Greenock Morton 0 Partick Thistle 1The past is visible in Greenock. Any gaps in history are filled with the voices of memory and the remembrances of times past.‘It was once all shipyards from here down to Port Glasgow,’ says Sam Williamson, 77, a retired engineer who spent all his working life in the yards. The local megastore silently backs him up. Treading across the car park, one steps on a stone recalling the long-lost Inch yard.Williamson is sitting in The Norseman in the considerable shadow of Cappielow. The clunk of pool balls is the background noise to a steady gathering of Morton fans who generally treat inquiries about their team’s health with mordant humour.He has been going to games since the 1950s and has a roll call of Morton greats, putting Joe Mason, who played for the club from 1966 to 1972, high on the list. He is philosophical about the hard times encountered by the present incarnation of Morton.‘We seem to go through it every year,’ he says. ‘I just keep going because it’s my team. But the truth is that it’s all about money. And we don’t seem to have much of it. But look at the town. It has been stripped of major industry. When I was 15 I went straight into work and there was plenty of it.’ Morton stars go through their paces before kick-off in the shadow of Greenock’s iconic craneNow 15-year-olds are playing for the Morton first team. The investment from Dalrada, the club’s main sponsor, stops funding at the end of the season. This year’s playing budget is so tight that Ian Murray, team manager, seems to be borrowing from recruitment practices of the past, though his teenagers are being sent into the front line of Championship football rather than up a chimney.Help may be at hand. Estrella, a multi-club investment group, has finalised an agreement to invest £750,000 for player data, recruitment and operational support in exchange for a 35 per cent stake of the club and two seats on the board. This proposal will go to a meeting of Morton Club Together, the fan group that owns the club, later this month for ratification.The news on Saturday was a glimmer of hope as Morton, full of vim but lacking viable reinforcements from the bench, slipped to defeat to Partick Thistle. The Greenock club were defeated four times in the Premier League Sports Cup, scoring no goals. The omens are not good.Lewis Hemming, 22, does not expect miracles but yearns for a plan. ‘Under Douglas Rae (the confectionery business owner) we had money but no strategy. Now we seem to have no money and no strategy. My view is that we should be looking longer-term. We should be improving facilities and being more active on the commercial front. Clubs like Ayr United and Falkirk have moved forward significantly and we should be able to do the same.’The advent of Estrella is intriguing. The group has a stake in Cascais, the Portuguese side, and Aurora Pro Patria, the Italian Serie C team. Its commitment seems to involve radical changes to how the club pursues and targets players. It is a long-term fix though obviously Morton face short-term problems.They may be addressed, however. David Whitton, chairman of Morton Club Together and one of its representatives on the club board, stands at the back of the main stand and addresses the situation directly.The money principally will not be put directly into the first-team budget for this season, though there may be some wiggle room. The cash is largely to restructure and even innovate systems at the club. MTC chairman David Whitton is excited to see members vote on the new financial proposals‘We are ready to put this deal in front of our members,’ says Whitton. ‘They will decide on how they mean to progress.’The move to sign an exclusivity deal with Estrella in February was backed by 95 per cent of the MCT members but Whitton will make no predictions.‘Like every football club it will be a very emotional decision for our supporters,’ he says. ‘Some will see the opportunity for investment and what that could bring. Some will see a loss of control to an outside group. It’s difficult to say what will be decided at our agm on August 17 but information will be shared with all members with full transparency.’Three directors of MCT have stepped down recently and John McMaster, local boy and Aberdeen legend, is putting himself up for election.‘It was a straightforward decision for me,’ he says. ‘I was brought up in the town and I have a great affection for Morton.’McMaster, now 71, is a hero of Aberdeen’s victory in the 1983 European Cup Winners’ Cup and the subsequent Super Cup but is still closely allied to football at a more modest level. An ambassador at Port Glasgow, the West of Scotland Football league side, he maintains that lessons there will inform his purpose at Morton, if elected.‘We all have to be pulling together, we all have to be on the same page,’ he says. ‘That sounds simple but it can be tougher in practice. At Port Glasgow we have built a welcoming atmosphere and we are keen to bring players through. I would love to repeat that at Morton. And if they want someone to teach the kids, then I would be delighted to do that.’The kids are already being thrust into the first team. Two 15-year-olds played in the league cup matches. They were on the bench yesterday but were unused. The honour of being a Morton teenager fell appropriately to Aaron Greenock, a relative veteran at 16, who came on as a second-half substitute and joined a valiant home effort that was rendered futile by a late Tsoanelo Letsosa goal.‘I am proud of them today. I cannot ask for any more in work rate and commitment,’ says Murray as he climbs the stairs of the stand to chat to the press. Ian Murray has a youthful squad at his disposal but he remains confident for the season ahead Morton have yet to score across five league and cup fixtures so far this seasonThe performance was creditable. Thistle are one of the favourites to win the Championship and the gap in quality and experience on the benches bordered on the absurd. Euan Henderson, for example, who has played more than 200 senior games, came on to play very well for the Jags as Murray looked to teenagers.‘We are thin on the ground in terms of players,’ he says. On young Mr Greenock, he says: ‘He was training with us from Tuesday. Without wishing to be funny, these guys are sitting with computers in their bedroom on a Monday night, then coming to train with us the next day and then playing Championship football on a Saturday.’He admits it is a fairy tale for the youngsters but it is not tenable going forward. There are 35 more tests in the Championship and none will be the ideal environment to blood a cadre of youngsters. There were five players under the age of 17 in Morton’s matchday squad.Murray, though, maintains a brighter outlook. He has to do so. ‘It’s all positive,’ he says of the Estrella deal. ‘We are dying to get that over the line. We need it. We cannot rely on young players. We need reinforcements.’He reflects on the glut of injuries that has tested his squad and adds that the situation may be deteriorating with an unusual demand on his players. ‘These kids are back at school shortly,’ he says.There is a rueful smile but it is not a joke. The past weighs heavily in Greenock but the future holds more challenges.