Was Rae trying to make Shiels walk away?

Douglas Rae’s comments about striker Garry O’Connor and manager Kenny Shiels were extraordinary.

For the Morton owner to describe one of his own players as a “hopeless” signing who had “let himself go” and “lost interest in football” was so far beyond the pale as to be startling.

In choosing to publicly criticise the former Scotland striker and his manager Rae broke with convention.

He is able to do so, though, from the comfort of knowing the player’s arrival at the club had not been his doing. In other words, it wasn’t his mistake.

The 30-year-old is also an easy target. Fitness is easily quantifiable. Any trainer could, given half-an-hour with a player, tell you precisely what kind of condition they are in.

In O’Connor’s case it isn’t necessary. The pictures of him in action are all the evidence you need to tell he is not in shape. And that’s a shame.

I always believed fitness to be the most important aspect of the game, so I trained accordingly. Stay at your peak and anything is possible. Just look at Ryan Giggs playing in the Champions League at the age of 40.

But not all players keep their standards as high as they should and O’Connor falls into that category. Rae’s contention there should have been a fitness clause written into his deal makes perfect sense.

However, I would argue, of far greater significance were Rae’s words about the club’s manager Kenny Shiels.

What I found more jarring was the way he said: “If Kenny is going to be here next year, he is going to have to get himself sharpened up” .

I can’t remember a serving manager ever being talked about in such dismissive fashion by his club’s owner. Morton have had a disastrous season. But reading those words, you wonder at the purpose behind them.

Was Rae, an owner I have always admired as someone who did the best for his club, attempting to push Shiels so he would walk away without compensation?

Kenny has always had a very strong belief in his own ability. In the wake of his departure from Kilmarnock, he spoke of having been let down by owner Michael Johnson and pointed to his achievements in leading the club to their first League Cup win and promoting young talent as evidence of his managerial skills.

It is interesting here then, he has responded to the latest outburst by stressing he is already working on plans for next season.

The message is clear Kenny Shiels is not about to do walking away.