Douglas Rae, Morton Chairman

My greatest Morton memory is the day we won the Third Division championship in 2003. It was fantastic – it was my first season since rescuing the club and there we were. 

I have recently read an interview I gave at that time and I promised the fans two things: one, that I would get them out of the Third Division at the first attempt – and that was a close call as any one of four teams that day could have gone up. And the other promise was that we would, as a club, dramatically improve the way that the ground had been left to us. We managed both.

It was the drama of the occasion that really did it. The fact that the ground was well filled – there was 9000 people at Cappielow to see us play Peterhead – and there was an unbelievable level of hope and anticipation. Everything came good and it was really special.

We won the Second Division title, too, and I remember it and it was good to win that, but it was nothing compared to winning the Third Division. That was the key one. I’ve been a director of Morton for 24 years in total and, in all that time, that is the key moment. It was a great thing.

We were doing it for the fans who thought the club was dead and buried – but it was restored on that day. It gave us back our credibility and took us back into the Second Division. It was a fantastic moment and one which will live with me and will die with me. It was simply tremendous.