New Morton chief executive wants manager in place by next week

The former Kilmarnock, Dundee and Hamilton CEO and director was appointed at Cappielow this week, replacing Warren Hawke who resigned on Friday.

With the football season over for the Greenock club, the 62-year-old is keen to bring in a new boss as soon as possible and get the players’ futures sorted, after Jonatan Johansson left before just hours before the final league game of the season.

He told the Tele: “The main priority is getting a manager in, that’s imperative and we need to do that very quickly.

“Crawford [Rae, Morton's chairman] and I are looking at applications and options because we’ve established collectively what sort of person we’ll need to take it forward, and it’s about fitting someone into that identity or characteristic that will take the club forward.

"We need someone who understands budgets, because we have still to finalise the budgets by all accounts but Crawford and I have not discussed it at length, but there may be a reduced budget.

“We need someone who is used to shaping and forming teams to get the best out of them, to mix young players with experienced players and get a team on the park that entertains the fans and plays in a style the fans like.

“The experience I’ve got in football or business, the premise I’ve got is adding value and I know I can add value to that.

“Getting the local community back engaged with the club, getting the supporters back in with the club.

“We’ll work on it this week, and by next week we should be in a position to appoint a manager.

“Which day will determine with how negotiations go, but neither Crawford or I will ever meddle in who is signed by the club.

"The only person who that can make a decision on who is remaining at the club or who we’re bringing in is the manager.

“That’s why it’s a priority to get someone in very quickly because it’s not fair on the players not letting them know exactly what their futures are, I’ve been in that position before as a player and it’s not nice."

MacKinnon has also been brought in by Rae under the premise of helping the Ton operate at a break-even budget, after the club made losses of over £285,000 in the last financial year, with over £2million of debt to parent company Golden Casket.

The ex-Dundee and Kilmarnock player has had to deal with similar situations at his previous clubs, and says they will have to work within their means, while he tries to secure extra revenue for the Championship side.

He added: “This is like déjà vu for me.

"When I took over at Kilmarnock as the chief executive, my first task was taking one million pounds out of the playing budget.

“I had manager Jim Jefferies and I told him like it was, and took a million pounds out of the budget over three years, and we finished third and fourth in the league, and were never out of the top six.

“Same as Dundee, they had just come out of administration, they were in the first division for a year and were seventh in the first division and on a wage bill that was greater than Kilmarnock’s.

“The first season we finished third and then second, so we were back up there competing.

“It’s about getting a manager in that will work with it and competing, there’s a lot of players out there wanting to improve themselves and they’re hungry to move on.

“That’s what we’ll do, we’ll bring players through and bring players in that want to prove themselves and want to play for the jersey because that’s the key thing.

"If someone comes in knocking they’ll be tied up on a contract and we’ll make sure Morton get their recompense that they want, because that’s what it has to be about.”