The trip to Greenock to visit Cappielow Park and watch the famous Greenock Morton.

We are not sure how we came to the decision to attend this particular match as the first game in our quest to visit all 42 football grounds in Scotland but Greenock was our destination and the game was Greenock Morton v Dundee United, played on Saturday, 31^st March 2018.

Going into the game, Morton had been positioned third in the league and Dundee United, who had been favourites to win the Championship at the start of the season, where positioned in fourth place. Both teams needed the victory to help ensure their participation in the play-offs, which was the best they could hope for as St Mirren had run away from the others in the pack, in their bid to be crowned Champions.

With both teams currently in the play-off positions in the Championship, and with Morton having 6 games to play before the end of the season, this was always going to be a good choice for our first game out of 42 in our tour of Football grounds in Scotland and it didn’t disappoint.

 A bit about the Club and the Toon

Greenock is located on the banks of the River Clyde as it meets the Firth of Clyde and is located 26 miles outside Glasgow.  The town has a population of approximately 44,000 people and is built on its past fishing and shipbuilding industries located at its harbour.

The town dates back to early 1200’s and was the birthplace of James Watt, the inventor of the steam engine and the lesser known actor Martin Compston, who upon checking IMDB, I could not recall seeing anything he has ever been in.  He did actually play two games for Morton (Martin Compston, not James Watt) in the 2001-02 season, the season they got relegated to the Third Division.  James Watt is clearly Greenock’s most famous son through his massive contribution to the industrial revolution although, he could have a competitor for the title in Martin Compston, if he actually gets a part in a decent film.

At the heart of the town is its professional football club, Greenock Morton Football Club, also known simply as Morton, which was founded in 1874 and play their football at Cappielow Park.

The clubs biggest achievement to date has been winning the Scottish Cup back in 1922. The clubs highest ever finish in the league was runner-up in Division 1, being the top league in Scotland at the time, during World War One. More recently the club won the Scottish 2^nd Division in 2015 to gain promotion to the Scottish Championship.

Under the guidance of Manager Jim Duffy, the club has been making steady progress and are currently aiming for the Championship play-off spot as the club try to regain entry in the top league in Scotland for the first time since season 1987-88.

Promotion to the Scottish Premiership this year would be the icing on the cake in relation to the progress that the club has made since the turn of the millennium, which had seen the club enter into administration for a short period of time.

The Ground

Cappielow Park has a capacity of over 11,000  with the old standard of 4 sides consisting of a covered seated area, a covered area of mixed seated and terracing, an area behind one goal being terracing and an area at opposite side, known locally as the “wee Dublin end”, being an uncovered area with benched seating. The record attendance was back in 1922 when 23,500 managed to squeeze in to Cappielow Park in a match versus Celtic. Having now attended the stadium and with the knowledge of that stat, I am sure anyone in attendance at that fixture with agoraphobic issues back in 1922 would have induced a full-blown panic attack.

We purchased a ticket for the area called the Cowshed, which incidentally is the same name of my own local nightclub. The Cowshed has both the seated and terracing areas. We opted for the terracing area and we were more than happy with our purchase for this area of the ground, as we were keen to experience the old-fashioned and some would say correct way to watch the football. For us it’s going on 20 years since we last watched the game in this way.

Purchasing the Tickets

We purchased the tickets for the game in advance and did so through the Clubs website https://gmfc.net/  You can also purchase tickets at the stadium and on the day of most games.

Morton like a few other clubs in Scotland operate their online ticket service with an organisation called Intermedia. We had to register as a supporter, which is fine, the club wants to know who is coming to the ground and we were more than happy to give over the details.

It wouldn’t allow us thereafter to pass the stage after registration. After becoming frustrated I left it and went back a few days later and this time got through to the point of purchasing a ticket for the game but some bizarre reason would only let me purchase one ticket at a time. We ended up paying double postage, which was only 2 quid, however to a miser like myself, the loss of £2 took a few days to get over.

We purchased the tickets 3 weeks in advance, however they hadn’t arrived on the Wednesday before the match which led me to email Morton to see if there was an issue. The email was quickly responded to by the club who advised that they  would investigate but worse case scenario, they would leave two tickets at the stadium for us, which was very helpful. The tickets arrived by registered post the next day.

The ticket price was £18 per ticket, which some may say is quite steep for a Championship game, however they do let in kids under 12 for free and ages 12 to 17 are priced at £5, which I suppose is good strategy for the future of the game. It’s also handy to know if you choose to come along to Cappielow with a young family.

The Trip to Greenock

Myself and Ross met at Glasgow Central station at 12 noon to take our first trip on what we hope will be the first of 42 excursions to all SPFL football grounds.

The train from Glasgow Central Station takes 40 minutes to Cartsdyke Train Station and Cappielow Park is just 7 minutes walk from the train station. At the time of writing, the price for an off-peak return ticket on the train was £7.10 although if you are coming on a weekday peak hours, the price is likely to increase slightly. It’s £23.10 for an adult return from Edinburgh Waverley with a change at Glasgow Queen Street, down to Glasgow Central. Up to 2 children are currently allowed by Scotrail to travel for free with every adult ticket.

