An update on recent supporter behaviour at matches

Over the last couple of months, there have been several incidents at our games, home and away, which have resulted in police involvement. The club can today confirm that seven people within the Greenock Morton fanbase who have been involved in anti-social behaviour and unacceptable conduct have been identified by Police Scotland.

The offences have taken place at various matches both home and away since 28th December, when we played Ayr United at Somerset Park.

All seven individuals who have been identified have now been issued with 2-year bans from Cappielow and other stadia across Scotland. The offenders have committed various acts which are against the SPFL Unacceptable Conduct regulations and have left the club with no choice but to take firm action in light of the consistency of offending in recent weeks.

We hope that the issuing of these bans will encourage behaviours more representative of community ownership and being a community club from a small minority in our fanbase.

In the immediate future, this has led to our game against Partick Thistle being classified as a Category A game by the police which will incur a very high four-figure cost to the club to have a police presence in attendance. We are very aware that we are not alone in facing these issues recently and should add that concerns around this game relate to the behaviours of both sets of supporters.

As a community-owned club running on a tight budget, there are several ways this money could have been better utilised, but unfortunately, this is out of our hands due to recent events.

Any further incidents could lead to concerns regarding other fixtures, and it is obvious that this is something that must be avoided.