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Topic Originator: wee eck
Date: Thu 1 Oct 11:42
Manager Ian Murray has left Greenock Morton with the club bottom of the Scottish Championship.
Coach Bill Orr has also departed Cappielow and first-team player Michael O`Halloran and Gary Miller will take charge of the first team in the interim.
Morton have one point from their opening eight league fixtures, three points fewer than second-bottom Queen`s Park. The Greenock side host Raith Rovers on Saturday.
One of Morton`s sponsors has encountered difficulties, having a knock-on effect on the club`s finances and recruitment this season.
Former Hibernian, Rangers and Scotland player Murray, 45, has previously managed Dumbarton, St Mirren, Airdrieonians and Raith Rovers and took over at Cappielow in January. He won four of 29 games in charge.
A club spokesperson said: "The board of Greenock Morton Football Club can confirm that Ian Murray has been relieved of his duties as first team manager with immediate effect. First team coach Bill Orr has also been relieved of his duties.
"We would like to place on record our sincere thanks to both Ian and Bill for their hard work, commitment and professionalism during their time at the club. Everyone at Morton wishes them both the very best for the future.
"The club recognises the disappointment felt by supporters and understands the importance of the weeks ahead."
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Topic Originator: Rusty Shackleford
Date: Thu 1 Oct 11:47
A new manager bounce v Raith at the weekend would be beyond hilarious.
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Topic Originator: Paralex
Date: Thu 1 Oct 13:34
"Relieved of his duties". Why don`t they just say sacked.
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Topic Originator: Dumpster
Date: Thu 1 Oct 13:44
What were the Board’s expectations! Seems unfair that he’s been sacked. I thought he’d walked when I first saw the announcement. They need a manager who is also a miracle worker!
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Topic Originator: Back_oh_the_net
Date: Thu 1 Oct 20:28
Canny be as skint as they are making out if they can afford to sack the manager and assistant manager and pay them what they are due
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Topic Originator: AdamAntsParsStripe
Date: Thu 1 Oct 21:01
I think Morton were stupid with this sacking.
I know they haven’t won a game but they are hard to beat with what they have in their squad.
Zwei Pints Bier und ein Päckchen Chips bitte
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Topic Originator: Hoolie
Date: Thu 1 Oct 21:02
McPake will be the man for the job…he was used to working under the Germans we had!
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Topic Originator: Kdy Par
Date: Thu 1 Oct 21:43
Quote:
Hoolie, Thu 1 Oct 21:02
McPake will be the man for the job…he was used to working under the Germans we had!
Doubt he’ll leave Dubai to work in Greenock.
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Topic Originator: Connor560
Date: Thu 1 Oct 22:14
Quote:
AdamAntsParsStripe, Thu 1 Oct 21:01
I think Morton were stupid with this sacking.
I know they haven’t won a game but they are hard to beat with what they have in their squad.
Hard to beat?
Scored no goals in the cup and have lost 14 out of 15, drawing the other
C'mon Ye Pars!
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Topic Originator: neils
Date: Thu 1 Oct 23:09
You would be off your head to take that job.
A few perma crock players, others miles off the pace and no chance of signing decent ones.
Add to that the salary will be low, it would be the last football job you ever had unless you could perform a miracle and keep them up, oh, and the fans seem to be split (it`s a fan owned club)
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Topic Originator: Athletico
Date: Fri 2 Oct 09:58
Think Morton have now completely ended any sympathy/charity they had from rivals. Their `fighting fund` has been used to sign players and now sack their manager. Hope they get relegated. Charlatans.
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Topic Originator: Jeffery
Date: Fri 2 Oct 10:22
I think it was Murray that suggested they were close to forfeiting games... but they`ve signed 15 players!
I`ve seen Morton fans saying the team is decent individually just poorly managed so maybe they`ll pick up.
The club seems poorly run top to bottom.
It`s like Hamilton finally stopped going from one disaster to another and handed the basket case baton on to Morton.
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Topic Originator: Sacktheref69
Date: Fri 2 Oct 11:37
Would be interesting to hear Tam Cowan’s thoughts on this, considering he gave his time for three nights to help them.
As a fan of a club who were so close to losing it all, I hate to see clubs go through something similar. But to use that as a smokescreen is really poor form.
This is Andy Tod`s world and we are lucky to live in it.
