IF FOOTBALL is the stuff dreams are made of, the odd nightmare can sneak in under the bedroom door. Davie Irons knows that, despite a relatively brief time in management.
From being so heavily involved in Gretna's progression to the SPL, being caught amid their financial decomposition which ultimately led to the club going out of business, to escaping a First Division playoff spot with Morton by a single goal at the e
nd of last season.
This time around, it took the Greenock outfit until 18 October to win a league game; a striking run of form thereafter means Irons has his team within touching distance of the upper echelons of the table. Today's meeting with Airdrie United gives Morton an opportunity to pull ten points clear of their opponents, the division's bottom side; they also begin the day only six points from third-placed Dunfermline Athletic.
"It is very important for us to keep that useful gap between ourselves and Airdrie," Irons conceded. "But we are thinking about up the table as well. It is a tight league, dog eat dog, where everybody can beat everybody else. We are desperate not to get dragged back towards the bottom, so it is a very important game."
Matters at Gretna have taught Irons to be pragmatic about what he may face in this management game. "I had a great experience there, got started in coaching and had a lot of great times," he recalls. "The final year just became a circus from day one, though.
"From the previous manager (Rowan Alexander] turning up at our first game in the SPL, to the ground-sharing situation and Brooks Mileson's illness; things just never seemed stable at all."
He had, by his own admission, a point to prove upon arrival at Cappielow. Irons ultimately steered Morton, albeit just, away from a hazardous relegation playoff scenario before this season's troublesome opening.
"This is a fresh start, a chance for me to prove I am my own man," he said. "I had immense support from my board throughout the start of the season. There was never even a hint from them that they might look to change things.
"But I am not daft, if anyone was going to change it would be the guy at the top. The board couldn't sack all the players. I have no divine right to be at this club so the board's confidence in me was always appreciated. Hopefully I am working towards repaying that confidence now."
Morton's victory over Ross County last weekend may have been overshadowed by a punch-up in the visitors' dressing room, but it was the latest illustration of Irons' revival.
An unfortunate defeat to St Johnstone, the league leaders, had preceded it while Morton had returned victories at East End Park and Palmerston during November. Dundee, tipped to make a promotion charge but now ninth – one place below Morton – had been humbled weeks earlier.
"I always had belief that the players here were good enough," Irons insisted. "It was about getting that elusive first league win. I kept saying that to the players, just to get that first win, and we would go on from there.
"The funny thing was we had been winning cup ties at the start of the season but not league games. A confident team won't automatically be a winning team, but you undoubtedly have more chance of getting results if the team is confident."
The return of players from injury and loss of form, notably forward Brian Wake, has also been a contributory factor.
Wake, cumbersome to the naked eye, has notched six goals in all competitions and two in the last three league matches and appears capable of building on such potential.
Morton's own future remains a vexing subject. Supporters have long since tired of a "sleeping giant" tag. Irons, moreover, has witnessed first-hand what trying to punch above your financial capabilities can do to a club.
"We want to be better, we want to be in the SPL, of course we do," added the manager. "But we want to be sensible about it. We will take small steps. That's not a lack of ambition, it just has to be at the right pace.
"Ambition should never override reality. Morton are regarded as one of the bigger provincial clubs in Scotland but we have a stadium that needs upgraded, for a start; promotion to the SPL brings its own financial pressures, as I have seen for myself. The current chairman rescued a club that was dying six years ago. There are a very sensible group of people in charge now."