A good thing to note is that not all trains stop at Cartsdyke station, so its best to check the boards at Glasgow Central to make sure before your board. The worst case scenario is that is goes straight to Greenock Central and its a 30 minute walk or short taxi/bus or even a train journey back to Cappielow Park.

The Match

First half

The game played out as two nervous teams, not wanting to lose ground and try to cement their team’s position in a play-off position with 5 games to go until the end of the season. A lot of direct balls up the park, not much in the way of risk taking by either side, as the managers of Morton and Dundee Utd had clearly set out their teams on the day.

After a forgettable first half, with not much in the way of real chances was quickly forgotten when the half time whistle blew and it was time to experience a half time pie.  The real reason we are doing the 42 Tour!

Half time

After a bit of a wait, I got served and they only had peppered steak pies left,  but my disappointment at missing out on a regular scotch pie was quickly banished. The half time pie was beautiful, soft crust with the consistency of a Gregg’s steak bake, and even though there was too much pepper on the pie for Ross he still gave it a solid 7 out of 10. The cost of a pie was £2, which was a fair price at a football ground.  It’s fair to say it is the best tasting pie I have ever had at a football ground, however the requirement for nourishment at this time after a morning and mid-afternoon of hard liquor, may have compromised my taste buds.

Second Half

The second half started well for United as former Rangers player Bilel Moshni opened the scoring with a header at the start of the second half. As expected the match then burst in to life as Morton needed to get back in to it. More chances were created as Morton made all three subs in a last chance bid to get something out the game.

In what turned out to be a great finish to our first match on the tour, Morton player, Frank Ross, unbelievably scored the equaliser  direct from a corner kick in the 93^rd minute which sent us and the home fans away happy.  Although Dundee United Manager Csaba Laszlo must have been spitting tacks at losing a late goal in such a manner. We celebrated with the home fans at the fantastic end, which ensured our first game of 42 ended in a high.

The atmosphere at the game was quite dry, probably due to the high stakes pressure of game for both teams. The match attendance was 2319, which was mostly and unsurprisingly made up of Morton fans. A small section of United fans, who had travelled the breadth of Scotland to attend, burst into song periodically but apart from that there wasn’t any other singing by the home fans.  Who can blame them though, they have been out of the top league in Scotland for so long, they were maybe too busy biting their nails for the majority of the game.

Final Score:- Greenock Morton 1-1 Dundee United.

Out on the Town

We headed out to Greenock early, a few train beers in hand and arrived at Greenock Central to have a few pints before kick off. The weather was overcast but thankfully no rain on the day, however the town’s location at the mouth of the River Clyde ensured a biting cold wind which greeted us as we stepped off the train on this cold March day.

The strategically placed local Wetherspoons hit us first, but we headed to the Lithgows bar next door first. After a quick drink, we went to the local “Spoons” to have another few before heading back to Cartsdyke station to attend the game.

Upon leaving the ground, we then took a train back in to Greenock Central to have a few more drinks. It turned in to a pub crawl through Greenock’s town centre, which I hope we will make a staple of these trips. 

We went to the Lighthouse bar, which had a Greenock Morton glass frame above the door as you enter the pub, and a sign stating “no football colours, except Morton and Scotland”.

We appear to have wandered into a staunch Greenock Morton pub.  This was further compounded when the rowdy crowd sitting in the hospitality section of the ground came in for their after match drink and eats.

Little did we know that the sandwiches laid out for the folk who most likely paid good money for the privilege, was not supposed to be consumed by myself and Ross, who proceeding to hammer a loaf worth of sandwiches. Upon realising our error we made a quick exit for the door before we had another sandwich, of the knuckle variety.

We made a vow not to return to the ‘Spoons’, and decided to sample the other local pubs in the town centre. Standard pubs you would expect in a town centre nowadays, with a mix of older pubs like the West Burn bar and the Horseshoe Bar and newer hipper destinations like the ‘Hole in the wall’ and the ‘Old Bank Bar’.

We would warn though about a trip to the public toilets at the back of the town centre. Ross sat on the pan and was left traumatised by the small hole to his right and the activity in the next cubicle.  I don’t know what happened in there but Ross didn’t speak again for the rest of the night!

Walking through town centre, there was a few beautiful buildings from a bygone era, with many listed buildings, including the Victoria Tower at the Municipal Buildings, the Westburn Church and Customs house at the riverside.

What a day!

We both agreed that this was a great day and worthwhile making the trip. I had never been to Greenock, other than to pass through.  It’s a nice wee town, great wee pubs, where we met a few characters along the way.

We would definitely come back to watch Morton and Cappielow Park is a good ground to watch the football.

Morton have had another good season under manager Jim Duffy and have a large sleeping fan base.  We have no doubt should this club make it to the Scottish Premiership for the first time since 1987, then the fans will back them in large numbers in the Scottish Premiership. We wish them well.

Until our next game,

Simon and Ross