A NORWEGIAN journalist has issued a rallying cry to Morton fans as he looks for support from his adopted club to help his hometown team defy the odds in European competition.

Amund Trellevik, a journalist for Norse outlet Nordlys and an avid SK Brann fan, has tried to rally the troops amongst Morton supporters’ groups in an online campaign ahead of his side’s Europa Conference League Qualifier against Renfrewshire rivals St Mirren on Thursday night.

After an unlikely pilgrimage to Cappielow back in January, Amund and his friends became enamoured by the charisma of Morton and their home.

Now he hopes that his newfound friends will support his own side when they head for Paisley this week looking to defy the odds. 

(Image: Contributed)

He told the Tele how he fell for the charm that Cappielow has to offer and the localities surrounding the stadium, saying: “Together with my three very good friends Kristian, Jørund and Martin, we travelled to Glasgow in January.

 “We're all keen football fans, so we tried to get tickets to a Scottish Premier League match.

"It turned out that the weekend we'd chosen for our trip was a free weekend in the Scottish league.

 “After a bit of searching, we found this magical club, Greenock Morton.

"Martin is very interested in architecture, both the stadium itself and the big blue crane behind the away stand was something he really appreciated. We decided this was our club.

“A few weeks before our departure and the match between Greenock Morton and Partick Thistle, we posted a message in the club's supporter group on Facebook.

 “The response was tremendous! We received dozens of messages from Morton fans welcoming us.

 “The atmosphere in the stadium was magical. We celebrated like crazy when Morton took the lead.

“In the end Thistle managed to equalise. But fortunately, we managed to remedy that with a few beers at The Norseman after the game of course.”

(Image: Morton SLO)

Amund’s call for support gained traction amongst Morton supporters groups late last week, and whilst some were against the idea he hopes that he can appeal to some members of the Cowshed to back the cause.

He added: “We haven't had any feedback apart from what was posted under my Facebook post. I see that the fan group is divided on this question, which I kind of understand.

“If a foreign club had come to Norway to play any of SK Brann's opponents in Europe, I would support the foreign team in 1,000 out of 1,000 cases.

“Given that my club, SK Brann, is about to face a Scottish team with whom Morton fans have a rivalry, I thought there would probably be some Morton fans who might want to turn up with the Brann fans on Thursday.”

 Trellevik reckons that Ton supporters can resonate with his own club, as he see’s and feels many similarities between the two.

And he says their support could be vital if his side are to get their hands on the incentives that come with European group stage football.

 He added: “The European Cup is of enormous importance to the club, to the city of Bergen and to all fans.

“For the club, it's obviously of great financial significance, as participation in the European group stage can generate millions of pounds in revenue.

“For the fans, it's a great way of travelling to exciting away matches. Like this one in Paisley against St Mirren.

“I don't know how many fans will come, but I reckon somewhere between 300 and 500. Based on the experiences we had in January, Greenock Morton and SK Brann are quite similar clubs.

“Both are traditional football clubs with a rich history and passion. If you want everything to go wrong for St Mirren in this match, I urge everyone to cheer for SK Brann on Thursday.”