posted on Tuesday, April 17, 2007 3:29 AM
by
Endie
Super Morton Dancing in the Streets of Raith
There are, ummm, significant disadvantages to supporting a little club like Greenock Morton: in the last decade we have been relegated to - and have languished in - the second division (which, for those not versed in the minutiae of Scottish football is actually the third division, below the Premier League and the first division). We even spent a season in the bottom league - the "Third" Division - in 2002-2003, and had to release all of our players in order to survive, building a team in the week or so before the season's start when the financial situation was retreived. We were almost closed by a property developer who combined malevolence, dishonesty and massive incompetence in equal quantities.
But there are silver linings, of a sort, to supporting such a club. For one thing, as a Liverpool fan I am disappointed with every game we lose. As a Morton fan, every victory is a delight. Reaching the fourth round of the cup by beating Premier League opposition is the cause of great celebration. Winning 9-1 to boost our chances of promotion is the icing on the cake.
Anyway, on Saturday we at at last achieved promotion back to the first division, which is probably where we belong. Morton's travelling support at away matches is consistently bigger than the home gates of any other team in our league. And despite losing to Raith Rovers on Saturday, the fact that our nearest rivals also stumbled meant that we were promoted by default, with two games yet to be played. So, having done my time and paid my dues by supporting the Mighty Ton through the lean years, I have had the chance to enjoy our second promotion in four years. I'll even get to see my team on telly on Saturday nights!