A donor's wail

My brother follows Pollok, home and away, and is thus a very occasional attendee at senior matches. I once asked him if he had a favourite senior team and to my astonishment he replied “Morton”. Our family have no connection with the Greenock area so when I asked the inevitable “why Morton?” he simply said: “I’ve just always liked them” Like most Scottish clubs, Morton went through a really difficult patch a few years back but since then the transformation of Cappielow, and the team’s fortunes, has been heartening. I decided two years ago that I would acknowledge their revival by buying a brick in Morton’s Wall of Fame, which is located at the Sinclair Street main entrance to Cappielow. So for £35, “Bob McPherson Morton Forever” was added to the wall. I was just pleased to help the club in this small way. I sincerely hope there always will be a Morton FC, a sentiment I feel towards all but two of Scotland’s SPFL clubs. In return for this small donation I was delighted to receive a certificate of authenticity which was signed by the then Chairman, Douglas Rae, who did so much to ensure Morton avoided liquidation in 2001 and who sadly died on 24 June 2018 aged 87. I came across the Morton certificate earlier this morning and it got me thinking about a more recent donation I made to another Scottish club – Queen’s Park. In June this year I gave QPFC £100 to have the name of my maternal grandfather Jimmy Shanks, who was QP supporter all his days, added to the Donors’ Wall in the J. B. McAlpine Pavilion at Lesser Hampden.. The club did say thanks to me as part of an e-mail reply but that’s about it. There was no certificate, no website name check, no photograph of the wall showing my grandfather’s name. Apart form the email I mentioned, and a bank statement I had at the time, I have no record of the transaction, no written confirmation. Like many aspects of Queen’s Park's commercial and administrative efforts, the verdict has got to be – could do better.