Morton Club Together director wants to make Cappielow 'community focal point'

A new proposal agreed between MCT and club majority shareholders Golden Casket - headed by current chairman Crawford Rae - was presented to members on Sunday night.

Under the deal a new company will be set up and ownership of Cappielow - as well as Golden Casket’s majority shareholding in Morton - will be transferred into it.

The new property holding firm will be owned by MCT, giving the fans' group control of Cappielow and a debt-free club.

Its members have until Thursday to cast their vote and it is expected to pass.

Mr Barr now hopes that after a positive reaction from members and the wider Morton fanbase, they can bring a new lease of life to the stadium going forward.

He told the Tele: “Cappielow is Morton’s home and we’ve known since day one that when we were announcing community ownership that that would be the main sticking point for fans in particular.

“It was already a place that we could call our own but now we’ve got a chance to put a fans' stamp on it, making it a focal point in the community.

“With the club becoming community owned, we want fans to have that pride in their club and the stadium, looking forward to coming down to the games on a Saturday and talking about Morton and their plans for the future.

GRAHAM BARR OF MORTON CLUB TOGETHER

“We want to create that positive atmosphere where everyone enjoys being a Morton fan, enjoys going along to the games, enjoys supporting the club.

“There’s nothing concrete so far as to what we want to do with Cappielow but it’s pretty obvious that it’s an old stadium and that’s what gives it its character.

“Over the coming seasons there will be some investment required to maintain it which is already accounted for in the budget.

“We just want to give fans the best experience when they come to Cappielow. We want to keep the history of the good old-fashioned stadia, but we want to make sure that the matchday experience is up to scratch off the park.

“We’ve managed to get a deal that gives fans ownership of Cappielow through MCT and the new property company, which is massive in the other point of making sure that Cappielow is safe from any worst-case scenarios further down the line.

Morton fans' group agree deal to take over club and Cappielow with no debt

“With the route that we want to go down, it gives the fans control of Cappielow and it’s protected in the future as well which is a massive positive for everyone involved.

“It’s all about building on this positivity moving forward now.”

Mr Barr says MCT is grateful for the support received over the first two years of its existence.

He believes it’s testament to everyone involved that exactly two years after its founding that MCT has a final deal on the table for community ownership, with February’s consultation proving to be key.

He said: “It’s been a long journey to get to this point.

"But, like I said to the guys after we made the announcement, it’s crazy that an idea started by Graham McLennan purely to support the first team budget has grown so significantly that exactly two years later we’re talking about a final deal for community ownership. It’s just incredible.

“It’s testament to all of the hard work that volunteers and the supporters have put in.

“Even since our consultation in February, that was a really valuable piece of work that allowed us to gauge the opinion of fans as to how discussions had gone and we had over 500 responses to that.

“That consultation has played a huge part in getting to where we are today.

“The two key points that we got from that were that the fans wanted Cappielow and a debt-free club.

“The new deal achieved both of those points and we’re really delighted to have gotten to this point."