JIM McAlister believes it’s a great idea to get the Morton squad and management to clean up Cappielow before the season kicks off.

The Greenock outfit has announced that the club’s players, coaching staff, and even chairman Crawford Rae and chief executive Dave MacKinnon will chip in to help clear out the ground’s main stand tomorrow afternoon.

Morton also asked for any willing volunteers to join them from 2 to 4pm to help give the stadium a clean.

McAlister says he used to clean the ground every Monday morning before a home game when he was first at the club back in 2002, as well as taking on other bits of maintenance.

The 33-year-old insists it should be done more these days by teams and youth players, as it helps instil good levels of discipline early on in their footballing careers.

He told the Tele: “We used to do it when we were apprentices, that was our job on Monday mornings all those years ago.

“If there was a home game on the Saturday we would be down cleaning the stadium.

“Some of us have done this before but if there’s anyway we can help chip in and help the club then we’ll do it.

“You were at it for a good couple of hours, the crowds were over 3,000 so there was a lot of rubbish to pick up.

“I can remember one pre-season and there were only four or five of us as apprentices and we were to paint the Cowshed.

“That stuff should still be in the game because young players are too pampered nowadays in my eyes, they should still be made to do stuff like that as it gives them a good grounding.

“You don’t even see the boots getting done any more and it’s a shame as it instils good discipline in young players.

“They’re taught to do things to a high standard and if you do stuff away from football to a high standard then you’ll take that into your game.”

On the training park the midfielder has also enjoyed his ninth pre-season at Cappielow under new manager David Hopkin.

Despite the upheaval over the summer with lots of new players coming through the doors, McAlister says the squad has settled in well in a short space of time.

He added: “It’s been enjoyable, the balls have been out from the start. It’s a lot of new faces and the boys have settled in well.

“You see it more often in football now, especially at our level, where clubs seem to work year to year.

“The new boys have come in and right from the word go there have been lots of changes with the infrastructure of the club and that’s helped with them settling in as well.”