Dougie Imrie's Morton player challenge in new direction plan

This summer has seen the latest of several new eras beckon for the supporters who make the fortnightly pilgrimage to Sinclair Street to cheer on their team.

Dougie Imrie is looking to take his side down a new path (Image: Kenny Ramsay)

Ton's play has been very easy on the eye at times this season (Image: alex craig)

However, unlike the typical change of manager or club ownership, Morton have the same face in the dugout.

That face is Scotland’s current fifth longest serving manager: Dougie Imrie. And he’s a man who’s intent on ripping up the blueprints and changing the view on his side as he looks to take them in a new direction.

This by no circumstances means that the days of his swashbuckling Cappielow performances are a thing of the past.

Imrie’s teams of season’s gone by have been a well needed throw back. But he’s determined pull off an even bigger challenge in what promises to be the tightest Championship there’s ever been.

In a wide-ranging, two-part interview, he told the Tele: “I think that the perception of Morton, for the length of time that I’ve certainly been here, is that we’re a long ball team who play a lot of second balls.

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“We’ve had a ‘big physical’ striker who we play the ball into and then off him from there.

“But I think if we’re being truthful, if people had watched us in the time I’ve been here up until the summer that we genuinely did play good football.

“The summer has seen a massive turnover in terms of personnel, and I did want to change the way that we play.

“I wanted to be expansive and try to ‘play through the lines’ a bit more. Anyone who saw us this time last year saw that we were trying to do that.

“It didn’t really work when we lost a few games at the start of the season, we reverted to going that little bit longer and playing in the opposition third.

“I want to try and be a bit more open this year and see the boy’s play.

“The whole dynamic of the squad has now changed, and I believe it’s for the better. We’ve got young and hungry players coming in who want to do well for the club and then for themselves."

Ton have opened their league campaign with two 0-0 draws against Partick and with Hamilton but Imrie believes that the signs are there that his new message is beginning to get across to his players.

He believes though, that the biggest challenge that his squad faces, is taking ownership of their new style of play as he prepares to put himself in the way of any flack that may come their way.

And that's something he's called on his side to step up and do in the coming weeks.

“I think looking at it, you can see what we’re trying to do,” He added, “But from my point of view, you work Monday-Friday you plan and then come Saturday, players are players. You could be a man down in a minute or they could get a bit nervous, reverting to what they know.

“It’s about trying to change that narrative and understanding of how I want the team and the players to play. It’s about them being a little bit braver and taking responsibility.

“I’ve hammered it home from the second they came back for pre-season, that if anything goes wrong then I’ll take the flack. It’s my way of playing and how I want them to play.

"I’m really happy with a lot of aspects of our play. The only frustrations that I’ve got, which hasn’t come from a lack of opportunities, is the lack of goals."

To read the whole, in-depth interview with Dougie, check out Monday's edition of the Tele.