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Morton could be the latest club to be saved by its own support with the launch of a fans funding campaign today.

The Morton Club Together initiative will be unveiled this afternoon, urging supporters to pledge £10 per month for two years to raise an initial target of £400,000 to begin the buyout.

Club chairman Crawford Rae recently announced that his family are no longer willing to subsidise the loss-making club, having invested £2.5 million since his late father Douglas saved Morton from liquidation in 2000.

It is hoped that the Rae family’s company, Golden Casket, will agree to write off that debt if the

community buyout can reach that £400,000 mark to buy a 15 percent shareholding.

That would make Morton Club Together the second biggest shareholder of the Championship club and stave off fears for the club’s existence.

Last year Record Sport exclusively revealed that former Rangers investors James and Sandy Easdale – prominent local businessmen in the Greenock area – were planning to launch a buyout with the intention of making Morton a feeder club for the English leagues.

But it’s anticipated fans will favour the prospect of holding the club’s fate in their own hands, as MCT founder and lifelong Ton supporter Graham McLennan issued a rallying call for all to get involved.

(Image: Daily Record)

McLennan said: “Morton is the spirit of Inverclyde and we want the whole community to be part of it.

“What we are trying to do is step up and say we believe Morton Club Together could galvanise the community by raising some money and buying into the club in a way that can sustain its future.

“If it’s not successful then you’d need to ask the Morton board what the plan is because I’m not aware of any other proposition just now.

“The good news is that the current majority shareholder and the board are supportive and hopeful that this project is a success.

“For as little as the price of a monthly Netflix subscription, or a weekly cup of coffee, we can become genuine shareholders in Morton.

“We can have a formal say in its future success and everything it delivers for the community of Inverclyde and beyond.

“It’s achievable. If we get in the region of 1500 individuals to put up £10 a month for a commitment of two years that’s £240 per person.

(Image: SNS Group)

“Other clubs – including our local rivals St Mirren, Stirling, Motherwell and of course Hearts – have demonstrated that it’s achievable, having all gone down some sort of community ownership route.

“And as a Morton supporter I believe our club is just as capable, just as loved and just as potentially ambitious as all of those clubs. It’s time the community got behind that and actually helped to push Morton forward.

“If we don’t I fear for the future – and I’m not just talking about football. I’m talking about the impact Morton has on the community, and has had for over 130 years.

“You’d need to ask the board and the owners how urgent the situation is but I’m concerned.

“In the urgency of getting this moving it’s not been possible to speak to all the key stakeholders and leaders around Morton, such as all the supporters clubs.

“But we want to engage with them and we hope they will come on board and support us.

“There is already a tremendous infrastructure thanks to the fantastic work of the club’s Community Trust over the last few years.

“The youth academy is so good Manchester United wanted their youths to come and play Morton because of that great reputation.

“Yet just as we are about to reap the benefits there is now this possibility the football club might potentially not exist. We cannot allow that to happen and let this opportunity slip through our fingers.”