MORTON have praised a benefactor who has donated £50,000 to help the club through the coronaviris crisis.

Ton applied for a grant through the SPFL Trust after businessman and philanthropist James Anderson, a fund manager and partner at investment firm Baillie Gifford, donated over £3m to Scottish football help clubs survive the pandemic and shutdown.

The club's Covid-19 Crisis Fund payment has now been approved and should be banked shortly once final paperwork is cleared.

Cappielow bosses were able to secure the grant by providing examples of their support for the local community.

Morton say they will use the grant to help bring in equipment to Cappielow which will help bring back not only footballing activities but also help projects run by their Morton in the Community arm.

Chief executive Dave MacKinnon expressed his delight at receiving the funding.

He told the Tele: “Greenock Morton Football Club would like to express our sincere thanks to James Anderson and the SPFL Trust, for the support shown to football by this very welcome grant during these difficult times.

“The impact this money will have, not only for the resumption of football, but also on the significant work our community programme provides for the people of Inverclyde, cannot be underestimated.

“We’ve seen it published before as to how much of an impact that community programmes have for clubs in Scotland - there was a survey done by the BBC that showed Ayr’s community programme puts around £2.5m back into their community.

“We’ve seen the areas that the community programme reaches in Inverclyde and I’d imagine that Morton put a significant amount more back in and the plan is for that to continue.

“We will work towards ensuring that the stadium is compliant with all the health guidelines set out by the Scottish Government."

The SPFL Trust's chief executive Nicky Reid added: “We are pleased to have confirmed in just seven days that all clubs have met the eligibility criteria to secure their grant.

"Once signed Condition of Grant letters are returned to the SPFL Trust, payments will be quickly processed.

“I’m really heartened by the way clubs have embraced this process.

"All have thought carefully about how they would use their grant to help get operations back up and running, get stadiums bio-secure and therefore open for community engagement, again.

“As part of the commitment to transparency, all clubs will evidence to us how they use their grant."

Ton are now busy planning for a return to action, with the season set to start behind closed doors on October 17 and fixtures due to be released soon.