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Topic Originator: wee eck
Date: Fri 2 Oct 11:44
Cove Rangers are in trouble too: shades of Hamilton but may be a one-off. From BBC Sport -
`Cove Rangers are "considering all available options" after having a season-long registration ban imposed upon them by the SPFL following rule breaches.
The league body say the Scottish League 1 club admitted "failing to make a historic contractual payment to a player when due and then failed to notify the SPFL that it had been in default of that rule".
"The club was also found to have provided incorrect information to the SPFL when it certified that it had no overdue payables to current or former players as at 31 January 2026," the SPFL said.
"Following these rule breaches by the club, the tribunal imposed a registration embargo which will remain in place until 31 May 2027 and a fine of £5,000 (£2,000 of which is suspended). The club has now made full payment to the player involved."
Paul Hartley`s Cove are second bottom of League 1, a point above Queen of the South, after picking up five points from their opening eight fixtures.
In a statement, the club said: "Cove Rangers FC acknowledges the SPFL`s decision concerning a historic contractual payment from 2024 and subsequent reporting matters.
"The club is disappointed by the severity of the sanctions and is carefully reviewing the decision and considering all available options."
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Topic Originator: Vamos Pars
Date: Fri 2 Oct 11:47
Murray will be on gardening leave and the new coaching team are already contracted to the club so it won’t cost Morton anymore money.
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Topic Originator: Back_oh_the_net
Date: Fri 2 Oct 13:31
Quote:
Vamos Pars, Fri 2 Oct 11:47
Murray will be on gardening leave and the new coaching team are already contracted to the club so it won’t cost Morton anymore money.
He’s not on gardening leave at all he’s been sacked so that means he’s due a stack of money to cover what he had left on his contract and it’s not a new coaching team it’s an interim coaching team until they find the next mug to take over as manager
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Topic Originator: AdamAntsParsStripe
Date: Fri 2 Oct 17:07
Quote:
Connor560, Thu 1 Oct 22:14
Quote:
AdamAntsParsStripe, Thu 1 Oct 21:01
I think Morton were stupid with this sacking.
I know they haven’t won a game but they are hard to beat with what they have in their squad.
Hard to beat?
Scored no goals in the cup and have lost 14 out of 15, drawing the other
My point is. Morton are in sh@t creek regardless who is manager.
Under Murray, yes they lost a whole lot of games but from what I saw, they weren’t a roll over and most by the odd goal.
They are going down regardless but as sh1te as their stadium is and treatment of away fans , I wish them well.
Zwei Pints Bier und ein Päckchen Chips bitte
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Topic Originator: kelty_par
Date: Fri 2 Oct 17:11
Yeah, i think Murray had them pretty well organised against us and didn`t give up too many chances. We needed a great goal by Lobban and a good save by Oxborough to take the three points. I can`t see Michael O`Halloran being a better organiser although I hope I`m proved wrong at the weekend!
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Topic Originator: McCaig`s Tower
Date: Fri 2 Oct 19:39
I find football’s attitude to managers rather bizarre.
It’s probably a club’s biggest risk – get it wrong and it’s going to cost you several large salaries for two years and maybe relegation or missed European riches or whatever.
You would think therefore that Boards of Directors would mitigate this risk by doing their due diligence in the first place so they knew what they were getting, then by installing the appropriate structure and support.
Instead it seems they often decide they need something different like pitch-side tactics boards or veganism or inverted full-backs as if this is the thing that will give them an edge. And they back them by allowing the new coach to blow the budget on the wrong players.
The recent vogue seems to be for foreign coaches – but for every Jens Berthel Askou there is a Paul Le Guen.
Morton had gone down the sensible, experienced route. Ian Murray had a reasonable reputation in the lower divisions (many people wanted him here) although there were question marks over the way he left Raith Rovers. Presumably Morton knew what they were getting.
What has changed? It seems the financial situation has fallen off a cliff – does this make Murray a bad manager all of a sudden? Can he not manage in straitened circumstances (yet there is someone else who can?) Has something else happened?
I think there was discontent amongst the Ton fans, and some of it found its focus on the management team. It’s not clear that this is justified. From my trip to Cappielow it seemed that they were stuffier than I had thought, and it wasn’t beyond the bounds of possibility they could improve to 9th or even 8th.
Instead, chopping him now seems like an act of desperation. Yes, this sometimes works, yes it might be better to do it sooner rather than later, but if it’s simply the act of making a change, any change, they’d be as well changing the colour of their strips. (OK, you probably can’t do that any more, but I think Leeds Utd did it in the 60s (and we tried it in the 70s)).
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