappielow such a dump. They have our old stands in bits, the away shed end still sh"gged. They have money and a Chairman who can spend. They got 6000 against Peterhead and no doubt 3-4000 Saints would travel to watch us beat them up, plus Newco plus Hibs.

So why not sort out that tip?

More of us can watch it

They make money that will easily pay for any restorations.

Am I missing something, cause seriously it has to be the worst ground in Europe .

To relate this to us,Be nice to have more of us there

There has been no need to upgrade the stadium at all therefore without the impetus why spend money on doing so? Our upgrading of Love Street was partially enforced but also a business decision given our promotion. We could easily have used the North Bank without the divide and limited all away support to the Caledonian Stand but a pragmatic decision was made not too as presumably it allowed us extra income.

Thus far Morton have missed out on the large away support being relegated at potentially the wrong time. They don't need an all seater stadium for where they are at the moment and therefore the drive to upgrade the cowshed with any particular urgency has only come since they were promoted this time round. Therefore is it economically viable to upgrade the stadium this year?

What are their plans for the PDE stand and have they used our old floodlights yet?

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The state of their ground must be a bit embarrassing for their fans. It was ridiculously out of date in the 90's, now it's simply a public health hazard.

Similarly sized teams like East Fife, Dumbarton and Falkirk have got themselves a new modern ground in recent times.

Not Morton though, theirs is still 19th century standard.

Joking aside Morton like Falkirk have the potential to have crowds on par with us given the right conditions. Comparing them to Dumbarton who moved ground and appropriately build one stand only for their average home crowd is a bit unfair whilst I haven't a clue about East Fife's average or potential gate.

There has been no need for them to upgrade so why do so? This year is the first time in many that there is a case for doing so as far as I can see. Add that to their previous financial difficulties and you have my answer...

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Joking aside Morton like Falkirk have the potential to have crowds on par with us given the right conditions. Comparing them to Dumbarton who moved ground and appropriately build one stand only for their average home crowd is a bit unfair whilst I haven't a clue about East Fife's average or potential gate.

There has been no need for them to upgrade so why do so? This year is the first time in many that there is a case for doing so as far as I can see. Add that to their previous financial difficulties and you have my answer...

East Fife and Dumbarton both have more major titles than Morton. Is there still potential for big gates down there? What you basing that on?

In the heat of their title battle with Partick Thistle 2 seasons ago they were still pulling in sub 2000 gates at Cappielow. In the crucial run in games at the end of their title winning season just past, 2 of Morton's final 3 home games had sub 2000 gates.

For a bit of perspective, the meaningless Accies v St Mirren game had 2400 and our final home games against Well and Killie both had over 3000.

Morton's years in the wilderness - they haven't played in the top flight for going on 30 years and haven't played in a major semi final for even longer - has clearly killed a lot of their support down there. Perhaps if they'd invested in better facilities they wouldn't have had such embarrassingly low crowds...

They may have been a relatively similarly sized club to us one day, they aren't anymore, however you want to measure it.

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Crapilow is a dump always has been! But I loved going there when they had the fence in the middle. Since they took it away sitting on a cheap bench with no roof on a hill with no decent atmosphere no decent toilets no decent food has lost its appeal a bit! beating the Soap Dodgers is still enjoyable but at least give us a roof over our heads!

Plus if we don't have a roof why do we pay the same price as home fans?

But on the other side of the coin when they come to Paisley lets have a bit of an atmosphere there for a change!

Been sadly lacking for last few years!

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Crapilow is a dump always has been! But I loved going there when they had the fence in the middle. Since they took it away sitting on a cheap bench with no roof on a hill with no decent atmosphere no decent toilets no decent food has lost its appeal a bit! beating the Soap Dodgers is still enjoyable but at least give us a roof over our heads!

Plus if we don't have a roof why do we pay the same price as home fans?

But on the other side of the coin when they come to Paisley lets have a bit of an atmosphere there for a change!

