As many of you will have heard in recent weeks there is a merger that is underway between First Touch and Greenock Morton Community Trust. The presentation evening that took place on Tuesday 28th January to all First Touch parents was reported in the Greenock Telegraph yesterday, Saturday 8th February and we thank the Greenock Telegraph for their continued support with all our work.
The presentation was delivered primarily by Warren Hawke; Consultant for Club Development as he explained the player pathway to all in attendance. Along with Warren on the panel were Tom Elliott; Community Engagement Manager, GMCT, John McClurg & Des Mccole representing First Touch, Kenny Shiels; Morton FC Manager and Crawford Rae representing both the club and the community trust.
Hawke opened the presentation with the question “GMCT – who are we?” explaining what the main objective of GMCT is. As a charitable trust our aim is to engage with social inclusion projects while utilising the power of the Morton brand to add value across all community trust initiatives. The trustees involved are Crawford Rae & Stuart Rae on behalf of GMFC along with Nick Robinson & Chris McCorkindale from the supporters’ trust.
Since the appointment of Tom Elliott last April, the community trust have added to their staff with their PR & Fundraising Manager, Karen Welsh who also oversees all administrative duties required. Sean Crighton is a contracted coach who will be heavily involved with Tom to ensure the smooth transition during the merger. There are another two full time coaches and an Admin Assistant along with around 12 sessional coaches used for the delivery of all Micro, Mini and Morton Girls sessions. GMCT are “The Heartbeat of Inverclyde”.
Hawke followed this by explaining the player pathway that is available to all boys and girls in Inverclyde and how from the age of two years old you can become part of the Morton family, wearing the Morton badge with pride. Micro Morton are classes for children at pre-school age who want to engage with physical activity. These children would then progress to the Mini Morton and Morton Girls’ sessions allowing them the play football for enjoyment while increasing physical activity and engaging with community. From then the direction both boys and girls can progress with is by joining our community teams. The Morton Community Club will include all teams that have currently been playing under the First Touch banner along with our girls teams lead by Leeanne McPhail.
It’s a fantastic player pathway that will be overseen under the leadership of Tom Elliott. Elliott said “it’s certainly an exciting start to 2014 for the community trust and we are delighted that Kenny Shiels was able to attend the presentation tonight and speak to the parents who were eager to hear about the vision of the community trust and the football club. I am looking forward to visiting all training sessions over the next few weeks. I also thank Warren, who has been instrumental with the merger and his enthusiasm is second to none”.
There will not be many changes for the players in the interim although GMCT have added a weekly drop in Physiotherapy Clinic run by Morton’s Youth Academy physio, Susan Wilson – days/time to follow.
Well done to everyone involved and we look forward to watching our new Morton Community Club teams when the season starts next month.