Greenock Morton F.C.

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Greenock Morton Football Club are an Association football club, whose first team currently plays in the Bell's Scottish Football League Second Division. The club was founded in 1874, making it among the most venerable of senior Scottish clubs.

Greenock Morton Football Club are popularly known as Morton F.C. - a tradition which predates the club's renaming in 1994 to celebrate the links with its home town of Greenock. The club has a traditional local rivalry with St. Mirren, from Paisley, albeit this is one of convenience for the creation of a crowd inticing "derby" - St Mirren's original derby rivals were fellow Paisley senior side Abercorn FC, who went bankrupt in the 1920s, whilst Morton's were Port Glasgow Athletic F.C., who ceased running a senior team in the Scottish League in 1912 and have concentrated on the Scottish Junior League ever since (see Port Glasgow Juniors F.C.) - they even shared Morton's Cappielow ground from 1917 until 1921 when the needs of World War One saw their ground compulsorily purchased for housing for the local shipyards.

The team's home strip is of archaic design; a blue and white hooped shirt, and shorts with the same colours. Short-lived yet distinctive designs have been used over the years, including sky blue and white stripes in the style of the Argentine national team and even a blue Morton tartan. The away strip tends to vary much more; for the 2003/04 season it was an all yellow outfit, changing in 2004/05 to all white, which in turn became the 3rd team strip in 2005/2006, with the special re-issue of the blue Morton tartan strip. The sponsor's logo that graces the strip is that of Millions, a Scottish candy produced by the club chairman's confectionery concern, Golden Casket Ltd.

Image:Cappielow.JPG

Their stadium is Cappielow Park in Greenock. Cappielow's etymology is allegedly of Scandinavian origin, although details of this are sketchy at best. It has been home to the club since the early part of the 20th century. Refurbishment has recently been completed, and presently the capacity is around 11,000, with 5,741 of these being seated. The area behind the western goal is known as the Wee Dublin end, which contains non-backed bench seating, converted from the old terracing that once stood there. The main stand contains plastic bucket seating to replace the old wooden benches that were a fixture of the ground until the late 1990s. The "Cowshed" lies to the North of the pitch; formerly a fully terraced arena for both home and away supporters (complete with segregation fence down the middle), it is now the domain of home supporters only, with much of the frontal terracing removed, with plastic bucket seats occupying its place. Behind the eastern goal is the unimaginatively named "Sinclair Street" end, with uncovered terracing.

The club hit a terrible period of financial distress in 2001. This culminated in the team being relegated from the First Division at the end of the 2000-01 season after a 6-year stay. The club's financial worries continued to affect its progress on-the-field, as the team struggled to adapt to life in the Second Division. A 4-0 defeat at Queen of the South on April 27, 2002 confirmed back-to-back relegations for Morton.

In season 2002-03, the team found themselves playing in the Third Division for the first time ever. During the season, the club's financial situation gradually eased, and the team discovered new found success at this level. A season-long challenge for promotion culminated in a 1-0 victory over Peterhead securing the Third Division championship at the first time of asking, in front of a Third Division record crowd of over 8000 fans.

In the 2002-03 season, chairman Douglas Rae appointed John "Cowboy" McCormack, previously manager of Queen's Park[1]. McCormack oversaw the winning of the Third Division Championship and a spirited start to the 2003-04 season, only for the team to fall away after the turn of the year, and finish in 4th place; well outside the promotion places. Jim McInally was announced as his successor, and in his first season as manager the club failed to gain promotion to the Scottish First Division by a single point from Stranraer, however hopes still remain high among Morton fans that he can restore the team to the higher echelons of Scottish football.

Notable players of the past include Andy Ritchie, Rowan Alexander, Finnish Internationalists Janne Lindberg and Marko Rajamaki, David Hopkin, Jimmy Cowan, David Brcic (former goalkeeper for the New York Cosmos) and Joe Jordan.

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Honours

Scottish Cup winners: 1922
First Division champions: 1949-50¹, 1963-64¹, 1966-67¹, 1977-78, 1983-84, 1986-87
Second Division champions: 1994-95
Third Division champions: 2002-03

¹ Known as Division II at that time

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