The below kicked off a new series which will be featuring in the club programme from the Queen of the South match this past weekend up until the end of this season.
This piece is written by MCT director, Sam Robinson.
In September 2021, I was honoured to be voted onto the Morton Club Together board by the MCT members. It was a huge opportunity to try and make a difference to the club I’ve supported all my life. Since then, a lot has happened both on and off the pitch, including Morton Club Together’s community ownership takeover being rubber stamped. A moment that will live long in the memory for all of us.
My background is in business and for over 20 years I’ve held leadership positions in the technology and software industries. I’ve worked with organisations who count the All Blacks and Mercedes F1 team amongst their clients, focusing on high performance under pressure. Whilst those skills are important, the big difference between business and sport is the emotional component. Pressure emerges from every decision having an impact across the entire club. We welcome that pressure and scrutiny that comes with being custodians of the club on behalf of its biggest shareholders, you. Morton supporters deserve to know that their club is in safe hands, our hard-working group of volunteers is certainly up for that challenge.
My remit for MCT is on membership development. At the time of writing the membership total stands at just over 900. The response had always been “we need as many as possible to join” but in my line of work, establishing targets and tying them to metrics is important. Looking at Hearts and their owners, the Foundation of Hearts, they have a membership of around 8,700. If 50% of the Edinburgh population lean towards the maroon side of the capital, that means that about 3.5% of the available catchment areas are Foundation of Hearts members. If we use those same numbers for Inverclyde, we should be aiming for at least 1,400 MCT members. Looking at MCT’s current average revenue per member, if an additional 500 members joined that would equate to an additional £70,000 per annum. We also know from the recent Supporter Survey that there’s a big chunk of supporters that don’t live locally to the area. This is just another challenge that we’re more than up for achieving.
One of the key questions we’re asked is around what the monthly contributions to the club go towards. The crux of MCT’s investment goes towards stabilising the club and ensuring there’s a consistent revenue stream to cover things like short-term government restrictions on attendances. Since the summer your vital contributions have helped the club to; refurbish the changing rooms, repair the hospitality suite after it was used as an away team dressing room, fit out the newly refurbished player gym, and much more. Achieving 1,400 members opens opportunities to move at a quicker pace on projects like the Cappielow experience for supporters or providing additional support and funding to developing our own players. Continued growth then allows us to look at even larger projects like our own training facilities.
We wouldn’t be human if we got everything right first time. We are aware we have made mistakes and we know we have a long way to go. What I can assure you is that we do analyse our decisions and work to make sure we take the lessons learned and apply them to our future decision making.
Our goal of being a benchmark community owned organisation is a realistic and achievable objective that we can fulfil by working together with Morton supporters everywhere. My ask is a simple one. Come and join us and share in the ownership of your club. We’re nothing without you.
This piece is written by MCT director, Sam Robinson.
In September 2021, I was honoured to be voted onto the Morton Club Together board by the MCT members. It was a huge opportunity to try and make a difference to the club I’ve supported all my life. Since then, a lot has happened both on and off the pitch, including Morton Club Together’s community ownership takeover being rubber stamped. A moment that will live long in the memory for all of us.
My background is in business and for over 20 years I’ve held leadership positions in the technology and software industries. I’ve worked with organisations who count the All Blacks and Mercedes F1 team amongst their clients, focusing on high performance under pressure. Whilst those skills are important, the big difference between business and sport is the emotional component. Pressure emerges from every decision having an impact across the entire club. We welcome that pressure and scrutiny that comes with being custodians of the club on behalf of its biggest shareholders, you. Morton supporters deserve to know that their club is in safe hands, our hard-working group of volunteers is certainly up for that challenge.
My remit for MCT is on membership development. At the time of writing the membership total stands at just over 900. The response had always been “we need as many as possible to join” but in my line of work, establishing targets and tying them to metrics is important. Looking at Hearts and their owners, the Foundation of Hearts, they have a membership of around 8,700. If 50% of the Edinburgh population lean towards the maroon side of the capital, that means that about 3.5% of the available catchment areas are Foundation of Hearts members. If we use those same numbers for Inverclyde, we should be aiming for at least 1,400 MCT members. Looking at MCT’s current average revenue per member, if an additional 500 members joined that would equate to an additional £70,000 per annum. We also know from the recent Supporter Survey that there’s a big chunk of supporters that don’t live locally to the area. This is just another challenge that we’re more than up for achieving.
One of the key questions we’re asked is around what the monthly contributions to the club go towards. The crux of MCT’s investment goes towards stabilising the club and ensuring there’s a consistent revenue stream to cover things like short-term government restrictions on attendances. Since the summer your vital contributions have helped the club to; refurbish the changing rooms, repair the hospitality suite after it was used as an away team dressing room, fit out the newly refurbished player gym, and much more. Achieving 1,400 members opens opportunities to move at a quicker pace on projects like the Cappielow experience for supporters or providing additional support and funding to developing our own players. Continued growth then allows us to look at even larger projects like our own training facilities.
We wouldn’t be human if we got everything right first time. We are aware we have made mistakes and we know we have a long way to go. What I can assure you is that we do analyse our decisions and work to make sure we take the lessons learned and apply them to our future decision making.
Our goal of being a benchmark community owned organisation is a realistic and achievable objective that we can fulfil by working together with Morton supporters everywhere. My ask is a simple one. Come and join us and share in the ownership of your club. We’re nothing without you.