JIM Duffy has compared working for Morton chairman Douglas Rae to his spell as caretaker manager at Norwich City under famous TV cook Delia Smith.

The Ton boss served as Peter Grant’s assistant manager at Carrow Road before stepping up to fill in as a temporary replacement in October 2007.

Duffy likened Golden Casket supremo Mr Rae to the Canaries majority shareholder as they are both passionate supporters, as well as owners.

And he also explained how he prefers working for those types of directors rather than businessmen who have no long-term emotional ties to the club they are running.

Duffy, speaking after receiving the League One manager of the month award for November, said: “How does working with the chairman here compare with others over the years?

“Well, I’ve worked for a few different owners: Giovanni Di Stefano, Ken Bates, Milan Mandaric, Ron Dixon, the Marrs, [Vladimir] Romanov and Delia Smith. Douglas Rae is a football man and he’s a Morton man. He’s not too dissimilar to Delia Smith in some ways in the sense that she was an out-and-out Norwich fan.

“The others I mentioned came to clubs and they weren’t supporters, whereas the chairman here at Morton has been a supporter since he was a child, maybe six or seven-years-old.

“So he’s been a supporter for pretty much most of his life and is a Morton fan first and foremost. He rarely misses a game. As I say, it is a wee bit like Delia and her family at Norwich. In terms of working with him, you understand that he is very passionate about his team, wants it to be successful, and has demands, which is not a bad thing. I don’t have any problem with that. If somebody has got an opinion and they’ve been associated with the football club for the best part of 70-odd years then I don’t think you can argue with that.

“For me, it’s better to be involved with people who are genuinely football people rather than business people who see football as an avenue to either make money or give themselves publicity.

“Football can give them a platform for their own profile or their businesses. Many times you don’t know someone, even if they are very successful, until they became involved in football.

“He is the opposite. He is a successful businessman in the Greenock area and is a Morton man through and through.

“Obviously I know a wee bit about it in terms of him saving the club after the Hugh Scott era, and I think it’s been a terrific thing for Morton that somebody like him is in charge of the football club.

“Some people said to me before I came in: ‘Oh, the chairman’s got this opinion’ or ‘the chairman’s got that opinion’, and ‘he wants to say this and to say that’.

“But I don’t have a problem with opinions, none whatsoever. Sometimes you’ll be in the dugout and hear his voice making a suggestion but that’s fine.

“He’s in the stand; he’s a fan. A lot of the fans on the other side are probably shouting for you to make a substitution or get somebody on or do something if it’s not going well.