Greenock Morton ⚪️🔵 vs Partick Thistle 🟡🔴

[Dick Dastardly]

Nobody has anything better to do on the 31st. Well considered !

[fifexile]

What was wrong with 8th Jan when neither club has a cup match. Stupid decision. 

[thornwoodjag]

3pm as well. It’s not a bank holiday Is it ? 

[scotty]

20 minutes ago, thornwoodjag said:

3pm as well. It’s not a bank holiday Is it ? 

No, but maybe they're assuming folk will be off work for the holiday period and will have nothing else to do on the 31st.

Edited December 4, 2024 by scotty

[thornwoodjag]

6 minutes ago, scotty said:

No, but maybe they're assuming folk will be off work for the holiday period and will have nothing else to do on the 31st.

I think they are going to find out they’re mistaken. 

[elevenone]

Hogmanay 3pm on a Tuesday at Cappielow?  Madness.  I’m out (not that I’m ever in at that midden).  

[Albert's Ghost]

Seems crazy

[jaggy]

Bonkers decision! 

[partickthedog]

I will be there, but I can fully understand why many Thistle and Morton fans who would normally attend on a Saturday will not be there. I would echo comments above that this seems to be an illogical decision from the point of view of both convenience and finance.

Was this a "free decision" for the clubs to take for themselves or were they subject to control from the SPFL as regards the timing of the rearranged fixture?

[Jimmy McD]

If this came as a directive from the spfl we both should have refused to play,  if it was an agreement between the clubs it's bonkers , worst date it could have been played on...I am looking for a refund..

[thornwoodjag]

2 hours ago, fifexile said:

What was wrong with 8th Jan when neither club has a cup match. Stupid decision. 

18th bud 👍

[1876]

Getting played so players and their families can enjoy new year 

[fifexile]

6 hours ago, thornwoodjag said:

3pm as well. It’s not a bank holiday Is it ? 

Nope. Just another work day and I for one am working (not that I'd do a 130 mile round trip to Cappilow to stand at the wee Dublin end for 2 hrs)

[laukat]

A 3pm kick off on a working day is properly nuts. 

Hard to imagine that attendance will be not be considerably less than playing it on the free Saturday.  I suspect it will be down on even a midweek evening kick off.

Only way this make sense is that Morton think they can sell extra hospitality for their own support by running some gimmick like 'see the bells in at Cappielow'.

Instead I think we're likely to be first footing A&E with frostbite or pneumonia curtesy of the amazing facilities for away fans at Crappielow  

[lady-isobel-barnett]

Plumping for 3pm on a weekday Hogmanay is of course complete madness. Surely there's something in the SPFL rulebook about playing fixtures at a totally inconvenient crazy time? Is there no Sanity Clause?

[Dick Dastardly]

It will probably get postponed again 

[laukat]

I can only see one reason for this

Can't be to give the players a new year break because the game could be played on Saturday the 12th or mid week during January and the attendance would probably be higher in both. Plus no game on the 31st is surely a better break for the players.

Can't be to our financial benefit as I don't believe we get any income and certainly nothing that outweigh potential appearance fee's, bonus payments etc  

So to my mind I think Morton need income before the end of the year either because they have cash flow problems or they need it to fund deals in January.  Only way I can see us agreeing to this is to try and help Morton out? 

[thornwoodjag]

Hogmanay at 3 pm it is. !

[thornwoodjag]

Some of Morton’s reasons for it are excellent:

 

 

– With Hogmanay falling within the festive period, it is felt that people will be visiting the area to see family and would be encouraged to attend with being in the area maybe only for a couple of days over New Year and having the chance to take in a match.

 

[Woodstock Jag]

I hear Park's of Hamilton are putting on coach tours of the Firth of Clyde for the thousands of tourists at a loose end on Hogmanay.

[elevenone]

Club Statement

https://ptfc.co.uk/ptfc-news/statement-regarding-greenock-morton-fixture/

[Jimmy McD]

All Jags fans should ask for a refund and let them get on with it without us..

[jaggy]

Crazy just crazy. Why did the SPFL say it has to be played this year?

[thornwoodjag]

17 minutes ago, jaggy said:

Crazy just crazy. Why did the SPFL say it has to be played this year?

Who knows, but looks like they didn’t say it to QOTS v ICT or Accies v Raith 

[laukat]

Its interesting to contrast the Thistle statement with the Morton statement.

Thistle statement says the SPFL say it should be played before the end of the year, Morton says the re-arrangement was within the guideline of the SPFL. So neither said the SPFL demanded it played or said it must be played.

Thistle statement says a joint referral could have been made to SPFL. I presume that means that if Morton and Thistle both asked the SPFL to play on the 18th January then in all likelihood the SPFL would have agreed.

Morton statement goes into a lot of spurious reasons why they think a 3pm kick off on a working day is a good thing whereas Thistle statement doesn't attempt to says its good instead it just says that's Morton's reasoning.

So still looks to me like Morton wanted the game played before 1st of January. Not SPFL demanding it and not one Thistle wanted.

Speaking to a Morton fan his view was that Morton reasons could be summed up as "we know lots of regular fans can't make it but screw you, we want to appeal to the once a year visitors to Greenock and random folk with nothing better to do" that's fantastic look for a community run club.