Been sadly lacking for last few years!

The only good thing about Crappielaw is that it is only 17miles away which is great when you consider that it is 191miles to f**king Dingwall. .
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East Fife and Dumbarton both have more major titles than Morton. Is there still potential for big gates down there? What you basing that on?

In the heat of their title battle with Partick Thistle 2 seasons ago they were still pulling in sub 2000 gates at Cappielow. In the crucial run in games at the end of their title winning season just past, 2 of Morton's final 3 home games had sub 2000 gates.

For a bit of perspective, the meaningless Accies v St Mirren game had 2400 and our final home games against Well and Killie both had over 3000.

Morton's years in the wilderness - they haven't played in the top flight for going on 30 years and haven't played in a major semi final for even longer - has clearly killed a lot of their support down there. Perhaps if they'd invested in better facilities they wouldn't have had such embarrassingly low crowds...

They may have been a relatively similarly sized club to us one day, they aren't anymore, however you want to measure it.

The debate about major titles in the 1880-90s and early to mid 1900s have nothing to do with how big the club is today.

I don't disagree that years in the lower years have impacted on their crowds nor do I disagree that Cappielow could do with a make over.

However I think meaningful games against bigger sides will raise their own home attendances to a more comparable if lower level than our own. You are comparing our most successful period in over 20 years to a pretty mediocre period of their own (and as you say they haven't been in the top flight for 30 odd years nor have they been in the latter stages of the League or Scottish Cup).

Therefore by your points my argument stands that there was no real point in upgrading the ground when attendances have been lower than current capacity and there has need no top flight promotion forcing their hand.

On the second point as above a sustained period competing with us and both Rangers and Hibs will see a noticeable rise in home support in my opinion, outstripping both that of Dumbarton and East Fife. I think better competition will at a higher standard do more to increase their gate than simply upgrading facilities alone. Have our attendances been better at Greenhill Road compared to Love Street factoring in league and position etc?

ETA: I am not simply bashing Morton, I'm being honest about the fact that I think that comparing their potential crowd when doing well to Dumbarton and East Fife is in my opinion is disingenuous. Falkirk on the other hand are far more comparable to us if memory serves me right re: recent top flight crowds and major cup final. And secondly I don't think improved facilities would encourage more fans to come along compared to a better standard of product on the park conceding though that both together would likely help even more.

Edited by Bart Simpson
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I heard that Morton had plans to erect our old Reid Kerr stand roof over the wee Dublin end this season. With plastic seating installed next season. I hope this is true as it would give us protection from the elements and create some decent atmosphere with the increased noise level a roof would generate.

u have more stories than jackanory!
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Our old derby game used to be Kilmarnock did it not?

Can remember my Dad and Grampa telling me it was the best New Years games as all the pubs were open!!

Don't know if that's true as can no longer ask them!

Either way in a season when your going to the likes of Alloa and Dumbarton a Proper competitive derby game against Morton will help ease the pain of relegation a bit!

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Morton has always been our derby as far as my Saints supporting life is concerned. Kilmarnock's derby is Ayr United. St Mirren v Killie and St Mirren v Partick are just games against geographically close rivals.

Killie was our traditional derby,the soap dodgers is more modern day.

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Killie was our traditional derby,the soap dodgers is more modern day.

Correct There even used to be football special trains from Gilmour Street to Kilmarnock on New Years Day!

Don't forget that more often than not Morton and Ayr were in lower leagues than Saints and Killie. So Kilmarnock was invariably our derby game.

It's only in recent times that we've spent a proportionally higher amount of time in the lower leagues allowing us to meet up with our hillbilly cousins from Greenock at Ne'erday!

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The £750000 plans from three years ago have been shelved due to their well known cash problems , but the place still needs a fair amount of cash spent just to keep the safety certificate.

http://www.greenocktelegraph.co.uk/sport/morton/articles/2015/06/08/532256-25k-repairs-to-cappielow/

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