Greenock Morton F.C.

19th century

Morton Football Club was established in 1874. In the early 1870s the popularity of football was growing, with many clubs being established around Scotland. At the club's inaugural meeting, the first recorded words were "that this club be called Morton Football Club". The true reason for the name 'Morton' remains unclear, though the general consensus is that the club was named after the 'Morton Terrace', a row of houses next to the original playing field, where some of the players lived. The name would be altered in 1994 to read 'Greenock Morton Football Club', to celebrate the club's links with its hometown, though it is still almost universally referred to as 'Morton'.

Morton was one of the founding members of the old Second Division, formed in 1893, and finished 8th in its first season. Morton first gained promotion to the old First Division in 1899–1900, and finished 4th in its first season there.

20th century

Morton's greatest success came in its 1–0 defeat of Rangers in the 1922 Scottish Cup Final. Jimmy Gourlay scored the winning goal directly from a free kick in the 11th minute. Right after the match Morton boarded a train for Hartlepool to play the local side in a pre-arranged friendly match. The celebrations were delayed until the following Wednesday when 10,000 locals turned out at Cappielow Park to celebrate.

Morton has made two other major cup final appearances. On Saturday 17 April 1948, Morton drew 1–1 with Rangers in the Scottish Cup Final. Morton's goal was a free kick scored by Jimmy White. The match was replayed on Wednesday 21 April. This time Rangers won 1–0 after extra time. The goal was said to be highly controversial because it was claimed that Morton goalkeeper Jimmy Cowan was blinded by the flash of a camera. These matches were significant because of the huge crowds they attracted. The first match was played in front of 132,629. The replay, in front of 133,750, was at the time a British record attendance for a midweek match.

Morton's third and final major cup final to date was in the League Cup, played on Saturday, 26 October 1963. As in its previous two final appearances, Morton's opponent was once again Glasgow Rangers. Rangers won by 5 goals to nil(HT: 0–0) in front of 106,000 supporters.

During the Second World War 'guest' players were common at clubs throughout Great Britain. Morton was particularly fortunate in this respect in that two of English football's greatest ever players turned out at Cappielow. Sir Stanley Matthews and Tommy Lawton made several guest appearances for Morton. When Morton reached the 1948 Scottish Cup Final both players sent telegrams wishing good luck to their former club. Matthews simply said 'I am delighted to see Morton reach the final of the Scottish Cup'. Lawton's was more expressive, he said 'Memories of happy days during the war at Cappielow compel me to wish the Morton manager & the boys all the best of luck in their cup final at Hampden'.

To date Morton has played in a European Club Competition once. After finishing 6th in Scotland's top division in 1967–68 Morton qualified for the European Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (now the UEFA Europa League). Drawn to play Chelsea, the club was eliminated at the first hurdle after a 5–0 defeat at Stamford Bridge and a 4–3 defeat at Cappielow.

In 1992–93 Morton lost 3–2 to Hamilton Academical in the Scottish Challenge Cup Final in front of 7,391 fans. The final was played at Love Street, the home of Morton's arch rivals St Mirren.

21st century

After experiencing financial problems the team was relegated from the First Division at the end of the 2000–01 season after a six-year stay and was put into administration. The club's financial problems continued and a second successive relegation followed. In season 2002–03, Morton's first ever season in the Third Division, the club's financial situation was resolved by the takeover by chairman Douglas Rae. Rae appointed John McCormack as manager, and the team won the Third Division championship at the first attempt, confirming its position with a 1–0 victory over Peterhead in front of a then Third Division record crowd of 8,497 people.

After a strong start to the 2003–04 season, the team fell away after the turn of the year, and finished in 4th place, well outside the promotion places. This came after being 12 points ahead in the Championship race at the half-way stage. This led to unfounded allegations that some players had placed large bets on nearest rivals Airdrie United to win the league, which Airdrie eventually did.

Jim McInally was announced as McCormack's successor, and in his first season as manager the club failed to gain promotion to the First Division by a single point, finishing behind Stranraer in 3rd place.

Morton failed to gain promotion to the First Division during the 2005–06 season. Finishing 2nd was not enough, as the SFL playoffs meant that only the championship-winning team would be promoted automatically. Gretna won the division, so Morton entered play-offs along with Peterhead (3rd), Partick Thistle (4th), and Stranraer (9th in Division One.) Morton's first play-off match was against Peterhead, and the Greenock side was defeated 1–0 over two legs, the only goal a penalty in the second match at Balmoor.

The following season, a week after a 9–1 defeat of Forfar Athletic at Cappielow Park, Morton achieved promotion to the First Division, and went on to become Second Division Champions.

Jim McInally resigned on 11 February 2008 after a run of poor results allowed Morton to slip into 9th place in the First Division and was replaced by Davie Irons, with Derek Collins joining him as Assistant Manager. Morton battled relegation for most of the season and survived on the final day with a 3–0 victory against Partick Thistle, to avoid the relegation playoff by a single goal. Irons was sacked in September 2009 and replaced October by James Grady until the end of the season. Grady was removed from the club in May 2010, and replaced by Allan Moore. Allan Moore was sacked after a 5–1 defeat at home to Livingston on 23 November 2013. His replacement Kenny Shiels was given a contract until the end of season 2014–2015, but failed to reverse the slide towards relegation from the Scottish Championship, which became a reality on 12 April 2014 after a 2–0 away defeat by Alloa Athletic. Shiels resigned after a 10–2 defeat by Hamilton Accies.

After the resignation of Shiels, Jim Duffy was appointed as manager. He won the Scottish League One to return the club the Championship at the first time of asking. This league victory earned Morton's tenth league title, making it the fourth most crowned league champions in Scotland behind Rangers (57), Celtic (47) and Clyde (12).

Colours

The team's home strip is traditionally a blue and white hooped shirt with white shorts and white socks, though season 2006–07 saw the team playing a blue and white striped shirt with white shorts and blue socks. 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 2005–06, with the special re-issue of the blue Morton tartan strip. The sponsor's logo on the strip is that of Millions, a brand owned by the Club Chairman's confectionery concern, Golden Casket (Greenock) Ltd.

Stadium

Morton's stadium is Cappielow Park in Greenock, a ground the club has occupied since 1879. Cappielow's etymology is allegedly of Scandinavian origin, although details are sketchy. The current capacity is 11,589, with 5,741 of these being seated. In December 2008, Morton purchased the Reid Kerr sponsored East stand from local rivals St Mirren for £50,000, to improve the away end at Cappielow.

The area currently behind the western goal (upon which the new stand will be built) 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 for home supporters only, with much of the frontal terracing removed, and plastic bucket seats occupying its place. The segregation fence no longer exists, and the whole area is used by home supporters. Behind the eastern goal is the "Sinclair Street" end, with uncovered terracing.

Supporters & Rivalries

Greenock Morton has several supporters' clubs based in Greenock and the surrounding towns. The main clubs are The Andy Ritchie Travel Club, The Prince of Wales Travel Club, The Greenock Morton Supporters Club, The Albert Hotel Morton Supporters Club and The Spinnaker Hotel Supporters Club.

The club has a fierce rivalry with fellow neighbours St Mirren F.C., a rivalry which sees a large amount of animosity between the two set of fans.

League participation

First Level: 1900–1927, 1929–1933, 1937–1938, 1946–1949, 1950–1952, 1964–1966, 1967–1975, 1978–1983, 1984–1985, 1987–1988

Second Level: 1893–1900, 1927–1929, 1933–1937, 1938–39, 1949–1950, 1952–1964, 1966–1967, 1975–1978, 1983–1984, 1985–1987, 1988–1994, 1995–2001, 2007–2014, 2015–

Third Level: 1994–1995, 2001–2002, 2003–2007, 2014–2015

Fourth Level: 2002–2003

National honours

Scottish Cup

Winners: (1) 1921–22

Runners-up: (1) 1947–48

Scottish League Cup

Runners-up: (1) 1963–64

Scottish Challenge Cup

Runners-up: (1) 1992

Scottish Premier Division

Runners-up: (1) 1916–17²

Scottish First Division

Champions: (6) 1949–50¹, 1963–64¹, 1966–67¹, 1977–78, 1983–84, 1986–1987

Runners-up: (4) 1899–00¹, 1928–29¹, 1936–37¹, 2012–13

Scottish Second Division

Champions: (3) 1994–95, 2006–07, 2014–15³

Runners-up: (1) 2005–06

Scottish Third Division

Champions: (1) 2002–03

Minor honours

Renfrewshire Cup

Winners: 52 times

Runners-up: 42 times

Great War Shield

Winners: 1914–15

Runners-up: 1917–18

Southern League Cup

Runners-up: 1941–42

SFL Reserve League South

Runners-up: 2012–13

SPFL Development League West

Champions: 2015–16

Club Academy Scotland U16/17 South/West League

Champions: 2014–15

Runners-up: 2015–16

¹ Known as Division II at the time
² Known as Division I at the time
³ Known as SPFL League One at the time

Records

Best league position – 2nd in First Division (Old) (1916–1917)

Best Scottish Cup performance – winners (1921–1922)

Best League Cup performance – runners-up (1963–1964)

Best Challenge Cup performance – runners-up (1992–1993)

Victory – 21–0 v Howwood (1886–87 Renfrewshire Cup)

Defeat – 1–10 v Port Glasgow Athletic (5 May 1894), St Bernard's (14 October 1933)

Home attendance – 23,500 v Celtic (1922)

Goals in one season – Allan McGraw (58 in 1963–1964)

Most league appearances – Derek Collins (534)

Most league goals – Allan McGraw (117)

Record signing – Janne Lindberg – £250k plus Marko Rajamäki from MyPa-47

Record sale – Derek Lilley – £500k to Leeds United

Players

As of 9 February 2017

First team squad[1]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Development squad[2]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

On loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Player records

All statistics are for league games, post-World War II.

As of 7 May 2013

Managers

This list does not contain caretaker managers such as David Hopkin or Joe McLaughlin.

Scottish Cup Record

Morton first entered the Scottish Cup in season 1877–1878, and won it once in 1922. Over the course of Morton's time in the competition it has changed format seven times, to its current format of 8 rounds and 2 preliminary rounds.

Between 2012–13 and 2014–15 there were 8 rounds plus a preliminary round.

Between 2007–08 and 2011–12 there were 8 rounds.

Between 1970–71 and 2006–07 there were 7 rounds.

Between 1957–58 and 1969–70 there were 5 rounds plus a preliminary round.

Between 1954–55 and 1956–57 there were 9 rounds.

Between 1912–13 and 1953–54 there were 6 rounds.

Between 1895–96 and 1911–12 there were 5 rounds.

So far Morton have finished the competition in the following rounds, this many times.

Finals – 2 (last 1948)

Semi-finals – 5 (last 1981)

Quarter-finals – 14 (last 2016)